# Help identifying goldfish illness, maybe ulcer



## MollyO (May 4, 2013)

Hello all, I am new here and sadly have joined with a negative slant. My 14 year old comet goldie, called Molly, has developed some kind of ulcer, which I noticed this morning. I attach a photo (which was difficult as she tends to hide when I get the camera out):










She is in a 90 litre AquaStart 620 aquarium, for which I do weekly water changes of around 20%. When I do the water changes, I use a pump to clean out the gravel, and I have a sponge to scrape off the algae. The tank is not in direct sunlight and the water temperature this morning is 20 degrees Celsius. Need to go and get a full range water test kit later, but pH is 7 and no ammonia detected. She shares a tank with 5 small white cloud mountain minnows, for around 5 years.

Molly has been a hardy little thing. When she was a couple of years old, she developed some kind of tumor on one side of her head. The pet store told me nothing could be done about it, and to euthanise her. But she didn't look in distress, just swimming a bit lopsided, so I didn't have the heart to do it. To cut to a few years later, the tumour disappeared completely and she's been going ever since, even though she's lost most of her colour. I hope this latest development is going to be similar, although this looks more internal.

Any help would be deeply appreciated,
Paul


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Hi there,

I can't say I am any kind of expert on fish disease - especially identifying them, but I have recently just successfully treated one of my gold barbs for an ulcer (for the second time I might add) using a combination a 5 day course of myxazin and 0.1% aquarium salt. You should be able to use both meds in with the white clouds, if you don't have a hospital tank?

I am impressed by your fish - tough little thing! To go through so much and live so long, what a marvellous fish.

Phoenix


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## MollyO (May 4, 2013)

Thanks Pheonix, much appreciated! I went and picked up some salt and myxazin today - very glad that the local aquatic centre had some in stock.

Yeah, she is a hardy companion. If it helps anyone, her diet is Tetra Gold Japan in the morning and green peas in the evening. The only downside to this is that the white clouds have taken a liking to the peas as well, and they refuse to eat anything else now!


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

From what I understand peas are good for goldfish because it helps keep their digestive system working - something many of them suffer from disorders of. I am sure your minnows will be tempted by other things, mine quite like live food. Actually I haven't offered peas for a while - thanks for reminding me!

good luck with treating the ulcer - keep an eye on it though in case there is something else going on. As you have seen a tumour before on the fish it could be a recurrence.

Lumps and bumps are caused by a number of ailments, my goldfish currently seems to be suffering some something strange, a number of lumps and swellings that sporadically ooze white stuff from small pimples, which quickly disappear again. I think this is parasitic in nature, but I will have to wait and see what the anti-parasite meds do. Eeep!


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## MollyO (May 4, 2013)

So cool - so you have minnows too? What live food do you use? I should go onto these forums more!

Hope your goldfish get well. Parasites sounds scary!


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

If you're buying live food from a pet shop, be aware that it can carry disease. Unless you can cultivate your own live food, a safer alternative is to use frozen cubes of something like daphnia. But yes, it's good to give them a varied diet 

Sorry I can't offer advice on the ulcer as it's outside my experience!


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## MollyO (May 4, 2013)

Thanks NaomiM, I'll go a hunting at the weekend at my local aquatic centre for frozen cubes.

The ulcer hasn't changed at all, but it's only been three days treatment. Molly doesn't seem perturbed at all.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

I used the freeze dried packets of daphnia - NaomiM is right there can be issues with the fresh live food.

Have you added the 0.1% aquarium salt too? You can get something called aqualibrium salt with an added buffer so it doesn't mess with the pH. 0.1% equates to 1g salt per litre of water. If you have a very large tank you might want to use a smaller hospital tank for a short period whilst medicating, so long as the filter is pre-cycled (I always keep a spare sponge inside the filter in my tanks for use in a hosp tank). 

I have 7 white clouds, 2 of the wild colour and 5 of the golden type. Now they have matured I can see I have 3 males and 4 females  Lovely fish.


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## MollyO (May 4, 2013)

Hi, yes, but I just used API Aquarium Salt. Thanks for the heads up about Aquilibrium though. The ulcer/boil hasn't changed size but it has changed colour to a deeper red colour. Molly still seems her usual self. Today is the 5th and last day of Mxyazin. The local shop recommended I give it a break for a few days, and then try a course eSHa 2000 - so alternating between the two. 

I have 5 white clouds, all wild colour. Two females and three males: the females are certainly in charge! They boss around the other three when it comes to feeding time. I remember seeing the males fight for the first time, all fins glaring. So colourful, but it looked pretty violent! 

Thanks for the tip about the spare sponge. I'm going to have to start thinking about a hospital tank for the future. How small can you go?


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

I haven't head of eSHa2000 - did they say what it does? Let me know how you get on with it, if its any good I will keep it in mind for the future.

You will need to do a water change and might be an idea to use a carbon filter to clear the water of myxazin before adding a new treatment. Really you should do this when switching between any treatments, as they might not interact well when mixed.

How small a hospital tank... hmmm guess that depends on the size of your fish, and the size of the filter. A goldfish generally needs very good filtration because of the amount of ammonia they dump out. For a short period of time you could keep them in a smaller tank than is generally recommended, so long as you have a good filter, and keep an eye on the water chemistry. Definitely not long term though.


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

Having just had a quick look at what this eSHA2000 is - sounds intriguing, but keep a close eye on the copper levels. Both myxazin and this stuff contain copper compounds, which i'm sure can't be good at high levels for a long period.


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## MollyO (May 4, 2013)

I will - thanks for the extra info. I will add the carbon cartridges in for about four days before beginning a course of eSHa 2000.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

I've used eSHa2000 before - it's fairly mild, and is a broad-spectrum medication, so good for if you're not sure exactly what the problem is. The copper content is extremely low, but still it's always good to run carbon for a couple of days between different meds, as Phoenix advised


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