Illness..or Maybe Paranoia

[Chrissy_Bee]

I posted about this in my blog but I figured I'd put it here as well for anyone who didn't see it

[*]Test Results for the Following:

[*]Ammonia Level? 0

[*]Nitrite Level? 0

[*]Nitrate level? 5

[*]Ph Level, Tank (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines)? pH 7.2, kH 3-4 drops

[*]Ph Level, Tap (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines)? 7.0, kH zero

[*]Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops? API drops

[*]Water temperature? around 21 Celcius

[*]Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running? 55 gallons, running 5 months

[*]What is the name and size of the filter(s)? 2 large aquaclears (forget the models, but the gph is good)

[*]How often do you change the water and how much? about 40% every 5-7 days

[*]How many fish in the tank and their size? 4 fish, range from 3 to 8 inches

[*]What kind of water additives or conditioners? Prime, and a kH booster

[*]What do you feed your fish and how often? feed two small meals a day, except for 'pea day'. Mainly progold, also peas, gel food, orange, brocolli and Hikari lionhead

[*]Any new fish added to the tank? Edwin about a month ago

[*]Any medications added to the tank? started medigold today

[*]Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? Penny seems to have a small white spot on her tail and a red spot on her head

[*]Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? Penny hangs at the surface a lot, and I thought she was bottom sitting a few days ago

I'm obviously worried about my lionhead Penny. When I got her she was the last fish in her tank and had been there for a while. I treated her with Prazi and salt in QT and she seemed fine. However, she really hangs at the surface a lot and as I mentioned, she seems to have a tiny white spot on her tail (not ich) and a red spot on her head. I'll admit I don't know how long either has been present, because neither is easy to see. Especially the red spot, since she's a bright orange fish.

I started feeding medigold today and I'm going to stick with that for 2 weeks, followed by jumpstart. Anyone have any other ideas/input? Disease isn't my strong point when it comes to goldies, I have my Fancy Goldfish book but member's info is always helpful!

[Maceo]

Oh dear, I would be more worried about the red spot than the white one on the tail, often times healed over tears or holes in the fins look like white spots. I don't know what else you can do other than a large water change and keep an eye on them for now. Hopefully someone else will have more insight. Sorry about Penny, Chrissy!

[Chrissy_Bee]

Thanks

She seems to be ok, but my goldie sense is tingling and telling me something might not be right

I'm going to sit down with my goldie book now and do some reading...then comes the big bad waterchange/filter clean (*sigh*)

[Trinket]

If you are overdue for a filter rinse it may be due to high levels of bacteria. These symptoms can mean a few different things. Is this a female fish?

[Chrissy_Bee]

Just the lady I was looking for

My filters weren't gunky, I'd actualy cleaned them not too long ago, but I just did again. However, there was an unusual amount of waste under my new airstone, I think it may have been driving the current and kind of sucking all the poo/food underneath. So I just removed all that grossness and rearranged things so it won't happen again.

As for Penny..no, I'm pretty sure 'she' is actually a he. "She" really loves to chase Edwin (who I think is a she )

I just took another look, all she has is a little red spot on her head. Not open or anything. It could have always been there, but I never noticed it before. I was just reading up on it and it sounds like it could be the start of a sore? Think I need to salt?

[Trinket]

Oh okay...Pennys name was misleading

Yes you could salt to 0.1%. It will help if her gills are suffering and that's why she's up top. Otherwise watch and wait. Post back if anything new or worrying develops.

[CountryLovah]

Chrissy I hope this turns out to be nothing with Penny... She (he?) is such a sweetheart... Just to let you know, Kahlua had a few spots before. One was white and has still not gone away. The other was more redish and it cleared up with low salt, and time... Trinket is STILL helping me figure it all out, but it has been going on for MONTHS. Just just because there is a problem, doesn't mean you don't have time. Good luck with anything. You've got Imo here, but if you need anything else let me know.. Get well Penny : )

[Chrissy_Bee]

Thanks Sue

I'm feeling really hopeful about her. I think the medigold was a good move, just to be safe. Today all the fish seem great, I think the cleaning did them good (the poo was so nasty under that airstone....stupid malfunctioning thing that it is......). Annnnnyway, I think Penny is just a bit of a runt but is coming around. I also think her mouth is a little deformed, hard to describe but it's like her top lip isn't attached right so I think she has a harder time getting food than the others, which could explain her small size. She's holding her (his?) own though so that's good news

