Goldfish - Pinched wasted body - Help!

diverdad

Hi,
I have 7 goldfish in a pond. The pond itself is an adaquate size for the fish. There are possibly 2 Green Tench in there also, I only catch glimpses of the little buggers now and again. They are too dark, fast and shy for tracking.

I started with 8 goldfish but lost 1 to Dropsy. The water has been checked for ammonia and nitrate levels and all is good. Due to recent weather I don't have to worry too much about water changes.

6 of the fish are healthy and fat (not over fed fat, just filled out nicely). The other fish which is a beautiful fantail has had some movement problems from when I first got them back in May. It always seemed to favor one pectoral fin (the one on the front right), the fin seemed to be a bit 'clamped'. It didn't spread and appeared to get better.

Lately the fish has become noticable thinner with an almost concave shape to its flank. Swimming is erratic and slow.

Today I found it resting on a ledge of the pond just below water level. I've scooped it out (without any trouble it bearly struggled) and isolated it.

Any ideas anybody?

Silverfish

Could be any of the following:

1) The fish is just genetically unwell. Sometimes you just get 'faulty' fish, that are never quite right and are susceptible to illness and / or keel over dead.

2) The water parameters aren't right (but I'm fairly certain with all the rainfall that they're okay)

3) General illness

4) This is the most likely - fantails are 'fancy' fish and are not suitable for outdoors. They prefer warmer temps and fluctuating temperatures can make them lethargic and sick. Also if it's in with several other single tailed fish, it will be the weaker swimmer and therefore won't be getting sufficient food as it's in competition with faster stronger fish. It certainly would be unlikely to survive a winter outdoors - is this it's first year in the pond?


Any chance you could post a picture of it?

diverdad

Hi Silverfish,

I treated the isolated fish with tonic salts and an anti internal bacterial remedy. it seemed to rally a little but yesterday it was again on the bottom and now leaning towards one side with all fins tightly clamped against its wasted body.
I don't expect to find it alive when I get home from work.

It wasn't a 'fancy' fish just an ordinary goldfish with very beautiful spread fins which fanned out behind it. The first year for all the fish in the pond. Bought 8 and looks like I'm about to lose a second (previous one had dropsy). Is this a normal survival rate (80%) for fish?

Thanks for all your replies and advice

Silverfish

Hmm, the trouble with the long finned 'flowy' fish is that they just aren't great swimmers, so if they're weaker than the others at all, they're last to the food and first to have problems.

Could be just a genetically weak fish, that can happen - the runt of the litter as such.

Just monitor the rest of the guys and don't add any new fish for a while... see how the rest get on.

I know I keep harping on about it, but do you have a test kit?

diverdad

TBH I only mentioned the flowy fins as an aside. I don't actually think that it was getting pushed to one side. I could watch it feeding with the others all the time and enjoyed it because of its great looks (flowy fins)

It was still hanging in there yesterday.

diverdad

The poor fish lost its fight overnight and was found floating on the surface this morning.
I had tried the tonic salts, the anti-bacterial drops and a little coddling.
This morning I was prepared to get a radical treatment; a bath in a solution of Methylene Blue

From Wiki.........

Aquaculture
Methylene blue is used in aquaculture and by tropical fish hobbyists as a treatment for fungal infections. It can also be effective in treating fish infected with ich, the parasitic protozoa Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. It is usually used to protect newly laid fish eggs from being infected by fungus or bacteria. This is useful when the hobbyist wants to artificially hatch the fish eggs. Methylene Blue is also very effective when used as part of a "medicated fish bath" for treatment of ammonia, nitrite, and cyanide poisoning as well as for topical and internal treatment of injured or sick fish as a "first response".

I used to have a lot of success with this in the past with tropical fish. I can be a bit of an ordeal for the fish but it can do the job.

I had also gotten some flake fish food and some expensive tasty, tempting bloodworms to stimulate the apetite. No joy.

Incidently, I did take your earlier advice and had gotten several test kits for the water. All was clear.
All other fish are healthy and seemingly happy.