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YOu used 4 days of Furan-2 like 4 doses? Or you used the standard dosing every other day and just left him in there with those two doses for four days?

If you did not have him in there the minimum 6 days as directed, he should have been left there, especially with improvement, but still some signs left. When you go less than the minimum, you risk building a resistant strain of the bacteria. At the very least, continue feeding him the medicated food. I think that stated it should be fed 7-10 days no? If so, then do it as directed. You were dealing with a highly fatal condition so I wouldn't play games with it. Quite frankly, I'm very relieved to see that it worked for you. Odds are not always so good with such things. For a very nasty infection, I would go a full 10 days of feeding medicated food.

update for those who are interested/care

My goldfish no longer floats or has the red pimple, but is very unhappy and sits on the ground (but can swim fine when there is food or I bug him). Hopefully he is just adjusting to be put back into his home tank.

Been keeping on him just metromeds and medi-gold, just bought some new ones last week. His red pimple like thing is *almost* gone, but he still floats (or sinks) vertically or slanted downwards. Hopefully he will get better in time. Sometimes he gets better where he sits on the bottom (the hospital tank is only 15 gallons, so sits because not much room to swim), sometimes, like today, he floats. Can't figure this out .

How old is your medicated food? Better yet, how long has it been since it was opened? I'm wondering how effective your food is. If you can get your hands on the new Jungle Anti-Bacteria Medicated Food, you'd be getting him something that is surely fresh.

More than likely the infection has entered the blood stream. I don't want to "go back" on my browser as I must leave for an appointment, but I think you had this fish on Furan-2 in a q-tine tank and didn't do a second round. I'd move him back if that is the case, but use as much tank water from the main tank as possible to minimize transfer stress. With water identical it is much less stress on them. Even with pH and temp the same, water that "tastes" different to them could have subtleties that just make it more stressful. Be prepared to do two consecutive rounds this time.

Best of luck and let us know how he is doing. I'd keep him on the medicated food too. Also, dim any lights on the tank as some of the meds in Furan-2 can be deactivated by light - like Nitrofurazone. They don't always tell you on the packaging.

Thanks for the info, I'm one of the few people left who don't have a camera or a scanner. I'll try to borrow one soon so I can put up a picture.

All I can describe is that a part of the skin is just darker red than the rest (the goldfish is red/black in color).

Ah, I forgot to add another goldfish sit in the corner of the tank now, and has a slight twitch now sometimes, eeeek!

Edit:
Forgot to add that he still floats vertically again.. which according to this website:
http://www.koicrisis.com/symptoms/behavior.html#Anchor-+%20Swimm-53266

Says its internal bacteria. Anything I should change about the treatment?

Last edited by aregma at 06-Apr-2005 02:13

Boy I wish we could have a pic.

You can feed him the medigold and metromed together. Feed them in equal amounts or feed them 2 hours apart so he'll eat more. Remember, how much they eat matters. You need to get as much into him as possible without making him sick.

The metronidazole can be effective against specific bacterial infections. It is also used for excess hexamita in the intestinal tract, but does have antibiotic properties. You can feed them these foods for 14 days or even longer if you should see it healing.

If your tank has not experienced any setbacks from the last round, then certainly you could do the Furan-2. Generally, mixing meds is not good, but I do know that the metromed and medigold can be fed together according to the makers.

Hi,
I'm not sure if my goldfish is getting better. His red spot is certainly not bigger or redder, but it shrunk a bit, but is not gone. He is only on medi-gold (anti-bacterial goldfish food) right now. Do you think I should but him through furan-2 again? I also have available an anti-parasitic food call metro-med (all from www.goldfishconnection.com ).

Basically it is a dark red circle now, instead of a bigger, pimple like red spot. Any more advice to give?

Well, if I recall, they are suppose to eat 1% of their body weight in the medicated food.

I think the best thing you can do is to call or email Jungle to ask them for the right amount for the size fish you have. 1% of a large goldfish is quite a bit. However, hopefully, he doesn't end up with SBD (temporary) from too much so watch for any signs that it is too much for him.

Use Contact the Lab at [link=http://www.junglelabs.com]http://www.junglelabs.com" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link], at the top RH corner of the page.

ok thanks! Eat all he can for 3-5 minutes twice a day is a LOT, he is a pig.. he can shove 8 pellets in his mouth at once.. chews it finish in 2 minutes usually then can gulp down another 6-8. I'm sure you just made my goldfish's day, haha. I'll let you know what happens. For now he seems to be neither floating nor head standing, more like sitting and swimming now.

You could, but you have to transfer him.

Transfer = stress.

Stress = Lowered Immunity.

Most antibiotics will tell you on the package about repeating a round.

With the oral food, the key is to make sure he is eating enough. If he is not, then it cannot do the job. I'd let him eat twice daily all he can eat within 3-5 minutes, depending on how long it takes him to break down each pellet.

What we don't know is if it is the Furan-2 or the oral med that is turning him around or both. I would watch carefully and if you see any signs of it getting even slightly worse, get him back into the other tank for another round.

yup, a total of 24x4 hours he has been in the medicated water. Do you think I should repeat it for another few days until the redness disappears? Or do you think it is dangerous to keep giving him so much medicine? I can move him back to the hospital tank for another few days.

Sounds good. The medicated food will give you more bang for your buck. Incidentally, the 4 capsules for 4 days, means he should be in the water for 24 hours after the last cap was dosed. Was that the case?

I'm just very glad to hear he is doing better. He will be happier and have a better chance of recovery in his own home.

It says on the package of furan-2 to use it every 24 hours for 4 days. I will be feeding him the medicated food for at least 2 weeks. It does say "repeat if needed", but the typical dosage says 4 days.

