AquaRank.com

FishProfiles.com Message Forums

faq | etiquette | register | my account | search | mailbox
# FishProfiles.com Message Forums
L# General
 L# The Hospital
  L# Help! My Magestic 7-year-old Oranda is Lethargic
 Post Reply  New Topic
SubscribeHelp! My Magestic 7-year-old Oranda is Lethargic
hkmegatron
Small Fry
Posts: 1
Kudos: 1
Votes: 0
Registered: 18-Jul-2018
usa us-washington
EditedEdited 18-Jul-2018 20:13
Hey folks, I'm not sure what's going on with my 7-to-8 year old Oranda goldfish, Brain. I'm really hoping you kind folks can help me.

TLDR; Parameters good, big old fish is lethargic & rejects food. Photos/Videos at bottom.

The Aquarium: Brain shares a planted, 60-gallon tank with four other fish-- a large dojo loach, two smaller golden dojo loaches, and a young black oranda. The loaches I've had for about 2 years, the black oranda only a couple weeks. I moved the loaches & Brain into this 60-gallon from a 30-gallon tank about a month ago. All of the other fish look happy & healthy. I have a 110 Aquaclear and a Marineland Magniflow 360 Canister as filtration. The filter media is just straight-up Fluval Biomax Bio Rings, sponges, & one Seachem Purigen each. I did a 30% water change on Wednesday 7/11. I tested the mid-tank water Monday 7/16-- Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates 20-30ppm, pH <7.4. I don't have a thermometer, but the water is nice and cool to the touch. In addition to the Aquarclear's waterfall, I have two air-stones on a mechanical timer. The bubble schedule is two-hours-on, one-hour-off from 8am to 7pm and 30-minutes-on, two-hours off at night (increased to one-hour-on starting Monday 7/16; hoping that will help). I recently had an algae bloom, but resolved it after a week with water changes + Seachem Stability + Seachem Pristine + no lights for a week (the tank is near-ish a windowed door). I've got the lights back on again, but only for 2 hours at dusk. I feed them a palm-full of Omega One Goldfish Medium Sinking Pellets once per day (sometimes I forget or they're alone for a weekend though). I've got extra API Melafix, API Pimafix, Seachem Stress Guard, & API Aquarium Salt in the tank right now too.

The Symptoms: Brain likes to sit on the ground in the front right corner of the tank. If I'm honest, he's always been a lazy fish-- I've seen him sit in the corner all day, but he'd get excited if I walked by, stuck my hands in, at feeding time, or if another fish wanted to play. This is part of the reason I moved him & his roommates to a larger tank and got him a new goldfish-friend to snuggle (though he "happily" snuggles with Sam, the larger loach). He hasn't had a tank-mate his size/species for a few years now (RIP Googley). The last few days though he's been sitting in his little nest & not been interested in food. It's almost like he's having trouble swimming / staying buoyant? He kind of just shuffles along the tank floor, taking rests every few inches; almost like he gets winded. His pectoral fins are even getting a little ragged from dragging across the gravel. I lifted him up Monday evening and he didn't want to leave my hand-- if he did he would scuttle around & swim hard to rest back in my hand or sink to the bottom of the tank (both of my larger fish are fond of being handled, so swimming to my hand isn't too abnormal). I sprinkled food on him and all he did was wiggle. I hand-fed him a couple pellets but he just spat them back out again. I squeezed his his tummy a little and it was pretty firm-- but honestly, I can't recall squeezing him in the past so I'm not sure what he's supposed to feel like. When I set him down to research, the bubbles turned back on; he got little excited & started swimming through the bubbles, but settled back on the floor again in seconds. This morning (Wed 7/18), he was back in his nest just gulping & unmoving. The younger oranda was nearby, hiding near the back of the tank & acting a little concerned for Brain but otherwise alright. Brain has a small cloudy spot in his left eye (hence the Melafix). He does have some red veins in his tail-fins, but he's had them for as far back as I can remember-- I've always thought his veins showed due to his size & having a translucent-white tail. Brain did get a rock stuck in his mouth two weeks ago, but I got it out quickly & gently. Before falling ill, Brain had his breeding stars going, but they're all but gone now.

Photos/Videos: https://imgur.com/a/WXKZaUm

Could he have fully swallowed some rocks? Maybe he's just too fat to swim? Perhaps I'm wrong about the tail-veins? Is this behavior normal for a fish his size/age?? Maybe I'm just paranoid. What do you think? All I want is his health & happiness. I really appreciate your help.
Post InfoPosted 18-Jul-2018 19:57Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Post Reply  New Topic
Jump to: 

The views expressed on this page are the implied opinions of their respective authors.
Under no circumstances do the comments on this page represent the opinions of the staff of FishProfiles.com.

FishProfiles.com Forums, version 11.0
Mazeguy Smilies