I was gifted 2 goldfish 3 days ago.They have black streaks on their fins n tail. ?

Question

i know about their water change and and they are oranda. But they havent eaten in 3 days. i have tried pea and flakes but nothing so far. i spoted a lice on one of them and my husband carefully remove it with a tweezers. i cant see any more. they are both in 20 gln tank. i dont want them to die. pls help. one of them is swimming backwards. is this normal. we are compltely new to fish!!!

Answer 1

It could be a disease most common are fin rot and if your talking about a lice creater thats called ick. Becareful thats the hardest to get rid of. I use rid ick for my tanks. For fine rot I would double check that before treating so you dont stress the tank.

Few questions? Do u have a filter? A Light? A Air Pump? And gravel? How about a heater? A heater isnt really needed in anything smaller then a 50 gallon but just wondering? If you have a picture that would be helpful.

Answer 2

sounds like you were gifted some unhealthy fish!

20g is a good tank size for 2 goldfish as long as there aren't any more in there with them. since they were gifts, I'm going to assume the tank is not cycled. you say you know about water changes, so you may know that until the tank is cycled it's going to need more frequent water changes (with 2 goldfish probably every 2 days or so instead of the once a week after it's cycled).

for now, the best advice I can give you is to keep up on your water changes, keep watching for anymore sicknesses or symptoms. they were probably poorly cared for before you got them, and god care will help them get better. if you spot anything new wrong feel free to email me for help.

in the mean time check out this:

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

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oh, and the streaks on their fins is probably ammonia burns or healing ammonia burns. I don't believe the "lice" you found was ich or you probably wouldn't have been able to remove it with tweezers, ich is the size of a grain of salt. it may have been an anchor worm.... as long as you don't see any more it's nothing to worry about.