Continued from page 1
Treatment: Try giving them boiled and softened peas, which act as a mild laxative.
How to prevent it: Make sure that your goldfish get green foods and do not give them too much protein or too much fat.
Dropsy
Dropsy is another bacterial infection that infects
fish within its body causing scales to stick out. It is dangerous and often fish die. Causes: Dropsy is brought on by, again, water quality that has a very high ammonia and nitrite content.
Symptoms: Be alert for signs of body swelling and scales that seem to poke out. Sometimes even eyes seem to bulge out.
What happens: Dropsy causes fish to retain fluid and swell up. Swelling of body cavity due to a build-up of fluid. Scales become raised giving a pinecone-like appearance. One or both of eyes may be protruded. Treatment: Dropsy is pretty fatal and hard to cure. Your best bet is a broad-spectrum anti- bacteria treatment. You could add salt to prevent salt loss.
How to prevent it: You must make sure that water in your tank is of good quality. Test water from time to time.
Pop Eye
As name suggests, this disease causes eyes of fish to pop out. It is often a symptom of impending.
Causes: Once again it is an infection brought on by badly maintained tanks an unhealthy water conditions.
Symptoms: Your goldfish will have eyes that protrude and kind of stick out of eye sockets.
What happens: This pop eye is a sign of fluid retention that may lead to full fledged dropsy.
Treatment: Start with an antibacterial treatment and add salt to aquarium.
How to prevent it: Keep water of high quality. Maintain tank with regular weekly water changes.
Cloudy eye
This is when eyes of your goldfish seem as an opaque lining covered them.
Caused: It is caused by poor water quality, lack of vitamins, an unhealthy diet, and eye flukes like Diplostomum, corneal damage, and bacterial infection.
Symptoms: Your goldfish will seem to have an eye that looks cloudy and opaque rather than bright and clear.
What happens: The Goldfish’s eyes might have mucus on outer surface and goldfish probably cannot see as well as he or she should, leading to a slowdown in activities.
Treatment: You must immediately improve water conditions, add salt and take care that you give your goldfish some vitamin supplements.
How to prevent it: Try and ensure high quality water conditions, stick to a healthy, balanced good quality food that contains added vitamins.
Swim Bladder Disorder
More than a disease, Swim bladder disorder is a problem affecting some goldfish varieties genetically. Egg-shaped fancy goldfish seem to have this disorder more than others. It has to do with floating and goldfish are either sinkers or floaters.
Causes: Apart from genetic issues like physical deformities, high levels of nitrates in water as well as not soaking food before feeds that causes gas bring on swim bladder disorder. Bad water quality adds to problem.
Symptoms: Your goldfish seems to be unable to either swim to top or swim down to bottom of tank
What happens: Your goldfish have difficulty swimming to surface, or to lower levels of tank. They also do not eat well due to gas and bad quality water reduces their oxygen supply.
Treatment: Do improve water conditions and give them Daphnia, which acts as a laxative. Think of an appropriate diet change and treat fish with an anti-bacteria treatment. Fancy goldfish with physical deformities won’t improve.
How to prevent it: Ensure high quality water conditions and do take care to soak food, whether pellets or flakes, before you give it to goldfish. Reduce dried food that you might give.
Having 30 years experience in everything Goldfish, Dane Stanton has spent the past 18 months researching the most pressing questions on Goldfish. This information has been recorded in his book titled - "Goldfish Secrets Revealed" - which you can pick up by going to his website - http://www.infotrate.com/goldfish.htm
