Goldfish Fungus Cure

Goldfish fungus on the LoryMagic website? Well yes, sometimes ya just hafta stray off-topic because... it's really important. In the 1970's and earlier it was well known that goldfish are a good choice for beginners. Now this is no longer common thought. Instead, goldfish are difficult to keep and not good for beginners. And the evidence suggest this is true. For the past several years I've been struggling to keep goldfish alive. They look GREAT in the pet store. I bring them home and they continue to look great for a few weeks or months. Then, gradually, they acquire a nearly imperceptible white sheen that is fungus. The fungus generally appears on the top of their head and on their fins. Then, gradually their fins become frayed, their breathing becomes labored as the fungus infiltrates their gills, and over the space of a few weeks or months, they die.

On other websites I see that MANY people have the same experience: goldfish that always die very slowly due to fungus. And NOBODY has a solid fix to the problem. Some people suggest "other" foods, and of course there are the various medications that only seem to delay the inevitable. So there seems to be a pervasive need for a Goldfish Fungus Cure.

So here's the story. I managed to keep a goldfish alive for several years, and lately its health benefits substantially when (a) I soak it's floating food sticks in fruit juice, and (b) add some canned spinach. It's not real enthusiastic about the spinach, but eventually the spinach gets eaten. Unfortunately, OTHER goldfish receiving the same dietary treatment did not survive, so the diet can only be regarded as "better but needing improvement."

In my wisdom, I decided to add 2 small black moores to the mix. These were very energetic fish, and unfortunately very predisposed to sucking the slime from other goldfish. Sort of "slime cannibals." In a few days all 3 fish were looking pretty bad — obviously a consequence of the slime-eating. So I moved the new fish to a separate tank and began worrying that all 3 were going to die. As an experienced aquarist, I saw all the signs indicating virtually zero probability of survival past a week or two: large patches of absent slime, frayed fins, etc. Further, the 2 black moores were exhausting themselves while trying to escape from being slime-sucked while simultaneously attempting to suck some slime.

What to do? What to do? Well the fruit juice and spinach helped a little but obviously wasn't the silver bullet. Then I happened past their tanks while eating some canned pears in light syrup. So on a whim I dropped one large chunk of pear into each tank. The chunk was about as big as the goldfish's head. They were interested in the pear, but obviously not crazy about it because some effort is required to scrape little meat from the pear. However, lacking other "easy" food, they returned to the pear. And because the pear did not flee, it was apparently slightly easier to eat pear than to suck slime. So the black moores quit cannibalizing each other, and over the course of a few days quit their incessant escape-swimming as well.

Now, less than 2 weeks after separating the fish, they look almost perfect. Fin healing is nothing short of miraculous and there is no indication of fungus. So the answer is canned PEARS in chunks that are far too large to swallow whole.

Why does this work? Well, my guess is that "pear grazing" is much like algae grazing for wild fish. It keeps their gut stimulated and gives them something to do, all with virtually zero risk of over-feeding.

Goldfish fungus cure: canned pears

If you have something to add to this, please contact me directly at jensen@tetonmultimedia.com. You will be credited.