Sick Veil-tail Goldfish

Question
Karen Hi.  For the past 2 weeks we have been having problems with our veil-tail calico goldfish. She is over 2 years old and quite large.  Her tank is 300liters and lives with 2 other goldfish.  A while back we noticed that seldom she made a spastic movement with her mouth as if she was choking. After that, about 13 days ago, she became less active and her fesese were like long white threads.  Nine days ago she stopped eating so we started antibiotics (aquafuran) with Nifurpirinol.  She is now towards the end of the second cycle of treatment.  Yesterday was the first time in  9 days that we tried to feed her.  We gave her some staple food she put it in her mouth chewed a bit then spit it out.  We tried again with frozen spirulina and she did the same. It seems as if she has an appetite but she cannot swallow the food.  Also the threads have not stopped. Because we live in Greece and pet medicine is not very easy to come by, the best brand we have here is Aquarium Pharmaceutical and Serra.  If you can suggest some other treatment we would we appreciate it. Please help if you can.

p.s. Today a friend told us that maybe a pebble or something had lodged in her throat. I checked and couldn't see anything.

Answer
Hello!

I'm not real familiar with the condition you described in your Veil-tail but I have some ideas.

White stringy feces can be a sign of stress due to water quality problems, aggressive tankmates or stress from an illness. So this makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is wrong. Testing the water would be the ideal first step towards narrowing down the possibilities. If you could test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates that would be ideal. Or some petshops will test a sample of water for you.

If ammonia and nitrites come out at ZERO and nitrates read low (below 20) and your pH is stable then it could be an illness definitely.

*It never hurts to do extra water changes just as a precaution as well as it being a good stress reliever for fish when they are sickly.*

I do somewhat suspect the possibility of internal parasites being responsible for the loss of appetite and stringy feces. Weight loss is also a common symptom and general listless behavior. Treatment for internal parasites usually involves medicated foods. I'm not sure what's available in your area you may have a hard time finding anti-parasitic food and getting your goldfish to eat it as it is might be very difficult. Garlic is an alternative to treating internal parasites and it is also safe when used as an occasional preventative treatment. Discus enthusiasts often treat new arrivals or fish that are having a hard time eating/adjusting with food soaked in garlic extract. Adding some aquarium salt to the aquarium may further help reduce some stress and deter parasites as well.

But its difficult to be 100% positive on the diagnosis of your goldfish. It could also be a bacterial infection which would require strong medication and the little fish may not make it.

Maybe you should visit  thegab.org  and ask there on the forum or look through the articles on goldfish health and sickness and maybe you'll be able to come up with a better diagnosis.

I think you are the best judge towards your goldfishes symptoms and appearance and with going off of what I've said here and the suggested website, you should be able to come up with a solution.

Best wishes and I hope this helps!
Karen~