Goldfish Ulcer Disease (aeromonas salmonicida)
This infection has many names - goldfish ulcer
disease, carp erythrodermatitis or more commonly saddle-back, as the ulcers
straddle the dorsal fish or are high up on the dorsal muscle.
The
disease is very infectious, affects goldfish in aquariums and ponds and can
remain dormant without a host for long periods.
Restocking will lead to
reinfection.
Injections are the only treatment, but with small fish the
injection can just add to the fishes problems.
Wounds look like open
blisters, bright pink to red, with mostly a white outer ring.
Well
advanced ulcers can pass as a heron wound and are often mistaken for one. When
a pond or tank is infected with most fish showing ulcers its kinder to put them
to sleep with over-dose of clove oil.
Mostly seen in summer, infected
fish seem to feed and swim quite happily as this disease is thought to attack
the vital organs and nerve centers in the latter part of the disease's
progress.
