Slime Coat - Goldfish

Question
Hi Chris,

I wonder if you can help me?  Last week I lost one of my Goldfish to a parasite infestation.  He was perfectly healthy until I introduced a new Goldfish into the aquarium 3 weeks ago.  Literally in the space of a few days my old Goldfish became quite lethargic and eventually died despite great efforts to save him.  Before he died I brought him to my local pet-store who took a scraping from him and saw the parasites.

Since then I have dosed my aquarium with Kusari Wormer Plus which is used to kill flukes and parasites - this was on the recommendation of the pet-store.  I dosed the tank on day one and again on day 3 as the infestation seemed to be quite bad.  I was told to also use Melafix in conjuction with the parasite treatment for 7 days.  

My query is this - my remaining Goldfish looks as if his slime coat is coming off.  Over the past day or two I noticed that his tail fin was becoming quite whitey around the egdes and this morning he has patches of white stuff coming off his body.  It doesn't look like fungus but looks as if his slime coat is coming off.  Apart from that he seems healthy and very active.  Would the mix of the two treatments have caused this to happen even though Melafix is an all-natural remedy?  I did a 50% water change on Monday but it hasn't made a huge difference, actually his coat has gotten worse since then.  What do I do now?  Would hate to lose this Goldfish too.

Details of my aquarium are as follows: - ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, PH is 7.6, Nitrate is between 0 and 5.  I do weekly water changes of about 25%, my aquarium holds 180 litres of water, I have two filters on the aquarium.  My aquarium has been set up since September 2007.  I now have one Goldfish.

Answer
Hi Katie;

I'm so sorry you lost your old fish. That's a shame.

Your new fish is probably shedding some dead skin and excess slime coat as a reaction to the treatment. As the medication killed the parasites it may have irritated the skin too. If he shows signs of fungus or other secondary infection you may need another medication. Hopefully he will be just fine very soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins