Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / January 2004

I've got problems in one of my goldie tanks. For a couple of months the fish
in it have been sitting on the bottom a lot. This has become progressively
worse and they are now sitting for at least 40 - 50% of the day looking
quite sad. It's all my best fish so i am absolutely desperate to clear this
up. The water parameters are perfect (ammonia/nitrite 0, nitrates <5) but
they do seem to perk up for a while after a water change hence I have been
doing a 30% change daily for the past 3 weeks as it makes me feel better to
know I'm doing something for them but it's wearing me out as it's a 60
gallon tank.
Other than sitting they look healthy. No fins clamped, colour good, they eat
well. Gills are cherry red, bellies feel normal. The only odd thing is a few
white strings around the mouth area of 2 out of the 5 which indicates
columnaris. Over the past few months I have treated twice with Interpet anti
fungus and finrot which claims to treat this, and now twice with myxazin (a
bacteriacide) which claims also to control columnaris. I've also done salt
dips and treated with Sterazin in case there are flukes present, but to no
avail. I've also fed a whole tub of Medigold from Goldfish connection which
I have now run out of. Nothing has worked and I can't seem to get hold of
any potassium permanganate here in the UK. I've tried local chemists etc and
the water company wont sell me any. Is there absolutely anything else I can
do here? Do you reckon methylene blue help? I've tried every med I can find
in my local shops and online and nothings worked. I'm running out of ideas.
Could it be that it's not columnaris and I'm mistreating, or are Uk meds
just crap?
Mel.