Missing Scales...

[sweetsuvvyb]

Today while spending some quality time with my goldfishies (and the pleco, too i suppose, although he's much less social, unless there are algae wafers involved)...I noticed my larger one, a nearly 3 inch (!!! they grow like weeds!) red cap oranda is missing a scale on his body.

I kept a pretty close eye on him today...he's his active self, no signs of illness. His partner in crime looks and is acting fine, as is the pleco.

I checked water parameters, NH3 and Ites at zero...ates around 20ppm.

He is a rather rambunctious critter...he's been plowing through the smallish cave I got for the pleco...could he have just scraped off the scale in his rowdiness? Or is there something else I should be looking for/worried about?

Thanks guys!

 

[Punkymom]

He probably just scraped it off in his playfulness. No different than you or I scraping the skin off our knee. You may want to add some stress coat to help it heal a little faster. I don't know how well a goldfish would tolerate it, but you could try a salt bath, also. This will help prevent infection.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

thanks!

i was pretty sure it was his own clutziness...

I do add just a tiny pinch of salt when i do water changes (which is pretty frequently with this messy trio...)...not much though, because I don't wanna stress the pleco. I'll just keep an eye on it for now..thanks again

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Ooook...now I'm getting slightly concerned (again).

Now my other goldie is missing a scale as well, and the original scale-misser is missing 2 more. I've been watching them, they don't seem to be scratching around in the gravel, or on the silk plant, or the pleco cave.

They do seem to be picking on each other an awful lot, though.

I guess I'm more worried that if they're losing scales, they're going to make themselves vunerable to some nasty infection, than the the scale loss itself is a problem (since I really don't see any other signs of illness in the guys). Should I fuss with it? Or just stop being an overprotective fish-momma?

Thanks

 

[Allivymar]

I noticed my largest angel was missing a scale over the weekend; somebody musta gave him a good nip, cause the scale was sorta hanging by a thread. Of course, I thought it was hilarious cause he's usually the tank bully. Nice to see someone isn't standing for it

I just added Melafix as a safeguard against infection. I'm sure salt will be just as effective although I like the healing properties of Melafix as well as the antibiotic properties.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

alli...i read that you'd done some reading up on salt + plecos...do you think if i up the salt, the only peaceful member of the tank at this point will be ok?

I hate to punish him for the goldies being retarded LOL (seriously...it's like they're toddlers..bickering and fighting till they see me walk up then its that innocent stare....not to completely anthropomorphize or anything...)

 

[Allivymar]

Shouldn't be a prob. Besides the research I did, I also have the experience of treating for ich in my 55g (the tank my 8 inch plec is in) with salt and high temps. I kept the levels of salt at 3 ppm for 2 weeks and I don't think he even noticed. Obviously I wouldn't keep a plec in a brackish tank, but for a short period of time moderate levels of salt should be fine

LOL and the goldies are not retarded or toddlers...they're more like adolescents. They probably like each other and you KNOW how pre-teens are; boys are forever picking on the girls they like cause they don't know how to be a gentleman yet and the girls are always getting physical with the boys they like to prove they can be just as tough And no. I don't anthropomorphize either LOL

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Ha..you're so right...I added the salt (used the dosing info from goldfishinfo.com)....and while both the goldies seem slightly disturbed, the pleco couldn't care any less!

How long can I leave it salty? can I just let it diminish with my regular water changes (since I have to do them so frequently as it is...argh), or will I need to do a big change?

 

[Allivymar]

I'd prob give it a week or so.

I reduced the salt gradually with just regular water changes; I figured since the increase needed to be gradual (I used a LOT of salt) the decrease should be as well.