There are a lot of responses to this article – I’m very happy to have helped so many sick goldfish.
If you notice goldfish disease symptoms and need help, please scan the comments/replies already posted (click the link at the very bottom of the page to view previous comments). Your question might be answered already! And always test the water before writing a comment.
This is the first part in the goldfish disease series. In this three-part series, you’ll learn…
- How to tell if your goldfish is sick (we’ll look at 14 goldfish disease symptoms)
- How to treat 7 of the most common goldfish diseases in aquariums and freshwater ponds
- How to keep your aquarium completely disease free by solving common tank problems
Goldfish are remarkably hardy creatures and don’t often fall prey to goldfish diseases. You just need to maintain good water quality, keep up with tank maintenance, feed your goldfish a varied diet, and test the water regularly. In fact, chances that you’ll find goldfish disease symptoms are slim if your goldfish are kept in a healthy aquarium environment with proper goldfish care.
You may be surprised to find out that most experienced aquarists have very little experience treating fish diseases. This is because they are experts at keeping their fish healthy. – David E. Boruchowitz, author of Aquarium Care of Goldfish
But even under the best conditions, goldfish aren’t entirely immune to diseases.
When you have sick goldfish, you want to catch goldfish disease symptoms early on to prevent goldfish diseases from spreading and infecting other fish in the aquarium.
Some infections are even fatal and can quickly kill your goldfish in a matter of days. This makes it even more important to have a medication like this on hand and treat goldfish disease symptoms quickly.
Treat Sick Goldfish Early
There are two types of goldfish diseases: those that are contagious and those that aren’t. Even if the infection isn’t contagious, you should still put your goldfish in a “hospital tank,” a smaller tank separated from the other fish, so that your goldfish can recuperate without being stressed out.
Separating infected goldfish prevents your healthy fish from receiving medication they don’t need (what is called being “over-medicated”).
First, we’ll look at abnormal behavior signs that could hint that something’s not quite right in the aquarium. Next, we’ll dive into the visual signs of diseases on the body and fins. Later, I’ll walk you through your next steps after you’ve discovered potential problems.
Let’s take a look at a few goldfish disease symptoms to look out for. If you notice any of these symptoms in your own aquarium, it might help to write them down on a notepad. This will make it easier later to determine what caused the goldfish disease and how to treat your sick goldfish.
Goldfish Disease Symptoms in Behavior
- Gasping for breath, rapidly breathing, or hanging at the water surface – One or more of your goldfish might be gathered at the surface of the water, noisily gobbling up packets of air or sucking in oxygen just below the surface. This usually happens when the water isn’t oxygenated enough for your goldfish to breathe comfortably (poor water quality). So sick goldfish will try to find any means they can to get more oxygen. If water quality doesn’t improve, the stress of not breathing in enough oxygen will lower the immune system and cause other goldfish disease symptoms to develop. If you notice gasping at the surface, test the water with a freshwater test kit immediately.
- Refuses to eat or losing weight – This is another goldfish disease symptom you should catch early. Goldfish are naturally ravenous creatures and will eat just about anything if given the chance. So a goldfish refusing to eat or showing noticeable signs of weight loss should be a warning sign that there’s a problem that needs closer looking into. Your goldfish might be suffering from internal parasites or poor water quality.
- Erratically swimming or swimming upside down – Erratic swimming is a sign of buoyancy problems. Trouble swimming could be caused by swim bladder disease, dropsy, or improper feeding (and sometimes feeding peas will help). Poor water quality might also be the culprit (or a result of overfeeding). If you look closely, are there other goldfish disease symptoms you may not have noticed?
- Listless or laying at the bottom – Healthy goldfish actively swim around and interact with their environment. If you have a sick goldfish that never gets up from the gravel, something is seriously wrong and you should take immediate action to find the underlying cause. Usually sick goldfish that are listless are also suffering from poor water quality or an infection.
- Slow to react to disturbances and stimuli – Are you about to feed your goldfish, only to find that one of them doesn’t seem to notice the food until it’s smack against his nose? Sick goldfish often have trouble reacting to certain things in their environment. Look for other goldfish disease symptoms, test the water quality, and do an immediate water change if test results are less than ideal.
- Rubs against the aquarium glass and other surfaces – This could be a sign of parasites, like ich, or even a fungus infection. At least, something is making your goldfish very itchy. If your goldfish is just rubbing his nose on the glass whenever you come nearby (what I like to call the “goldfish dance”), it could just be a friendly greeting and a demand to be fed (of course, don’t give in to those demands if you already fed your goldfish just moments ago). 😉
Goldfish Disease Symptoms on the Body or Fins
- Clamped or folded fins – Maybe your goldfish constantly holds his fins close to his body or he’s lethargic and doesn’t move around much. There are actually a few potential goldfish diseases that can cause your fish to act this way, and your job is to look for other goldfish disease symptoms that might give the disease away. It might just be a case of poor water quality or parasites. Testing the water with a freshwater aquarium testing kit will give you a better idea of what is causing the problem and how to make the aquarium environment healthier for your goldfish.
