Question
Golfish rash
Hi Nathan,
I inherited this chubby goldfish, Fugly, in my office a few months ago. Fug's left eye is kind of messed up - it's all blackened and I can't really see a distinct pupil - I have no idea if Fugs can see out of that eye. The right eye is normal.
Last week, I cleaned Fugly's tank. There are about 11 L of water in it. I put Fugs in a 1L beaker full of the old tank water and saved another 700mL or so of tank water. Knowing that our tap water is hard and treated with chloramine, some of the water I added was De-Ionized water (since we have a tap of DI water anyway where I work) because I figured it would not have chlorine in it and perhaps the hardness of the regular tap water would make up for the lack of ions in this DI portion. I kept Fugly in the 1L beaker for a couple of hours while I let the 50/50 DI-tap water (about 9L) sit in the tank. Then I added Fugly back in with his living plant and the 1.7L of old water. There are no other fish in the tank. Now I realize that I probably shouldn't have changed so much water.
When I came back on Monday Fugly's bad eye seems more cloudy and he has a substantial red rash at the rear end. Fugly appears to be as well as ever if not better, but the rash is new. What should I do for poor Fugs?
Thanks!
I attached a picture of Fugs' right side. I think the rash might be slightly larger on the left side, but you get the idea (and that was the best picture I got).
AnswerHi Erin,
Your Goldfish's rash is caused by poor water quality. First of all, I would like to point out one major factor. The tank size is too small for goldfish. The minimum size for Goldfish is 20 gallons, or 76 Liters.
In a small aquarium, toxins will quickly accumulate and poison the fish.
First of all, do you have a filter? All fish need filters. The most important function is that filters provide biological filtration. Fish produce waste, and decomposing waste turns into toxic ammonia. This ammonia is the number one cause of fish death. Fortunately, beneficial bacteria will develop in the gravel and in the filter, and will remove this ammonia. This process is called the cycle, or the Nitrogen cycle.
So, you will need to get a larger tank for your Goldfish, because he will grow to an adult size of 10-15"! (30cm).
Until you manage to get a larger tank, performing 10% water changes in his current tank every day will help fix his problem. That's about one liter of water changed every day, to help help dilute any toxins in the water.
Adding a slime coat enhancer, such as Stress Coat. If you are not doing so already, use a tap water conditioner to make the tap water safe. (tap water conditioners remove chlorine and chloramine, as well as heavy metal ions. This may be all that you need to make your tap water ideal for your fish.
Good Luck, and I hope he recovers!
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