flytrapboba Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 (edited) 😞Hello friends! I was wondering if you all could help diagnose if there's something going on with one of our pond goldfish. Some background info: A few months ago we lost a lot of pond goldfish due to raccoons both scratching at the fish and knocking an excess of fish food from an automatic feeder into the pond. Two of those fish survived, including the one that is the subject of this post. Shortly after we went to a LFS to restock with a mix of young goldfish and koi (few months old). About a month ago, one of the new goldfish we got became lethargic and wouldn't eat and eventually developed swim bladder issues. We tried to care for it in a hospital tank, but unfortunately it passed away. Other than that, all the other fish seem to be healthy and happy except now we've noticed that one of the big survivor goldfish spends most of the day near the bottom of the pond and only moves when disturbed or when it's feeding time. This behavior started about 4 days ago. I should mention as well that I'm not exactly sure how old it is, but probably fairly old and is also mostly or completely blind from parasites or some other ailment from a long time ago. I have two video links to show: #1 - This is how it spends most of the day https://streamable.com/tb28di?src=player-page-share #2 - I caught it swimming about in a frenzy for a short period of time today before going back to its usual resting spot https://streamable.com/io9xqf?src=player-page-share As mentioned earlier, it does come up during feeding time to look for food to eat, but other than that it's been mostly near the bottom of the pond like in video #1 though it sometimes changes locations. All the other fish seem to be healthy, though I have noticed increased schooling behavior around the time the big fish started bottom resting. Water parameters were tested a few days ago: pH: 8-8.2 Ammonia: 0 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 10-20 ppm The pH is a bit higher than previous tests I've done which were in the 7.4-7.8 range. The only thing that has really changed of late is adding a few submersible aquatic plants to the bottom of the pond. Outside daytime temp has been around 70-75 F/night temp around 50-55 F where I live and no recent rainfall. Appreciate any and all help! Edited June 7 by flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 Did you treat the new goldfish for parasites before introducing them to the pond @flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytrapboba Posted May 23 Author Share Posted May 23 (edited) On 5/23/2024 at 3:25 AM, Colu said: Did you treat the new goldfish for parasites before introducing them to the pond @flytrapboba Hi Colu, unfortunately we did not treat for parasites before introducing them to the pond 😞 Edit: Went to take a look again today and saw it have a burst of swimming/flashing? similar to video #2 before settling down into a spot near the bottom again Edited May 23 by flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 On 5/23/2024 at 6:41 PM, flytrapboba said: Hi Colu, unfortunately we did not treat for parasites before introducing them to the pond 😞 Edit: Went to take a look again today and saw it have a burst of swimming/flashing? similar to video #2 before settling down into a spot near the bottom again I think it would be worth treating the pond with prazipro once a week for 4 weeks add an extra air stone during treatment@flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytrapboba Posted May 24 Author Share Posted May 24 (edited) On 5/23/2024 at 11:28 AM, Colu said: I think it would be worth treating the pond with prazipro once a week for 4 weeks add an extra air stone during treatment@flytrapboba Unfortunately I will be going out of town this weekend for around a week and I don't think I will be able to get prazipro in before I leave. This is what I currently have on hand: Ich-X API General Cure (8 packets) API Erythromycin (8 packets) API Aquarium Salt Epsom Salt Also forgot to mention that with every water change I use Seachem ParaGuard! Would it be worth trying any of these as a bath or do you think it will be fine to wait until I get back and can get some prazipro? Edit: Just to add for more info, I do recall seeing that it's poop was sort of white and stringy in texture?  Edited May 24 by flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 I would say treat with general cure I don't think you have enough packets of medication to treat a pond that size what I would do is order prazipro if there's any one you trust who could dose the pond while your away you dose prazipro on day one and leave for 7 days so it would be fine when you get back @flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytrapboba Posted May 24 Author Share Posted May 24 On 5/23/2024 at 11:41 PM, Colu said: I would say treat with general cure I don't think you have enough packets of medication to treat a pond that size what I would do is order prazipro if there's any one you trust who could dose the pond while your away you dose prazipro on day one and leave for 7 days so it would be fine when you get back @flytrapboba Unfortunately we don't have anyone nearby to do that 😞. I did do a water change today and now it's kind of perked up somewhat, hanging out near the surface, but still not using its fins much to swim from what I can tell. Here's a video I took: https://streamable.com/kuysin The one pop/bulging eye isn't a new thing, it's been there for a long time. Anyway, would it be worth trying the General Cure with food for now since I don't have enough to dose the whole pond? Worried about overdosing though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 On 5/24/2024 at 7:27 PM, flytrapboba said: Unfortunately we don't have anyone nearby to do that 😞. I did do a water change today and now it's kind of perked up somewhat, hanging out near the surface, but still not using its fins much to swim from what I can tell. Here's a video I took: https://streamable.com/kuysin The one pop/bulging eye isn't a new thing, it's been there for a long time. Anyway, would it be worth trying the General Cure with food for now since I don't have enough to dose the whole pond? Worried about overdosing though... You could use general cure in food feeding a small amount twice a day for a week then repeat the medicated food in two weeks for another week he's a medicated food recipe you can use with general cure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytrapboba Posted June 7 Author Share Posted June 7 (edited) On 5/24/2024 at 4:06 PM, Colu said: You could use general cure in food feeding a small amount twice a day for a week then repeat the medicated food in two weeks for another week he's a medicated food recipe you can use with general cure Got back home a few days ago and some good and bad news...The good news is that the fish that is the topic of this thread seems to be back to normal although she does seem to get tired when the male goldfish chases her for spawning. However, this afternoon I noticed one of the young koi I got a few months ago was floating dead in the water. I'm at a loss as to what might have happened. It was swimming and eating fine these past few days. The only changes I can think of were topping up the water level in the pond (added dechlorinator), the weather getting slightly warmer, and trying Blue Ridge Growth Mini Pellets again which the fish didn't seem to like when I first tried a while back, but ate them happily this time. I have pictures of the dead fish, but not sure if I am allowed to post them to help diagnose... Edited June 7 by flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 (edited) On 6/7/2024 at 1:56 AM, flytrapboba said: Got back home a few days ago and some good and bad news...The good news is that the fish that is the topic of this thread seems to be back to normal although she does seem to get tired when the male goldfish chases her for spawning. However, this afternoon I noticed one of the young koi I got a few months ago was floating dead in the water. I'm at a loss as to what might have happened. It was swimming and eating fine these past few days. The only changes I can think of were topping up the water level in the pond (added dechlorinator), the weather getting slightly warmer, and trying Blue Ridge Growth Mini Pellets again which the fish didn't seem to like when I first tried a while back, but ate them happily this time. I have pictures of the dead fish, but not sure if I am allowed to post them to help diagnose... Any visble injuries or redness to the body of the fish Edited June 8 by Colu Stupid autocorrect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flytrapboba Posted June 8 Author Share Posted June 8 (edited) On 6/7/2024 at 6:29 AM, Colu said: Any viable injuries or redness to the body of the fish Honestly I can't tell, here are some pictures I snapped after scooping it out of the pond: Edited June 8 by flytrapboba 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 I can see some redness to the side of the body but it difficult to tell weather these are post mortem changes depending on how long the fish was dead before you found the body not a lot to go on symptom wise i still think it's worthwhile treating with prazipro once a week for 4 weeks just in case there parasitic infection @flytrapboba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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