My fancy goldfish tank(s)

DMD123

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@sir_keith, update on the fixture, everything seems to be working correctly now. Maybe I had accidentally unplugged the unit or something during a clean up and I didn’t realize or register that I did it. Now the fixture seems like everything is working as it is supposed to. But honestly seeing how the cheap timer is integrated in, I would rather have it like the EA fixture as a separate controller instead of inline like it is.
 

sir_keith

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@sir_keith, update on the fixture, everything seems to be working correctly now. Maybe I had accidentally unplugged the unit or something during a clean up and I didn’t realize or register that I did it. Now the fixture seems like everything is working as it is supposed to. But honestly seeing how the cheap timer is integrated in, I would rather have it like the EA fixture as a separate controller instead of inline like it is.
Yeah, the external timers are inexpensive, and if they fail (rare IME) you don't have to replace the whole unit. For my setups- with either Anubias/Crypts or no plants at all- the dimmest setting (10%) of the white LEDs for 8h/d plus actinics for 12h/d is more than enough light.
 

DMD123

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Ranchu update: The fish look clear of the inflammation that it had on the other side. Since I had done a full three week course of salt, Seachem stress guard and metroplex and was still seeing issues, it was time to try a different routine. So now its Epsom salt, Seachem Para guard, and Kanaplex in the water.

I did make a medicated food with Seachem Metroplex, Focus and used the galic guard to mask the taste and mixed it into some rephasy I had. The fish must have been able to taste something in the mixture because it would take the food in but immediately spit it out. Its kind of a guess as to the mixture because it seems like they always can taste it unless you barely put any in there. Maybe I should just order a 1/4 lb of the medicated pellet food the goldfish vendor sells.

Will see where this course of medication goes. The vendor never responded back to me when I called them out about this situation. They held back the fish for one week with only salt as treatment. They did not give me an option but had sent the fish out at that point and now Im going on a good moth plus of quarantine and meds and the fish still will have weird flare ups. I have other medications on hand but at what point do I just quit? lol. Im going to continue my treatment for the full term on Kanaplex and them maybe just see how daily water changes go after that to see if it is all done. I dont really know at this point...
 

DMD123

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Its a shame you can't just take them to the vet and figure out exactly what is the problem. But they would probably charge 10 times the price of the fish.
Yeah thats the problem, even with this being an “expensive” fish at over $100, the cost is very minor compared to what a vet would cost. Im going off a lot of online reading, talking to other fish keepers and personal experience to treat this guy. Absolutely love its colors and it eats like a champ just keeps showing an inflamed lateral line. And I am just not going to chance putting him in with my established goldies and risk multiple sick fish. Just learned that lesson with the loss of three recently. So I chip away at this with a different treatment plan.
 

BPSabelhaus

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Its a shame you can't just take them to the vet and figure out exactly what is the problem. But they would probably charge 10 times the price of the fish.
Well, if anyone ever does need a recommendation for an aquatic vet, shoot me a message. My wife actually does know of a few in the area.

Oof, sorry about the issues. Just getting caught up on the thread.
 

DMD123

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@BPSabelhaus, thanks for that. At this stage I dont own anything with a value so high I would consider an aquatic vet, but maybe one day when I have my dream fish and tank set up, lol (That would like be around 500+ gallons and an Australian lung fish)

Ranchu update: Been feeding the medicated mix of food and Im thinking there must be some pockets of medication that did not mix well in there because sometimes the fish eats every bit and other times lots of spitting it out. Next time I will do a better mix before adding the water to the Rephasy gel food. But still am noticing and inflamed spot on the opposite side of the original inflammation. Continuing the Kanaplex, Para Guard, Epsom salt in water.
 

BPSabelhaus

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@BPSabelhaus, thanks for that. At this stage I dont own anything with a value so high I would consider an aquatic vet, but maybe one day when I have my dream fish and tank set up, lol (That would like be around 500+ gallons and an Australian lung fish)

Ranchu update: Been feeding the medicated mix of food and Im thinking there must be some pockets of medication that did not mix well in there because sometimes the fish eats every bit and other times lots of spitting it out. Next time I will do a better mix before adding the water to the Rephasy gel food. But still am noticing and inflamed spot on the opposite side of the original inflammation. Continuing the Kanaplex, Para Guard, Epsom salt in water.
Yeah, I figure that's more for 20 year old show koi type stuff lol But, there are some in the area.
 

DMD123

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Got the new rock in the tank this morning, a bit murky due to stirring up all the gravel putting rock in place. I was going for a super simple layout with the fish colors popping and the black really achieves this.
IMG_20241005_111547634.jpg
Some fish picture updates from this tank
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IMG_20241005_111824251.jpg
IMG_20241005_111725084.jpg
 

DMD123

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Decided to put the “Apache” ranchu up for free because it had lost all its black and now is a plain orange. My hope is my “milk cow” calico gets well enough to go in with the fish in the 65b and then I want one final goldie in there. Maybe a rosetail oranda or a veil tail, something with long flowing fins? It seems like that would make for a nice mix. Not sure on color I want of final fish but no plain orange since the dragon eye pearlscale already fits the bill. If I find a very bright red, kirin, dark calico, then maybe…
 

DMD123

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Ranchu update: I cant believe the amount of time and resources Ive put into this stupid fish. I treated with salt, Metroplex, Kanaplex, Epsom Salt and saw one side of inflammation go down and the other side now pop up. Yesterday I had finished up meds with three doses of Kanplex and Epsom Salts in water and Metoplex and Focus in gel food. So 6 days and no improvement. Did a heavy water change and last night no medications in the water and the lateral line inflamed a bit more on the new side.