- Torn or frayed fins – This is often a sign of stress, especially if you notice little red veins branching out in the fins. Simply changing the water and separating your goldfish from more aggressive fish can quickly solve this problem. If you find that the fins are actually starting to deteriorate into a stump, your goldfish may be experiencing fin or tail rot, which is caused by bacteria (and could attract fungus infections).
- Fluffy patches, discolored spots, or raised bumps – Do you notice a slight fuzz in some areas that shouldn’t be there? If your goldfish has discolored patches on the body or fins, chances are that he’s suffering from fungal or bacterial infections. Hospitalize the goldfish immediately and run some water tests on the main aquarium to determine what caused the goldfish disease symptoms. If the discolored patches actually look like little white specks of salt, your goldfish is suffering from ich, often known as white spot disease. Ich is fairly contagious (even common) in aquariums. If black spots are visible, your sick goldfish have an ammonia burn or parasite infection (this parasite is very rare in aquariums).
- Bloated or has raised scales – If one of your goldfish is abnormally round, large (be careful not to mistake this for a maturing female goldfish), or even resembles a pine cone, he may have dropsy (often caused by bacterial infections and sometimes incurable). A bloated sick goldfish might also be overfed or, if your goldfish have buoyancy problems, filled with packets of air after extended periods of time gasping for breath at the water surface.
- Pale gills – Pale gills can be caused by a number of goldfish diseases, including parasites. Salt is a popular treatment in this case, though you should also consider medications. Medications will depend on the type of parasite that is infecting your fish and can be determined by other goldfish disease symptoms.
- Noticeable lumps or parasites – External parasites are usually visible on the body or fins, and many will cause ulcers and lumps along the scales. Such parasites include ich (white spot disease), anchor worms, fish lice, and flukes. There are many ways you can get rid of parasites, ranging from medication to salt baths. You can even have them manually removed (though I don’t recommend this unless you know what you’re doing).
- Protruding eyes – If one or both eyes of your goldfish are abnormally large (don’t mistake this for natural characteristics in black moor or telescope goldfish), this could be early goldfish disease symptoms of pop eye or a bacterial infection.
- Bleeding wounds, sores, or missing scales – Do you have aggressive or territorial fish in the same aquarium? Solving this problem could just be a matter of finding a separate tank to house your goldfish. Your goldfish could also be infected with parasites, causing him to rub on gravel or other sharp objects.
By catching goldfish disease symptoms ahead of time, you can prevent infections from getting worse, spreading, and taking over the aquarium. And by taking immediate action to treat the disease, your sick goldfish has a better chance of surviving through the infection.
It’s always a good practice to watch your goldfish on a daily basis for signs of abnormal behavior or growths. A good time to do this is right before or during feeding.
Once you’ve noticed signs of a potential disease, you’ll want to put the sick goldfish into a hospital tank as soon as possible so that other fish in the same tank don’t get infected. Then you’ll need to determine what caused goldfish disease symptoms (so that you can effectively treat the disease) and identify problems running rampant in your tank. We’ll discuss more about this in the third part of the series.
You’ll then be able to take measures to ensure your other goldfish don’t get similarly infected.
Test the water with an aquarium test kit will help you identify tank problems. Also think back to events that led up to this point. Did you recently just introduce a new goldfish to the aquarium (without quarantining him first)? Did you just add new water to the tank without letting it adjust to room temperature?
Instead of looking for terrible diseases, you should concentrate on keeping your fish healthy. – David E. Boruchowitz, author of Aquarium Care of Goldfish
Remember: the best cure for any disease is prevention. By keeping your goldfish in a healthy environment, you reduce their chances of getting fatal goldfish disease symptoms. And it’s much easier to care for healthy fish than it is to treat sick goldfish.
How About You?
What sort of goldfish disease symptoms have you noticed? How did you treat your sick goldfish? Are there any goldfish care tips you can offer to help prevent infections? I’d love to hear from you!
194 comments
Hey. I dont know how to explain but my gf is sick. That i know for sure.she is red head fantail.her fins are folded collapsing.like all at one place.they r not like flowy and spread out like they normally are.i read somewhere that it is because the fish is stressed. But she is eating.swims but not very often.shows activity when i tap the glass.yes she sits at the bottom.i know she’s gonna die.two of my fishes also died before of this same “fin” thing.both died the next day i noticed their fins like that.but this one is still alive.i saw her fins like that 2 days ago. I dont understand.waters fine. Tanks clean. Varied diet.i dont think its communicable.those two fishes died really long ago. Oh .one thing she’s new and had some fleas on her i saw when i brought her home. Which i then removed by tweezers. I surfed the net. It was some time ago. At that she was really fine.i dont want her to die.
