Tia Maria Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Would love some advice please. This evening I noticed mould-type patches scattered around the glass in my tank. The tank is 160 litres, cold water, has a filter, live plants and is home to two lovely goldfish (although I'm still a little confused about specifically what type). The tank sits just below the windowsill (ie. not windowsill height) in a bedroom. I have had the tank for approxiately 8 weeks, although the fish much longer - they were originally in an outdoor pond. I'm hoping the mould doesn't have anything to do with a sick fish that recently died? I suspect my treasured fish died of TB after doing lots of research re each symptom as they presented (pop-eye, swimming upside down, dropsy, slack broken looking tail, blood spots or ulcers on body and finally seizures - this occurred over a 12-week period and I spent lots of time researching and treating each symptom). I removed him from the pond when I noticed the pop-eye and isolated him until that healed and his general health appeared OK. After placing him in the tank with my two other fish, I had to remove him 2-weeks later because of dropsy, and it was downhill from there. Back to the tank, I undertake weekly water changes of 25% and added some tonic salt to the tank last week as I noticed that one of the fish was zoomin down towards the gravel to itch its side. I didn't want to do anything more drastic as I can't see any visible parasites, ie. no white spot and no visible hooks or worms. Are these all related??? Am loving my fish since bringing them inside, originally they didn't seem to like the tank but now when I sit and watch they come over and pace back and forth to say hello Any advice would be most appreciated :bounce: :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 By mould what do you mean - can you describe it or post a pic i.e. colour, is it furry? Sorry can't help with the sick fish but someone else will be able to for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 The mould and the illness are probably unrelated, though it does sound like there is something wrong with your fish - keep on researching, and possibly post in the disease section and the cold water section for advice. Have a bash with some methelene blue. Some people don't like it but it is a good all-round antibiotic type treatment. It's main drawback is that it dyes stuff blue. The mould sounds like simple brown algae. It can be scraped off and is more of an annoyance than anything and often appears in a newish tank. Keep up the water changes, clean in the tank regularly - particularly siphoning the gravel to remove waste. It is always worth testing your water to make sure the parameters are all good, a test kit is always a great thing to have around as most problems can be lessened by sustaining good water quality. The brown stuff should disappear over time as the plants start to out-compete the algae for nutrients. Especially if you keep on top of it with regular cleaning. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Don't get too carried away on the disease front. I'd avoid medications as well, tonic salt is probably the best idea at this point. Meth Blue isn't an antibiotic, and stains everything. Doesn't hurt if you have a quarantene tank with one fish in it, but don't add it to the main tank as it wont have an effect worth the pain. Sounds like something is making their immune systems weak. You sound new to having fish inside, so I'd wager the likely cause of your fish getting ill would have likely been an ammonia and/or nitrite spike. This sorts itself out with time as the good bacteria build up in your filter (hence the term 'mature tank'). If you want to test for this in the future, you can get the test kits at your local pet store. But yeah as above, it wont be mould, it'll be a type of algae, in tropical tanks we have plecs etc that eat it, but in coldwater you need to scrape it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted July 2, 2008 Report Share Posted July 2, 2008 Meth Blue isn't an antibiotic My bad. It's actually a bacteriostatic. Different action. It can also adversely affect filter bacteria is used for a prolonged period. I have found it is a useful short-term treatment though, even if the aerator hose on my UV filter is slightly blue now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tia Maria Posted July 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 Thank you for all your feedback and support! I will try scraping it off, was just nervous about doing so in case it spread it around the tank more. On the subject of what it looks like, if almost looks like powdery cloud like small masses, dotted around the tank. They are a camo green (although you have to look fairly closely to ascertain that), and seem to be growing a bit larger. I think there may be some on my java fern too! I have also noticed some white stringy like substance (although not thick enough to be droppings) floating around and caught on the plant leaves. Except for the occasional flashing, the fish seem pretty happy at the mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 The cloudy green stuff, is probably spot algae. Use a glass scraper for glass tanks, or a soft sponge with pressure for acrylic tanks. Not sure what the white stringy stuff is. A photo would be great if you have a digital camera. I'd offer to pop around and have a look in the weekend but I'm out of gas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 11, 2008 Report Share Posted July 11, 2008 How's our fish? Did you get the "stuff" off the tank? Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tia Maria Posted July 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2008 Hi there, algae prob under control. Seems to come off very easily, and I managed to get most of it during this weekends water change. The flashing symptom has however erupted to both fish being covered in patches of a white milky looking covering. Originally thought it was white spot but it appeared overnight (bizarre) and am thinking that it may be something different given its rapidness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 13, 2008 Report Share Posted July 13, 2008 Here is one site about fish disease see if you can match up with anything on here? http://www.thatfishshop.com/health/ident.htm another one: http://www.gbasonline.org/disease_chart.htm Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tia Maria Posted July 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 Thank you! Love this forum I treated the fish as per chilodnella and they are remarkably better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 14, 2008 Report Share Posted July 14, 2008 That's good to hear :bounce: ...keep us updated on their progress! Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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