mustcooktea Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 After coming home to a dead blackmoor last weekend http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/bad-timing-vt9732.html my daughter has a new goldfish in quarantine. His name is Sparkles since we got him on Guy Fawkes day. She had thought about getting another black moor but was worried that it would develop the same floaty problems. I thought this was a good opportunity to have a go at loading a forum friendly photo. MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Very nice. Here's hoping this one goes well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cath Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 That's a great photograph - how did you take that? Have you got a decent sized tank for him? and is there room for a mate - he might be lonely in there :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 Hi Cath I'll have to pass your photo compliments onto my 6 year old since he took that photo (it was better than mine!). Digital cameras are great but fish don't stay still. He is in a small quarantine tank at the moment and I think he may be developing ich. There are a few suspicious looking spots on his tail so I have added some salt. I will add more tonight and again in the morning to get the concentration up to a .3% solution just in case. After quarantine he will join Santa (another fantail) in my daughter's 760x300x500mm tank which holds about 100 litres. Sparkles is currently about 4 cm without his tail and Santa (who we got in March) is now about 6 cm. The only other fish in there is Shrek who is the last of my son's leopard fish. He is only about the size of a neon. MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cath Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Your six year old son is a genius! Where did you get him from? (just kidding) Glad to hear you have a nice big tank for them - always a relief to hear, poor old goldfish seem to suffer a lot through small tanks. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2005 Sparkles isn't looking the best at the moment. He was such a happy active fish when we brought him home too! On Wednesday, when we noticed what looked like ich on his tail (half a dozen or so 'salt grains') I started adding salt. I added 8 tsp in three doses to the 12-13 litre tank. Those spots fell off and he was still active and eating. I had also raised the temperature a few degrees but was concerned about stressing him with the heat so left it at 21 degrees. How hot can goldfish go? Yesterday morning I checked on him and his fins were white around the edges. I am concerned that I may have overdosed the salt but perhaps he has developed finrot from the stess of everything. He was quite inactive yesterday, just hovering at the bottom of the tank and not eating. This morning he is still hovering at the bottom of the tank. His breathing doesn't seem right but I can't quite pinpoint why I think that. He seems to have a couple of white spots on his head and fins. Poor little fish! I have been changing 3 litres of the water each day since Wednesday. I have an airline in the tank to agitate the surface. Is there any more that I should be doing for the fish? Am I dosing the right amount of salt? Should I get anything for the finrot? Should I raise the temperature? MCT (feeling worried) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoezealand Posted November 11, 2005 Report Share Posted November 11, 2005 poor little guy i dont know much about ick but i hope he gets better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 11, 2005 Report Share Posted November 11, 2005 Have you treated him with a white spot remedy or just salt? Goldfish can take quite high temps for short periods. Think how hot ponds get in summer! They are bred in warm water in Asia and I would guess their pond temps would be around 28C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2005 I'm just using salt, Caryl as I understand that this can kill white spot in the correct dosage. I will slowly increase the temperature. MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Hi MCT, We realise you must be stressed out at this time.. but you need to understand that there is no "overnight cure" for white spot.. and moreso in the case of treating cold water fish. To understand the cycle that the white spot goes through see here.... http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpy ... 0cycle.htm We can see that in the first stage that the fish gets infected. This can be due to all manner of reasons.. from stress to chills.. to being run down.. or through the introduction of other fish, plants, or anything else that could hold the parasite... even a single drop of water from an infected tank can pass it on. Once these little pests get on the fish they start to feed, and will stay on the fish until such times as they are full and ready to drop off. Heat will speed this process up... but at 21C this could take quite some time.. perhaps a week or more.. and "nothing" you pour in the tank will kill it off. Once they are full they will drop from the fish.. but during this time they are removing all the energy and stamina that the fish has... so the quicker they are removed the better. Once they leave the fish.. then THIS is the ONLY time they are vunerable to any medications.. so it is at this point that you need to get the treatments going. Because these parasites drop from the fish, they are now able to reproduce very quickly, so the more of them you can remove through water changes the better. Siphon the gravel to do this, and take care to dump the water in a safe place. If you hit them at the right time, (when they are off the fish).. then you should erradicate them. Hope you can sort it out. Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Thanks for that Bill. Sparkles is looking a little better this evening. He is a little more active, his fins are looking better than they were and I can't see any white spot on him. His breathing still seems laboured and he is still not eating. The temperature is up to 26 degrees since I turned it up a notch. I will turn it up slightly more in the morning. I'll be happier once he is interested in food again but at least he has improved today rather than got worse. MCT (fingers crossed) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Sadly, Sparkles died during the night. MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 Real sorry to hear that MCT.. it sounded like it was picking up a bit. I would hold off putting anything in that tank for at least four days. The WS can't live without a host for long. Would do lots of water changes to remove the salt and reset your temp back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 12, 2005 Report Share Posted November 12, 2005 mustcooktea Have you kept fish in that tank for any length of time?? Sounds real weird what sadly is going on for you. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted November 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2005 Hi Alan The original fish that died was in a different tank which had been set up for seven months. Its other inhabitants are still happily swimming around. Sparkles was in a small tank that hadn't been used for some months. I gave it a wash out in tap water before using it. I think perhaps the stress of the move was the problem for him. When I think back, there was a tank in the store that had some goldfish in it with quite bad white spot - they looked like returned fish rather than the stores usual stock as they were quite big. The fish we got was in a stand alone display tank but the same net as is used on the main tanks were used to fish him out. Thanks for the advice on the tank, Pegasus. I was wondering what I would need to do with it before getting another fish. I will probably wait until next weekend before fish shopping again as I have exams this week. I hope the next one does okay. It's hard on children when their pet dies and then when the replacement dies it's extra bad (pretty hard on Mum too!). MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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