Young goldfish

[ducati]

At this time of the year I have problems with young goldfish. First sign is swollen gills and/or listlessness and poor swimming. If you pick them up they appear to be bleeding under their jaw. Is it bacterial and how should it be treated?

[Gecko]

Try Here: http://www.goldfishinfo.com/identify.htm

I hope that helps.

[Discusguru]

You have a bad case of Gill Flukes there.

Ron

[ducati]

Thanks Ron - but how do I know its gill flukes and not bacterial? Are there specific signs of bacterial infection?

[Discusguru]

First sign of gill flukes will be swollen gill. If you have a microscope, you can scrape the gill of the fish and have a look. Bacterial infections will be secondary.

You can treat them with prazi or malachite green and formalin. Water condition is very important so do more WC.

ron

[lmsmith]

I agree with Ron; it's def gill flukes. I'd go with the prazi to treat them; if they're still eating, get some liquid prazi or some dog wormer called droncit. Soak their food in 28mg of it, or if they're not eating, add 100mg/10l into a hospital tank for 3 hours. While they're in the hospital tank (or plastic container, whatever) do a big tank clean. Repeat the next day (you can reuse the prazi water), then do a 30 - 50% water change every day for the next week.

[alanmin4304]

Goldfish generally carry a lot of parasites that they are resistant to if kept healthy and in good conditions. The fry are so small that the parasites knock them around a lot more. You can treat the adults prior to breeding but many of the treatments cause temporary sterility so it is more usual to treat the fry.