Help with my pearlscale needed

[mjb302]

Hello

I have had a 30 litre BioOrb aquarium for 5 months now with a single pearlscale goldfish in it.

Unfortunately the poor little fellow keeps developing a sore area on his right side.

I have the following water quality values

pH 8.2
Ammonia 0.1ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm
Nitrate 10ppm

I have only just received the water test kit is too high but I have no ide how to remedy this.

I saw somwhere that vinegar could be used but this sounds a bit harsh.

I have a picture of the little guy attached. I am feeding him pellets (soaked) and bloodworms. I also have daphnia and artemia but havent opened them yet.

Many thanks

Matt

 

[Holly9937]

Hmmm, I'm not a goldfish keeper, you might try posting this in the goldfish section to get more experienced replies. However, in general you want your nitrite and amonia to be 0. you might be overfeeding or just not doing frequent enough water changes, how often do you do them? Also can you give a more detailed description of the "sore area"???

 

[reiverix]

That's about 8 gallons. You will find it hard keeping your water good with a goldfish in a tank so small. Even frequent water changes will only buy you a little more time before the fish outgrows the tank or gets stunted and more susceptible to disease.

I know this all sounds a bit harsh but goldfish really do need the space.

 

[chrisinha]

Yes, you should move him to at least a 10 gallon (37 liters) tank. Besides, in my experience, the pearlscale is one of the most difficult goldfish to keep, but maybe it's just me. :huh:

 

[JimT]

Just in case the other thread gets deleted for being a dupe:

As I understand it, Pearlscales are more sensitive to water quality than other goldfish. You also have a small tank. 8 US gallons will be too small for him when he gets larger. I don't think vinegar is a good idea. You need to do water changes to lower your ammonia. Change 20% of the water each day for a couple days and see if the ammonia goes down.

People don't discuss goldfish much here, even in the coldwater forum it's slow. I recommend you go to www.goldfishparadise.com and register. Ask this question there. There are a couple of users there that know an awful lot about treating goldfish illnesses. There is also a thread with pics of diseases.

What's a BioOrb and do you have a filter running?