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Goldfish Dropsy – Deadly Bacterial Infection

By Jamie Boyle

Just yesterday I recieved an email from one of my readers whose goldfish is suffering from dropsy (also known as pine cone disease) that I thought I should share with everyone. Brian sent me this email along with pictures looking for some advice on how to treat his goldfish which is really sick:

Hi Jamie

I’m looking for some advice, I have a really sick goldfish, I have tried everything over the last few weeks & nothing seems to be working (Inc salt, medicine, peas etc..) he is very bloated & stays at the bottom of the tank mostly, when he does swim it is very slowly and lethargic & over the past 2-3 days he has become very black in color all over his body & fins. Goldfish Suffering From DropsyI have been changing the water approx 1-2 times a week in the hope this will help? But I am afraid I am no expert. I have attached a few photos for you to have a look, I hope you can help, I have had him for years & would hate to lose him.

Many Thanks

Brian

Photos courtesy of Brian

Goldfish With Dropsy and Cloudy EyeDropsy

I would like to thank Brian for sending me these photos of his goldfish. The only thing is I wish I would be able to help him in this situation more. You see dropsy is a bacterial infection affecting the fish organs causing the body to swell and also the eyes to bulge. There is no real way to treat dropsy. The best thing one can do is make sure you maintain excellent water quality and try treating your fish with aquarium salt. Aquarium salt is known to help treat a wide variety of diseases and can help kill parasites as well. Maintaining water quality with proper maintenance is the best way to try and prevent dropsy from occuring.

Another suggestion that Brian should do is stop performing 1-2 water changes a week. You see by doing too many water changes can mess up your nitrogen cycle causing further stress on your goldfish. Dropsy is usually caused by poor water quality in which I suspect that has caused dropsy to occur on his goldfish. After doing the water changes Brian should add beneficial bacteria after every water change and keep testing his water quality to make sure there are no ammonia spikes. Water quality is something people need to always make sure is kept up and tested to prevent goldfish diseases and parasites from occuring.

Treating goldfish for dropsy using salt and feeding them Internal Medicated Food for bacterial infections is about the only thing you can do. The prognosis for dropsy isn’t good at all. Dropsy is usually fatal and one can only try and treat their fish in hopes that he recovers. Hoping and praying is the last thing we can do just waiting to see if our attempts to treat dropsy works. Dropsy is a deadly bacterial infection and people should plan for the worse when they see symptoms on their fish.

I wish Brian best of luck and hope that his goldfish is able to recover from this deadly bacterial infection called dropsy.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Other Related Posts:

Goldfish Medication Treatments For Illnesses, Diseases and Parasites

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How To Treat Ulcer Disease On Goldfish

By Jamie Boyle

Ulcer disease on goldfish is something all goldfish and aquarium owners will come across some day and you will need to learn how to treat ulcers effectively. I just recently made two posts and talked about How Ulcers Begin On Goldfish and Ulcers On Goldfish – Red Sores Blotches which talks more about this subject. The best thing people can do as mentioned is to treat ulcers right away as it’s easier to correct the problem at the start and you will have much better luck in the treatment of ulcers.

What you need to learn now is how to treat ulcer disease on goldfish and there are several ways you can do so. Ulcer DiseaseOne of the ways in which I use is Potassium Permanganate which works very well but you need to be cautious using this as it is a severely strong medication and treatment method for ulcers and should only be used by experienced people in the hobby. I won’t talk much on this as I have just learned just recently that Potassium permanganate is now illegal in Canada. I will update you more on this news later to let you know why.

Another method of treatment for ulcers is by using Melafix. Melafix treats ulcers and open wounds on goldfish healing them quickly and restoring damaged tissue. I know for Pond Care Melafix you use one teaspoon for every 50 gallons of water for minor injuries, wounds and fin damage you can use this dosage. For more serious and advanced injuries in goldfish double the dosage to two teaspoons for every 50 gallons. Melafix works very well in the treatment of ulcers on goldfish and is a all natural medication. When treating your goldfish for ulcers just remember to remove the activated carbon from your filter and turn off your UV sterilizers if you have one. Now with the Pond Care Medication this is a stronger concentration of medication, there is one that you can buy at local pet stores which is a lower concentration meant for aquarium use. See your local pet store for more details and follow the recommended dosage on the box.

Another method of treating ulcers is by by feeding your goldfish Debride Medicated Food for bacterial infections in combination with Debride Medicated Ointment. When you do these both it has an excellent result in the treatment of ulcers. Simply feed the medicated food to your goldfish for a full 14 days while applying a small bit of ointment onto the affected area on your goldfish body and you will see great results when you combine both uses.

Another way I treat ulcers on goldfish is by using the Kutsuri Wound Kit. This kit is meant for the treatment of wounds such as ulcers. All you do is put your goldfish to sleep using an anesthetic, use the sterilization solution, clean the wound, apply red solution which is iodine to the area, apply a medicated powder directly on to the ulcer, and then apply your water sealer to keep the medicated powder from being washed off when you introduce your goldfish back to your aquarium or pond. I personally like this method as you know for sure that the infected area is being treated for sure. I know I had a koi with an ulcer bigger then a loonie before and deep and this cured it good and fast.

These are several ways you can treat ulcer disease on goldfish. Some are easier then others and I suggest going with the one your more comfortable with. If your uneasy on putting your goldfish or koi to sleep to treat the ulcers then I suggest going with the Melafix which is a medication you simply add to the water. Quick, easy and efficient. Choose the right form of goldfish ulcer disease treatment for you.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Other related posts-

How Ulcers Begin On Goldfish
Ulcers On Goldfish – Red Sores Blotches
Melafix Bacterial and Fungus Fish Medication Treatment For Ulcers

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How Ulcers Begin On Goldfish

By Jamie Boyle

Today I received an email from one of my readers who is having a problem with her goldfish with some red blotches on her fantail goldfish. I asked for some more information so I could properly diagnose the symptoms that her goldfish is showing.

