Disease id please

[magnosis]

Ugh. I noticed some white spots on my goldies' forheads appeared during the course of last week.











What is it, what causes it, and how can I cure it ?

[Dorrie]

Hi,

IMO, it looks like open sores with maybe a little fungal infection.

Your goldies either picked a fight or rubbed off against something.

Since we are both in Québec, I must warn you that some of the more potent fish medications are illegal on this side of the border without proper permits.

But don't worry, the injuries seem benign enough that a good course of Pimafix and Melafix (available in most pet stores and chains stores with a pet section, remove any carbon media in your filter during treatment) should do the trick.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[magnosis]

I'm starting treatment now. This got delayed because I was dumb and used sponges as filter media without checking if they were fish-safe.  Few days after I started to get cloudy water, so I first took out those sponges, ran some carbon to get rid of possibly unsafe chemicals from the sponges, and now, with the carbon (and cloudiness) gone, I'm ready to medicate.

Should I use Pimafix AND Melafix together ? These are expensive .. will be around 50$ for treating 45g of water thru a week.


One a side note:
I will try and contact a friendly horse vet and see if they sell this stuff. OK, you're probably laughing at this point, but hear this:

My parents used to raise dogs (now they raise horses).

For years, they had to use some very expensive medication to treat eye & ear problems.  Recently, they found out that the exact same medication is also used for horses; it just happens that a horse need about 30x as much as dogs do, so they buy it by the gallon instead of a little 5-oz tube. 

Turns out a gallon is about 4$ more expensive than the little tube.  It's like, 25 times cheaper, for the exact same product (different name, same composition)

Talk about ripping off dog & cat owners out there

So, since then, I'm always second careful before buying medication for small pets...

(I've been careful to leave out the medication name, I don't want to be responsible for someone feeding cattle medicine to his hamster !)

[Quatro]

Its the same sort of thing when comparing an aquarium owner to a pond owner.  The pond versions of Melafix and Primafix are a lot cheaper then the small aquarium bottles.

Primafix
Pond 480ml $16.99 treats 4800gal
aquarium 473ml $10.99 treats 946gal

Melafix
Pond 480ml $15.99 treats 4800gal
aquarium 473ml $10.39 treats 946gal

[Quatro]

On a side note I just remembered that there are recipes to make your own which is maybe 100x cheaper.   

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112592

[dan2x38]

I am not clear on the sponge issue? How long has this tank been up and running? What are the water parametres? Have you added any new fish or anything else besides the sponges? Where did these sponges come from?

If theses sponges caused those lumps I would not add any meds. to the water. I would continue carbon filtering and do a series of some large water changes every 2 or 3 days apart for a week or so. Many times a fish's conditions improve with just a water change. I would add 1 tpsn of salt per 5 gal. with the water change. Add the salt mixture slowly over several hours to bring the salt level up to avoid any shock. Then replace the ratio removed from the additional WCs each time.

Trying to guess at what is wrong with a fish & treat by just blindly guessing can be worse than the original issue. You can also damage the bio-filter with meds so be careful. I would observe them closely and ovoid meds for the time being. if a fish is already stressed adding stuff to the water can further stress them. Anything that goes into the water can coat their gills and hamper O2 absorption.

Maybe some some goldie pros can nail this down. You could post with the pics on the GAB http://thegab.org/. It is a forum for just goldfish/koi and your best shot to get a good diagnoses for your fish. Good luck...

[Dorrie]

Trying to guess at what is wrong with a fish & treat by just blindly guessing can be worse than the original issue. You can also damage the bio-filter with meds so be careful. I would observe them closely and ovoid meds for the time being.

I would not have recommended Melafix and Pimafix (ideally together, yes) if I thought there was an issue with them. In my experience, they can only better the condition of ill fish and have no effect on healthy fish, so I don't see what the problem is here if these are the meds being used.

[aqua666]

I think your best bet is te following.
I work with zebra fish, rainbow troat and gold fish. in order to get rid of things such as the one in the picture which looks like a funngs growing we use Formalin.
Buy some formalin and use 1ml of formalin for every 10 gallons of water.
just warning you about couple of things. first of all used gloves and safety glasses in order to handle formalin and also don't breath the fumes out of it.
second make sure you have a lot of arraration in the tank since fomaline uses the oxygen in the tank and brings your oxygen level down.
formalin is the most effective treatment I have experienced with these stuff.
Ive tried melafix and prima fix on the fishes I work with in these instances but formalin works like a miracle.
you can leave formalin in the water for prolonged time with the dosage above and will do nothing but good to your fish only.
I work with these fishes in university of Ottawa and we have been doing this for god knows how long and I think it is the best treatment you can do.
if you have any other concerned let me know
thanks.

[dan2x38]

I would not have recommended Melafix and Pimafix (ideally together, yes) if I thought there was an issue with them. In my experience, they can only better the condition of ill fish and have no effect on healthy fish, so I don't see what the problem is here if these are the meds being used.

What I am saying is to try water changes first that any treatment can stress a fish. I did not say anything against any particular med. But those meds (as many) can create a film of sorts over the gill tissue which if the fish is stressed can cause more with a reduced O2 level.

My suggestion was to add salt and do water changes observe the fish to make sure it doesn't worsen. If the water was in bad condition it can cause different things that will also go away with simple water changes. It is safer and much cheaper. But if the condition worsens you have to take more serious steps. To quick to add meds can hurt instead of help.

[magnosis]

Trying to guess at what is wrong with a fish & treat by just blindly guessing

Relax I'm the opposite kind of person. I tend to over observe/analyze/research things a lot... 


Thanks to all for the awesome feedback, this community is great 

[magnosis]

Two big water changes (with prime), a week of carbon filtering, no meds, and the fish are getting better.  The white spots haven't reduced in size much but they are paling away, maybe 50% less white than it was 10 days ago.

Again, thanks to everyone !

[dan2x38]

Awesome... WCs are always the best first step. The medicated shotgun approach can be more harmful than not.

[woof99]

One of my goldfish has this on and off, and I was told by thegab.org that it can be a normal(ish) thing in some goldfish but I cannot remember the name of it!  You can always post on their website as well, they are goldfish experts!
Seems to be a genetic issue, that is of course after you are certain that water quality is pristine!
I would add salt, make sure your tank is ycling well with 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia.  Goldfish are very sensitive to those especially as they start to get bigger!
Good luck!