Shabunkin Goldfish gill problem

[Hoppyfrg]

Just got some new fish 4 days ago (all seemed perfectly healthy) but one of them is now very lethargic, slowly swimming/floating toward the surface and not even swimming away when I splash next to it. All other fish are acting perfectly normal, so I placed him in a bowl and discovered that the gill on one side is curled out and hanging open. I couldn't see any parasites or anything in it. I tested the water and everything is normal. We've got a pretty sweet waterfall and our anacharis is almost to the surface, so I don't think it's an oxygenating problem. Anyone have any suggestions? I don't know if the poor guy will last much longer!

 

[Hoppyfrg]

New Symptom: not swimming at all and just floating on one side at the surface...I'm sorry, I make horrible jokes so I don't cry. It turns out that he had even less time than I thought. I guess I'll just wait and see if any other fish follow suit and treat for parasites if they do. RIP little buddy

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome. Sorry to hear about your fish.

If you could give us a little more information, it would be helpful.

What size is your pond (how many gallons & how deep)?
How long has your pond been up & running?
What kind of filtration do you have?
How many fish do you have, and how big are they?
How often & how much do you feed?
Are there any places in the pond where the fish could have injured itself?
Did you quarantine these new fish?
Do you test your water, and what are your results?
Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, KH, etc.?
Do you do water changes?

 

[Hoppyfrg]

8 ft diameter, 3 ft at deepest (shelves at 2 and 1 feet also), around 750 gallons.
It's a new pond, up and running only a few months.
We have a Tetra Bio-active pressure filter (mechanical and Biological)
We now have 5 fish. One we've had for about 2 months (about 3 inches) and the other 4 (plus the dead one) we just got this week and are about 2 inches.
Feed twice a day, only a pinch (we read they should be able to eat all of it within a couple minutes so we kinda judge by that)
Can't think of anywhere they could injure themselves. It's a liner pond, there are baskets for the plants and a tilted pot to hide in and that's it. There are rocks along the edges, but the ones the fish can get near are smaller river rocks.
We did not quarantine the new fish.
We test the water once a week today Nitrates: 0, Nitrites: 0, Hardness: 150, Alkalinity: 120, PH: 8
We have water changes once a month and we use Safe to remove chlorine and ammonia, but we top off the water about once a week without treatment to account for evaporation.

We live near hills so we get predators like raccoons in the neighborhood, but our 2 huskies usually keep them away (the dogs hate water so they don't go near the pond).

I did just notice today that we have VERY TINY white bugs hopping off the surface of the water. Never seen those before, not sure what they are or if it matters.

Let me know if you need any more info and thanks for your time!

 

[Mmathis]

Oh, no! I just saw your up-date! So sorry your fish didn't make it

Well, my next question was going to be about potential predators, and you just answered that. Your water sounds OK (ammonia?). And this fish was fine initially. Snakes? Crawfish? Herons?

 

[Dave 54]

Pardon me but you dont mention anywhere if you put your new additions to the pond under Quarentine when you bought it.
In QT'ing your fish you save the residents of your pond from being open to attack from any Diseases or Parasites even Viruses and as you are finding out the death of fish.
We cannot understand why so many people seem to firget this step.
Should folks read up on their hobby first and know not to take such steps I wonder how many fish we would save each year remember if given the love and attention goldfish can live up to 40 years koi even longer at 80 years .
Could you please as accuaratally as you can give us the symptoms of what happened to the ead fish prior to it dying , this way we can get a handle as to what its problem was and how to treat your other fish .

rgrds

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Gill flukes have the effect of a mucus buildup on the gill covers .
The gill cover may appear lifted this is because it is unable to shut, the fish may in the water close to heavily OPxygenated wate such as a waterfall or airstones in the water.
Intake of food seems less and less readily taken in by an infected fish.
Over a time the fish gives the appearance of
Gill fluke have a cousin the body fluke.
I'm not saying this is gill flukes "but showing you a senario of what it may well be", sadly you cannot veiw this nasty with the human eye and need a microscope to this parasite.
It is now up to you to find out exactly up with your fish It ay also be one of many parasites the body fluke included.
It may be an idea to ask the dealer who sold you these fish to come out and take a scrape for you or find out if there is a goldfish club in your area who are willing to send someone round to see you take a scarpe and help you diagnose your problem .

rgrds

Dave