Hi Tina,
When you tested the water, what were water readings? It does sound like your goldfish is in quite a bit of stress. Do you notice any other signs or symptoms? Frayed fins? Red veins in the fins? Spots or lumps on the body? Bloating or loss of weight?
If you’re absolutely sure the water quality is fine, there’s a possibility your goldfish might have internal parasites. I’d recommend using Prazi Pro just to be on the safe side. It’s completely safe for goldfish, won’t cause stress, and won’t negatively impact the biological filter. Many hobbyists use Prazi Pro as a preventative for parasites.
You can also try adding a little bit of aquarium salt to the water, just to ease stress and help your goldfish develop the slime coat needed to guard against infections. It’s hard to say what could be wrong with your goldfish. It’s possible that your goldfish might be suffering from early stages of a disease that isn’t visible yet.
Hi my i have just bought a new plant for my tank and it looks like my fish have bits of it growing out of them and with a red mark around it slightly worried
Hi James – it sounds like your goldfish might have some sort of parasite infection that could have been transferred from the new plant, possibly from the water that the plant was purchased from. There also could have been parasite eggs on the plant. Does the green specks move around or stay in one position? Fish lice can have a green tint and are sphere shaped. They also sometimes move around the body and can create red wounds where they attach themselves to the fish.
Are your fish rubbing or scratching against objects? This can be a sign of external parasites. If you think your goldfish might have fish lice, I recommend first increasing the water temperature to around 80 °F (26 °C). Do this slowly over a period of time (2 °F/1 °C every hour), or else the sudden temperature change could further stress out your fish. The warm water will speed up the life cycle of fish lice so that you can more easily treat the infection with medication. It might also help to put some aquarium salt in the water to ease stress and help your fish develop the slime coats needed to guard against infection.
There are many commercial medications on the market that will treat external parasites. You can try Parasite Guard to treat the lice. It includes Dflubenzuron as an active ingredient, which I’ve read is very effective against Argulus (fish lice).
Several sources also recommend removing the fish lice with tweezers, since the fish lice life cycle can be a long one and you won’t be able to kill the adult lice with medication (without dabbing or hurting your goldfish in the process).
Hi! I was wondering if you can help me. We’ve had a goldfish for 1.5 years and recently got him a friend. Someone won the 2nd fish at a fair and couldn’t keep it. They’ve been together in the tank for 3 days now. Today when I looked at my original fish, I noticed it was turning a darker orange around the perimeter of its body. It’s still eating but acting a little odd…fins in, swimming closer to the top of the tank. Did this 2nd fish get him sick? Is he dying? I dumped the new fish right in with the old fish. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Christine
Hi Christine,
Whenever getting a new fish, you should always quarantine the fish first for at least two weeks before introducing him/her to the main aquarium. This way, if the new fish gets sick, it won’t infect the other healthy fish in the aquarium.
It’s possible that the new fish could have gotten the other one sick. However, because your goldfish is swimming near the surface of the water, this might be a sign that there isn’t enough oxygen in the water or something is affecting your goldfish’s ability to take in oxygen. Have you tested the water recently? How are water readings? Gasping at the surface of the tank is often a sign of poor water quality. How large is your aquarium? It’s possible that the tank might be overcrowded after introducing the new fish.
If you haven’t tested the water, I recommend doing that as soon as possible. That way, you’ll have an idea of what could be causing your fish to stay near the surface. Ammonia levels might be too high – high ammonia spikes can be deadly to goldfish. You can either test the water with a freshwater aquarium testing kit or take a water sample to the pet store for testing. If you haven’t done so, I’d recommend purchasing your own aquarium testing kit so that you can do weekly water tests (to prevent future problems with water quality, if this is the reason your goldfish are sick).
I got my girls a 15 gallon tank we got one cheap goldfish for now we have had it for a little over a month. Last week it got sucked up in the filter princess bubble gum (the fish) is very small she was bent in half for a day because filter has some kind of safety to prevent going in to the water filter and next morning she was fine and straight she is white and gold/orange mainly white yesterday I notice she was staying at bottom of tank not coming to top not eating and her white sides had black dots could this be bruised from filter or is she sick
Michelle – how large are the black dots? The black spots could be indications of ammonia burns. Have you tested the water recently? How are water readings? High ammonia can quickly lead to ammonia poisoning if allowed to get out of hand.
According to some sources, the black spots also could be signs of healing. I’m sure getting sucked into a filter was very traumatic for your goldfish, so she could be in a state of shock. I’d recommend putting a small amount of aquarium salt into the tank to help your goldfish rebuild the slime coat that might have been lost while being sucked into the filter (about 1/2 rounded teaspoon per gallon should be fine). If you haven’t done so already, definitely test the aquarium water to make sure water readings are in the safe zone. Keep your goldfish comfortable by continuing to maintain good water quality. You should also observe your goldfish from time to time for other signs of disease, as the wounds and stress from the situation will cause your goldfish’s immune system to lower. This could make her susceptible to goldfish diseases, and it’s best to catch these early.
Let me know if you notice your goldfish getting worse – I hope Princess Bubble Gum pulls through!
Help!!! One of my goldfish died a day ago after looking just fine a day earlier. I took all of the other goldfish out as fast as I could and cleaned out the tank. After cleaning out the tank I put the other goldfish back in. Now they have all been acting strangely and are not swimming but laying at the bottom of the tank. I am worried that they will have the same fate as the new dead goldfish. Please help!
Hi Carson,
I’m so sorry to hear about your goldfish!
You probably shouldn’t have cleaned the entire tank, as this can be very stressful for fish. Not only will your goldfish have to be acclimated to the new water temperature, but now the tank will have to run through the nitrogen cycle all over again. In fact, I really wouldn’t recommend changing any more than 50% of the aquarium water (and 50% only under rare circumstances).
There’s a possibility your goldfish could be acting strangely from the stress of being placed in completely fresh water. Your other fish could have died because of poor water conditions. Have you tested the water recently? If not, I recommend getting a freshwater test kit so that you can test the water on a weekly basis. This will help clue you in when water readings become poor before you even notice signs of stress on your goldfish. You can also bring a water sample to the pet store for testing, and you’ll find these test kits at any local pet store.
It’s really difficult to determine what could have caused your goldfish to become sick without more information. If you haven’t done so, definitely get the water tested as soon as possible and keep a close eye on your surviving goldfish. Let me know if you notice any other signs of illness – the stress could have caused the immune system to lower and your goldfish might become susceptible to other goldfish diseases. I hope the little ones get better!
It is a 20 gallon tank and my fish are only coming up for food and they have a little red under there fins. Also one last thing they always have there dorsal fin fully extended but now it’s not extended at all. I find this very strange because its never happened to any of the goldfish I have had before.
Hi Christina,
Having read all your posts on how to help these little creatures, im so glad i have some to whom i can ask my query. I had an aquarium for almost 14yrs and had raised gold, moor and sharks. Now i have a smaller one ( 50lits) which i have received as a gift from my hubby. My question is, my husband had gifted me a pair of gold and a fish bowl, obviously the bowl was not enough and even before we could move both the little ones to w bigger tank one died. After which we bought a new tank and kept the other in that, and it has been happy ever since. But lately i thought i should buy some friends for him and bought another single gold orange and a black moor. They had been happy for quite sometime, but today when i got up i realised my new gold died and moor was eating it ( i was awake till midnight and it was quiet till then ).. it was so upsetting, immediately i moved the old gold and moor to my bowl cleaned the whole tank and had put a tablespoon of salt started the filter and put these back. But the prob was the moor was constantly biting my gold in bowl, and when i shifted them back it was behind it, Now my gold has developed some redness near its mouth, it seems to be better though not dwelling just in the surface but moving around and playing . I have shifted the black moor to the bowl. Please do you have any idea what’s caused the redness? and the gold was in alot of stress too.. i could see that from its poop. usually it goes small and health ones, but this was really transparent. Please sorry to be so frank. help my gold. I love him so much. I’m even planning to go and give the moor from where i bought it.
I’m so sorry to hear about your goldfish, Sri! That sounds terrible.
Goldfish are known to eat their young and often eat their own eggs after a mating. Sometimes more aggressive goldfish might also nip slower fancy varieties. Was the moor significantly larger than the other goldfish that died? I’m not quite sure what could have caused the moor to go after the orange goldfish. I’ve had fully grown goldfish with new goldfish barely a couple inches long and they both did fine.
Nevertheless, it’s really difficult to lose a pet, especially at the hands of another pet. What does the redness look like? Is it puffy or bleeding? How about the fins? Are they frayed or do they have red streaks? Have you tested the aquarium water? How large was the aquarium when this all happened?
The surviving goldfish might be under a lot of stress after the fin nipping and could have picked up an infection as a result. It’s really difficult to determine what could be wrong with your goldfish without more information though. I’m sorry you had so much trouble with the new arrivals! I’m happy to hear that your goldfish are doing better though.
Hi Christina,
Thank you so much for the reply, I gave my blacky from where i bought and exchanged a comet for the same. So now is a common and a comet both od 2 inches size.. The comet becomes very active esp when it know there are ppl around and tries to be dominant with my common. But when no one is around and when i watch them from a distance they seem to be doing well.. I hope they stay like this for sometime.. Def will go and give them once i know they are growing as the tank what i have will be too small.. The one which died seemed fine, it dint have any bleeding, but was swollen all over as something has bitten it.. We bought a betta as well and kept it separately in a bowl. Cristina i have query, can i keep a mud pot as a decorative item in my tank. My common needs a place to hid. Or can i keep a clay pot? or Plastic pot ? Which we usually keep for flower plant? or can i use any item which is available in home? Any suggestions you can give me on these. Thank you so much for your response.
Hi Sri,
Depending on where you purchased the pots from, they might have chemicals or pesticide that could be poisonous to fish. With that considered, natural clay and plastic should be fine if it hasn’t come into contact with insecticides or fertilizers. If they have, rinse out the pot thoroughly with warm water (make sure you wash it really good, and don’t use soap!) before placing it in your tank.
Otherwise, you can go to the pet store and get a few aquarium ornaments for the tank (driftwood or caves can provide nice hiding places).
Hello, I’ve had my goldfish for three years with absolutely no problems until about two months ago. Two weeks ago it appeared my goldfish had swim bladder because she was swimming awkwardly so I fed her some peas and then she seemed ok for about three days but all off a sudden she seemed to have gotten worse. She just lays on the bottom and when she tries to move, she can’t. She’s been like this for a few days and I’m not sure what to do.
Please help!
Hi Katie,
I’m sorry to hear about your goldfish! Have you tested the water recently? What were water readings? Buoyancy problems can be a result of a number of things, though they’re usually caused by poor water quality or overfeeding. It might be possible that your goldfish is just constipated.
If you haven’t tested the water with a freshwater testing kit yet, I definitely suggest doing so. Many goldfish diseases are brought on by poor water quality and simply eliminating the cause of the poor water quality can often solve the problem. If your goldfish is still swimming erratically or appears bloated, I recommend fasting her for a few days (3 or 4 days should be fine). This will help clear out any food that might have gotten clogged.
When was your last water change? If you haven’t tested the water yet but you suspect that water quality might be a problem, you should change 25% of the water for now, just to be on the safe side. Test the water as soon as possible though. In the meantime, observe how your goldfish is interacting in the water. Do you notice any other signs of sickness? Red streaks in the fins, bloated body, discolored patches? Without further information, it’s difficult to know what could have caused the buoyancy problem and so it’s harder to determine a treatment.
The dots where small my husband does all the cleaning and testing of water his dad build tank when they lived in Alpine, WY so I leave all that up to him he said it tested fine but neither of us no about fish and his dad passed away 10 or more years ago so we cant ask him but she been sitting at bottom of tank not moving or eating I thought she was dead but when he put net in tank she did swim away so she wasnt I will try the salt she is still just sitting lifeless at the bottom I did get a better screen for fliter so she wont get sucked up my daughter has ocd and anxiety and the fish seems to be only thing to help in a meltdown I’d hate to see it die thank you
Hi Michelle,
From what you told me, the black spots could either be from parasites (very rare in aquariums but more common in ponds) or your goldfish’s attempts to heal wounds inflicted from getting sucked into the filter.
In rare cases, the black spots might be cysts from cercariae that leave aquarium snails during its life cycle to burrow into the fish’s skin. If your goldfish is scratching against objects and you also have aquarium snails in the tank, you might have this kind of infestation, but it’s really unlikely. Simply move the snails to another aquarium and you’ll break the parasite’s life cycle and cure the disease. These parasites can’t survive without both a snail and fish in the aquarium, since they depend on both hosts to complete the life cycle.
Since your goldfish has recently gone through trauma, she’s probably just trying to heal from her injuries. Black spots or streaks usually occur when the goldfish is injured, generally after ammonia burns. Since you’ve already tested the water and it appears fine, your goldfish is most likely just going through the healing process after the filter incident. However, I’d still watch her for other signs of illness, since wounded goldfish that are already in lots of stress can become infected by secondary diseases – fungal and bacterial infections are the more likely diseases that infect wounded/stressed goldfish. Watch for cotton-like growths, ragged/split fins, or a swollen body. These all can be signs that a secondary infection is starting to develop and, depending on the infection, will need different treatments altogether.
For now, definitely treat the aquarium with small amounts of aquarium salt. This will help your goldfish rebuild its slime coat to fight against secondary infections. Continue observing your goldfish and maintaining good water quality. Your goldfish should start showing signs of healing within a week or two, hopefully sooner.
Christina- Thanks for all your help I didnt get to buy the salt last night as it was late. But this morning Princess Bubble Gum was floating at top of tank dead she was very swollen sadly Justine not taking it well as she found her but we are planning to give the tank a good cleaning set it up again and she if she will pick out another fish. My question is should I always keep the salt in the tank to help a goldfish. We don’t have snail in tank we wanted something simple for our 7 year old and every time she goes to therapy there is a huge wall size tank and Justine loves it which is why we got it. Thank you so much.
