There is so much that people need to know about goldfish and perhaps the most important is the fact that they are perhaps one of the most disease prone creatures on the planet. Many people ask me why their fish keep dying within a matter of weeks or even days and I always tell them the same thing, you’re not protecting them from certain diseases related to goldfish.

So what are all of the goldfish diseases known and how can we go about reducing the likelihood of your goldfish picking up one of these diseases? First of all I’m going to take you through the two most common goldfish diseases and give you information on how to best treat and more importantly prevent any of these diseases from affecting your fish.

Goldfish Disease One - Ichtyopthirius

More commonly known as Ick, this is the most common goldfish disease that has the potential to kill. Ick is a parasite that attaches to the goldfish body.

Causes: This happens when the undue stress is put on the goldfish due to bad water conditions, fluctuations in the temperature and an overall poor quality of maintenance.

Symptoms: Look for small white spots that look like salt grain on the goldfish’s skin, fins and gills.

What happens: This parasite attached to the goldfish when it is stressed out due to bad conditions and feed off the body of the fish. The conditions worsen when the Ick begins to lay its eggs and reproduces at a very fast pace.

Treatment: If your goldfish is a victim of Ick, treat him or her with an anti-parasite medication. Also you might have to raise the water temperature to make this medication more effective. Ask an expert and follow instructions.

How can you prevent this goldfish disease: You can prevent Ick from growing by making sure that you maintain the tank well with the weekly changes and keep the water fresh and pollution-free.

Fin Rot

Another goldfish disease is fin rot, which is when you may notice pieces of your fish’s fin rotting away over a certain period of time.

Causes: This is also a bacterial infection arising out of poor water conditions. Fin rot usually happens to a fish that is already suffering from something else like an injury caused by tank bites that bite. They are already weak and fall prey to this infection.

Symptom: Watch out for frayed, rotting, often pale pinky-white edged fins and blood streaks on the fin tissue. What happens: The already stressed goldfish is infected by this bacterial infection and the fins begin to rot away. Sometimes fungus attacks cause the condition to worsen.

Treatment: You will need to treat your Goldfish with fin rot or anti-bacteria treatment to stop the disease from spreading. Try adding salt to the tank to make up for the salt that the fish has lost. Make sure that the water is pollution-free.

How to prevent it: You can prevent fin rot by making sure that the water quality is of high quality and see that you maintain it. Also it would be wise to isolate the fish that are biting their tank mates.

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One of the most important aspects of keeping goldfish is being fully adept in the area of goldfish care. Unfortunately these fish are well known for their ability to catch a multitude of diseases such as Ick and fin rot, which are two of the most common. It’s highly important that you familiarize yourself in the area of goldfish care before you decide to purchase your own fish.

So many people are constantly asking me why they have to keep buying new goldfish all the time and I always ask them what their dedication to goldfish care is. What I find is this, most people don’t actually follow the 3 simple rules of goldfish care and they are:

Rule Number One Of Goldfish Care

Keep your tank clean at all times. If you can’t afford to by a high powered filter, which is most people, than you must make sure you are cleaning your tank ever week. If you aren’t doing this now than you better start because this is one of the major reasons why goldfish become infected with deadly diseases. Fin rot is one of the most common results of an unclean tank. If you are one of those people who doesn’t clean your tank weekly than go take a look at the tails on your goldfish. More than likely you will notice there are many holes and parturition on the ends of the tails.

Rule Number Two Of Goldfish Care

Feed your goldfish once daily. Again most people tend to feed their goldfish too often. This is one of the worst things you can do to your goldfish. Unfortunately goldfish will eat until they kill themselves and many people ask me why their fish suddenly pass even though they seemed completely healthy. More than likely overeating was the cause. Just take a look at them, unless you have a pregnant fish, there’s no reason why you should have a fat fish unless you’re feeding them more than once a day.

Rule Number Three of Goldfish Care

Always clean any external object you plan to place in your tank. You may think you’re doing everything right, you clean your tank weekly, you’re feeding your fish once daily, but then suddenly after you place a new object inside the tank, one of your goldfish dies. What more than likely has happened is that with the object, came a certain disease from the outside air that unfortunately was deadly for your goldfish. To prevent this from occurring, always make sure you disinfect and clean any new object you add to the tank. That way you’ll be reducing the risk of your goldfish catching any unwanted diseases.

Follow the three rules of goldfish care and you’ll have happy healthy goldfish for quite some time to come.

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The goldfish is one of the most treasured creatures on the planet. Originally the Japanese marveled at their grace and poise and kept them as pets in their outdoor ponds. The Japanese loved and still do love their gardens and take special pride in having a neat and marvelous garden filled with Bonsai trees and other plants native to Japan. The outdoor pond however was and still is considered to be one of the most important features of the Japanese garden and a Japanese pond is not a pond unless there are goldfish in it of course.

Breeds of Goldfish

There are many different types of goldfish, however the most popular ones are considered to be the Common goldfish, the Fantail and the Comet. The common goldfish can grow up to 12 inches in length and are known to live until the age of 20 and sometimes even more. Their usual appearance is most gold all over with a short average sized tail. Many contain different colors such as white brown and sometimes even green.

The Fantail is one of the most exquisite breeds of goldfish. They are usually a lot shorter than most goldfish and contain a large fan-like tail, which is where they get their name, the ‘fantail’ of course. It’s best if you keep these breed of goldfish away from other breeds of fish as they tend to get picked on and their tails are usually the first target of these attacks and if this happens to your fantail goldfish, you will notice bite marks that have been taken out of their tails. Also this breed of goldfish is also prone to fin rot and special precautions must be taken to ensure your tank or pond is kept clean and free of disease at all times.

The Comet goldfish is one of the most energetic breeds of goldfish. They generally look very similar to the common goldfish except for one obvious difference, they are much skinnier. This is why they are more energetic and they are also able to swim a lot faster than most goldfish. They have been known to be biters and generally should be kept away from other less aggressive breeds such as the fantail.

Goldfish are like any other animal; they must be treated with care and fed only once a day as feeding them more than necessary will result in them dying from overeating. Also they are prone to many deadly diseases and therefore their habitat must be kept clean at all times.

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