Goldfish are usually being taken for granted by their owners because they are abundant and they can easily be replaced. What most of us don’t know is that if they are taken good care of, they can live for up to 43 years old. Although the average life span of goldfish is 10 years, you can consider it a achievement if you are able to raise one for up to 43 years.
These tiny little creatures can bring a lot of comfort and joy to any pet lovers. The advantage of having a goldfish as a pet is that you won’t have to worry about not having that much space in your house or even about a “fur-clean” house because these creatures can just settle in their little hideout.
To be able to fully understand on how to take good care of a goldfish as a pet, you have to know first on what to avoid and what they are more prone to. Since they have delicate physical features, they can easily get sick.
Goldfish can’t express if they are not feeling well. As an owner, you should be the one who should always check your fish for any possible symptoms or signs that may imply that your goldfish is not feeling well.
Here are the most common goldfishes diseases to look for:
Parasites
The parasites that are considered to be very dangerous to your goldfish are anchor worms, fish lice, or skin flukes. These parasites can cause infectious wounds that would then open the doors for any bacterial infections and would lead to the fish’s death.
Bacterial infection
Ulcers, dropsy, and tail and fin rot are diseases that are caused by bacterial infections. There are a lot of reasons why a goldfish can have bacterial infection. It can either be because of dirty and/or cold water, overpopulation in the aquarium, or infections caused by parasite bites.
Black Spot
Black spots can either be a good sign or a bad sign. The good part of seeing a black spot in your goldfish is that it could mean that the fish is healing from an injury caused by ammonia, skin flukes or gold fish ick. However, it could also mean that your goldfish is suffering from a parasitic illness.
Chilodonella
It is a parasitic illness that can easily be treated by potassium permanganate, malachite and formalin, copper baths, and salt baths.
Cloudy eye
Cloudy eye is considered to be more like of a symptom rather than a disease. This could also be because of a poor quality of water.
Constipation
Constipation is more likely caused by poor diet or normally below standard water being brought up to scratch. To be able to prevent this, it is important that one must provide a variation in the diet of the goldfish.
Costia
This is a disease that is caused by parasitic infection.
Fish tuberculosis
This is a very serious illness and needs extra precaution if you’re dealing with an infected goldfish. It is caused by mycobacterium and it can be transferred to humans.
Flipover disease
This is considered as a symptom of one of the diseases that involves buoyancy. It can be treated by improving the water quality and changing the diet of the goldfish.
Fungus
It is cause by saprolegnia and achlya organisms and bad water quality in the tanks. It can also infect the wounds from are caused by injuries or parasites.
These are the basic goldfish diseases to look for. IF you avoid these illnesses, then you are likely to have a long living goldfish pet!