Here are the goldfish pictures that Michelle sent me so I can help her out:

Ulcer Eating Away Tissue By TailGoldfish Ulcer

Ulcer Disease On Fancy GoldfishAs you see in the photos this fantail goldfish has red blotches by the back and tail. You see with ulcers it starts off almost like a rash with red blotches or red marks on the goldfish. As the ulcer disease in goldfish progresses scales will fall off and open the skin will open up to the tissue. Treating goldfish for ulcers is very easy at the early stages when they begin. When you see this happening begin goldfish treatment right away.

Ulcer DiseaseThe more advanced stages of ulcers can be seen with this photo. Here you will see the extreme tissue damage done by ulcer disease. It has eaten away right into the flesh and body tissue of this koi shown here. If left untreated fish will die for sure. That’s why it’s very important to treat ulcers right away when you notice it. it’s much easier to treat in early stages.

Fantail Goldfish With UlcerNow when you see red blotches or red marks on goldfish doesn’t always mean that it’s ulcers, it could be bacterial infections. Sometimes bad water quality will cause hemoraging on goldfish. It then appears as red marks coming from beneath the shin which can be seen. Always make sure water quality is kept up to date and healthy for your goldfish. Sometimes there is just too much bacteria in the water causing irritation on goldfish. Just keep water quality in check and at proper levels. Doing water changes regularly and keeping goldfish aquariums and goldfish ponds not overcrowded will help heep their health in order. Overcrowded ponds and aquariums are one of the main reasons that ulcers appear on goldfish and koi.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Other Related Posts:

Ulcers On Goldfish – Red Sores Blotches

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Ulcers On Goldfish Red Sores- Blotches

By Jamie Boyle

Ulcers disease among goldfish appear at the beginning as small red sores or blotches. These ulcers are usually caused by a parasitic infestation then a secondary bacterial infection has set in. These ulcers much like mouth rot will actually eat away the skin and flesh of your goldfish and if left untreated will actually eat away until it forms a hole in the goldfish showing the internal organs. Goldfish ulcers are annoying but they are treatable and are much easier to treat in the early stages when ulcers appear with the right fish medications. As I mentioned at the beginning they start off as small red sores but these sores will increase in size as this ulcer disease progresses.

Ulcers can happen from a variety of different reasons:

Ulcer Disease Appear On Goldfish As Red Sores As Seen In This Picture As The Tissue Is Literally Eaten Away1. Poor water quality
2. Parasitic Infestation
3. Injury
4. Overcrowded conditions
5. Stress
6. Result of spawning injury
7. High count of aeromonas and pseudomonas in the water

These are some of the reasons ulcers will happen on goldfish. What you need to do is treat your goldfish right away. If left untreated death is sure to happen to your goldfish so be sure to treat your goldfish right away and learn how to treat ulcer disease on goldfish.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Other Related Posts:

Melafix Bacterial and Fungus Fish Medication Treatment For Ulcers
How Ulcers Begin On Goldfish

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Cloudy Eye Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Diseases Goldfish Medications

Cloudy Eye Goldfish Problem Treatment & Fish Medication

Cloudy eye is a goldfish problem often affecting goldfish sometimes caused due to bacterial infections and there are symptoms, causes and treatments to get your goldfish health back to normal. The thing with Cloudy Eye or eye cloud this can be prevented by regular maintenance on your aquarium. Water quality is the #1 reason that goldfish diseases and bacterial infections occur and cause your goldfish to become ill, sick or even death.

What Is Cloudy Eye On Goldfish?

Cloudy Eye On GoldfishCloudy eye is when a whitish film starts to cover the goldfish eyes. It may affect either one eye or both and the eye then has a cloudy appearance pretty much how this bacterial infection got its name. There are many possible causes of of how cloudy eye infected your fish. Like I said before mostly due to poor water quality and conditions is where most diseases and bacterial infections are all started. There is always a reason why goldfish get sick, just need search to find out why it happened and correct it. When goldfish have Cloudy Eye they sometimes show signs of distress like clamped fins or appear sluggish.

Cloudy Eye Goldfish Fungus Disease - Fish Medication Treatment Required
Cloudy Eye Goldfish Fungus Disease – Fish Medication Treatment Required

Treatment For Cloudy Eye

Melafix All-Natural Medication For Treatment Of Cloudy Eye on FishCloudy eye can be treated and prevented by doing regular water changes and keeping water chemistry in proper levels reducing stress and chance of goldfish diseases and bacterial infections from occuring in the first place. By adding salt to your aquarium when performing water changes will help from goldfish problems from happening. Salt is a good prevention for Goldfish Diseases. What you need to do to treat Cloudy Eye is to find the appropriate medication for the problem. You will be able to find goldfish medication at any of your local pet stores or online as well. A good treatment for Cloudy Eye is MelaFix which is used to treat cloudy eye and other goldfish bacterial infections like fungus, red ulcers and fin and tail rot. This form of bacterial treatment will heal your goldfish quickly. Just follow the recommended dosage and instructions to treat your fish.

Perform regular aquarium maintenance and you’ll have healthier goldfish and much happier goldfish. This will definitely help ensure your goldfish health and stop problems like Cloudy Eye from occuring. I will post Cloudy eye pictures here a s well for people to see. Good luck with your goldfish and make sure they stay healthy.

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Other Related Posts:

Melafix Bacterial and Fungal Fish Medication Treatment