Recurring fungus takes fun out of fish keeping?
Okay, here’s my problem. I have three goldfish in a ten gallon tank that I’ve had for about three years. I used to have five. Two were claimed by a mysterious infection that started about six months ago.
Symptoms: fuzz that eats of tails of my comets and grows on the heads of my “common Goldfish.” (It’s only killed my comets) The two fish died at separate times. I can usually spot an treat an outbreak before it turns deadly with an anti-fungal/anti-bacterial tablet. The problem is, the outbreaks always come back, and they seem to be getting worse. My fear is that the infection will grow resistant to the medicine I’ve been using. I haven’t had a proper cartridge in the filter for about three months because you have take the cartridge out to put in the medicine and the infection always comes back before I can get new ones.
How can I get rid of this fungus once and for all? It’s taken the fun out of fish keeping.
Would it help to perform more frequent water changes? Can I add more than the recomended dose of medicine?
Other articles you might like;
- Is These Pellets Healthy + More Qs-?
- Would This Hurt The Guppy Fry?
- 90g Reef Aquarium Setup Day 5
- Ideas On Fish For Freshwater Community Aquarium?
- Work Experience Melbourne 2011?
Sounds like a columnaris infection to me, which is actually a bacteria infection, that can easily be cured by using Fungus Clear tablets by Jungle Labs (sounds confusing but yes, Fungus Clear works on some bacterial infections and columnaris is one of them). I’ll be honest I’ve never used it in goldfish, but I’ve rescued bettas with columnaris a few times because Fungus Clear really does clear it more or less RIGHT up, and it seems stupid to me to let a perfectly good betta die because of something easily treated.
What’s concerning is your tank size, and probably why your fish keep getting sick. I have to imagine the nitrate and ammonia levels are off the chart, especially if 5 of them were in there for 3 years. Common goldfish get ginormous. 55 gallons per common goldfish is seriously the recommended minimum tank size for just one. Fancies need 20 gallons a piece. So, you are grossly overstocked in a 10 gallon.
So I would treat the fish and keep their water SPARKLING – I’m talking daily water changes – and as soon as the columnaris is gone, rehome all the goldfish. Or, buy a huge tank and start it cycling so you can move those fish in a few weeks. You really need to – I’m not being mean but if you don’t do one or the other, those fish will die.
Then tear down and scrub your 10 gallon with hot water, let it air dry, and start it cycling for a smaller, 10-gallon appropriate size species of fish if you still want to use it. You’ll have to cycle from scratch, meaning let it run for a minimum of 4 weeks before adding new fish.