We have comet gold fish in our pond - about 4" long. All of them are great, except one. The last few days he (she?) has been lethargic and not eating. So I caught it and put it in a 2 gallon tank (with proper filtration) in the house. I can see no outward signs of disease. He's been in the house since this morning, and has still not eaten. Does anyone have any ideas about what could be wrong, and how to treat it? :huh:

I'm sorry about your goldfish. Unfortunately, lethargy and not eating could be indicative of almost anything from water quality to parasites to bacteria to fungal problems. See my page on generic treatment of fish when you don't know what's wrong at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/fishcare/treat.htm

If there's nothing obvious wrong with him, and he's not too lethargic, he may be better off in the pond than a small two gallon tank. If he does have something contagious, the other goldfish would have already been exposed as well so keep an eye on them. Check your pond's pH, ammonia, and nitrite to be sure they're ok.

I hope he gets better!

Thanks for the very quick reply.

I know that the other fish may already be exposed, but it's so much easier to treat 2 gallons than 100. So far the rest seem perfectly fine. If any others seem sick, we'll treat the whole pond.

I just checked the water quality yesterday, and it couldn't be better. Ammonia, PH, nitrates, nitrites, etc.

Unfortunately, we're going out of town Friday morn till Sunday eve, so we won't be able to do anything till we get back. I'll check out the web site you recommend, and see what they have to say.
Thanks.

PS. We just found another turtle crossing the street. A BIG one. Not the same kind I found last week. This one was much prettier. I just got back from taking him to the nearest golf course pond. I put him in the grass about 20 yards from the water, and he ran down the hill into the water as fast as his four little legs would carry him. :)

Hi again Robyn.

I just check out the page for treating unknown illnesses, and I already did some of the right things. I added more salt, and more stress coat. I didn't know if they would help, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I also have Melafix, so I'm going to put some in right now. I have someone coming in every day while we are gone, to give my cat her daily meds, so she can treat my fish also.

Thanks again. I'll let you know how the fish is doing when we get back.

Grandma. ;)

I wrote the page to which I referred you (not "they") so it's not any more official than just me.

I hope the fish improves! It certainly is easier to treat in 2 gallons if you're going to try treatment. You'll have to do frequent partial water changes on such a small tank to keep the ammonia from creeping up.

The poor little guy died this morning. :(
I just hope the rest are not infected with what ever it was.

Thanks again.
Grandma

I'm so sorry.

:(

Sorry to hear about your fish, I have the same situation here. Spot had no visible injuries when he died and the other fish are bouncing around like normal. I had noticed some floating poop (first time for the pond) for 2 days about a week ago, that's when I decided on getting a UV light. I did/do have a big ph swing because of the algae. One day and I've got about an inch of clarity, and it's on a slow pump so it should be killing any bacteria floating thru just in case that was it.

Sorry to hear Grandma. Sometimes there's nothing we can do, even though we try our best. The fishies appreciate your love and effort anyway.