# Trying to ID disease



## Elliott225 (Jan 9, 2014)

I lost both of my fancy goldfish. They lived in a 75g tank. I used two filters. A canister for the biological and a hang on for debris. Temp was set about 78 but ranged between 76 and 80 through the year. The thrived. Growing from 2 inches to about 6 inches, not including tails. 

In the last couple of days I started to notice they would rest on the bottom near the filter inlet and heater. Four days ago I found them not eating. One began it show a problem. Clamped fins and white coating. It kind of looked like peeling sunburn. This was all over their body. The first one died 3 days ago. The other one looked fine. By that evening he started showing signs of the same thing. Yesterday morning I went and got something for Ich/Fungus and dosed the tank. About 4 hours later that one was gone.

Does anyone have a possible idea what that was???


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

There are a few possibilities. The cold snap we just had probably set off a chain reaction of sorts, starting with ick which left tiny sores in the skin, ripe for secondary infection.


----------



## Elliott225 (Jan 9, 2014)

Talked to a local fish store. Possible bacterial outbreak. The whitish I noticed could have been them slime coating sloughing off. I tried a remedy for Ich but that may have made the problem worse for the last fish. 

Now it on to re-building the setup. Scrubbing, disinfecting, start over from scratch.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

just for future reference..........NEVER....put a heater in a tank where you are keeping goldfish..they're preferred temps are in the low to mid 60s...or even a little cooler..
which also means that you should not mix golodfish and tropicals....
research your fish to find their requirements..


----------



## Elliott225 (Jan 9, 2014)

I used to keep goldfish is unheated tanks. They did not do well. They did not grow or eat well. Over 20 years ago I tried koi in my 75g. I added a heater and they did much better and they actually outgrew the 75g. 

I have done things wrong over the years that should not have worked, but they did. Probably just luck but it did. 

I used to use nothing but U.G. filters and still had a cloudy tank. Also, had more ammonia spikes that decimated my aquariums. Used to acclimate new fish for an hour before releasing into the community. Did water changes weekly. 

Now I use either canister, hang-on, or inside filters. Water changes are done only as needed. New fish are usually acclimated for about 30 minutes. I will pour out most of the water in the bag and add tank water. Let them get used to that and then release. 

I my got doing everything wrong and like a neophyte but the fish thrive and grow. The death of these two goldies just has me stumped. They grew about 4 inches in a year. That is pretty good I believe. The 150g aquarium has 1 silver dollar that has been here for about 7 years. The blood red parrots and jewel cichlids I got about 6 months ago. The blood reds laid eggs but from what I've read the males are infertile so no hatching. The jewels are on their 2nd brood. First brood was eaten. Second brood is growing nicely. About 50 fry are making themselves at home and eating like pigs. 

So I must be doing something right.


----------

