Lionhead Fancy Goldfish

Question
I have a Lionhead Fancy goldfish she hasnt eaten in about a week and is upside down in the corner and stopped swimming around, I can't seem to get any answers that are the same from petsmart and can't find a doctor that will look at a fish. I live in Northern Virginia, Leesburg. She had some white cotton like spots on her belly and now I see a black spot, HELP.  I never thought I would love a fish, she is the cutest thing I have ever seen. The pet store gave me medicine to put in her tank to treat ick so now it has been 7 days of the medicine and I am going to clean her tank and change the filter and test the water. any help would be appreciated. You  can call my cell at 703-999-3219 as I don't always get to my e-mail right away and really need to help save my fish. Thanks, Lynda

Answer
If she had white "fuzzy" stuff that is a fungus and the treatment only treating ick will not work. Get a treatment that covers fungus. I completely understand how you feel. I had a beautiful and personable angelfish for ovr 6 years who died resently, I understand how hard it can be. The white fuzzy spots that have turned black are fungus. Unless they are white spots like salt, then that is ick. But if it is fuzzy its fungus. The only thing you can do is treat her. But I do have to inform you, at such a late stage in the disease/parasite, it is difficult to say if she will make it or not. Also, the stress of the treatment sometimes is too much. Nonetheless, treat her anyway. You can get the treatment at any wal-mart or petstore. Just make sure it says that it treats all fungus. There is not much else you can do. I also want to tell you, no matter if she makes it or not I am sure there is another lionhead little goldfish out there just waiting for a good owner like you to own them and take care of them. While losing any pet is very difficult, dont give up on pets and remember there are so many more pets out there in need of good caring homes. I hope the treatment can help, if it doesnt I hope you find another goldfish to pamper and love just the same. Let me know if you need anything else. I truly understand how you feel. To me, fish are just like dogs and cats and any pets. I love animals of all kinds and all of them were created by God for us to care for. While saying all of this may not calm you, I hope you can understand I know what you are going through. I am always here to help.



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In response to your comment questions. It depends on the fish as to how long they can survive. I would imagine no longer than one week. However, it depends on the fish and the condition its in. The water changes should be done by the instructions on the bottle. Sometimes the instructions are to treat for three days and than do a partial water change and than treat again. You should follow the instructions on the treatment for the water changes. If the fish is healed from the treatment, do a 20-25% water change after the treatment is all finished to remove a big amount of the treatment. Do this every day for three or four days to remove the excess treatment. Also, once the treatment is done, replace the filter cartridge with a new one. You should see a change in the fish in a day or two. If nothing happens, two things could be the case - 1. the fish may be too stressed to recover or 2. the disease/parasite is too far along to be healed. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need anything else. If you have more questions, please ask in a follow up so I can answer your questions quicker. Thank you for the comments. Let me know anything you might need.