Kelsta

Woah, that sounds pretty radical!! Shedding stomach lining?! Oh well as long as they seem happy and un-stressed. I'll just let things take their course now. Cheers

Thanks so much, that's great. Will just assume it's either parasites being expelled or something else harmless. Will just continue with the Droncit and vacuuming and hope for the best Also, thanks Jolliolli - will try the stuff you mentioned if symptoms persist after the Droncit treatment.

Could be aye. I know when you worm cats and dogs their dead tape worms get pooped out. I do indeed hope that's what's happening. Maybe the fish had tape worms. Gross, the poor things! My neighbour's cat once pooped out a live tape worm! It was disgusting. I assume that if they're being pooped out they'll be dead, and therefore no threat to the fish? If there's anything left that didn't get sucked up the filter intake it will hopefully be vacuumed out, but not for a fews more days.

Hey! Could internal parasites cause float problems?! Maybe that's why Flossie has had such bad issues with float, and now she seems a bit better since the prazi...? Just an un-educated guess...?

Oh my... will the prazi be getting rid of them or is there something else you have to use for internal parasites?

Cheers

Actually!! Man, I'm blond - memory like a seive... Last night when I got home from work, all the goldfish were doing poos that were really really long and white and thin and stringy. Not like normal food-coloured pooop. Fish didn't seem concerned and were behaving totally normal. What could this mean? Should I worry about it ignore it?

Oh thank you Caryl, you are such a godsend! I am so glad I got hubby on board with the prazi. Hopefully this will be the solution. We have been salting as well, so I was pleased to read that's the right thing to do. They've had three treatments now with thorough vacuuming and water changes etc. The goldies are looking happy. Still go to the surface now and again to 'breathe' but not for long. Sometimes I catch them yawning. But the float probs are gone, and the ripped fin isn't getting any worse. Fingers crossed aye! The borneo suckers are remarkably happy and healthy looking now too. They must've had the gill flukes as well.

Well, Flossie has stopped "hanging" at the surface, although she does swim up there a lot still and still 'pipes' or gulps in air from the surface. Interestingly, she used to have bad float problems, but this seems to have improved markedly. I have not noticed Flipper doing his dolphin dives - although it's only been 8 days. We have so far done two treatments, 4 days apart. Due for another good vacuum and re-dose tonight. Perhaps it will take some time to notice a major improvement. Sometimes the fish still look like they're chewing.

Yeah I have Borneo Suckers in my un-heated tank with my goldies. They're doing well

Hey guys, just updating... Firslty, I've finally convinced hubby to treat with Prazi and we did it last night!! Woohoo!! :bounce: I've also been doing some serious research - having the day off work helps! - and found a couple of things. I found out my fish had a few symptoms I hadn't even noticed as abnormal... Doc Johnson (www.koivet.com) says split fins can actually be a secondary stress indicator of parasites, such as gill flukes. I also discovered that the "injected fins" (red veins in the tail fins) I had asked about are a stress response. Can also be due to various things but the only thing it could be in my case is parasites or bacterial sepsis as the water tests are all good. Assuming it's flukes. Jumping, can also be a symptoms of either poor water conditions (irritants) like high ir low pH, ammonia etc, or else it can be parasites. Once again, because water tests are god, assuming it's flukes. Also hanging at the surface (leaning up, head to surface) can be low pH or else gill probloems - bacterial infection in gills or flukes. Once again, assume it's flukes as no outward sign of bacterial infection in the gills. So, armed with all the info we have treated with prazi for flukes, and will see of that stops the symptoms. Id so, we've found the problem. Thanks everyone for your help and support

Thanks everybody! Hubby and I treated our tank with Prazi last night!! Woohoo!!! That took about 6 months of persuasion... :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

I use a very good one that tests for everything - I'm sorry I haven't got the name on me just now, but it's a dropper test with bottles of testing solution for ammonia, nirtite, nitrate, pH, etc. It comes with test tubes and an instruction leaflet and I find it very accurate and it lasts for ages. I got it at Animates but they don't always have them in stock - just pop in and take a look. You really want a kit that tests everything to get a full picture of the water quality. It cost about $75 but it was totally worth it. Hope this helps

