Oranda Goldfish Rapid Scale Loss?

Question

Hello-- I have two oranda goldfish. I observe them daily. The bigger of the two lost almost all of the scales on one side of his back (it seems like overnight). There is one small sucker fish, a Siamese Algae Eater (not a pleco), who has been in the tank for a few months now. They are the only fish in the tank.
Other than the scale loss, my fish seems fine. No gulping or floating at the top so I don't think he has the bladder problem I have read about. He can swim fine and doesn't float up uncontrollably.
I just want to make sure I don't need to separate him from the other goldfish or do something for him. Could it be from breeding? I am unsure of their sexes. They have two little ceramic bridges in their tank but those have been in there from the start (since January 2007 when I got them). Is this rapid scale loss normal? Thanks in advance!!

*But the fish is NOT a pleco, but an siamese algae eater -- is this still bad for my goldfish?

Answer 1

Yep, I agree with Sunday, get your small sucker & Siamese Algae Eater their own tank pronto! There is practically no compatible tank buddies for Goldfish except a similar sized & similar type of Goldfish.

Answer 2

The pleco did it. Get rid of it. See pleco's are noctournal and omnivourous. When they don't get enough to eat by way of algae they have this nasty little habbit of sucking the slime coat and scales off of slow, sleeping goldfish at night. You are lucky it didn't kill him. Green algae is a good thing and I'm sure the goldfish would rather eat the algae. Besides when you hear that goldfish only go with goldfish you should believe it, it includes pleco as well. The fish are not compatable.

Answer 3

Sounds like ammonia poison
But here is a site with all the diseases on goldfishes, with symptoms, pics and treatments
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/disease.html


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 4

If theyre losing scales it probably means that theyre about to die. so sorry. : (