I have in my fishy medicine kit: API General Cure, API Fin and Body cure, Hikari BiFuran+ (I havent tried any of these yet)

Seems the old fashioned salt treatment seemed effective to a degree and everything else is a big 'maybe'. Leaning towards a treatment with the BiFuran+ along with regular salt.

In no way do I feel comfortable putting this fish in my established tank. I feel like the issue is internal in nature but metro in the food didnt really help. So I plug along with the fish in the hospital tank for who knows how much longer?

Edit: forgot to add that I used Seachem stressguard and paraguard in treatment process as well. Just started the Hikari BiFuran+ tonight as next line of treatment. They say if you dont see improvement in 3 days to discontinue. Will see if it does anything differently than any other meds.
 
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DMD123

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My stock in the 90g feels right with the combination of fish and how well they all get along. The 65B still feels 'off' with the Milk cow calico ranchu still in the hospital QT. It would fill a void with its color pattern. The the 'Apache' ranchu that lost all black and is gold would get replace with something like a shogun tiger oranda or maybe a vieltail of some sort and then with just the four fish in that tank it would feel complete.

At this point waiting on the ranchu in the QT to get better before buying another fish. But if I find a Shogun oranda... then I may move the ranchu into a tote.
 

sir_keith

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Ranchu update: I cant believe the amount of time and resources Ive put into this stupid fish. I treated with salt, Metroplex, Kanaplex, Epsom Salt and saw one side of inflammation go down and the other side now pop up. Yesterday I had finished up meds with three doses of Kanplex and Epsom Salts in water and Metoplex and Focus in gel food. So 6 days and no improvement. Did a heavy water change and last night no medications in the water and the lateral line inflamed a bit more on the new side.

I have in my fishy medicine kit: API General Cure, API Fin and Body cure, Hikari BiFuran+ (I havent tried any of these yet)

Seems the old fashioned salt treatment seemed effective to a degree and everything else is a big 'maybe'. Leaning towards a treatment with the BiFuran+ along with regular salt.

In no way do I feel comfortable putting this fish in my established tank. I feel like the issue is internal in nature but metro in the food didnt really help. So I plug along with the fish in the hospital tank for who knows how much longer?
Not to salt the wound here, but is it not true that you knew about the lateral line issue with this fish before you bought him?
 

DMD123

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Not to salt the wound here, but is it not true that you knew about the lateral line issue with this fish before you bought him?
The vendor mentioned it, said they would keep it an extra week and let me know the condition of the fish BEFORE shipping. Basically saying there was still the ability to opt out. They shipped fish out the next week without letting me know what was going on. The customer service people and shipping dept. were not working together. I emailed them already about this and zero response to my concerns. They could have just emailed me back and said the fish was fine when they shipped it, etc. But nada, not even an acknowledgement. Judging by the lack of customer service Ive decided they are a company I will not be dealing with again in the future. Ive had minor issues with a couple other vendors and multiple ones have had excellent customer service and respond to emails, these guys not so much.
 

sir_keith

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The vendor mentioned it, said they would keep it an extra week and let me know the condition of the fish BEFORE shipping. Basically saying there was still the ability to opt out. They shipped fish out the next week without letting me know what was going on. The customer service people and shipping dept. were not working together. I emailed them already about this and zero response to my concerns. They could have just emailed me back and said the fish was fine when they shipped it, etc. But nada, not even an acknowledgement. Judging by the lack of customer service Ive decided they are a company I will not be dealing with again in the future. Ive had minor issues with a couple other vendors and multiple ones have had excellent customer service and respond to emails, these guys not so much.
Bad deal all around. I thought it was very strange that the vendor thought a fish with this issue would be ready to ship just 7 days later than usual, because this kind of thing can hang around for a long time.
 

DMD123

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Bad deal all around. I thought it was very strange that the vendor thought a fish with this issue would be ready to ship just 7 days later than usual, because this kind of thing can hang around for a long time.
That's exactly what I said in my email to them! Actually less than 7 days and they had shipped it out. Not using them again.
 

DMD123

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So one of the final fish on my goldfish wishlist would look something like this
IMG_1785.jpeg
Or something like this
IMG_1787.jpeg
 

DMD123

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Ranchu update: had an old bottle of Hikari BiFuran+ and some API Furan 2. Both medication are off market now. Im into the treatment 2 days and seeing improvement! Today is day 3 and the only pain with this med is that I have to water change every day then redose. I have just enough to run a full round of treatment. I did find some Nitrofurazone for koi on Amazon and ordered it to keep on hand for future use.
 
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