Hi I have goldfish in a cold water tank that gets up to 25 sometimes in the hight of summer. My goldfish seem just as happy in the warmer temps, however I do try and bring those temps down using ice packs when it gets above 22-23. Goldfish are usually more active warmer temperatures, and also eat more, which means they produce more waste, so you have to be very diligent about keeping the water quality good and doing heaps of changes. Because goldfish are a cold water species, they tend to thrive better in cooler temperatures, but they are also very good at acclimatising as long as the there aren't sudden drastic changes in temperature. Something esle to bear in mind is that there is less dissolved oxygen in warmer water, so you'd need to makre sure the tank is not overcrowded in the first place, and ensure there is lots of aeration as well. Just keep an eye out for yawning and hovering at the surface for air.

Oh thank you! That's wonderful! I'll take it home to him and see what he says

Hey thanks for that - you learn something new everyday.

Yeah, that might be good actually. In fact, we do have a friend who works at a fish store and she has goldfish - maybe I should try and get her on board. I'll get him to come to the shop this weekend with me and we'll see if she can help. Thanks

Thanks everyone - treating goldfish who also share a tank with minnow and borneo sucker fish. The minnow flash and the suckers jump around madly sometimes, so I'm guessing they are also carrying the flukes. I actually do find this site and a couple others extremely helpful and the prazi treatment methods/dose advice I've read all seems pretty consistent, and I'd be more than happy to go ahead and treat based on that - my problem is convincing hubby. He needs a qualified professional to confirm it before he'll go ahead with it. What we have here is you typical 'husband doesn't trust wife, but husband trusts professional who says exactly the same thing as wife did in the first place' scenario. He doesn't even trust the advice from Doc Johnson - the Koi Vet website! "Anyone can claim to be a vet on the internet, it doesn't mean they are..." Droncit is pure praziquantel, and I already have some from the vet. Unfortunately this vet was clueless about fish which did not help the husband situation... :roll: Salt is great for most things, but actually doesn't get rid of gill flukes.

Oh thank you Caryl, I'll keep an eye out because a week isn't that long - I've been arguing with hubby about it for a year already! :roll:

Oh thanks for that kd123 Actaully, pure praziquantel is the best treatment available for treating Flukes because it's extremely gentle, completely non-toxic to all varieties of fish and plants and doesn't affect your filter, and is very effective at completing erradicating the flukes. In NZ, you can get pure prazi in the form of Droncit tablets from vets. It's used for treating cats and dogs, but is ideal because it is pure prazi with no other ingredients. Problem is most vets arenot familiar with fish, but they will still sell it to you if you explain what you're doing

Hi Guys I am totally desperate here, does anyone know of any vet anywhere in NZ who knows about fish? (Or even a vet nurse or anyone who works at a vets?) I really need to get someone to professionally advise how to treat for gill flukes with Droncit so my other half feels comfortable going ahead with it. (He has trouble trusting the internet...) PLEASE! Any help will be immensly appreciated!

I am so convinced now that my fish are simply weakening over time due to gill flukes and I NEED to treat with Prazi, but I need a vet to prescribe the dosages.

Yep, goldfish, but there are no lumps - I don't know what kd123 was referring to.

Yeah I wish it was that easy. If he found out I did it without his input my life won't be worth living... What I really need is a vet that can actually prescribe treatment including doses. (Even though I already know all that!) He had a hernia at the fact that I was taking dosages off the net. For some reason, he would trust the advice of a vet. But I can't find one anywhere! Even if there was one anywhere in NZ that I could email... Man, I'd give anything to find a vet who could confirm the dose and then hubby would follow directions. Does anyone know of any vets or vet nurses in NZ that I can call or email who actually knows about fish and prazi/Droncit????

Well, if my fish are weakended due to flukes, that would make sense as I've had them for almost a year and they definitely don't have any other nasties as they've been treated for all but gill flukes. My hubby refused to let me treat with Droncit (After I'd spent $70 on it...)because he was frightened that I'd got some dodgy advice off the internet and I would kill his babies with "dog wormer". I have not been able to talk him round to it since. I didn't see any flashing, but they came from a shop and I've read EVERYWHERE that they always carry flukes on them when you buy them. If they have gill flukes, they will have had them for their whole lives and slowly be succumbing to them. I really want to treat with Droncit, dammit!