PlanetCatfish.com

hi all, my gold nugget is looking very poorly and has blood red patches on 2 fins, this could be other fish nipping at him, i dont know what to do, he is just laying there hardly breathing, is he on the way out or can i treat him/help him. cheers for any help guys.
yuler

Best help for most poorly fish is the same as you and me when we're poorly: Rest and good conditions. Clean water and no stress is my recommendation. If you have a quarantine/hospital tank up and running, I'd recommend moving the fish [yes, that brings on stress].

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Mats

Water changes, water changes and water changes. One a day, always with a gravel vac. If you have a UGF in there, remove it and throw it away. Replace with a sponge filter.

Check the pH of your tap and tank. If they are within a very few tenths do big water changes, 50% or so. If the pHs differ, do smaller changes daily until they converge. Then skip a day and increase to 50%.

This is usually caused by a high level of organic matter in the water. Got a name, Bacterial Somethingorother, which escapes me at the momment. As Matt said, keeping everything pristine, including the gravel, will usually allow the fish's own immune system to clear the infection. In really severe cases you may have to remove him for treatment. Oxytetracycline works well. But NEVER put it in your main tank. Doing so will only make the water conditions worse.

Don

cheers for help, i do have a sponge filter and did a water change with the vac, but the poor bugger died. Such an active fish too for a GN, thought i would see him grow big. Oh well....cheers for help guys.