My fish are falling apart !?

Question

Ok I have had my fish for a while; they were just 28 cent gold fish from wal mart but I have had them for quite a few months now and they have grown to be really big & I have gotten attatched - sad I know. Anyway I have a nice size tank set up in my room; I had two sucker fish and 6 of the other fish. Recently one died and it looked funny; like it was falling apart or something but I didnt really think anything of it; then today I got home from school and two more fish were dead; one of the suckers and one of the gold fish and half of the gold fish looked like all of it's scales were gone. I have looked at the other fish and they look look sick; one especially is losing it's scales / skin and they look horrible does anyone know whats going on with my fish & why they suddenly caught this " disease " or what ever it is ?

yes i have a filter that goes
through contstantly with an
air pump and everything thats
why none of this makes any
sense to me

Answer 1

Ashley, have you ever changed any of the fishies water in the past few months? Goldfish are disgustingly dirty fish, and put out alot of waste, particularly adding to ammonia levels... It is probably too late, but I would change about 1/4 of the water ASAP and another 1/4 24 hours later, clean your gravel and hope for the best.

Answer 2

I agree that is was the sucker fish that was doing that to the goldfish, there are some that are compatible but most aren't. The fish, including the suckers could be dieing from bad water too. Those 28 cent fish can grow 18 inches long and are pond fish, so unless your tank is at least 250 gallons it is too small for the goldfish and depending on what type of sucker it was they could need at least 55 gallons. All those fish produce A LOT of waste and unless you have very good filtration and are doing water changes every day they are probably being poisoned to death and the goldfish are getting eaten alive.

Before you buy anymore fish please do research and make sure that they are compatible and that you can give them proper care.

Answer 3

JS is right as far as the size of the tank you have. You need a 75 gallon tank minimum for that many goldfish. Goldfish require a lot of room and too small a tank will create a very negative environment and bad water quality which will cause all sorts of diseases. Your fish have dropsy. Not good. It's hard to cure them from this. You need to get a hospital tank, allowing 10 gallons per sick fish. I know it's too expensive to run out and get another tank, so one of those plastic storage bins works great. Get one that matches the gallon size that you need. They're marked by gallons. You don't need a filter for this temp set-up, but you definitely need a very good aerator. Goldfish need a lot of oxygen. You don't have time to do a proper cycling on the tank, so if you fill it with spring water from the grocery store, it won't have any chlorine (or fluoride) in it. If you use tap water, you need to add a dechlorinator and a detoxifier. You need to get some test strips to get your ammonia, nitrates and nitrites at the proper levels, which should all be 0, actually. You need to buy some ph stabilizer for goldfish, which is 7.0. Then get some maracyn-2 to treat the fish externally and some medicated food such as Medi-Gold or Metro-Med to treat them internally. Read the link for all the details. It is difficult to save a fish from Dropsy, but it can be done with a lot of patience and diligence to maintaining a perfect hospital tank. And, in the meantime, get the other tank to a proper size and water conditions. This site has other articles about all of this.

Answer 4

Your best bet is to get your water tested. Did the tank have a filter? Was it cycled? Did the sucker fish have an ample supply of algae? Did anything get into the water? Are the goldfish gasping at the surface? It sounds like you have something really wrong in that tank.

Answer 5

Have your water tested for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. the first two should be zero, the third under forty for sure, preferable under twenty. If your levels of these are not as stated, you need to do a series of water changes until they are.

If you have six goldfish, you need to have a tank at least 75 gallons. You need twenty gallons for the first goldfish and at least ten gallons for every additional one. Goldfish produce a lot of waste. You can't see the bad stuff in the water, so even if your tank looks clean they can be suffocating in their own waste products.

Whenever your fish get sick you need to check the levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. If you have this done by your local fish store, write down the numbers, don't just let them tell you it's 'fine' or 'bad'.

Go to www.myfishtank.net to learn all about how to keep your fish healthy.

Answer 6

The only thing I know of that it could be is the sucker fish have discovered the tastey slime coating on the goldfish. It would explain the scales being torn off and the fact thet they were mangled. I'll bet the sucker fish was killed in the goldfish's struggle to get it off. Sucker fish should never be kept with goldfish.

Answer 7

i don't know of a disease where fish lose their scales. have you cleaned your tank lately? anytime a fish dies its a good time to empty it out and clean it up and start over again. do they look like they might be covered in sugar or are the tails and fins rotting off? ich is a parasite that makes your fish look like they were dipped in sugar or salt. you can get meds at walmart. fin and tail rot can be severe and its best treated with antibotics from a pet store. you can take one of your fish to a fish store -- not a place like petco or petsmart because they don't know much -- all i can tell you is goldfish are best if you clean the tank weekly -- do gravel vacuum and 1/3 water change it will get rid of most problems. everyone learns how to do things after disasters though -- good luck saving the rest of your kids -- change as much of the water as soon as you can though --

Answer 8

maximum in all probability planaria or likely nematodes. Little computer virus issues that continually come out as a effect of overfeeding, too a lot nutrients left on the bottom. they're threat free to the betta, purely time they're a difficulty is at the same time as there is eggs, they eat them. decrease feedings, feed him purely once an afternoon purely what he can eat in 5 minutes. Scoop out something else. keep doing the weekly water ameliorations, and be advantageous to vac the gravel real good.

Answer 9

ICK!!! Fish get a disease called ICK