What are these red and white bumps on my goldfish's tail??

I have a Fantail goldfish. I bought at the petstore in the spring of 2009 so he's about 2 years old now. He lives in an 18 gallon aquarium with one other Goldfish. The past few weeks I have been noticing little white spots on his scales, then yesterday there were red and white bumps on his tail. This evening there were more bumps, it changed like overnight. What should I do for him?




They are eating omega-one freeze dried tubifex worms

not veryclear pics but looks like ick?

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sorry, he wouldnt keep still

I'm not sure if it is ick, he acts completely normal, eating, swimming around etc. The spots are bigger then a grain of salt and mostly on his tail

Goldfish tend to have problems like that when they have water quality issues. Do you do water changes and test the water? Ammonia and nitrite should be zero. Once a tank is cycled, the nitrate levels start increasing. They say up to 50 ppm is okay, but some goldfish have problems at much lower levels. Keeping nitrates down is usually harder for me with a goldfish tank than with other tropicals, simple because they get so much larger. Water changes also clear out an assortment of other things that are dissolved in the water, like chemicals the fish excrete and other organic compounds.

Goldfish in the wild eat a lot of vegetable matter, as well as worms and bugs. I would switch them to a balanced food for goldfish. It would give them the plant matter, fiber and vitamins that plain tubifex worms are lacking. That would help their immune systems and general health. They could have the tubifex as a treat. Omega One is a good brand, tubifex just aren't a complete diet.

You can try treating with some antibiotics from the pet store. If you work on the underlying cause, it should keep it from reoccurring. Your fish look small to me, for that age. I'm thinking a more balanced food would help them a lot.

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I do a half water change about once a month but I've never tested the water before... We'll be in the city today so I'll get some different food for them.

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I do a half water change about once a month but I've never tested the water before... We'll be in the city today so I'll get some different food for them.

the more water changes the better,,meaning the more often,,I would do like 3 gallon change twice a week in that small of a tank..also look at something for a bacterial infection. it looks like a type of fin rot starting to me,its been a log time sense I had fish,,I used to raise african chiclids and angels..

are they just discolered spots or bumps? You said white bumps, so i am thinking raised physical bump. which is indicative of a parasite like ick. if it is just new colered spots of flesh then that can be something else entirely

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they are a raised physical bump, I dont think its ick either.

They are for sure not ick. Much too big, not right for ick.

There are some parasites, e.g. fish lice, that can look generally sorta like that. I can't tell from those pics whether that's the case but it's something you should research further.

It could also be a growth, probably harmless.

I really dislike freeze dried tubifex btw because more often than not the fish seem to do a very poor job of eating it all, a lot of infinitesimal bits dissolve off into the water and create unnecessary water quality problems. I am also really not sure about its adequacy as a total diet. You might consider switching to a good quality goldfish pellet, fed sparingly.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

Yes, Chickie, your fish is definately getting sick...not only will he continue to deteriorate but the second fish will also become sick. The pet store will have medication to help your fish...just tell them his symptoms. The med bottle will instruct you to raise the temp in the tank slightly and increase airation...more bubblers. Follow the instructions exactly as they are on the bottle about dosage (goes by tank gallons) and later about dilution, as in water change out, until the fish are back on just fresh water. They will not recover with out action.

Your tank looks good, you take good care of it and nice set up.

Do you vaccume the gravel when you do your change outs... use a syphon that can reach into the gravel. Tiny pieces of waste and uneaten food accumulate under gravel where you cannot see it. This raises your nitrite level (bad). If you have an undergravel system, tiny bacteria uses this nitrite for food changing it to nitrate (harmless).

I used to do a complete tare down every year...scrub everything (with salt), especially gravel, while the fish are in a small holding bowl.

pH is very important to watch; with goldfish it raises quickly, lowering thier ability to fight off sickness. Frequent water change outs keep everything in perspective...

As for food, gold fish flakes are nutritionally balanced, they have all the vitamins your fish need. Pellets are also but are more aimed at outside pond fish and usually cloud the water. Keep your worms for treats as I know they love 'em. Fresh food is best but you must learn about nutrition content and include everthing they need....flakes are just easier.

Finally, do you ever add aquarium salt. Yep, salt. Every living creature needs salt. Just remember only add it once; your water will evaporate but salt does not. Your fish will hover over it and pump thier gills...mine even picked it up. Helps them asorb more oxygen. (salt kills snails though...so if you have snails in there don't do it).

Fish are fun...hope yours get better soon. Good luck. Keep us posted : ) Sally