unhappy mirror carp

[julialieb]

Hi all,
I've never been here before but hope someone can help identify what's wrong with my mirror carp.
Kind of a long story but the basics are - he (or she?) is about 12 years old but still living in a tank (until now very happily).

Last Thursday he was very subdued with rapid gill movement & occasional flicking / scraping. I gave him a dose of Interpet Anti Crustacean medicine #12 which admittedly may have been wrong - i couldn't get hold of Waterlife Sterazin which I wanted to use and maybe panicked slightly.

anyway now he is slightly more active but hovering nearer the top than the bottom of the tank. He's not gasping for air though. His right gill is still working quite rapidly, but his left gill seems to have stopped (working altogether?) not sure) and he's not using his left pectoral fin.

A water test a week before last Thursday indicated high No3 and Cl2 but the rest showed normal. I did a 10% water change at that point but then no more.

Am very concerned, but not sure where to turn as am getting conflicting opinions from local shops & also stuck because I have to wait till Thursday before I can do any other medication.

Any ideas very gratefully received... many thanks

[Cliff]

Doing only a 10% water change won't help a lot to lower those high nitrates. I would try larger waterchanges (50% or higher) until you can properly identify what is going on with your fish and treat it.

Lots of fresh clean water goes a long way to help fish recover

Has there been any change in appreance ? Have you resently added any new tankmates or changed anything in the tank ?

A water test a week before last Thursday indicated high No3 and Cl2 but the rest showed normal

Edit: are you stating that you tested and found chlorine in your tank water ?

What type of dechlorinater are you currently using for your water changes ?

[Lady Hobbs]

I agree. If your nitrates are high then your water changes are not large enough to start with.