DeanAsploded

I'm a softy and a pushover, I admit it.

Earlier today I rescued an 8'' goldfish from a filthy ten gallon it could barely turn around in. The person who owned it previously made no fuss over my asking for it. "You want my goldfish? Well, yeah, go ahead I guess."

She had no container or net that was big enough to place it in, yet small enough to get in the tank, so hopefully it will forgive me for using my hands. Thankfully that didn't scare it overly. It swam right in, at first, even, and was reluctant to leave as I placed it in a bucket big enough for transport.

There are some scales missing from it, and a few bare patches. The previous owner couldn't remember if it came with a white/faded looking tail, but the tail is ragged and dirty anyways.

At the moment (now seven hours after arriving home) it's swimming around happily in the twenty gallon that houses my disabled and sadly forever undersized goldfish. The disabled goldfish seems thrilled to have company, and has been swimming around and through the rescued goldy's fins since it was put it.

Should I try to treat the ammonia burns on the rescued fish? It's swimming around normally, gills are moving smoothly and at a proper pace, and has generally been acting like a fish. lol. Unless it's a natural method I'm not incredibly interested as the twenty is the only available slot for it at the moment, and the disabled goldfish has proven fragile/the first to be ill-affected in past years.
---
Additional information: Once/if the rescued goldfish heals up it will either be added to the 'hibernation' pool I keep my pondfish in over the winter, or will be added to the pond once it's up and running again in the spring.

Shawnie

what a great story..just keep up with partial daily water changes and some stress coat every day..give that 2 weeks and you should see a huge change...then you will have to do probably 2-3 changes a week to keep the ammonia down in that tank with the two of them...I would add him in the spring as he hasnt had the chance to adjust to the weather changes this year good luck !

Red1313

Oh wow ten points to you!
Shawnie gave the right advice as far as I know ammonia burns just need to heal in their own time. You could add some stress coat to try and help accelerate the healing.

CHoffman

Good for you!!!!..Lucky goldfish . Great advice given above. Hope he makes a full recovery for ya

DeanAsploded

Thanks everyone! I'll be sure to up my waterchanges, but there's good filtration on the tank, and my disabled Goldy has never created as much waste as a normal one. There's also a good six month minimum on setting up my pond for the warmer months, so there's plenty of time for the new goldy to heal. =]

My biggest concern is just the disabled goldy getting enough to eat. Back in 2007 when I first got it and put it out in the pond a raven scooped it out of the water and attacked it. Luckily there was someone nearby who noticed and called out to me. Raven flew off and luckily the poor thing was still alive and flapping around when I got over there. Ever since then its mouth has been stuck half-closed, its body stopped growing at 3'' shortly after the incident, and its fins are over-large in comparison with the brothers and sisters it was bought with.

I guess we'll see in the next few feedings if there's any problems! I don't expect there to be a huge one, though. At least at the present moment the disabled has been able to keep up with the rescued one, although still takes the regular breaks from swimming it has always done.

Wish the rescued one luck! *crosses fingers* =]

Shawnie

so you answered your own questions !! good luck with him and again, such a great story

DeanAsploded

Haha, alright, alright, I admit the main point of this thread was merely sharing my excitement in hopefully helping the new goldy. It wasn't so much that I needed help, it was that I wanted a bit of confirmation on my preferred methods. =]

CHoffman

Shawnie

confirmation given and dont forget to share pics when you can

Red1313

hehe if you're worried about the other goldie eating you could try hand feeding it. Charlie just learned how to do that today Blood worms serve many purposes

DeanAsploded

When I fed them ten minutes ago the rescue went up, took just under half, then went back to re-arranging my pebbles. The disabled's fine so far! I'll try teaching them to hand-feed if problems pop up in a few days. Or maybe I'll just do it for fun. lol =P

Red1313

I love hand feeding my fish however Charlie is a bit different. He sucks the food off my finger and my betta's try and take my finger to

Lucy

Awwww, this is a wonderful story.
I don't have anything to add except what a great save! I'm so glad you took compassion for this fish.

gremlin

I agree - the best treatment for ammonia burns is lots and lots of clean fresh water. Goldies can deal with a lot. Many many years ago, my younger sister was helping me clean out my pond and picked up one of my goldies to move - dropped him on the cement. You can't tell which one he is anymore. Another time I went out one morning and one of my males was laying on the cement sidewalk next to the pond. There were muddy cat paw prints all over the wall. The fish was barely moving and all dried out. I was sure he was a goner. Put him back in the pond and slushed him back and forth a few times to kind of get him rinsed off and the water moving through his gills. He was fine. I have one right now that a cat flipped out. He has sunburn/scrape all down his back, but he swims and eats just fine. I'm sure yours will do well also. Congratulations on the excellent rescue!

DeanAsploded

Thanks gremlin! I'm just a bit worried because I don't know how long the rescue was in the ammonia-filled tank. Goldfish are amazingly hardy, though, as your own stories prove, so I doubt I'll actually lose it. =]

The first year I had my tank up and running we had a whole number of "suicidal" goldfish. I didn't have a fountain on the pond at that point agitating the surface, so all my pondfish kept jumping out of the water when they went after the flies and such that landed on the surface. Luckily I've only ever came home too late once when that happened!

gremlin

Goldies are athletic!

bolivianbaby

Congratulations on the rescue!

aquarist48

Great story and rescue Dean! Keep us posted.
Ken

DeanAsploded

In comparison with my original goldfish the rescued one is absolutely huge. Three-four times the original's size, perhaps? Due to this the entire tank design had to be redone the first day. The rescue has still managed to mess things up in the tank, though. Several plants are now floaters, I've given up putting some of the decorations upright, and the rescue keeps trying to follow my original who likes to swim behind the filter intake tube (which doesn't work for the rescue! Much too fat lol) So lucky me, after just getting out of the shower and about to head to work, had to reach into the tankwater to fix the filter.

Luckily the rescue's just adorable. When I put my hand in to fix things it goes and hides (very unsuccessfully lol) behind this tiny little plant, and when I go to pull my hand out it darts out trying to chase it. The original's just smitten when the rescue, too. Hasn't left its side since it was added! Sure, sure, people say fish don't get "lonely," but it's still making me seriously consider adding an incher in there to grow once in awhile after the rescue's gone.

Update on rescue's health: Only two days and its fins have regained a LOT of color, and the bare patches are almost un-noticeably starting to fill in again. They don't look raw anymore, at the least. Pictures to come in the future! =o

joy1125

can't wait to see the pics. Great job on the recue !

Kitsune

Pictures Pictures Pictures!

aquarist48

Great to hear that your fish is improving!
Ken

DeanAsploded

Providing this works, here's a picture!

My camera takes pretty warm-colored photographs, so it hid a lot of the bare patches. The worst bits were on the tail and other side, though, but it wouldn't co-operate long enough for me to get a good shot of that.

However it is doing much better! =D

Attached Images

goldfish.jpg (160.8 KB, 30 views)

Red1313

Aww! Cuties both of them!!!

Je55*e

They are adorable/beautiful =)

joy1125

He's looking very good ! It's truly awesome what some tender-loving-care will do for a fish, or any living creature for that matter. Again, I must say kudos to you on the rescue, your fish will be eternally grateful for your great act of kindness and compassion !

DeanAsploded

Thanks guys.

yukoandk

Thank you for the great story! I'm so happy for your fishies