I’m so sorry to hear about Princess Bubble Gum, Michelle.
Some people like to use a small amount of aquarium salt in the tank as a disease preventative, while others prefer to only use salt as a disease treatment (since otherwise you run the risk of creating more salt resistant parasites and bacteria).
It’s entirely up to you. Personally, I like to use aquarium salt when quarantining new fish (before introducing them to the main aquarium) and as a disease treatment. When you first purchase a goldfish, the fish will be under a lot of stress from handling, so this is the time he’s most prone to infection. So for the first couple of weeks after a purchase, it will help to use aquarium salt as you complete your weekly water changes (since salt does not evaporate, you should only put in the appropriate amount depending on how much water you siphoned out).
After the first two or three weeks and it’s clear your goldfish will not run into an infection, you can either stop adding salt to new water changes or keep adding small amounts as a preventative. If you do the latter, keep in mind that future parasite or bacteria infections might be harder to treat with aquarium salt.
Of course, if you keep the water under healthy conditions and take safety precautions (like always quarantining new fish or live plants before putting them in the same tank with your healthy pets), it will be highly unlikely that you’ll ever need to treat goldfish diseases in the first place.
I’m sorry that Justine had to experience such a loss. It’s always heart breaking to lose a pet. It’s good that you took precautions with the filter though. The new goldfish should enjoy its new home. Don’t forget to cycle the tank first!
Best of luck to you, Justine, and the rest of the family.
Hi,
We inherited an raised purpose built 780 gallon (3540 litre) pond when we moved to our house in December. It is stocked with 4 ghost Koi and about (difficult to count!) 15/17 other fish comprising shubunkin and common goldfish. We cleaned and monitored like mad in the early spring and added plants and oxygenators and have been rewarded with many baby fish of all types during this summer.
So, this morning, when feeding them and watching the babies, I noticed that one of the Shubunkin has identical “clusters” or “growths” on each of the front side (pectoral?) fins of about 1cm long. They are salmon pink/orange coloured and attached to the leading edge of each fin. It just looks like a small mound of tiny pink/orange balls have been stuck to each fin edge. The fish concerned is acting and eating normally.
I have spent ages looking on the net for a clue to this and found your very friendly site and thought I would ask if you have an idea of what this may be. Your article advocates early and fast action if there is a problem and I suppose I have just assumed this is a problem, but I am still on a steep learning curve with this pond!
Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you
Hi Susan,
Congratulations on the new fry! That must have been an exciting experience.
Does the pink growths look fuzzy or are they more solid in appearance? It definitely sounds like your fish might have caught early stages of a fungus or parasite infection, maybe even fish pox or ulcers.
First I’d remove the fish to a quarantine tank for treatment. If the growths are fuzzy in appearance, you probably have a fungus infection. How do the fins look on the goldfish? Are they frayed or splitting? This could be a sign of a bacterial infection. Does your goldfish have red streaks? The clusters could also be caused by hemorrhagic septicaemia or ulcers, an often occurrence after spawning.
Your goldfish could also have fish pox. These seem to be more random occurrences (you can look on Google images for examples of what they look like) and will often disappear on their own. Fish pox can’t be cured and is most common on koi fish. Luckily, fish pox isn’t contagious, though it has a habit of reappearing.
Your goldfish might also have a tumor, though these appear randomly on the body and wouldn’t appear on the same spot on either side of your goldfish. Tumors can grow and become quite large on your goldfish. They’re very soft to the touch and look like whitish pink lumps. If your goldfish has a tumor, it will have to be surgically removed to get rid of it.
I recommend separating the infected fish and putting him in a hospital tank until you can identify the problem. You can put in a small amount of aquarium salt (1/2 – 1 teaspoon per gallon, follow the directions on the carton) and gradually raise the water temperature to 75 – 80 °F (24 – 26 °C) over a 48-hour period. If your goldfish has pox, the higher temperature will help speed up the process until the pox disappears. If your goldfish has a parasite infection, the temperature will also speed up the life cycle and the salt will help your goldfish develop its slime coat to guard against reattachments of the parasite. Watch your goldfish closely while it’s in the quarantine tank. If the conditions seem to be rapidly getting worse in the warm water, you know your goldfish either has pox or a parasite infection. In this case, I’d slowly increase the temperature further to 86 °F (30 °C) and maintain that temperature for about a week. If your goldfish just has pox, you can keep the temperature around 80 °F (24 – 26 °C).
Fungus and bacterial infections may need to be treated with commercial medications. Since the infection appears to be on the fins, I suspect your goldfish might have pox or a fungus infection. Let me know if the conditions seem to be getting worse or you notice any other signs of disease. If you notice the spots are fuzzy in appearance, you definitely have a fungus infection and you should start looking into an anti-fungal medication. In this case, if you’ve raised the temperature to 86 °F (30 °C), slowly lower it back down to normal before starting medication. You can keep the aquarium salt in the tank during treatment, as this will help your goldfish fend off secondary infections.
