HELP! Sick Goldfish

[chadagap]

One of my Goldfish got stuck under one of the decoration rocks few days back(I have no clue how he went underneath it) and its pectoral fin was cut in half. Now from past few days i notice that the area near its abdomen is black and it is pretty sick. I have been using Malafix from past 4 days, but i am really worried i might loose him.

I have separated the two fish using a divider in the tank and removed all the stones on one side. Not sure what else i need to do.

Please help.

[MCools]

The first thing you need to do is make sure your water is clean- test for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite- and if they don't read 0/0/<30 do a partial water change to get the numbers there. Sick and injured fish need the cleanest of water to help them heal.

Can you move the injured fish to a different tank? It sounds like your going to need a stronger medication than just melafix, and you don't need your healthy fish medicated. 10 gallon tanks are perfect for a hospital tank as most meds dose in 10 gallon increments.

Maracyn and maracyn2 are probably the best meds to try- they are anti-biotics and they each work in different ways so you can use them together. They should help the fish heal up without any secondary infections setting in. If there is already an infection they should be able to help clear that up, too.

What size tank do you have? How long have you had it?

[chadagap]

Thanks for your reply,

I have a 20 Gal tank. Water is clean. Both ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrate is around 20. I have had it for around 4 months now.

Will a bowl work for the sick fish. I have a 5 gallon bowl. And i am assuming i need to change water daily in the bowl.

Where do we get these medications?.

[smaug]

If you can,post some pics.We dont even know exactly what the issue looks like.There is no way to tell you what med to use if we dont know if its a simply injury oir an actual parasite or bacteria. For now,yes the small 5 gal would work as a hosp tank.Change 80% of the water every day making sure to use and needed water treatments and of course a redose of whatever med would be used. My beliefe is that the fish is suffering infection from the injury. Aquarium salt and stress coat along with a stress free environment could bring the fish around.

[chadagap]

I will try to post a pic once i go home.Where can i get these medications? Ae they available at PetSmart?

[smaug]

Yes,fish meds are sold there. Good variety usually. Read the instructions carefully especially if added to the main tank.Some meds can wipe out your benneficial bacteria,some will kill inverts,some such as copper will poison a tank forever against inverts.For now,get aquarium salt [not marine} and stress coat.

[chadagap]

Thanks for all the replies guys. But the fish died sometime yesterday afternoon. I did a 50% water changes yesterday and will do one more tomorrow. before adding another fish to the tank.

I have to now find a similar looking goldfish so that my 5 year old daughter is happy.