Scales getting off and comets at surface

[amitnarain]

some scales on my comets have got off (they swam out of the water and hurt themselves when i put them in (btw now the tank cover is on))

a row or two of the scales of my fish have 'fallen' will the lack of scales affect my fish

how much time does it take for scales to fix naturally without putting salt or chemicals


also, i find them near the surface. is that normal for comets? the other fish are down and clear and good water is in the tank. (dont think high level of substances are present in the water.) what could cause that behaviour of my comets? btw they do not really seem to be 'gasping' for air and do not have rapid gill movement but they are still at the surface of the water since a very long time now. when i get near they dive deeper at the bottom. also i already fed them a little.

 

[tetrin]

any part of the fish that is exposed (without scales and slime cover) is susceptible to bacterial or fungal attack. without chemicals, it depends on the immune system system of the fish in question to heal the damage. the stronger it is, the faster the fish heals. but melafix definitely speeds the process up.

comets near surface - high ammonia/nitrites, low dissolved oxygen. what's the temperature of the tank? keep in mind that, higher the temp, lower the dissolved oxygen and deadlier the ammonia.

do a 20-30% pwc and see if it improves conditions.
HTH

 

[tetrin]

one more factor i forgot about - you have two parrots in the tank. in a 15g, they are going to be somewhat more territorial than they usually are. so if two of them have established territories at the bottom of the tank, they wouldn't possibly tolerate the comets there. so the only place left for the comets would be the top half of the tank.
- just a conjecture. you have to sit silently near the tank to observe any aggression.

 

[talloulou]

Is the tank heated? Maybe the comets jumped to escape the warm water since they are cold water fish.

Edit....nevermind I read in another post that you don't heat the tank

 

[Zagz]

Do you test your water parameters? If you test it and do a pwc you will know if it is unhealthy water. If you don't test your water parameters I'd recommend getting a test kit. It will make life easier for both the fish and you.

 

[dr_girlfriend]

Gold Fish jumping is usually a sign of either high ammonia or to low a ph. What temp do you keep that tank at? The lower the more susceptible to disease they are. You should really have a heater and keep it at a stable temp around 76-78. I would add some salt to the water as a precaution, open wounds are an invitation to parasites and bacteria. Make sure your water params are in check too, with nitrates no higher than 40, 20 or below even better.

 

[amitnarain]

ok im gonna put in some salt. and yes the bp are definitely territorial over one part of the bottom of the tank.

do comets withstand salt well? i already know that bp do.

 

[amitnarain]

hey im worried wether putting in salt (dissolved) will not cause the scaleless part of the body of my comets burn. will it?

 

[greenmaji]

it will be disolved in water so the "burning" would be minimal. And it would force the wound to heal more quickly. Do you have access to Melafix? If so use it.. Big water changes will do a better job as long as you dont have a old tank syndrom situation.. so I would advize 75% pwc.

 

[dr_girlfriend]

no it wont burn them. All goldfish are extremley salt tolerant (up to .9%in extreme cases), so don't worry about that. I don't think you should have the parrots together with the comets though. Not a very good mix.