My poor goldfish seems to be having a few different problems at once.

He still has some ick spots, but I doubt they'll survive that much salt (tablespoon per gallon). I stopped feeding the medicated food this morning, but later in the day the red streaks came back! I decided to put in some PraziPro in case he has flukes, and fed the medicated food tonight (which makes about 5 days of jungle anti-bacteria food IARC, with one missed dose this morning). The Prazi says not to use other medications with it, but I'm not sure what to do because I don't want those red streaks to come back harder to cure than before. <_<

He also seems to be headstanding when he sleeps at night, so I'm suspecting swim bladder issues. Any tips are appreciated.

I'm sorry about your goldfish too. You have multiple problems in more than one tank. The red streaking is septicemia. It can indicate an internal bacterial infection or poor water quality or just poor fish health. Yet, I've seen some septicemia, often transitory, in my fish that were otherwise fine.

Swim bladder problems are hard to treat. I've basically just heard the feeding boiled, peeled peas and pre-soaking food. But, if the fish's body is built abnormally (as with all fatter-bodied fancy goldfish), there's really no cure.

Good luck!

Thanks Robyn. The headstanding has stopped so far. I put carbon in one of the filters on his tank, to get rid of residual medications (I realized it might also get rid of the prazipro too, so I may have to redose later).

I want to check for red streaks again, but he lately got into a cycle where he sleeps till noon, because for a few days I did and therefore didn't turn his light on till then. He seems alright now (woke up but seemed agitated when I turned on the lamp, settled back down when I turned it off). I'll check in an hour and a half to see how he's doing.

I had an awful septicemia condition with a minnow who unfortunately passed away. That was much worse though; he developed redness on the body instead of fins, and it spread and he died within short order (he was a little old but not extremely, just a couple years). Unfortunately my trying to help could possibly have contributed because I tried to raise the water temperature with a heater that had no temperature markings, and was also pretty unreliable. So the temp fluctuated by 5-6 degrees daily and that couldn't have been good, so I'm wary of using a heater in the goldfish tank to speed up the life cycle of the ick.

My goldfish is a comet and so has a very slim body; I guess a benefit to that is that swim bladder problems aren't as much of a concern.

Right now he still seems a little ill.

I stopped feeding the anti-biotic food, because it didn't seem to really be helping and I don't want to mess up his immune system. I did another water change of about 1/3rd and kept the same amount of salt in there. I'm thinking about putting in a heater to raise the water temp too, but it's already warm (about 74).

Anyone have any experience with this product? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...81&pcatid=14981

Seems like it would help since it seems to treat everything, but I'm not sure. I'm still at a loss as to what to do.

I am dosing with prazi now in case of worms/flukes as a secondary infection today, tomorrow, and day after. I still have the same amount of salt in my tank. No other meds besides prazi.

I fed him some strawberry which he enjoyed. I may continue to give him fresh fruit/vegetable food along with flakes for extra vitamins.

Edit: I am actually going to use the Prazi every 3 days for 4 or 5 treatments instead of every day for 3 days in a row. I misread someone's directions to me on another forum, but fortunately they corrected my mistake.

I've never used that stuff. The chemical in it is some really long name (even for a chemist like me) which usually means it's pretty nasty. Enough to scare off a lot of life forms. Your goldfish ate a strawberry? I've never heard of a fish eating that particular fruit but it makes sense. I hope he starts to improve.

Thank you Robyn. That makes me a little wary of that product. I don't want to push my fish over the edge with a potentially harsh or new medicine that no one I talk to seems to have experience with. Just the same I don't want him to get worse without it. :unsure:

He seemed to enjoy the strawberry the first time around. I cut a small sliver and wiggled it around the tank, which piqued his interest. I made him chase it around before letting him have it, because I thought it would be good for him to exercise after being sedentary and lethargic so he wouldn't lose his muscle strength. When I tried feeding him another little sliver though, he wasn't as eager, so maybe he was more interested in the new taste. :lol: He did eat some Tetrafin after refusing the strawberry the second time, so at least he still has a healthy appetite.

I put a clay pot (boiled twice and washed really good) in the tank to break up some of the current from the airstone and filters.

I checked on a goldfish forum and found out LifeGuard was actually a very caustic chemical (Trichlorfon, used as a pesticide) and not recommended for fish showing body damage, like redness. :blink:

Good thing we have the intarweb to check up on these things. :ph43r: