Hi there I was hoping someone could help.

I have a goldfish with lots of blister looking things on its body, two of which are very large and lots of other smaller ones.

Can i treat it with something to help it? what is it?
The fish itself is very happy, swims around fine and very active.

It does ocaesionally try to scratch against objects - a sign of itch?

The tank is around 13" in length, 7" high and 7" wide.
No other fish in the tank. Looking to buy a bigger tank now as the fish now is about 6" long

Fish is around 10years old

One small pump, no filteration, tank completely cleaned every 1-2 weeks.

Its had these bumps/blisters for quite a couple of years now. I cant be sure if they are getting worse, but they are very large. Other than that the fish does seem happy enough.

Here are some pics











Any ideas, i hate to see it like this - i have had the fish since i was around 12. Poor sharky

Hi Countdown, welcome to the site. Sorry to hear about poor Sharky, hopefully we can figure out a way to get him better.

To start off, do you have a water testing kit? It would be helpful if you could tell us the ammonia, NO2 and NO3 levels. If you don't have a kit, your LFS might be able to do one for you.

The growths look to me like they are some kind of tumour. There is no specifi treatment for these, they will probably clear up on their own. However the fish can be a risk of infection at this stage, so there are some things you can do to help. If you got a filter for your tank that would help the water quality a lot. Goldfish grow pretty big and poo a lot so they need pretty strong filtration.

Moving him to a bigger tank like you mentioned would help a lot. Try to allow him at least 10 gallons, I would go for 15-20 personally. Don't forget to cycle it first though (I can give you a link if you want)

The scratching could be due to parasites, which is also a sign of declining water quality. When you clean the tank, what exactly do you do?

Hope that will help a bit

wow, thanks for the quick relpy.

I should say and as you've gathered even though i have had the fish for a long time i am a complete novice about fishkeeping.

BUT i'm keen to learn!

No i dont have a water testing kit, i'll go tomorrow and try and get a kit. and post up the levels. My LFS isnt very good, but i'll see if i can get one - if not i'll try getting one of the internet.

Yeah it definately needs a bigger tank. 15 gallons sounds massive, what sort of length would that be? I would be needing a stand for it as well, as my chest of drawers its sitting on wont take any more weight, the wood is already splitting with the weight of the current tank.

Can you recommend a tank. Not looking to spend lots of money, something cheap but does the job.

What about the filter, will any one do? a particular size? do i get one with a built in pump? Again i'm rather skint so nothing expensive.

When i clean the tank, i remove the fish and just completely clean it, empty it, clean the sides and wash out the gravel.

No i'm not sure what cycling is, can you give me a link.


Thanks for the help and advice.

Ross

Hi Ross, not to worry! We all have to learn it sometime, it isn't that difficult really.

Firstly, 15 gallons would be about 2 feet in length. I would recommend getting a second hand tank if money is an issue. Only one of my 4 tanks was brand new. Try ebay or your local paper.

Filters you can get fairly cheap on the internet, or again you could get a second hand one. Make sure it's not too old though, otherwise it might be difficult to get replacement filter media (sponges etc)

Cycling is pretty easy to understand, basically it is the chemical process of the fish poo (ammonia) breaking down into less harmful substances (nitrIte and nitrAte). Here's an article that will explain it all http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... 71ad7576bebd71b8d4e68ff4e

You really should not be empting all the water. but without a filter you would have to do quite a lot of part water changes each week about 30% each time. the good bacteria is present in the gravel and should not be cleaned except with a gravel cleaner. you can make one yourself there is a picture of a home made one in the photo gallery. you really could do with a filter though as it must get very mucky without one. catching your fish can also cause it stress. You are in the right place now and will get lots of good advice.

Yeah i'm reading up on stuff just now, i see i havent been doing things very well. That will change though.

i've seen this tank on ebay, think i'll put a bid in fot it, what do you think? it worked out at roughly 22 gallons.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jewel-Fish-Tank ... ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I see it has a heater, but i'm guessing i could just turn this off.

I'm just reading all the forum stickies just now and cycling articles.

The cycling seems quite complicated - is the objective to try and get the ammonia and NO2 to zero and a reading of some sort of NO3, and that means the tank is ready?



Anyways i'll try and get hold of the water testing kit, and post up the reading of the current tank. They will obviously be pretty bad.

And i'll try and sort out a new tank and try this cycling.



Is there a link to how to clean the fish tank correctly and how often?

Have you read this as it hopefully should help explain things But once your tank is matured/cycled then you can do a part water change weekly or fortnightly.

http://www.bva-awf.org.uk/pet/buying/goldfish.asp

Don't panic!

Yep, that tank is cool, a lot of people have Jewel tanks. The filter should be OK for 1 goldfish and like you said, you can just turn the heater off or set it really low.

The aim with cycling is to grow a batch of good bacteria in the filter to convert the ammonia into nitrIte and then nitrAte, this stops the fish getting ammonia poisoning. To do this you need a source of ammonia (most people use fish food) otherwise the bacteria will not grow. We will help you out with that in more detail once you get a new tank.

When you clean your tank you should siphon out part of the water. How much water depends on your readings but generally I would suggest between 10-20% per week. You can vacuum the gravel at the same time- you can buy a gravel vac or use a home-made one (there is a picture of mine in the gallery). Puch the vac into the gravel and twist it round. This will dig up any poop and it will get sucked into the siphon tube.

Once you have taken out the water, keep it to one side. If you need to clean any ornaments or the pump head or anything, do it in the old tank water you have taken out. If you use tap water, it will kill the good bacteria that is growing on them.

When you top up the tank again, make sure to use a dechlorinator like Aquasafe or Tapsafe to get rid of the chlorine, since that will kill good bacteria too.

Hope that helps, if you need to know anything else just ask

Yeah thanks for the help.

I've been reading loads of stuff now (thanks to you all for the links) and i'm getting clued up on it now.

I understand the cycling and what its doing, just not to sure about all these readings you would get, and how you know to adjust how much ammonia you are putting in the tank.

Anyways cross that bridge when i get a new tank, i'll post another thread so you can help me cycle the tank when i get it.


Slight miscalculation on the volume, its nearer 10 gallons that tank i saw on ebay. Still looks good though. I believe its the juwel 60 - and i can buy the stand new for £30 for it

I saw this test kit, they seem expensive though, but i'll need to get one.
http://www.theaquariumshop.co.uk/tetra-test-laborett-o-148.html
i'll see if i can get one in LFS.


AND FINALLY

Do you think this will help with the problems on the fish, do you think the tumours will ever go away or decrease in size?


Thanks for all the help and support, very good community - so glad i came across it - i was just googling try to find what was up with sharky.

You are proberly better off getting this

http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/Z176349.asp

(second one down)

It does the three most important ones, and dont worry about it saying its for ponds, they are all unvirsal