# Need Goldfish help.



## AFishTale (Apr 14, 2011)

Alright, so on Mother's day we took my mom to an aquarium shop. As we were looking around, I noticed a HUGE goldfish in a tiny tank. Upon looking closer, I could see that he had almost no fins, and was being picked on relentlessly by all the other little fish in the tank (There were also 'freshwater' eels in the tank. o.o..) Anyway, the store owner said that he had been dropped off like that, and offered to give him to us for free. We took him home, and after some time in QT, he went up into the 55g with mom's other goldies. First week he was doing okay despite his lack of fins, but then he started to contract into an arc (as shown in photos) and remain like that. Dad moved him to a QT tank again, and he's been this way for about two weeks now.

It's breaking my heart seeing him like this, because all the while, his fins are growing back, and he still has to wiggle over and beg for food from anyone passing by. I know that dad has tried salts and petstore cure-all stuff, but nothing seems to be working. I can't say he's getting worse, because he looks the same as when it first started-- Just contracted, but no horrible gasping, pineconing, he's eating, and alert. 

Does anyone know what could be wrong, or how to treat this?


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

This is really odd because you have the second case of a goldfish with a bent spine I've seen in a week. I'm going to assume you've tested the water quality and it's all good. Bent spines can be caused by a number of things including poor nutrition, bad breeding, injuries, and the worst: fish TB (but let's not jump to conclusions yet). Try feeding fresh foods that have high vitamin C and make sure his staple diet is nutritionally balanced. Work on that and make sure his water quality is pristine.


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## AFishTale (Apr 14, 2011)

thekoimaiden said:


> This is really odd because you have the second case of a goldfish with a bent spine I've seen in a week. I'm going to assume you've tested the water quality and it's all good. Bent spines can be caused by a number of things including poor nutrition, bad breeding, injuries, and the worst: fish TB (but let's not jump to conclusions yet). Try feeding fresh foods that have high vitamin C and make sure his staple diet is nutritionally balanced. Work on that and make sure his water quality is pristine.


 
I'm going to assume it was caused by the conditions that he was in prior to us. When we brought him home, he had nubs for fins-- so I can only imagine what his last owner kept him in. Our water is good, considering it's the same for all 12+ large aquariums in the house. (Tested often)

Can it be cured by better diet and clean water?


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## AFishTale (Apr 14, 2011)

Is TB in fish something that comes on quickly? Because this started in a matter of 1-3 days.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Well what is good water for one fish, might not be good for another. Water hardness is more important to goldfish than most people realized. They don't do well in soft water (dGH lower than 8). They are a hard water fish. Soft water might not cause spine-bending, but it's certainly not going to help anything. 

If it's genetic, I don't think anything can cure it. If it's caused by diet, then better food might cure it. I would kinda play it by ear with this little guy. If diet improves it, then it was probably a nutrition problem. If it doesn't then we might never know what caused it as we don't know his history.

EDIT: oh dear. From what I've heard about fish TB it is rapid onset. That's a little unsettling, and also over my head. You could try to take it to the sick fish forum at TropicalFishKeeping.com (parent site of bettafish.com).


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

I don't think he has TB, the spine is his only symptom at least.
I don't know what cause it but once bones go a certain way it's pretty impossible to fix them up, even with a better life. They've probably fused like that.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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