Injured Pearlscale Goldfish

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Crowley

Registered Member
Jun 3, 2018
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Hi,

I've had 'Ping pong' for over a month and he has been a bit bullied by the other fish, but last night he was pretty badly attacked (do not know who the attacker was). His fins are shredded, he has a several cuts, a damaged gill and half his scales are either missing or badly damaged. (I'm not exaggerating here)

I've put him in a bowl with dechlorinated water to separate him from the other fish so that he can heal. Will he be able to recover from his injuries? Do i need to do anything to help such as removing the extremely damaged scales? Apparently fish medicine doesn't really work and can have negative affects to pearlscale goldfish, is this true?

Additionally, he has been behaving worryingly, not wanting to eat and switching from being mainly motionless to erratic for a few seconds as well as gulping at the surface. I'm guessing that he is pretty traumatised with everything that's happened.

I also can't afford a new tank for him and the bowl obviously isn't a long term solution since it has no filter, should i buy a breeding box to isolate him or is that too small?

Please help, thanks.

Update: I fed him some mashed peas but he is now lying at the bottom of the bowl, still alive, will he last long?
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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Welcome. Sorry about your issues here. Sounds like a lot going on and there's a lot we don't know and need to to properly help.

Fancy goldfish (assuming this is a fancy), should ideally be kept only with other fancies and in a tank space that equals 20g for the first and ab additional 10g added for each additional fish.

A bowl isn't a great option unless there's substrate and filtration in it to support a nitrogen cycle. Even with that, you'll have to do daily water changes on it, especially for a sick fish.
 

Crowley

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Jun 3, 2018
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Thanks for responding,
Ping pong is usually kept in my brothers 75g community tank. At first we only had him and a black moor which was fine, but a few weeks ago my brother got more fish.
I added a plant to the bowl and I am planning on doing a couple water changes a day, but need a more permanent solution.
Do you have any suggestions on what i should do?
 

tanker

Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
Sep 1, 2003
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Who else was in the tank with him, besides the "Black Moor"?
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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This goldfish could have picked up an illness or parasite when new fish were added to the tank it was in.

I'm not the one to ask about fish medication given I rarely use it. Have little experience.

Something you could try is to elevate the water temp, increase aeration and see how the fish responds. If it's something bacterial, this *should* speed it along. If it's viral, symptoms would get worse.
 
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