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Goldfish diseases

Goldfish Diseases

Goldfish diseases are largely preventable through appropriate aquarium management.



The basic requirements for keeping your goldfish healthy are clean fresh water, oxygen, and correct temperature. You must be cautious while feeding your goldfish.



It is vital to feed the correct amount to avoid any goldfish health problems.

The symptoms of goldfish diseases are easily recognizable by the owners. But if left untreated, the illnesses can prove fatal for your goldfish.



The most common causes or factors of goldfish diseases are:

  • Dirty environment in the tank
  • Poor filtration
  • Dirty water
  • Low oxygen levels
  • Incorrect temperature (too warm or too cold)
  • Improper diet.
  • It is vital that fish owners take preventive steps to avoid any gold fish health issues. Even if the fish falls ill, early detection and proper treatment can cure many goldfish health problems.  Goldfish diseases diagnosis is an important part of overall goldfish care.
The common symptoms of goldfish diseases are:
  • Clamped fins
  • Shimmy
  • Small white fuzzies on their scales
  • Rapid gill movements
  • Red or white Sores
  • Gasping at the surface
  • Crashed on the bottom
  • Glancing
  • Loss of appetite
  • Pop eye.
There are several goldfish diseases that can threaten the health of your aquatic pet, but the commonly observed goldfish diseases are Ich/Ichtyopthirius or Freshwater fish white spot Disease, fish fungus, cotton mouth, anchor worm, fin rot, constipation, dropsy, and swim bladder disorder. When your goldfish shows the signs of illness, stress, or any disease, you must immediately take the following steps to prevent the situation from worsening.
  • You must remove the affected goldfish from the common tank into a treatment tank which has no gravels or plants.
  • You must clean your goldfish’s home and get rid of the algae and other waste products that get coated on the surface. It is a good idea to use bottled drinking water and keep the aquarium in a cool place away from sunlight.
  • You must change the water every day until the fish no longer shows signs of stress or disease. But you must not change more than 20% of the water in a day.
  • Add a tablespoon of aquarium salt per five gallons of aquarium water. You must ensure that only aquarium salt is used. Avoid the usage of iodized table salt.
  • You should increase the temperature by 4 °F to a maximum of 82 °F. You must adjust the temperature after every 3-4 days.
  • It is recommended that you treat the main tank in order to ensure that all the traces of the parasite are successfully removed.
  • If your fish is facing difficulty in passing feces or is constantly trailing behind the fish, you must change its diet to include more variety and roughage in the form of live foods, peas, spinach, and tubifex worms.
 
  Submitted on May 31, 2010