Goldfish Care: Administering Medication The Safe Way!

If your goldfish becomes diseased immediate action is needed. Failure to treat goldfish quickly can have devastating results. A vital part of goldfish care is being aware of health issues that can afflict them.

Little sick goldfish, left untreated, could become sicker and even die.

Isolate the sick fish in a separate tank set up and treat as soon as possible. Administering medications may be needed in order to save a life.

2. Is it better to use home remedies or commercial remedies?

If you’re new to treating goldfish that are sick it’s best to use a commercial remedy that you can buy.

Some experts advise using potassium permanganate or malachite green to treat your fish.

These chemicals need to be handled carefully and in EXACT dosages. If you were to make a mistake and give your fish too much, you risk killing your fish faster than the disease.

When attempting to administer medicated food to your goldfish it’s important that it’s only consumed by the sick goldfish. The goal is not to over-medicate the other healthy fish that are just simply going about life.

That’s why we recommend to quarantine any sick fish in a separate tank (or your ‘hospital tank’) so that they’re the only ones being medicated. You can track the progress of the sick fish and keep other fish safe from the disease being spread.

It’s important to keep in mind that healthy goldfish rarely get sick.

If your fish are getting sick it’s usually because of:

bad food
bad lighting
poor water conditions

This is just a short list of things that could cause your goldfish to fall into a weakened state. Carefully perform regular maintenance on your aquarium so that your goldfish stay strong and healthy.

If you’re new to goldfish care and realize you have sick goldfish on your hands, research the symptoms, isolate the sick fish and treat as soon as possible.

Be sure to follow all treatment directions exactly; especially if you’re housing more fancy goldfish so that you don’t cause even more harm.

Goldfish health care depends on your decision making, so be mindful when administering medications.

Updated November 2018

Some experts advise using potassium permanganate or malachite green to treat your fish.

It’s important to keep in mind that healthy goldfish rarely get sick.

If you’re new to goldfish care and realize you have sick goldfish on your hands, research the symptoms, isolate the sick fish and treat as soon as possible.

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