Scales Sticking Out

[snakequeen]

Hi there

I was at my friends house today and i noticed that the scales on one of her goldfish were sticking out.
What is it?
Can it be treated?
Will the other fish catch it?

Also she said it was bloated too, i couldnt tell as they all look fat to me lol

Thanks
Eve

 

[8inary]

sadly, this is normally due to internal organ failure. the scales stick out and I understand this is called pined. From what I know, and I should add, I am no expert - this is not something that can be treated, it may last another week or more, just depends.

as I said, I am not expert and I would suggest awaiting further advice from others before taking action based on this.

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons or litries is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Once scales stick out organ failure, fish never really survive once scales stick out as its the last stage of dropsy.
Epson salt baths help draw the fluids out.
Bacterial med if you can issolate.

 

[Amunet]

Sounds like it has a bad case of dropsy. Dropsy is just a name for the symptom (bloated usually w/ scales sticking out called pineconing b/c the fish resembles a pinecone when looking at it from above).
If the fish aren't taken proper care of, could've been an internal bacterial infection that caused it, so she should be worried that the infection might spread to the other fish.

Definitely try to answer Wilder's questions though. How big is the tank, what stats, how many fish, how long has the tank been set up, how often does she do water changes/gravel vacs, etc etc....

 

[snakequeen]

I can only answer some of the questions as its not my tank

The tank is 24x12x12 so using the calculator that makes 57 litres
She has 4 fish 2x black moore and 2 x fancy goldfish
Water stats i dont know as its not my tank

She does a 25% water change every week as for gravel vac i dont know

 

[Nick16]

for a start there that is too many fish for a tank that size i believe. sounds like dropsy which can be cured i think but wait for an expert

 

[WILDER]

The tanks severely overstocked.
First goldfish alone needs 20 gallons then 10 gallons for every other one added as they are massive waste producers and the goldfish grow quite large.
Also they need double the filter size to the tank to cope with the waste.

 

[snakequeen]

She has had the tank up and running for at least 2 years now and has 2 filters running in the tank
the fish are the first fish she got when she got the tank
They are only 4 inches long at the most, are they likely to get bigger then cos i have never seen black moores or fancy gold fish get as big as normal gold fish

 

[WILDER]

They probably have stunted growth.
She needs a bigger tank or she needs to rehome them, its not fair they can barely move in that size tank.
Fancy goldifsh usually its 15 gallons for the first one then 10 gals for every other fancy goldfish added.
So they should be in a 45 gallon tank with a 90 gallon filter.

 

[snakequeen]

Oh ok, i dunno what she is gonna say to that as i dont think her hubby would let her have a bigger tank and i know she wont get rid of them.
thanks for your help

 

[WILDER]

Its not far on the fish they can't be that happy all four of them cramped in a 12 gallon tank.