Very sick goldfish -right eye now clouding over

Dave123 · Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

Hi:

I have two goldfish in my 29gallon tank. Each are about 5 inches
long, and I have had them since March.
I confess that I got lazy recently and did not do water changes.
As a result, both fish lived in a _very high_ nitrate environment,
even though the ammonia and nitrite were zero or minimal. This lasted
for probably 1-2 weeks.
About a week ago, they both got sick, although the fan-tailed
female is much, much worse than the regular male.
They both stopped eating. The female got red streaks in her
tail, and her top fin has been partiallly clamped. She hides in the
darkest corner of the tank, near the top.
Both eyes have bulged out on the female (not on the mle) and the
female also has developed several dark spots on her head.
Now her right eye is clouding over. At this rate, in another day it
will be impossible to see the black pupil.
The male is doing much better. He never got anywhere near as
sick as the female. He is starting to eat now, and never got the
bulging eyes or red streaks, etc.
I just tried feeding the female strained peas, but she won't
even eat that. (I normally feed fish flakes.) Last night I tried
freeze-dried shrimp, and also dried bloodworms.
Until today she acted very hungry, but would just spit all food
out as soon as she tried to eat it. Tonight she is just "sniffing"
the strained peas, and not even trying to eat.

I'm assuming that both fish got nitrate poisoning. It was
terribly high for over a week. The API test for nitrates was deep,
deep red.
I've been doing major water changes for the past several days,
and the water is almost back to normal. The nitrates are now about
10-20ppm.

Can anyone suggest what I might be able to do for the female, or
is it likely that she will die in the next day or so?
If you need any more info, I will try to provide it.

Please help if you have any experience with this. Thank you
very much!

Dave

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>freshwater>goldfish

dr-solo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 194

clouding is usually due to increased slime coat, which thickens due to
toxic water conditions among other things.

it might be she has columnaris in the mouth, a bacterial infection.

continue to do water changes and if you got gravel you will need to
clean that as it could be the source of the high nitrate readings.
here is how to clean the gravel without toxing the fish
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/care/care1.htm#REMOVING

then you might consider giving the fish a 30 second salt dip. this
seems to help with columnaris. however, you do need to put some salt
in the tank to stimulate their slime coat turnover.
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/disease/treatment/trtmnt.htm#salt
start with 1 teaspoon of salt with no additives per 5 gallons,
increase over next couple days to 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons. you can
let the salt levels drop then with water changes.
Ingrid

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:37:56 -0400, Dave123@home.com wrote:
> I have two goldfish in my 29gallon tank. Each are about 5 inches
>long, and I have had them since March.
> I confess that I got lazy recently and did not do water changes.
>As a result, both fish lived in a _very high_ nitrate environment,
>even though the ammonia and nitrite were zero or minimal. This lasted
>for probably 1-2 weeks.
> About a week ago, they both got sick, although the fan-tailed
>female is much, much worse than the regular male.
> They both stopped eating. The female got red streaks in her
>tail, and her top fin has been partiallly clamped. She hides in the
>darkest corner of the tank, near the top.
> Both eyes have bulged out on the female (not on the mle) and the
>female also has developed several dark spots on her head.
>Now her right eye is clouding over. At this rate, in another day it
>will be impossible to see the black pupil.
> The male is doing much better. He never got anywhere near as
>sick as the female. He is starting to eat now, and never got the
>bulging eyes or red streaks, etc.
> I just tried feeding the female strained peas, but she won't
>even eat that. (I normally feed fish flakes.) Last night I tried
>freeze-dried shrimp, and also dried bloodworms.
> Until today she acted very hungry, but would just spit all food
>out as soon as she tried to eat it. Tonight she is just "sniffing"
>the strained peas, and not even trying to eat.
>
> I'm assuming that both fish got nitrate poisoning. It was
>terribly high for over a week. The API test for nitrates was deep,
>deep red.
> I've been doing major water changes for the past several days,
>and the water is almost back to normal. The nitrates are now about
>10-20ppm.
>
> Can anyone suggest what I might be able to do for the female, or
>is it likely that she will die in the next day or so?
> If you need any more info, I will try to provide it.
>
> Please help if you have any experience with this. Thank you
>very much!
>
> Dave

Dave123 · Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:39:09 -0500, dr-solo@wi.rr.com wrote:

>clouding is usually due to increased slime coat, which thickens due to
>toxic water conditions among other things.
>
>it might be she has columnaris in the mouth, a bacterial infection.
>
>continue to do water changes and if you got gravel you will need to
>clean that as it could be the source of the high nitrate readings.
>here is how to clean the gravel without toxing the fish
>http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/care/care1.htm#REMOVING
>
>then you might consider giving the fish a 30 second salt dip. this
>seems to help with columnaris. however, you do need to put some salt
>in the tank to stimulate their slime coat turnover.
>http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/disease/treatment/trtmnt.htm#salt
>start with 1 teaspoon of salt with no additives per 5 gallons,
>increase over next couple days to 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons. you can
>let the salt levels drop then with water changes.
>Ingrid

Hi Ingrid,

Thanks for the info. I've had a Penguin 200 Biowheel filter
installed since I got the fish back in March, and also a medium-sized
Tetra filter. I've always changed them regularly, since I was
concerned about ammonia and nitrites. I've never had a problem with
ammonia or nitrites.
I always vacuum the gravel when I do a water change.

