gremlin

My friend's pond sprung a leak so he gave me his goldfish (12 of them) They are all 6" - 12" long. I have them in a separate quarantine pond before I put them in mine, but I think they are sick. Every one of them has the top dorsal fin either rubbed off, bent over, or shredded. He told me he had rock caves in the pond that they liked to swim in. I was looking at them this morning and you can see the veins going into the fins. My sister says it looks like red vein disease. I've not heard of this. I have some Melafix that I am now treating them with. I am also going to treat my main pond (just in case). Does anyone know anything about this disease? The fish seem to be fairly healthy other than the color in their fins and the dorsal fins being worn down looking. They eat and swim just fine. Please help!

Chief_waterchanger

Possibly a bacterial infection. Melafix sounds alright to be using.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help,
best of luck.

TheEssigs

I am not saying it is, but it may be Septicemia... besides the red lines... do you see any ulcers?

If it is, its more common in goldfish than most other fish and its a particularly destructive disease. The disease is caused by a bacteria that attacks vascular walls. Once in the fish's body, it travels very quickly through the circulatory system and attacks the blood vessels and the heart. This debilitates the fish, but takes an excruciatingly long time to kill it, it takes many days to completely destroy the circulatory system. Some symptoms include: broken blood vessels in fins and extremities, lines of red along body and through fins, splotches of red and red ulcers (especially under the gill plates) and increasing lethargy.

The only treatments I've read that helps is Maracyn-2 and triple sulfur. (although, Jungle Buddies Fungus Clear lists it as one of the things it cures)... Either way, these meds should most definitely be administered in your quarantine pond, as septicemia is contagious, and PLEASE dont add those fish to your pond to you know for sure.

Hope that helped.... GOOD LUCK!!

fishlover1

This sounds like septicemia, again like the person above im not saying it is but my fish currently have it too.. I am so worried about them so im in the same boat as you. :[ See if you can look at thier bellies and really look see if there are any red lines even faint ones, i am seeing some on my fish.. Also any odd lumps on thier bellies? those are ulcers most likely. I continue to look back here for tips too. :] i wish you luck with your fish.

gremlin

One of the fish died Friday before the medicine had a chance to work ...the only sign of illness was the thick red ribs visible in the tail fin. the dorsal fin was nearly non-existant. Sunday afternoon I caught 4 of the fish that had really thick red ribs in their tails on Friday night and really looked at them close. They now look completely normal I think the Melafix is working. I will continue to medicate them for the full 7 days (per the instructions on the bottle). I think then I may redose for another week after I let them rest in clear water for 2-3 days. None of the fish in my main pond are getting sick either so I may not worry about redosing my main pond. I don't think I'll lose anymore of the fish, but I may wait a good month before I put any of them in with my fish just to make sure they are healthy.

My next questions, what exactly did they have, how did they get it, are they now 'carriers' that will infect other fish?

Oh well, the joys of fishkeeping! :