Hi I have two sick goldfish but only one hospital tank. My algee eater died and was at least in my tank for 3 hours. I got him out and now my goldfish is acting weird. He is only sitting in one spot and is has white spots on him. His fin are also rotting. My other goldfish is sick with ick and I am curing him in a hospital tank. I don’t know what to do please help.
Hi Mallory,
Are all of your fish sick with the same disease? If so, you don’t need a hospital tank – just treat the main aquarium. See my ich treatment guide for help.
If your fish all have different diseases, there could be a problem with water quality. Or stress from ich could have caused secondary infections. If this is the problem, can you describe symptoms you’ve noticed on your other fish?
Ich is highly contagious, so if one fish had ich in the same aquarium, all of your fish are probably infected. So I would go ahead and just treat the whole aquarium. Let me know if you need any more help. I’m sorry that you lost your algae eater. I hope the others pull through okay.
Hello, I am not quite sure what to diagnose my Oranda Goldfish with. She has clear, see through, areas developing about her head. All in the red hat area. They look like sacs filled with pus. Nothing is forming (bumps, fuzz, excessive slime, ect.), she is very healthy and aside from the clear spots she shows no signs of discomfort. Her appetite is there and swims perfectly well. If you need pictures, please send me an email to which I can send them to.
Hi Chibi,
The clear spots developing on the hood might not be anything to worry about. Sometimes red cap orandas will have their wens change colors as they age. The wen can sometimes change from red to white or yellow. If you want to send me a picture to confirm this, you can upload one to http://tinypic.com/ and copy the url it gives you, pasting it in a new response. You don’t need to be signed in or registered to use Tiny Pic.
Let me know if you notice any signs that your oranda is acting strangely. Like I said earlier, it’s very possible your oranda is just changing colors.
Hi,
I have a gold fish, Franklin and the last 2 weeks frank has been acting very strange.
I keep him in a 10 gallon fish bowl, and his a fantail. About a month ago his friend, Fred, died.. he got stuck in a sunken ship toy. since then, the past 2 weeks Franklin won’t eat, he hides from me, his bloated, his fins are deteriorating, some of his scales fell off and now there’s blooding veins sticking out, he lays on the bottom of the fish bowl, and floats unevenly.
I clean the bowl once a week, put all the special chemicals in, and wait for the temp. To be right and have been to the pet shop and the guy there said to get some ” easy life, fluid filter medium” so I bought some, and his gotten a little better, like slowly swims around now but I would like to know what’s wrong with frank so I can fix it, do you know what’s wrong.. Or have any tips?
Hi Sarah,
I’m so sorry to hear about Fred! It sounds like Frank might be suffering from a serious bacterial infection or even a parasite infection. Possibly a combination of both. Has your goldfish been rubbing against objects? That could be the reason for missing scales.
Also, how old is Frank? A 10-gallon bowl is much too small for two goldfish, which could be why Frank is having trouble. As goldfish age, they create a lot of waste. Have you tested the water? What are water readings? Poor water quality could be causing Frank trouble, since he really should be in at least a 20-gallon aquarium with a good filter (I recommend one with at least a 200gph flow rate for 20 gallons). I’d suggest increasing your water changes to twice per week (or more frequently depending on water readings). Add a little aquarium salt to help with healing (follow the directions on the carton). The salt will help Frank replenish his slime coat.
Unless Frank is scratching against objects, the infection might just be bacterial (in which case, will probably clear up as long as you maintain high water quality with a little salt). If the infection is bacterial and doesn’t show signs of improvement after 5 days, you can start medicating. It’s important that you make sure the infection is bacterial though before medicating, since you don’t want to treat the aquarium with an unnecessarily treatment. During this time, you should also observe the fish for other signs of infection, like fungus (will look fuzzy, often with cotton-like discolored patches on the body and fins) or parasites (scratching against objects, white spots, or visible greenish dots or hairs along the body).
Let me know if Frank gets worse and, if you haven’t done so already, get the water tested as soon as possible! You can do so with a freshwater test kit, available at any pet store. They last for a while.
Thank you so much for all your advice but sadly Franklin died 3 days ago.
But I’ll keep everything you said in mind for my next fish.
Hi Sarah,
I’m so sorry to hear about Franklin. Good luck with the next fish – as long as you maintain healthy water conditions and monitor the water with weekly water tests, your goldfish should do fine.
