Scale damage?
- Thread starter tonyfreak
- Start date
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Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
They look like injuries to me. You want to watch for redness or white cottony fuzz on the areas as those are signs of infection. Keep the tank water clean and look to remove anything with sharper edges and the fish should be able to heal with just that and a good diet.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Thanks, I added a table spoon of aquarium salt few days ago to my 25gal tank, I May dose another one this weekend to help the little fella. Have you ever used those Melafix products? Are they safe for goldfish to use?
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Proper dosage for salt in an aquarium is 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water so 1 tablespoon alone will not really do much IMO. You most likely only have about 20 gallons of actual water in the tank after displacement and the fact that no commercial tanks hold the amount of actual water they profess to hold.
I'd add a tablespoon a day over the next 3 days to bring up the therapeutic level of salt to the water. But here's the big problem: a 25 gallon tank is too small for any type of goldfish. They really should be in a large volume of water and space to help keep the water clean and to help them avoid bumping into things as many goldfish shapes make the fish clumsy swimmers. It may be fine for they are small babies but when they start growing, they should be in larger tanks or pools. As for the " fix" products, I know there is a push for holistic medications because many advanced meds are no longer available but from what I've read and heard about both of the products ( melafix, primafix), they are more snake oils than helpful. The salt alone will probably do more for the fish than those will.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for sharing your recommendation. Yeah I’ve been upgrading his tank from 2.5gal -> 10gal -> 25gal over the past 2.5 years. Next he may earn a 55gal or so. He is the only one in the tank and I keep changing the watch often.
The one thing I notice is, gold fish won’t leave any plants alive. He keeps eating them. I may switch to some bamboo next and only leave the roots in the tank.
The one thing I notice is, gold fish won’t leave any plants alive. He keeps eating them. I may switch to some bamboo next and only leave the roots in the tank.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
You are going to be classified as someone with MTS ( Multiple tank syndrome)
( Just kidding. ) Yeah, that's the curse of fish keeping when you get a fish that can outgrow the tank you set up for them. 
As for the live plant issue, Goldfish are classified as omnivores but in reality, they are more vegetarians than anything else. They need a lot of plant matter for digestion since they do not have a stomach per say to store food in to digest. They are simply one long intestine from the mouth the anus.
This is why they should be fed a high vegetable diet multiple times a day with some added protein like shrimp or worms or bugs for one of those feedings. This is why they are dirty fish and should be in high volumes of water. There is some debate on whether bamboo roots and goldfish are a good mix. If you do it, make sure the leaves of the plant are above the water line. Yeah I’ll probably hang the bamboos on the side of the tank and leave the top out of the water. I may start with one and see how it goes. Hey thanks for helping out here and sharing your advice. I’m gonna increase the salt dosage for his tank and hopefully he recovers soon.
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