Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,
I'm preparing to grow some silver perch, but first I thought I would do a trial outside with a couple of goldfish. Overwinter one of gold grew green stuff on top of its body, I changed the water (I have a roof fed water tank, council water kills fish, and we have drought water restrictions), and threw some salt into the water, and the green hair turned white and dis-apeared, though a white spot remains. My question is what was it, and how can I prevent it from affecting a real fish project.

Hi Alex, welcome to the forum
I'm sure someone with some fish health knowledge will come along and help you out soon

Hi Alex, welcome to the forum and it's great to hear you've got plans in mind for summer.

Sorry, but like Jaymie I can't help with the goldie diagnosis

Almost certainly a fungus and in the exact spot too. gimme a sec

http://www.koivet.com/html/articles/art ... 20Articles

SAP

Good job with the salt, it is how i saved my fish. Trout are very susceptible.

high salt conc. is usually needed, around the 5ppt to 10 ppt mark

on reading that link, does that mean that the fish is growing lichen? (a symbiotic mix of algae and fungus)

I dont think so

thats interesting, I never had a case of sap steve.
Mind you I was only growing trout for 4 years.
Must have been lucky.

usually occurs in response to rapid downwards water temp changes

Fair enough, the only time that would have happend would be when the water temp got to 22c and I was keen to reduce it, or in the alternative of the freezer.Hehehehe!

The fish in question has basically recovered (still has a diminished white scar)

Thanks for the rapid reply, the article was excellent. The goldfish were a trial run (to find problems), for which I took little care. They were in maybe 80litres of water, outside, and I was lazy with the feeding, (occasionally throwing in some bread crumbs, but mostly relying on insects to feed or goldfish toughness). I let the organics build up in the water. In my planned system, I'll use the overflow from the water tank to 'flush' the pond, and then some salt for a bit of hygiene shock ocassionally.

I also suspect that the lack of plants may have contributed to this as when I was a teenager, I kept goldfish outside in a much shallower pond (with plants in it) in Canberra, but never had this problem.

PS before the goldfish, I had some silver perch fingerings in that tub, but one day I changed the water with tap water (instead of tank water), the next day the silver perch were dead, and my chook sang for joy after eating those dead fish.

Alex, you can get water conditioner that will remove the chloramine from the Brisbane water, pet shops I think.

Yep, any pet store (or Woollies ) sell it, called either water ager or chlorine remover

New question
My sister's goldfish is slowly losing its colour (a bit like michael jackson), is this normal, or is it something that can be treated?