xStatic 93 Posted September 17, 2017 (edited) Hi all, unfortunately I have recently been having some difficulties with my main goldfish tank. It's a 60 gallon aquarium that previously had four smaller goldfish in it. I'm now down to two of my smallest fish. First of all, I'll mention that although the tank was "technically" overstocked with 4 goldfish in 60 gallons, the fish were nowhere near the large adult size goldfish are capable of reaching, and I performed weekly water changes of 80-90% that kept all the parameters well within the acceptable limits. Months ago, I lost my largest and favorite fish to dropsy. He had experienced floaty issues for a while, and the dropsy came on quite suddenly. I made the decision to euthanize him. After he passed I treated the entire talk with prazi and salt in the same manner I would treat a fish that was in QT. Everything was fine until a few weeks ago when I noticed my second oldest fish acting sluggish. I tried everything, was doing 50%wcs every other day, but she began to develop dropsy as well and after a few days of no improvement I euthanized her. It's been a few weeks since she's passed. My other two fish are small and active and look healthy in every way. Except--today I pulled them out of the tank so that I could do a closer inspection and I'm fairly sure there are two scales just behind the gill plate of one of my fish that are beginning to lift ever so slightly. The lift is almost imperceptible and I would not be able to get a picture of it unless I had a much nicer camera. I am really terrified this is a sign she's coming down with dropsy too. I don't know what to do next. These are two small fish with 30 gallons each, I keep up with water changes, filter maintenance, etc. just as I would if the tank was fully stocked. When I test the parameters each week the nitrate buildup is pretty much negligible. I'm thinking about starting treatment with metro soaked pellets, possibly putting them through another few rounds of prazi? I have no idea what's in my tank that can be causing this, but it's really beginning to frustrate me. I've been avoiding medications more or less until now (except for prazi) in favor of super clean water and healthy diets, but it's getting to a point where I think I need to start reaching for antibiotics or something? Thanks for any help or advice. Edited September 17, 2017 by xStatic 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xStatic 93 Posted September 18, 2017 Sorry I didn't think to add the D&D form, my mind's so scattered right now... btw this is the information from today's water reading before I did what I call a "double" water change. I know it's excessive, but I remove the fish in a small container, drain as much of the water as I possibly can, then I fill up the whole tank again (with seachem safe added of course) and then I drain the whole thing again and refill one last time. I float the fish in the container to temp acclimate, then scoop them out by hand to return to the tank. I don't do this often... only after a major issue, like a fish death, or if there's been some disease outbreak or something. My goal is to get out as much as the "bad stuff" as physically possible (bacterial, parasites, etc.). I also gave all the filter media a quick swish in tank water today, but it was hardly dirty at all since I had rinsed it a few weeks ago too. So now that's all out of the way... here's my most recent water param readings (before today's wc) est Results for the Following: * Ammonia Level(Tank) 0ppm * Nitrite Level(Tank) 0ppm * Nitrate level(Tank) between 5-10ppm, always closer to 5. * Ammonia Level(Tap) 0ppm * Nitrite Level(Tap) 0ppm * Nitrate level(Tap) 0ppm * Ph Level, Tank (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) 8.0 * Ph Level, Tap (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) 8.0 Other Required Info: * Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops? API Master Kit, drops * Water temperature? 65F * Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running? 60 gallons, running 2.5 years * What is the name and "size of the filter"(s)? Marineland emperor 400 + Aquaclear 70, both with large sponges placed over the intakes. My filters have a good amount of media--sponges + filter floss + ceramic media and are well maintained to keep the media clear from debris buildup so that flow rates and media surface area are maximized. * How many days ago was the last water change and how much did you change? Today--as close to 100% as possible, see above. * How many fish in the tank and their size? 2 goldfish--1 fantail (2", round bodied fish), 1 shubunkin (4" long, thin-bodied fish) * What kind of water additives or conditioners? Seachem safe (powder) * What do you feed your fish and how often? Give the brand, type of food (sinking/floating pellets, gel food, steamed vegetable, etc.), and how frequently you feed each. Repashy soilent green gel food alternated with saki hikari sinking pellets (purple bag). They're fed twice daily, very small amounts. * Any new fish added to the tank? Nothing new added to the tank * Any medications added to the tank? About 2 months ago the tank went through a 2 weeks worth of prazi cycles (3 day intervals), followed by two weeks of salt that was slowly increased to a concentration of 0.3% * List entire medication/treatment history for fish and tank. Please include salt, Prazi, PP, etc and the approximate time and duration of treatment. This tank has only ever been treated with prazi and salt, although I've gone through this treatment routine several times with all of the fish. I have always QT'd new fish. * Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? Currently my fantail is displaying ver slight signs of raised scales in the area just behind her left gill plate * Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? Behavior has been normal with these two fish 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xStatic 93 Posted September 20, 2017 Started Prazi on Sunday and started feeding Metro twice daily. Tomorrow I'll do a huge wc and re-dose the Prazi. I haven't seen any signs of it getting worse. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjfromga 1,784 Posted September 20, 2017 What substrate do you have? If any? What decorations? If any? A full tank photo is ideal but you can just tell us if you can't get a photo. It doesn't make much sense that a well maintained system can dropsy two fish like that. How old were the fish? You said they were your two oldest. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites