please help

Question
Hello. I am at a loss on what to do about my beautiful pearlscale goldfish. He's very small and I've had him for 1 year before problems began. I braught home 2 ghost shrimp from a pet store. A month after i upgraded my tank to a 30 gallon it was a bit taller then the last. Soon after i noticed red streaks on both my goldfish' tales and they had what appeared to be pimples on their bodies. I was told to buy Maracyn Oxy by mardel, i did so. All the red marks went away they looked great. Then my smaller fish seemed to have swim bladder disorder he was floating around at the top of the tank upside-down. He passed away a few day later. My other fish seemed fine so i went and got 2 new goldfish. They are super healthy never an issue with them. So my older pearscales fins and tail looked like they were falling apart, i was told fin rot. i went and got maracyn-TC by mardel and it fixed his fins and tail. So now he seems to have swim bladder disorder as well. I feed him peas, i lowered the water level to reduce pressure. I keep the tank clean as a whistle. The rest of my fish are doing amazing. I do not feed flakes or pellets. only fresh frozen food and peas. The sick fish, Bubba, also has a strange red line portruding along the divider of his double-tail. Please help, it killed me when Choboni died, I can't loose Bubba I love him so much. He just sits at the top of the water and struggles so much to swimback down to eat. It's torture.......Zuzanna.K. <3

Answer
Hi Zuzanna,
I'm sorry to hear about your goldfish. :-(
Its difficult to diagnose problems like this without being able to see the fish themselves. What i feel that has happened when you upgraded to a new tank there may have been an ammonia spike which would cause the fin rot and the red streaking in your goldfishes fins. This of course would have been due to the tank being a recent setup and the system currently lacking in a beneficial bacteria population. This good bacteria of course is responsible for keeping ammonia at bay. The bacteria colonies take many weeks to get fully established. Therefore fish are at risk for the damaging effects of ammonia. Which can cause the red streaking in the fins as well as finrot. Ammonia can even burn the fish's fins and skin and leave black marks. This will happen if there is prolonged exposure to very high concentrations. But even low levels of ammonia or nitrites can cause the red streaking on the fins. Although i know you meant well, adding the medications are very detrimental to the good bacteria population so your aquarium may be having to cycle all over again.

The swim bladder problems that are quite common with fancy goldfish are often due to stress-related to environmental issues or a diet that is lacking in enough variety or vegetable based foods. It is usually not fatal and some fish can recover on their own but right now we really got to focus on the warning signs of the red streaking on the fin.

Fish can often survive through the aquariums cycling phase (when the bacteria are getting established)
But often not without sickness or loss. Im worried your aquarium may still be establishing and your fish may be at risk of ammonia exposure or even nitrite exposure (a by-product of ammonia). It would definitely help if you could test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. These levels should be as follows - ammonia -0 nitrite-0 nitrate- 20 or less. Of course you can bring a sample to your petstore but it really helps to have your own kits.

In the meantime, id do a 30% to 50% water change just in case.

With poor bubba, treating swim bladder can be tricky. While the most common cause of SBD is digestive problems like constipation, some are simply more prone to the condition than other goldfish. It can also be a bacterial infection internally. But i am hesitant to recommend any medications cause we are not sure what we are treating. And medicating fish blindly can do more harm than good.. Id recommend to hold off from feeding bubba his regular fish food and only offer him peas. This can help clear out his system and relieve pressure on his swim bladder.  It may take several days to a couple of weeks for him to recover. Something else that will be very beneficial to his health would be at least daily 30-50% water changes until his symptoms improve.

Some people have even put epsom salt into the tank water to try to relieve their goldfish, but for now try to stick to basic and gentle methods like what i recommended for helping bubba with his condition.

Feel free to contact me with any more questions you may have.

I really hope this helps! Best of luck with bubba!
Susan~