I have several goldfish from...

Question
I have several goldfish from my pond that I put in an inside tank for the winter. We recently added a plecostomus to keep the algae down. A couple days after the addition of the new fish one of my goldfish started sitting on the bottom, sitting with his face in the corner and not eating much. The next day I noticed his tail starting to split. I isolated him in a tank alone, treated both tanks for ick and added water conditioner to the new tank. The sick one is hanging on, but seems lethargic and doesn't eat much. He seems to be at the surface gulping air quite often.  Can he be saved?

Answer
Hi Trish;

It sounds like he has an internal bacterial infection. Try "Maracyn 2" by Mardel or "Kanacyn" by Aquatronics. The new tank will probably have high ammonia and nitrite levels due to break-in, so make plenty of partial water changes too. Other wise, he will be more sick from that as well. New tanks don't have beneficial bacteria colonies to consume these toxins. It takes a few weeks for them to develop.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins