# Sad fish help?



## Razz (Jan 6, 2016)

Hi, I'm a newbie!

I have 6 fish, 1 sad adult shubunkin fantail (9 inches), 3 juvenile goldfish (3-4 inches) which are the fantail's babies, the other adult died about 18 months ago. I also have 2 baby shubunkins which are in a separate tank. My problem is the adult shubunkin (Kipper) seems to be depressed all the time, and sits at the bottom at the back of the tank and rarely moves. There are times when Kipper moves erratically rubbing against decorations and the stones as well as chasing the other goldfish. Kipper has bloody streaks/spots in his tail and white spots on his body as well as red sores. Water changes make him worse, the goldfish have these white spots on their tails. We have treated the tank with Aqua care anti-fungus and whitespot and before that we tried salt treatment to no avail. They have a 450 litre tank. Any ideas on how to help them please?
Thanks,
Razz


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2016)

Are these white spots the size of a grain of rice? If so it could well be white spot/ick causing some of the problems. This is very contageous. Let me tell you something. I had 3 fantails years ago Keiko, Luna and Willy, They were fine apart from Luna's swimbladder we were sorting out then woke up the next day found Luna breathing but clearly poorly, had a look at her and found she had ick, checked the boys they had it too, they didn't have it the day before. Treated them for it but within half an hour Keiko, Luna and Willy all died at the same time. Obviously they got it during the night.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

White spot ( ich) can be hard to treat. It helps to increase the water temp as this speeds up the life cycle of the parasite. Only the free swimming stage can be killed I seem to remember so raising the temp and treating consistently for a long period works best. I have used interpets white spot treatment and this worked for me but it was hard work getting the fish back to health again.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2016)

kittih said:


> White spot ( ich) can be hard to treat. It helps to increase the water temp as this speeds up the life cycle of the parasite. Only the free swimming stage can be killed I seem to remember so raising the temp and treating consistently for a long period works best. I have used interpets white spot treatment and this worked for me but it was hard work getting the fish back to health again.


That's the one ich how did I manage to spell that wrong.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Whitespot/ich is difficult to treat in coldwater fish. You may need to continue dosing the medication for longer than it says on the box, as the parasite's life cycle is longer in colder water and the medication is likely to break down before it has been effective. You can get whitespot meds aimed specifically at coldwater fish, such as this one http://www.tetra.net/de/en/aquaristik/kaltwasserfische/pflege/arzneimittel/tetramedica-goldoomed but I have no idea how effective they are. Salt treatment is often the best option, but you've already tried that. Sorry I can't be more help :-/


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## Razz (Jan 6, 2016)

Thanks for all the advice, my tank is a constant 21 degrees, so I'm wary to take it much higher. But the plan is to try the anti fungal treatment again for a longer period of time and to set up my new Vectron ultraviolet after. 

Thanks again,
Razz


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

The antifungal won't treat white spot. You need specific white spot meds. Unfortunately the meds only kill the free swimming larvae. The spore form and the form when ich is in the fishes skin are unaffected by the treatment. Raising the temp increases the progress of ich through its life stages so that the free swimming stage us reached sooner and therefore killed by the medication.

Your cold water fish should be able to tolerate warmer water for a short while as long as you heat the water slowly and increase aeration.

The vectron ultraviolet is really helpful too but again only has an affect on the freeswimming stage that pass through the uv.


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