My Fish Is Scraping Off His Scales!

[angel.star]

Hi everyone,

As you can no doubt tell from my previous posts, I am having trouble with my tank of late. The latest issue to arise is my witnessing my large fantail goldfish scraping himself across the bottom of the tank, dislodging about three of his scales from his right side. He is darting around somewhat as well, and being aggressive towards the other fish in the tank, which he doesn't do normally. Now I'm sure this is down to water quality, as you may see from my post last week I am battling with nitrate and nitrite at the moment, but I just wanted to check that his behaviour is not a symptom of something else? Is it safe for me to assume that once my battle with the toxins is won, his behaviour will return to normal?

I am also heeding advice given to me in the past on here that I have too many fish in my 60 litre tank. I have had my two fantails for over a year now, and they are up to three inches in length. I have a small ranchu, who arches on his side occasionally, and another small fantail with permanent swimbladder. Also, due to my algae problem, I recently invested in three tiny ottocinclus. I didn't think the little guys would tip the balance but perhaps they have. I love all of these guys and I hate the idea of giving any away, but if my keeping them all together is killing them, I need to have a think don't I? If I donated my three ottocinclus to my mum who has a lovely large 125 litre tank, would that make enough of a difference to keep my remaining four fish happy in the 60 litre?

I do my very best for these guys but one always seems to be suffering. Maybe I'm not cut out for this fishkeeping game, as much as I love it. Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[littlest]

Scraping against rocks/gravel etc can be an indication of a parasite, as can darting around.

I just had a quick peek at your other post (though didn't read it fully) and you said your parameters were:

High Range pH - 7.4
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm


is this still the case or did things get worse? Those readings are not that bad, though obviously any presence of nitrite is a concern.
I'm not too knowledgeable on diagnosis or treatments, so wait until someone else posts before you treat (or post in the emergency section, where you may get more responses), but I would be concerned about parasites if I were you.

A 60 litre tank is what? around 15 gallons? Four goldfish can't really be kept happy and healthy in a tank of that size for a prolonged period I'm afraid. The tank is pretty overstocked and the trouble you are having with nitrite is an indicator of that. Apart from anything, your fish (if they reach full size) will just get too big for that size tank. I really recommend you upgrade the tank or rehome at least two (preferably three) fish, though I realise that rehoming could be difficult if the fish are currently sick.

what have your water parameters been like lately? Are you testing regularly? How regularly are you doing waterchanges?

 

[raptorrex]

Scraping against rocks/gravel etc can be an indication of a parasite, as can darting around.

I just had a quick peek at your other post (though didn't read it fully) and you said your parameters were:

High Range pH - 7.4
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm


is this still the case or did things get worse? Those readings are not that bad, though obviously any presence of nitrite is a concern.
I'm not too knowledgeable on diagnosis or treatments, so wait until someone else posts before you treat (or post in the emergency section, where you may get more responses), but I would be concerned about parasites if I were you.

A 60 litre tank is what? around 15 gallons? Four goldfish can't really be kept happy and healthy in a tank of that size for a prolonged period I'm afraid. The tank is pretty overstocked and the trouble you are having with nitrite is an indicator of that. Apart from anything, your fish (if they reach full size) will just get too big for that size tank. I really recommend you upgrade the tank or rehome at least two (preferably three) fish, though I realise that rehoming could be difficult if the fish are currently sick.

what have your water parameters been like lately? Are you testing regularly? How regularly are you doing waterchanges?

very sound advice, if you ask me! 10 gallons per fish is what i would considder a minimum for goldfish. plus they are a filthy fish, up there with the plecos!

 

[angel.star]

Hiya,

Thanks for your posts, I'm having a think about upgrading my tank, just need to find room in my house for a larger one! I don't really want to lose any of my fish because I love them and I've watched them grow over a year or so, bless em.

Good news however - I did a water change tonight (I usually do them once a week, around 30% - 40% each time, often using the ciphon to clean the stones each time) and tested the water a few hours later. Here are the results: -

High Range pH - 7.4 (I'm considering testing with the normal pH kit, just in case my pH is actually lower than 7.4 and the kit I'm using doesn't show that).
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm (yay!)
Nitrate - 40 ppm

I also tested the tap water for nitrate and nitrite, and while there was no trace of nitrite in it, there was a level of nitrate at 5.0. Is my nitrate level in my tank of 40 ppm a bad thing, and if so is there anything I can do considering the fact that I have traces of it in my tap water? This is getting technical isn't it?!

My big fantail has also improved greatly, he's calm tonight and is no longer darting or scraping. Little Sonny the ranchu is still a little oddly shaped, and Ariel the small fantail still has the swimbladder. I have treated the water to help her once before to no avail, do you think I should try again? I've used Interpet's treatment so far. I've a feeling I left the carbon in the filter when I treated it though...the little black sponge at the front of the filter? Am I right?

So many questions, sorry everyone! Thanks for your attention so far, you've no idea how valuable I think this forum is

 

[black angel]

As youre reading 40 from the tank and 5 from the tap then there is something out of balance with your tank. Try doing more water changes, daily if needed to get the nitrate to around 20 or less. Is the tank planted at all? maybe overfed? Once you get to 20 or below test the water each day to see how fast it gets back up to 40 and then you will see when you need to do a water change.
A bigger tank will help keep the balance better and your fish can grow too.

If theres nothing new added in the past 2 to 4 weeks then its more than likely the water thats affecting the fish so causing the darting.