I never thought nitrates could be a serious problem, until now.

I'm going to start removing the gravel (about 1 inch layer at the
bottom)
I've always kept a 1% salt solution, since I had to deal with an
ich problem back in April.

I hope I've got good news this morning. The male appears to be
back to normal, and is eating well. I put a barrier between the two
last night, splitting the tank in half, to give the female a better
chance to get food before the male chases her away.
I gave her some strained peas an hour ago, and now they are gone.
She must have eaten them.

Thanks again for your help, and for the web links.

I'm still learning.

Dave

dr-solo · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 194

biowheel are less than optimal for GF, IMHO.

what do you change regularily? if you mean the filter, then you might
be tossing the biobug colonies out. I clean in treated water and put
them back in.

many people vacuum the gravel every time and are shocked to find, when
they drain the tank and start stirring up the gravel that the water
goes nasty and smells like a sewer. I know I did, which is when I got
rid of the gravel.

I do hope you mean a 0.1% salt solution.

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:54:59 -0400, Dave123@home.com wrote:
> Thanks for the info. I've had a Penguin 200 Biowheel filter
>installed since I got the fish back in March, and also a medium-sized
>Tetra filter. I've always changed them regularly, since I was
>concerned about ammonia and nitrites. I've never had a problem with
>ammonia or nitrites.
> I always vacuum the gravel when I do a water change.>
> I never thought nitrates could be a serious problem, until now.>
> I'm going to start removing the gravel (about 1 inch layer at the
>bottom)
> I've always kept a 1% salt solution, since I had to deal with an>ich problem back in April.
>
> I hope I've got good news this morning. The male appears to be
>back to normal, and is eating well. I put a barrier between the two
>last night, splitting the tank in half, to give the female a better
>chance to get food before the male chases her away.
> I gave her some strained peas an hour ago, and now they are gone.
>She must have eaten them.
>
> Thanks again for your help, and for the web links.
>
>I'm still learning.
>
> Dave

Tynk · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 150

On Aug 24, 5:08?pm, dr-s...@wi.rr.com wrote:
> biowheel are less than optimal for GF, IMHO.
>
> what do you change regularily? if you mean the filter, then you might
> be tossing the biobug colonies out. I clean in treated water and put
> them back in.
>
> many people vacuum the gravel every time and are shocked to find, when
> they drain the tank and start stirring up the gravel that the water
> goes nasty and smells like a sewer. I know I did, which is when I got
> rid of the gravel.
>
> I do hope you mean a 0.1% salt solution.
>
>
>
> On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:54:59 -0400, Dave...@home.com wrote:
> > Thanks for the info. I've had a Penguin 200 Biowheel filter
> >installed since I got the fish back in March, and also a medium-sized
> >Tetra filter. I've always changed them regularly, since I was
> >concerned about ammonia and nitrites. I've never had a problem with
> >ammonia or nitrites.
> > I always vacuum the gravel when I do a water change.>
> > I never thought nitrates could be a serious problem, until now.>
> > I'm going to start removing the gravel (about 1 inch layer at the
> >bottom)
> > I've always kept a 1% salt solution, since I had to deal with an>ich problem back in April.
>
> > I hope I've got good news this morning. The male appears to be
> >back to normal, and is eating well. I put a barrier between the two
> >last night, splitting the tank in half, to give the female a better
> >chance to get food before the male chases her away.
> > I gave her some strained peas an hour ago, and now they are gone.
> >She must have eaten them.
>
> > Thanks again for your help, and for the web links.
>
> >I'm still learning.
>
> > Dave- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Don't forget that nitrifying bacteria are sticky and adhere to every
surface inside the tank.
These bacteria are not just in the filter media.
However, simply rinsing the media in old tank water is the best thing
to do. The only time you'd want to toss it out is when it's worn, has
holes, etc.
As far as the gravel goes, as long as you aren't over feeding, and
vacuum during water changes there shouldn't be too much gunk in it in
the first place, therefore it's not a problem.
When over feeding occurs, a tank is over stocked and water changes get
forgotten or the vacuuming gets skipped...then you're going to have a
problem.
It's not a gravel problem, it's a slacker problem.