:( My son's Bubblehead was appartently bitten by some smaller fish, we called the angry fish because they were nipping everyone (both have passed on). His bottom lip seemed injured but he now seems to have no bottom lip and is having a hard time eating and seems to be gasping. He's not swimming anymore just kind of laying on the bottom but still breathing. We have taken him out of the tank and put in his own Jar for now and he seems to be at least trying to eat. Is there anything I can do to help this little guy?

Also the Neon was chewed on as well by the Angry fish and now has a kind of whitish stuff on him.. I'll try to attach pictures.

The sick goldfish needs to be in an aquarium with aeration. He should not be in a jar. It sounds like the fish may be too far gone to recover. This is one reason it's a good idea to not keep other fish with goldfish. The sick goldfish may have bacteria and fungus resulting from the attack. If the fish can't eat due to physical injury, there's not much you can do aside from feeding him away from other fish and hoping he gets some. Be sure your water quality is ok too (good pH and no ammonia or nitrite). As a general treatment when you don't know what's wrong, you can add aquarium salt (a tablespoon per gallon for bad off goldfish) and maybe MelaFix by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (all natural healer). Depending on what the fish has, it may also need antibiotics and/or antifungals.

It sounds like the neon has a bacterial or fungal infection due to physical injury.

Robyn,

Thank you for your response. As you can tell, I am an amateur with fish. My husband has had tanks before and done quite well but he was unfortunately out of town when this crisis occurred. I have found a wealth of information on your site that has given me a base to go on. We will only stick with one type of Goldfish in the tank. (Why don't they tell you these things in the pet store? Do they not know?)

Anyhow, the bubbleye did pass this afternoon. I will try the Salt and Melafix in the tank with the ICK Neon fish and hopefully it'll help them. I do have to take out the Carbon filter correct?

Did you mean that the Neon had been injected with Dye to make him look that way?

Thanks again for all your help.

Robin

To clarify for others, Robin sent me photos and more info via e-mail. The photos showed what looked like a painted glass fish (not in focus) and a poor bubble-eyed goldfish on a spoon.

I worked at an aquarium store for a few months. Many employees simply do not know much about fish! Those that do, we were told (or at least I was told), "You are here to sell fish. Do not EVER tell a customer they cannot do something. We don't care about the fish. We're here as a business." While there are some exceptions, that's the way stores have to think.

When treating with salt and MelaFix, I do not take the carbon out. Maybe I'm lazy, but I actually never take it out even when using antibiotics. It probably wouldn't hurt to take it out though for a few days. It's most important to remove when using parasite medications which the carbon readily absorbs.

There are a few species of fish that are injected with dye to make them fluorescent including painted glass fish. This makes them very susceptible to illness. I've yet to see one at the store without ick! If the fish lives and was injected, the color will go away over time. Neon tetras naturally have color but they're not fluorescent. The photo you sent is NOT a neon tetra.