All living things are possibly exposed to diseases, including goldfish. It is not fun at all to see the goldfish we keep is sick. That’s why it is very important to know and understand some diseases goldfish can have. When a goldfish is sick, it may show some symptoms indicating the disease.
Continue reading this if you want to know more about the 6 must-known diseases a goldfish may have. By doing so, you will be able to do some treatment preventing your goldfish from getting worse condition or even dying.
- Carp Pox Virus
This disease is unsightly and it is relatively harmless. The most common type of goldfish infected by this virus is koi. If you notice any waxy white appearance, then your goldfish may be infected by carp pox virus. This disease is commonly seen in colder water temperature and will disappear once the water is warm.
- Anchorworm (Lernea)
Anchorworms shape like a short piece of thread coming from beneath a single scale. A fish which gets infected with Anchorworms will develop ulcer sores. It happens due to the damage caused by the worms as they get into the flesh of the fish.
Anchorworms will not disappear immediately and it may take a week or even longer depending on the water temperature. Anchorworms is listed as one of the common diseases of fish can have. To treat this disease, you can use Dimilin.
- Columnaris Disease
Columnaris disease is another type of goldfish disease caused by bacterial infection. The primary symptom is the presence of white tufts around the mouth and spread to the body and fins, mostly leading to ulcers and thin appearance.
This disease is often mistaken as a fungal disease because of the mold-like lesions. The disease’s name is derived from the columnar shaped bacteria which mostly occur in pond environment.
The bacteria mostly infect the fish that have been stressed due to some conditions, such as the poor quality of water, inadequate diet or shipping. The bacteria enter the fish through the gills, mouth and even small wounds on the skin.
This disease is highly contagious through contaminated objects, such as nets, specimen containers and food as well. This disease can be treated by using anti-bacterial medicine.
- Fish Lice (Argulus)
Lice can also be a problem for goldfish. Most people mistaken fish lice as a small patch of green algae on the body of the fish. If you look closer, then you will see the round “bug” which has a larger body than a pencil lead.
Similar to anchor worms, fish lice also make little holes in the fish. As a result, the infected fish is more vulnerable to bacterial infections. Dimilin can be used to treat fish lice.
Also, understand these reasons why your fish keeps dying. Make sure your fish is not dying!
- Ich
Another common disease of all fish, including goldfish is ich. You can tell that your goldfish has ich by the white spots the same size of coarse sand. There may be some symptoms occur before you see the white spots, such as flashing or rubbing their sides against the pond bottom, loss of appetite and lethargy.
To treat ich, you can use salt treatment and do it for around 10-21 days, depending on the water temperature. It will take longer time to treat ich in colder water.
- Ulcer
Ulcer is particularly a bacterial disease. Mostly see on goldfish and koi, ulcers start appearing as red or white pimple and widen quickly into a large hole or ulcer.
It can advance all the way into the muscle of the fish, so it is very important to treat this disease in its earliest stages. Also get to know these popular koi fish types before deciding to pet them!
There are some causes of ulcer, such as Anchorworms, fish lice and flukes. It is very important to keep your fish away from those parasites. To treat ulcer in goldfish, you can keep the affected fish in salted water and feed medicated food. Contact your vet as well for further assistance. Do you know that the benefits of salt for breeding catfishes too?
The diseases elaborated above are serious and you surely don’t want any of those to happen to your fish. The most important thing of keeping a fish as a pet is to keep it healthy.
Find some tips on how to keep your fish healthy and make sure to give all these nutrients your fish will need to stay healthy. Make sure your fish is living happily and healthily inside its tank!