Help! Sick Oranda Goldfish

Hello! I have two oranda goldfish in a 29 gallon tank and one of them is sick. His fins are flared up and red and they have black on the tips. There’s also a black spot under his tissue crown. The other oranda is perfectly fine and doesn’t have any of these problems so I know its not ammonia burns. Ammonia, pH, Nirtrite, and Nitrate levels are all at healthy levels. An employee at Petco told me he probably has a bacterial infection so they recommended using Melafix for 7 days with no carbon filter. After the water change, he still looked the same. I went to Petsmart and they also said he has a bacterial infection and recommended using Artemis Microbe-Lift for 10 days. I did that and he’s STILL not showing any signs of getting better. He’s still eating, he’s very enthusiastic about eating, so I figured that’s a good sign. In the morning both fish swim around the tank but then the rest of the day they just huddle together at the bottom of the tank and sit there. I’m really worried he’s really sick and I feel helpless that I don’t have any solutions. I would love if anyone could give me some answers, thank you!

 

not sure on the black tips.

you can try an aquarium salt treatment.

the nitrate look a bit high. its best to keep nitrate at or below 20ppm. make sure you're doing atleast a 50% water change every week.

 

not sure on the black tips.

you can try an aquarium salt treatment.

the nitrate look a bit high. its best to keep nitrate at or below 20ppm. make sure you're doing atleast a 50% water change every week.

Oh, the directions say that 40ppm and below is fine so I figured it was okay. I do a 25% water change twice a week because I only have a 5 gallon bucket. I will try the aquarium salt though, thanks.

 

Oh, the directions say that 40ppm and below is fine so I figured it was okay. I do a 25% water change twice a week because I only have a 5 gallon bucket. I will try the aquarium salt though, thanks.

I guess I don't understand basing the size of a water change on the size and number of buckets one has. I use a 5 gallon bucket for my water changes too but still change out at least 50% of the water each week even on my 55 gallon tank. I actually have 2 - 5 gallon buckets for waste water plus a 4 gallon and a 2 gallon for fresh water.

There is more to doing water changes than just removing nitrates. There are things that build up in the water that most of us don't test for. Without keeping them diluted with water changes they just keep building up.

Before adding any other kind of mediation including the salt I highly recommend you change out most of the water in this tank. If it is too difficult to change out most of it all at once try doing 2 50% water changes today about 4 hours apart. Do the same thing tomorrow. These water changes should get the nitrates down to almost nothing.

Once the water changes are done add the correct amount of salt. If you have one put the aquarium salt in a fine mesh media bag. Put this bag in your filter and let it slowly dissolve or you can just dissolve the salt before pouring it directly in the tank.

In the morning both fish swim around the tank but then the rest of the day they just huddle together at the bottom of the tank and sit there.

In my humble opinion the very best way to keep our fish healthy is to keep their water as fresh and clean as we can. As you can see above I do agree with adding the recommended amount of salt. Remember, you will have to add the appropriate amount to the fresh water each time you do a water change.

Don't add any to top off water. The salt doesn't evaporate so if we need to top off for evaporation we don't want to add more salt.

Please post a picture of your whole tank. Maybe we can see something Huddled together at the bottom of the tank does sound like something is bothering them.

Just one more thought. If you have live plants in this tank the recommended amount of salt may affect them so be prepared for that. If you have live plants you may want to start out with half the recommended amount of salt. That should help the fish while not affecting the plants as badly. If after a week or so if you aren't seeing any improvement you may need to add more salt. The fish really need to be our first priority.

 

I guess I don't understand basing the size of a water change on the size and number of buckets one has. I use a 5 gallon bucket for my water changes too but still change out at least 50% of the water each week even on my 55 gallon tank. I actually have 2 - 5 gallon buckets for waste water plus a 4 gallon and a 2 gallon for fresh water.

There is more to doing water changes than just removing nitrates. There are things that build up in the water that most of us don't test for. Without keeping them diluted with water changes they just keep building up.

Before adding any other kind of mediation including the salt I highly recommend you change out most of the water in this tank. If it is too difficult to change out most of it all at once try doing 2 50% water changes today about 4 hours apart. Do the same thing tomorrow. These water changes should get the nitrates down to almost nothing.

Once the water changes are done add the correct amount of salt. If you have one put the aquarium salt in a fine mesh media bag. Put this bag in your filter and let it slowly dissolve or you can just dissolve the salt before pouring it directly in the tank.

In my humble opinion the very best way to keep our fish healthy is to keep their water as fresh and clean as we can. As you can see above I do agree with adding the recommended amount of salt. Remember, you will have to add the appropriate amount to the fresh water each time you do a water change.

Don't add any to top off water. The salt doesn't evaporate so if we need to top off for evaporation we don't want to add more salt.

Please post a picture of your whole tank. Maybe we can see something Huddled together at the bottom of the tank does sound like something is bothering them.

Just one more thought. If you have live plants in this tank the recommended amount of salt may affect them so be prepared for that. If you have live plants you may want to start out with half the recommended amount of salt. That should help the fish while not affecting the plants as badly. If after a week or so if you aren't seeing any improvement you may need to add more salt. The fish really need to be our first priority.

I probably should have mentioned that these fish live at the library I work at and I am in charge of them. I only have the supplies that the library provides me and have to request and get approval for things I think the tank needs. Its all very ethical and annoying. Unfortunately, they don’t let me spend as much time on the tank as I would wish. As taking care of the fish is just one of my many responsibilities, they are not going to let me do multiple changes in a day because it takes time and can be messy. If it was up to me we would not have fish at all because they want them to entertain kids but don’t understand how much work goes into taking care of them. They have been healthy up until the last couple months. I have requested they get the aquarium salt though. Thanks for your advice.