Hi all, I am currently dealing with the worst bacterial infection I’ve ever had to deal with on my goldfish of 7 years. Vet is finally stumped so I bring you guys the case.
My goldfish, named Booyah, is 7 years old. He’s lived in a 55g by himself for most of his life.
For years, Booyah has had a couple red lines on his fins. Because he’s had it for so long, I didn’t think much of it.
Three months ago, I bought a heater and raised the temperature in Booyah’s tank slowly over the course of two weeks. It was about 76F when I woke up one morning and realized Booyah was swimming in all manner of different ways. Assuming he was constipated, due to his fancy body shape, I fed him peas over the next week. With no change, and his eyes seemingly bulging, I moved to step two.
I started looking for cures to what I believed was a bacterial infection, possibly Septicemia at the time. Being in Canada, it’s very difficult for me to obtain medications without a vet, and so I contacted the nearest one to me (2hrs), raced there and back with the vet’s prescription of Erythromycin, and began treatment. No change. Next attempt the vet prescribes Amoxicillin and Green Malachite, and there’s no improvement again—though I will say his popeye was noticeably better around this point. No change, once again. The red lines were getting worse, and my poor boy was losing color due to stress among many other things, and so the vet prescribed me a second round(??) of Erythromycin, which again did not work.
It’s at this point where the vet said he was stumped and I had already exhausted hundreds of dollars in examination fees. The treatment has been ongoing for at least 2 months now, and I—as I’m sure many others are surprised that Booyah is even alive still. He has been fighting very hard.
I treated Booyah with Kanaplex in his food, and again there has been no change. In the last two weeks, he’s grown what the vet believes to be lymphocytes on his tailfin, as well as showing virtually no improvement in his ability to swim or with the red lines. I have also been giving him Epsom baths every other day.
I am unsure of what to take for the next step, so I’m kindly asking if you guys have any recommendations to please let me know. I should add that Booyah has recently been moved to a 20G hospital tank to administer treatment, but my vet prescribed all his previous treatments in his 55g tank, so I will provide the readings of the 55g as that’s been his home for the last ~6 years.
Ammonia — 0PPM
Nitrite — 0PPM
Nitrates — 20PPM
PH — 8.2
Temp — Avg.72, was turned up to 76-78, but has since been put back at 72. (About a month ago).
I do weekly water changes of about 30%. Tank is 55g and has been set up for over 5 years.
Booyah is the only fish in this tank, nothing new was added at the time of his illness.
I feed Booyah omega goldfish pellets and have been for years. I also fed him frozen & thawed bloodworms at the time (have since stopped due to his inability to get them) and tried to feed him vegetables but he hates them for some reason. (Getting him to eat the peas was no easy feat).
I have attached images of Booyah's current health condition. Any additional information or pictures can be supplied as needed.