Hi Christina,
i lost both my common gold fish. I bought a comet for the companion of common, but this morning it died.. Im not sure what caused the death. It was floating on the top and swollen around. My last 2 gold’s which i lost were in the same condition. No redness any where but pale all over.I use treating white spot medicine for the fish before i put any fish in the aquarium. it ate well last evening. but was hiding since i had put the comet.. i was happy all alone in the aquarium, until i thought i should get him a companion. Now all im left out is the new comet. Would it be possible to tell me any particular reason i lost them please ?
Thanks, Sri
I’m so sorry to hear about your goldfish, Sri! Were you able to test the water before they died? How many gallons were you using?
It sounds to me like a problem in the water, maybe a bacterial infection or internal parasites. Were there any bumps/lumps on the skin or were the stomachs just swollen? If you noticed lumps on the skin, it could have been tapeworm. Roundworms can cause swelling too. Were the scales sticking up, similar to a pine cone? If so, your goldfish probably had dropsy – in this case, probably caused by a bacterial infection.
Did you quarantine the new fish before dropping them in with your healthy goldfish? If not, my guess is that one of the new fish had a parasitic infection. When you placed the new goldfish in with your healthy fish, the infection probably then spread to the rest of the fish in the tank. It’s always important to quarantine new fish for this reason – I recommend for a minimum of two weeks. You want to treat your quarantine tank with an anti-parasite medication (Prazi Pro works really well for this and doesn’t impact otherwise healthy fish). Then, when your new fish shows no signs of infection, you can put them in with your healthy goldfish.
I’m so sorry you weren’t able to save your goldfish in time. Most of us have lost a fish at least some point in our fish keeping hobby – it’s really terrible that you had to experience so many losses though.
Hihi, I have these 2 goldfishes for a year plus. This morning when i woke up, 1 of the eyes of the smaller goldfish was gone. Have read online that it may be eaten by the other fish. Is it true? Anything I can do to prevent the 2nd eyes from getting eaten? Pls help.
Yikes! That sounds terrible, Jessie. What types of goldfish do you have? Sometimes black moors or telescope eye goldfish can have their eyes sucked out by other tank mates (since their eyes are a bit bulgy). Do you have any other species of fish in the same tank? How about the eye, is it completely removed or does it look like it was smashed in? There’s a possibility your goldfish could have knocked his eye on an object in the aquarium (check for sharp objects).
Don’t worry – even with the lost eye, your goldfish will probably do fine without it. Just make sure your goldfish is eating during feeding time, since it might be harder now to compete for food. You should also continuously observe your goldfish to make sure infections don’t develop around the lost eye.
I was also reading an interesting article about aggressive ryukins attacking other tank mates, so if you have a ryukin goldfish in the aquarium, he could have been the offender. If this is the case, I definitely recommend moving the ryukin to another aquarium before the fish attacks again.
Thanks so much for your reply.. I have another Rancha in the tank. The whole eye is completely gone… =((
the rancha whose eye is gone is so listless.. i had to hand feed it.
i split the tank into 2 sides, using a rubber divider.. i am worried as i do not know if its the fishes from the other side of the tank which attack my rancha.. i hav a sucker fish and another non goldfish breed.. do u think its possible?
Hi Jessie,
It’s entirely possible that the culprit is the sucker fish. Since the whole eye is gone, it’s more likely that another fish attacked your goldfish. I really wouldn’t keep the goldfish and sucker fish in the same tank. Catfish can also cause problems.
It may take some time for your goldfish to adjust to the lost eye. Keep watching your goldfish to make sure no other infections develop. Look closely for parasites around the eye or in the gills. You should also make sure the other eye isn’t cloudy, as this might be an indication of a bacterial infection. You may even want to move the goldfish to a hospital tank to avoid stress from other fish until he starts eating again. A tiny bit of aquarium salt might help your goldfish guard against infection.
I’m so sorry your goldfish had to go through such a traumatic experience. I really hope he pulls through!
Hi Christina, thanks thanks! i am trying to hand feed my goldfish now.. luckily it’s eating some..
after my goldfish lose it’s eyes, it has begin to developed some balancing problem. It’s swimming belly up. I have try feeding it with frozen green peas but to no avail. Has it got to do with missing an eye?
Hi Jessie,
I don’t think the missing eye and buoyancy problems are related. The stress of losing an eye could have caused other infections though. If green peas aren’t doing the trick, I’d fast your goldfish for a few days (3-4 days might help). Also, check the water quality. Has your goldfish been staying at the surface at all? That may be a good indication that something’s wrong with the water. If you’ve been feeding your fish dry pellets, that could have also caused your goldfish to bloat and swim upside down.
If everything else seems fine and fasting doesn’t seem to help, there’s a chance your goldfish could have developed a bacterial infection. In this case you may want to put your fish in a hospital tank and begin medication. Many hobbyists receive good results with Maracyn-Two. Depending on the problem, sometimes medication for buoyancy problems won’t work. It might be worth a try though.