Goldfish losing scales?

[JaneDoe25]

missing scales

I am having this same problem. I have 2 Goldies from a carnival that are now about 3-4 inches & 1 pleco. My goldies have been loosing more & more scales in different spots on the side of their body. The loss of scales are not randomly spread over their bpdy, there more like missing in chunks, so they have no coloring to these areas. Some of their scales try to grow back, but remain clear and I find at least 1 or 2 scales in the water every day or so. I am hopeing that this is all due to their tank size and their rough play. They seem in good spirits but I imagine it must hurt them.

:dive2: I am currently trying to locate a 20 gallon long tank for them because they really need it. But everything I've found locally is about $50 for the tank alone, no cover or lights included. I currently don't have anything to support the additional weight either... It sucks because I want to be abe to rule out their living quarters as the cause of their continual scale loss.

2 Goldoes
1 Pleco
10 gallon
Temp 78
.25 Ammonia
0.99 Nitrite
20-30.00 Nitrate (this has only recently gotton so high)
? PH (lost my color key)

 

[wataugachicken]

you should be doing water changes daily to keep your ammonia and nitrite levels below .25. the levels you have are stressing the fish, and i'm surprised you haven't lost them to the high amount of nitrite. nitrates should stay under 20. read the thread on cycling to get more info.

additionally - if you have a common pleco, it will grow to about 2 feet long. if you won't be able to get a larger tank, i suggest you return it for a dwarf species, or just get some oto cats to keep the tank clear of algae. goldfish and plecos aren't really compatible.

 

[JaneDoe25]

Oops...

:duh: Ooops...

My mistake. My Nitrite levels are 0.00 (zero), not 0.99. I was typing in the dark. Looks like my ammonia is actually zero too. I tested my water in the dark too, used my monitor to match my results to the color chart... Thats the problem sharing a room with a sister... The only thing thats off is the Nitrate. I'm changing 25% (or so) of water every day or so and I've started using AmQuel+ last week.

 

[pophead]

one goldfish that I had was orange and I thought it was loosing it's scales but it must have been just changing colour because on close inspection it's scales were all there. hope it's just that.