[Chrissy_Bee]

I don't know what to think about Penny. I'm SO paranoid now that I think I see signs of disease constantly,

The spot is still on her head, a perfect circle that looks like it might just be pigmentaiton. BUT now I feel like her tail may have some red streaks....ugh. I'm keeping the medigold going for the full 2 weeks. On the bright side, she does seem more active over there right now...riding the bubbles to the top over and over again

[Trinket]

More active is good. Remember "not worse is better"..often. Even though I don't honestly think the med food was nec really -run the full course of Medigold now started. Hopefully one of the antibiotics in that will be enough to clear up the red spot if its bacterial and halt anything more serious developing.

[Chrissy_Bee]

Thanks, I was doubtful about the medigold too...moment of panic I guess

But I'll make sure they get jumpstart when they come off, hopefully there'll be no harm done.

[CountryLovah]

How's she doing Chrissy? She's such a sweet little baby, I hope she is feeling better : )

(And we've all panicked and started meds!! Been there done that! It's scary.. !!)

[Chrissy_Bee]

She seems great Sue

The spot is still there, I think it might just be pigmentation. She doesn't suck air now nearly as much. I put in a bubble wall as well which I'm sure helps, but I think the meds were a good move. I don't feel bad about treating them now, because I'd noticed for a while George was having stringy poo. I thought I was worrying about nothing, but a week into the medigold it's stopped so I guess he had a bit of a bug happening.

[CountryLovah]

Aww that's good : ) I am glad they are doing better... Kharma sometimes has a bit of stringy poo too, but I've never seen anything else sooo far. Interesting that the medi-gold took care of it for George!

I'm just happy they are doing well!! yay!

[Chrissy_Bee]

More good news, I realized tonight that Penny has been hanging at the surface in ages now! I don't know if it was the new bubble wall or the meds, but I'm happy. The spot is still there on her head, maybe it is just pigmentation

[jyoti411]

Yayyy...always good to hear a fish is doing gr888... ...Good job with more bubbles Chrissy.. ..I hope the red spot is pigmentation..Stay good Penny..

[shiftzsentra05]

Aww thats great news. Penny is soo cute. Way to go Penny.

[Chrissy_Bee]

So this morning little Miss Penny has a small white spot just next to the infamous red spot. BUT I'm thinking it just might (pretty pretty pretty please) be wen growth. Otherwise I might just set up a hospital tank for her and try some new form of treatment.

[jyoti411]

This cud truly be just wen growth..did you try touching the spot...does it feel like wen...or something like fungus....usually fungus and such would kind of fall off if you try rubbing the spot gently...let us know how it feels like...

[Chrissy_Bee]

I'm going to take a look tonight and check it out more closely. She's not an easy girl to catch, but I'll do my best

She has zero wen right now, so I do hope that's what it is.

Edited November 19, 2008 by Chrissy_Bee

[Chrissy_Bee]

I didn't catch her last night, but I did notice that fred has a scale loose. I'm thinking that maybe Penny's persuit of Fred got a bit out of hand (she still hasn't realized that Fred is a boy) and they both got a little banged up. I'm going to try and touch the spot tonight tough, it doesn't really look like wen growth, just a whilte filmy spot...

[CountryLovah]

Oooh I hope that's what is is too!!! I know the feeling! Kahlua has that one white spot on her fin, then developed a white spot on her wen area.And now I am thinking "is this BAD or just wen growth".. Wow these babies really know how to stress us out don't they?!

PENNY GET BETTER YOU HEAR?!

[Chrissy_Bee]

I'm literally on my way out the door here now but I just fed the fish and George has three small spots on his head. They are on his forehead, same as with Penny. Not raised like ich or breeding stars, just small round white spots, flat, about a millimeter in diameter. I'll be on later, but this has me worried, I had to post.

[jyoti411]

Ohh..I am sorry Chrissy...do you think you can get pics of the spots??would help a lot...dont panic..I am sure everything will be fine... ..I know ur worried.. ..but you have our support...things will get better..

[Chrissy_Bee]

I'll try and get a pic tomorrow, I need batteries. They don't look too bad, I'm hoping it's nothing. George has that velvety black look so he'll often get little marks just from brushing up against things. Silly fish getting spots...who do they think they are anyway?