Re: Sick goldfish - red streaks in tail and slight swelling
#15
I found your site because of this thread concerning goldfish with red streaks in the tail. I hope your fish is recovering, Nina.
I am having the same issue.
I have a pale Japanese Ryukin Fantail mix. She is 7 inches long, in a 29 gallon tank. We have had her for 8 1/2 years. She is our only fish. No live plants, no tank buddies. Just her and decorations, alone in her tank. She is our only pet and means the world to us.
We moved over the Summer so her tank has been established since August. Before that, it was several years.
I have to be honest, she has had red streaks in her tail since 2014 after I had surgery and my husband was in charge of her keeping for 6 weeks. They never went away, only appeared to fade or be more prominent off and on the last nearly 3 years. I thought it was permanent damage that was irreparable. Other than the streaks, she has been an active, social fish until this last week.
We keep her tank on the kitchen counter. She has always been super social, she follows me wherever I go in the kitchen. In particular, she is very attached to me and I her. I would be devastated to lose her. :'( So I hope you can help me.
3 weeks ago, we went camping and I missed her tank cleaning that weekend. I normally would have done. We came home and everyone became ill with a virus. I was caring for sick kids and myself - her tank was overdue for nearly 3 weeks. I finally tackled it on March 11th. Vacuuming it out kicked up all the poo of course. Before I cleaned it, she was fine. After I cleaned, she sat on the bottom of the tank.
I thought she was just upset after the big change. But after 3 days and seeing her still acting out of character, bottom sitting. I began to worry. My youngest child said she saw her shaking or quivering. I began scouring the internet. I found several help websites - one suggested I give her a salt bath and that stunned me. He / she said his success rate was 50/50, resulting in half of his fish dying. So I skipped their advice. I found your site which seems logical and level-headed. So here I am.
Everything I have read points to nitrate poisoning. I have performed a 50% water change 2 days in a row now. I have only ever used paper test strips. They are showing her water completely ideal in every aspect. I have ordered the liquid test kit since I've read here on your forum that it is more accurate than paper. Unfortunately, it won't arrive until Wednesday.
We've had her tank so long, I can't remember what filter it is, but we use Tetra Whisper bio bag cartridges in large, if that helps any.
I have been using Prime, Ammonia tabs, aquarium salt when doing her water changes. I also dosed her daily for a week with Melafix since the big water change on Mar 11th.
Thanks for any help.
Quinn
PS Let me know if I should post this separately in another thread.
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