HELP! Goldfish tailback got white fungus/mold!

[hongseow]

HELP! Goldfish tailback got white fungus/mold!

Can anyone help me please. my goldfish back towards the tail got white fungus growing, DESPITE i put anti ich, anti fungus and even change the water again and again, what is wrong. and there si some smell coming out of the fish tank. it's only one fish and nothing else, i took our the rocls and pebbles and changed to a super big eheim pro 2222 filter and a UV sterilizer. dosn't seem to be helping at all.

please help. I duin want it to die and my mom is asking me to throw away becasue she say got the smell and its making her and my sister sich and will be infected with disease. (i personally think my mom is protect of my sister but that's ayone personal dillema) issit true?

Please help.

Phil

[mickthefish]

hi phil, the first thing to do is at least a 50% wc then use salt and water in a small bowl get some cotton wool then get your fish out and with the cottonwool wipe the infected area by soaking the wool in the salt mixture squeeze as much liquid from the wool and wipe it til it's gone, put it back in the tank and add the anti-fngus treatment you have it should clear up then
mick

[benny]

Phil,

The smell may not be from your tank itself. Did you check around it? Perhaps a deomposing lizard?

You need to keep your water REALLY clean for now to help your fish. And use only the correct medication, which is in this case anti-fungus. Both Waterlife and API makes good medication for fungus.

Hope your fish gets well soon.

Cheers,

[aqualover]

water temperature too low? I used to have this problem too. I know some bros may not agree with me, but everytime I turn on my aircon, my fish gets white spot the next day, this effect was consistent over months and it took me a while to notice the trend. I've read that bacteria multiply rapidly below 28 degrees, so having a heater may help. Experience goldfish owners, do correct me if I'm wrong.

[Justikanz]

Goldfish do not need heaters. They are cold water fish and actually do better in cool waters. Actually, fish tanks in Singapore do not need hearters, generally speaking...

My fish tank water can be as low as 22C when I switched on my aircon and my fish are ok.

It is the sudden (ie. rapid, as in several degrees change (eg. 30C to 22C) within 1 hour) that stresses the fish and causes them to develop whitespots.

When you think there might be a problem, it is best to actually take a picture of it and show us. It might not be a problem at all. By dosing the wrong medication, the fish can get sick for real, if it never was in the first place. Also, the wrong medication will stress the fish further.

Hongseow, do you have a picture of the tail? Usually, goldfish develops a white growth on their fins that are ugly, but harmless.

Also, a healthy tank does not smell. Else, a lot of our homes would smell like terrible by now as we all have tank(s) at home...

[aqualover]

Yeah, I thought so too, but then again, how come I've seen so many LFS have heaters in goldfish tanks? Sometimes I learn by observing what most LFS do. For that matter, I've never seen any LFS airo-con their shop. So either they are trying to keep their operating cost down or they are trying to stabilise the water temp.

[Justikanz]

Sadly, a lot of LFS do not know what is the right thing to do. A lot of them merely copy what they had observed. A lot of magazines suggest adding heaters to heat up waters as the magazines were originally published for European or American readers. There is no need for heaters in Singapore. Water temperatures do not fluctuate a lot and neither does it drop to less than 25 without the help of fans or air conditioning. And with no knowledge that goldfish is a cold water fish, it will recieve the same treatment as all the tropical fish at the LFS... Since you are now reading AQ, it would be good to re-learn some stuff that you had picked up from the LFS...

On LFS not getting air-conditioning, think of the operating costs for them if they do that.

Ok, I think we had gone really off track... back on thread, Hongseow, please update us on what happened to the goldfish.

[zeotz]

On the fungus issue, I occationally have them on one of my gf too despite very diligent waterchanges, and good water quality parameters. I also tried removing all gravel and DW and plants so that I can control the environment better. But still I got fungus infection every now and then. My problem however, is that this particular gf like to stay at the top, exposing some of its fins. Thats where it gets the fungal infection. At first I tot its got SBD, but then in the evenings, it rests by floating at midtank level, so I guess thats not the problem. (anyone with alternative views, most welcome to hear)

Normally without trreatment, the fungus will go away after about 10days. But if too much, I take it out into quanrantine tank (bare tank, no filter, just aeration), . For medication, I put salt and Bufuran (Alternatives are anti-fungal medicines or Oxycure, but I find bufuran works faster). After that put back in main tank once the fungus is almost cleared, usually after 3 days. the other two gf almost never get infected.

From what I read the logic in using raised temperature to cure dieses is that the stuff that cause the infection has lower tolerence for higher temperature fluctuation. I have done it by raising the temperature to 31deg (slowly)together with oxycure, maintain for about a day to treat gf problems (judged by the fish poo condition and general perkiness level). It is not because gf do better in warmer water.

[XnSdVd]

For that matter, I've never seen any LFS airo-con their shop.

Biotope. aka: "that fish shop with aircon"

And I'd agree with thomas. Goldfish originate from Japan. Which, in case you weren't aware, has winter.

Another thing, when keeping goldfish you should be VERY careful what you feed them. They're "pedigree" fish in the sense that they can't survive without human care. And since they're actually Koi/Carp, they're vegetarian. And THAT means they need lots of fibre in their diet in the form of sayy... Koi food? Most reputable brands list "Crude fibre" on the back of the bottle. Failing that, wholemeal break or chopped vegetables(lettuce) would be good for them.

Improving their diet could go a long way in curing the fungus.

[valice]

And regarding the foods for Goldfishes, I learnt from someone that it is actually bad for them to be fed on floating pellets or flakes as they suffer from inbalanced float bladder easily due to the constant gulping at the surface... So maybe might want to change to sinking types instead...

[XnSdVd]

I'd imagine that's why hikaris' golf fish food sinks. Being japanese I guess they're in the best position to know about the fish.