“I rescued some goldfish and one of them won’t eat, and they’re developing pinholes in the fin edges.”
Ruleouts:
- Intestinal worms
- Intestinal protozoans (Hexamita)
- Malnutrition
- Chronic parasitism
(Hi Dr. Erik, I rescued a group of feeder fish and quarantined them, treated > for flukes ich etc. They were all doing so well. > > 2 months later one stopped eating yesterday. Just spits out the pellets. > Her fins have tiny holes all at the edges. Some holes are big. I saw a big > white spot on her tail too. I took a skin scrape and gill sample. No > parasites. Her gills look bad though to me. Her poo sometimes seems stringy > and white. I couldn’t find any worm eggs looking at it though. > > Water tests fine on all levels. I’ve attached pics. > > Please help ? I don’t want to lose her. If you want more pics happy to > send. > >)
Answer: The holes in the fin edges speak to malnutrition.
*THAT IS NOT YOUR FAULT* *You *are feeding fine. BUT = when a fish isn’t ABSORBING enough nutrition (maybe a hurt gut or worms) it loses weight (or fails to gain) and then becomes vulnerable to secondary infections AND gets pinholes in the fins. The body thinks it’s the safest place to steal energy during a caloric drought.
#HEXAMITA can damage the gastrointestinal lining to the extent that the fish doesn’t absorb food very well. At that point, they can eat all they want and they won’t gain weight, in fact LOSING weight and showing various symptoms of malnutrition. Diagnosing Hexamita is hard to do, without killing a couple representative specimens. And sometimes there’s only ONE specimen and you love him! Here’s an article on HEXAMITA
In the same web site there is an article on something to treat it with.
On that fish, the belly has an odd shape, a distinct swelling above the pelvic fins. Lots of times when you open fish up like that, it’s a brown ball of inspissated pus or granuloma. There’s something going on in the abdomen. Did the fish ever get a shot in the abdomen? If not, *’tuberculosis’ granuloma* crosses my mind.
*What can you do? *
Get the fish into well aerated water at least 78 DF and feed freeze dried KRILL. What’s the idea?
1. Warmth boosts the immune system. In fact the immune system DOUBLES per ten degrees you raise them
2. Up to a POINT at which oxygen becomes a “thing” when it’s too warm (Say 82+)
3. Freeze dried krill is the most exciting (desirable) thing for most fish appetites AND
4. It can be rolled between your fingers to crush it down and make it ‘easy to swallow’ small enough.
KRILL YOU NEED (Click) <Freeze Dried Krill Affordable>
Why this Krill? Because I know from purchasing it, that it’s dry enough, comes with dry-packs in the can which is hermetic and the krill are actually large, not just saying so on the label.
Hi Dr. Erik, I rescued a group of feeder fish and quarantined them, treated > for flukes ich etc. They were all doing so well. > > 2 months later one stopped eating yesterday. Just spits out the pellets. > Her fins have tiny holes all at the edges. Some holes are big. I saw a big > white spot on her tail too. I took a skin scrape and gill sample. No > parasites. Her gills look bad though to me. Her poo sometimes seems stringy > and white. I couldn’t find any worm eggs looking at it though. > > Water tests fine on all levels. I’ve attached pics. > > Please help ? I don’t want to lose her. If you want more pics happy to > send. > >
