Can we save our goldfish?

SkyEye

Our goldfish looks very sick. He's developed a white film coat over his front half (I'll have a picture in a minute) and is now lying sideways barely moving at the bottom of the tank. He's getting on in years (I don't even remember how long he's been here, but it must have been more than 5 years), but I still don't want to entertain the thought of losing him. Any advice?

Enc

Looks like a fungal infection, when was the last time you changed filters and cleaned the tank?

see317

Might check this out, see if any of these seem to describe your fish's symptoms.
http://www.fishnet.org/sick-fish-chart.htm

From the picture, I think I'd look at the fungus based illnesses first.

From the above linke:

White or gray patches resembling cotton, excess mucus.
Mouth or Body Fungus
OTC medication for fungus. Usually added to water, but may need direct application.

White cotton-like patches on fins, body, or mouth.
True Fungus (Saprolegnia)
OTC medication for fungus. Check for symptoms of other illnesses.

I'm not a fish doctor though, and it's been years since I've had an aquarium of my own. I'd suggest googling those (or any other likely) illnesses and comparing them to your fish before medicating.

SkyEye

Recently. There was a while where he was barely moving, so we had cleaned up and changed the water (we're pretty sure it was nitrate poisoning then). He was fine and swimming for just a few days afterwards when this happened. He actually looks worse now than in the picture.

SkyEye

@see317 Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.

Holler

Have you been treating him with any medication? My go-to anti-fungal treatment is Paraguard by SeaChem. I also keep API Melafix & Pimafix on hand for bacterial problems, but that doesn't look like what this is. Both have worked great thus far for some afflictions I've had to address (although my goldfish seems to currently dying of a symptomless, unknown disease, so I know how you feel! This sucks.)

Good luck, I hope he gets better. My goldfish Rambo has made some pretty incredible/quick recoveries from things that just look absolutely horrific and deathly, so my fingers are crossed for you that that is what you have here.

SkyEye

Holler wrote: »

Have you been treating him with any medication? My go-to anti-fungal treatment is Paraguard by SeaChem. I also keep API Melafix & Pimafix on hand for bacterial problems, but that doesn't look like what this is. Both have worked great thus far for some afflictions I've had to address (although my goldfish seems to currently dying of a symptomless, unknown disease, so I know how you feel! This sucks.)

Good luck, I hope he gets better. My goldfish Rambo has made some pretty incredible/quick recoveries from things that just look absolutely horrific and deathly, so my fingers are crossed for you that that is what you have here.

No, he just developed this recently. I'm looking up if a pet store nearby is open since it's late Sunday, so we might not be able to get it today. I hope you're right; this is making me way more stressed than it probably should.

melissa1981

Looks like he's got a pretty bad fungus. You can get the stuff you need from Petsmart or Petco, Walmart may also carry it in your local store. It's called API Fungus Cure. It's not a bacterial infection, it's definitely a fungus. However, I will caution you, since this fish is lying sideways on the bottom of the tank his chances of survival aren't great unless you act quickly. I had some guppies and a pleco that had the same problem, they also had pop-eye. A few of the guppies and the pleco lived, so maybe this will help you.

http://www.petsmart.com/fish/fungus/api-fungus-cure-fish-fungal-infection-treatment-zid36-5112948/cat-36-catid-300044

SkyEye

Unfortunately we couldn't save him. Thanks anyway to everyone for being helpful.

see317

Sorry to hear that SkyEye.