Goldfish's back appears to be shriveling.

[Taiko]

I've had a goldfish in a hospital tank for some time now. Initially, he had ick, that cleared up quickly once I treated him in the 2.5 gallon hospital tank.

He became healthy enough to transfer back to his original 85 gallon, but after a few days of happily swimming with his goldfish friends, he become lethargic.

So back into the hospital tank he went, where a giant cyst grew and popped in the span of 3 days on his side. I started medicating him with Maracyn 2, which caused him to seemingly perk up. After the cyst popped and healed, he would perch like a chicken (or bulldog) on the ground. Appetite was never lost, so I would chopstick to his mouth goldfish pellets, anti bacteria food and small pieces of algae chips or green peas for him to eat. He seemed fairly happy despite whenever he tried to swim, he'd slowly topple to the side. So he remained "perched" on the ground for 2 weeks.

Beginning of this week, he turned upside down and seemed fairly unhappy being upside down. However, he didn't float, would lay upside down on the floor of the tank.

Two days past and he is now floating upside down, his left fin is red around the joint, and his fins have become more and more shredded over the last 2 days.

This morning he was still plump. This evening, his back has seemingly "shriveled" or dried. The scales are shrunken, back sunk in and turned a darker colour. His eyes have also sunken in.

But he still tries to eat, and tried to flip himself over.

I'm lost as to what else I can do to help him. I've continued the Maracyn 2 treatment, frequently changed and maintained good water, but his health has steadily worsened.

[kelly528]

Do you have him in the 2.5g hospital tank? Ammonia is likely through the roof. To put it this way I had a 1" ranchu in a 5g and couldn't keep things under control.

[Taiko]

He wasn't living there permanently. Just there to rest. The ammonia levels were low. Either way. He passed away this morning.

[bingerz]

my condolences!! =/ sorry for your loss.

[katienaha]

thats sad. but maybe look into a larger hospital tank, and you might have more success in healing a sick fish if it happens again.