I need help with a fish

arachnorama

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
55
We currently have 9 fish living in our 50 gal. aquarium. The biggest one is 6 1/2 inches and the rest are between 6-1 in. in length including fins.

One of our comet fish, Lorelei, has some black stuff popping up on her and she is loosing her scales, which concerns me a lot.:(

She sits on one side of the tank near the water's surface, her fins all squished toward her, and her head is disproportionate to the body, and she doesn't eat when all of the other fish eat.

If anyone has any diagnosis/cure/suggestions for Lorelei, it would be appreciated!
 

forrestpengra

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 11, 2009
Messages
732
Could be a number of things, bacterial infection, parasite, etc...

As all of your fish have been in contact with each other it's a possibility they will also get whatever it is. As such you should treat the whole tank. That being said, if you have other invertebrates in the tank you might need to remove them before you treat the water (check the bottle). Go to the fish section of your LPS and try to find an antibiotic/anti-parasitic additive.

If you purchase comets there is always high risk of it carrying something, they are produced in high capacity with little interest in health. They are a feeder fish.
 

Mack&Cass

Arachnoprince
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Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Messages
1,574
Plecos aren't inverts. As a fish it is exposed to whatever your goldfish has. Be careful with medications that warn against using with scaleless fish as plecos can be sensitive to these. Can you post pictures of the infected goldfish?
 

xhexdx

ArachnoGod
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Jul 20, 2007
Messages
5,357
Invertebrate = no backbone...so the pleco isn't an invert.

Shrimp, crayfish, crabs, lobsters, jellyfish, anemones...they're inverts.

Good luck with it.
 

arachnorama

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
55
Okay I was just wondering.

I'm a little worried about doing a full-on water treatment, because we once had a koi and we thought that one of the other fish was sick and so we tried to warm up the water for the chemicals and it died.

I tried to post some pictures but the attachments didn't have the "correct security" something or other.
 

sean-820

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Jun 15, 2008
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547
pic will help. For your description The head being disproportionate to the body sounds possibly like dropsy. With this the scales will be sticking out away from the body and the fish look like they swallowed a golf ball. Get up a pic as your description isnt that helpful.
 

sean-820

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
547
Plecos are also vertebrates. They do have exterior armour like an exoskeleton, but they also have a backbone.
 

arachnorama

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Aug 29, 2009
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55
I couldn't get images because "the files are missing a security token".:wall:
 
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