# red discoloration, sluggish, etc.



## fishnewb (Apr 25, 2007)

my grandfather passed away last month and i took on the fish tank he had established for months. 10 gallons, freshwater. i don't really know the species of fish in the tank, i know for sure one is a gold fish, the other 4 are silver in color with specks of purple.

they were doing great for the first few days, and now the one gold fish and one of the silver fish have a lot of red discoloration. they just float on the very bottom of the tank (almost resting on the rocks). they barely swim, and eat occasionally with the other fish. 

today i noticed that the one silver fish had a white fungus/mold growing on the side of him.

i'm such a newbie to all of this and i'm worried i've done something wrong. i have no idea what to do, i wish i had an extra tank to transplant the sick fish into but that's not the case.

any suggestions or diagnosis'?

i'd really like to do all i can to save the three fish that still seem healthy.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Make sure that the heater and filter survived the trip and are plugged in. change some water (only 10-20% since your source could be different than what they are used to, remember the dechlor). Do you have a digital camera? Try to get pics of the sick fish and post them. Ask a petstore to test the water.


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## Cichlidsrule (Nov 8, 2006)

> Make sure that the heater and filter survived the trip and are plugged in. change some water (only 10-20% since your source could be different than what they are used to, remember the dechlor). Do you have a digital camera? Try to get pics of the sick fish and post them. Ask a petstore to test the water.


The picture was exactly what I was going to suggest. If you could ID the fishes, it would be helpful, because some fish are more prone to certain diseases than others.
Did you just put new water into the tank? If you did, it still might be cycling, and there could still be nitrates/nitrites (I forget which) in the water which are deadly to fish. Also, if the water is new (or you just changed some of the water), make sure that you treated it with some tap water treatment; the copper and chloramine in most tap water is toxic to fish.


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