Hi,
I've had great success getting help on this board for my sick cichlids, now its my goldfish's turn to hopefully get better!

Symptoms:
Swim bladder disease - floats at top, had it for a while now.
He now floats with his head down, or swims to the bottom with his head down most of the time. A pimple like thing formed near his tail. It is a bump, causing some scales to come up. Fungus had formed there.

Current treatment:
Feeding medi-gold antibacterial food, done one salt dip and applied methyl blue to the wound with fungus. Fungus is gone, bump still there.

Tank specs:
72 gallon, with 5 goldfish, between 6-8 inches large
ph: 7.0
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 10

No new additions to the the tank for years.
Goldfish died a week ago, symptoms were weak, tremors. No external symptoms.

Please help me save my fish! what could it be? I've had him since he was 2" long, now he is over 8"!

Hi,
I have used 4 days of furan-2 and medi-gold antibiotic food. The "pimple" is now no more, but that area is still redish (no more sticking up scales, no more fungus). Should I continue treatment? He seems grumpy and splashed me a lot when I tried to look at his side, lol.

I thought he needed a rest from the meds and put him back into the main tank to play with his friends. He also seemed to stop floating and head standing! for now at least. Please advise if there is anything I should look for, or do. Thanks a lot!

Let me tell you that one package will last forever. Most foods I replace after 60-90 days once opened.

Once again, I can't stress enough that in order for it to be most effective, it needs to be fed immediately following ordinary food. Feed just a little less of regular food if you must, but goldies are bottomless pits. If this fish was not on antibiotic food, I'd recommend feeding the algae exclusively for a few days until you see it pooping out lots of green.

I'm also thinking that a boil may be growing inward or even inside, placing pressure on the swim bladder.

I've tried the peas before, and didn't really help. I've seen those seaweed things before at the pet store! I was going to buy some, but figured seemed kinda expensive to just give it as a treat. They seem to like bananas and papyas I give them just fine as treats

I'll give it a try! thanks a million!

Goldie's having some swim bladder problems. It could be related to an infection and it could simply be that he is constipated. Remember, we just switched his food on him and it may be a bit stuck in his digestive tract, pressing against the swim bladder. I have a chronic floater, but have learned to control it quite well. Not long after getting him home, I discovered him floating upside down and it scared the heck out of me. I thought he was dead . He got spooked and started swimming with some difficulty and I jumped 10 feet. Some fish with SBD can't rise off the bottom during a bout, while others can't go down. Its not unusual for them to be found upside down just kind of lounging around. Before they get use to it, they may fight it and look stressed. Just kill the lights and help him to relax. Below are tips. I'm sure it is temporary.

Typically, we recommend a deshelled pea (frozen pea thawed and round part squeezed off to reveal two halves). This makes them poop. But there is an even better thing you can feed goldfish to control SBD - Algae Sheets.

You will find it under different names - Seaweed Selects, Sea Veggies, Seaweed Salad, etc. You may find it where they sell Salt Water fish foods. You could cut a small strip that is big enough for the fish to grab and hand feed it, unless he can pick at it on a veggie clip. IT packs in lots of water and can generally give them relief. Since the fish is medicating and we like to give them only medicated food, this may be an exception.

Feed some medicated pellets, then let him nibble on an algae sheet about a 1x1 clipping. If he finishes that, offer a little more a half hour later. This will push through his gut. But, the trick is to offer it right as he is done eating pellets. If you wait even 30 minutes, he could be floating and it will take 3x as much and as long to correct it. Here's one I use. YOu're looking for green seaweed and yes, it does come from the ocean, but is safe for goldfish.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ON-SSGW&Category_Code=Veggies

My floater no longer floats since getting Seaweed Salad daily WITH his one daily meal. I should add that the fish may not know what to do with it at first, but if he's like most, he'll kill anything that gets in his way to get at it once he figures it out

Last edited by Cory_Di at 27-Mar-2005 22:50

Last edited by Cory_Di at 27-Mar-2005 22:50

thanks again for the great help! Not sure if this is a good sign or not.

Before treatment, he was floating, but rightside up.
then he developed a pimple thing, and started floating/resting at bottom, but with the head down.
After a few hours of medication, now he floats upside down.

I had a cycled filter already, and added in the main tank water mostly for the hospital tank. I hope he gets better! But I hope he doesn't stay floating upside down. He isn't gasping or going crazy or anything, just floating around.

Watch him for signs of stress, but I don't think he will stress. Make sure he has plenty of oxygen. Signs of stress from the med would include crazy swimming, gasping or general panic. If you haven't transferred him yet, do so with water from the main tank and the temp and "smell" will be identical. This equates to less stress. When transferring a fish back to the main tank, do several successive water changes over a few days using main tank water as the replacement. Goldfish are very hardy, but why not make it as least stressful as possible.

Watch for ammonia because being sick, he doesn't need any. If you must do daily water changes, try to put back a small amount to match the water eliminated. I believe that is dosed only every other day, three times for a total of 6 days in bath. It can be repeated. I ended up doing a good size water change just before readding the stuff.

Also, I believe Nitrofurazone is deactivated by light, but the package does not mention this. I've seen it in fish medical books. It would be best to keep the tank dim.

The Furan-2 also contains Methyl Blue, if I recall, and that will help with true fungus, whereas the other meds will battle bacteria that looks like fungus, as well as internal infections (easy to happen from external), and the like.

Watch it carefully to see if he is getting better, staying the same, or getting worse. If it progresses by the time you get 3-4 days in, then it may be resistant to the nitrofurans. However, more often than not, stuff is resistant to tetracycline and sulfa. Keep us updated and I'm so glad to know that Furan-2 is available in Canada.


Last edited by Cory_Di at 27-Mar-2005 22:07