Pearlscale injury...please help!

[StarSapphire22]

Hey guys!

Got my raingarden goldfish today. YAY! I got a pearlscale and a ranchu, named Bowser and Sully, and they are super adorable! Anyways, I got them in the mail this morning, had enough time to acclimate them and monitor them for a little bit before I had to go to work. I came home, and the pearlscale had this:



It looks like 2 of his scales are pineconing almost, or got pulled up somehow and there's a red ring around it, maybe some minor bruising? He didn't have it when he got here, so he must have gotten stuck somewhere (he is VERY fat and clumsy) and hurt himself trying to free himself from wherever he was. I have melafix, but I'm not sure if I can/should put it in the tank. I have an aquatech 5-15 filter that I am reseeding for my ten gallon and it has carbon in it...can I run it with just the floss-y part? And will I lose much bb in it if I take out the carbon insert? I also added safestart today...will that cause any bad reactions or anything? And can I add it with my AC70&110 having purigen in them? Or am I just being an overprotective fish mommy and should I just let it heal on its own? He seems to be breathing a little heavy, but has been from being introduced to my tank this morning, and I think he's just stressed as all my other fish seem just fine and my tank is super oxygenated. It doesn't seem to be negatively impacting him, it just looks painful and angry...he's swimming around and having a blast exploring his new home and trying his darndest to get stuck in everything he can.

I wish I knew what he hurt himself on so I could take it out...but I have no idea. If he so much as TOUCHES a plant, he automatically thinks hes stuck and freezes. I have to keep pulling him out of everything, even if he's not REALLY stuck. I tried to let him figure it out by himself and he stayed in exactly the same place for four hours. I want to make this tank a safe home for him and I took out one decoration I knew would be a pearlscale trap, but my other fish love to swim through all the holes and nooks and crannies, so I'd feel bad just having sand and plastic plants for decor. Even the pearlscale likes to hang out in the cave. I'm worried about him getting stuck in smaller spaces though, and getting more scrapes like this.

Here's a picture of my tank. I tried to create more space between decor and walls than before but.....I don't know if I did a good enough job. You can see the pearlscale hanging out in the cave on the left, and the ranchu is next to him.


So my questions are:
1) Should I add the melafix?
2) Is there anything else I can do for him?
3) Any decorating tips?
4) Any other general pearlscale tips? He's a regular pingpong, not a crown, but especially fat and rolypoly.

Thanks everyone!!!!

 

[StarSapphire22]

Bump

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[chibikaie]

You should be able to remove the carbon as long as the filter you are seeding still has some other media for the bacteria to cling to - sounds like there is filter floss in there, so that should be fine.

If you are adding meds, I don't know if you may also need to yank the purigen for the duration.

It looks like a local swelling from an injury, not a systemic edema (his whole body would pinecone in that case). I've never treated for that, other than being very careful about water quality; maybe someone else can give you better advice there.

I would yank anything that he could get caught on, myself. If he can't maneuver, then I would not take any chances.

P.S. wear gloves rinsed with tank water when handling fish! Less damage to slime coat that way.

 

[Somervell]

I would just keep an eye on it for a day or two. These fish were just shipped a rather long distance, and are still pretty stressed out. It looks like a plain old abrasion to me, probably from one of the rock formation things. My goldfish have often run into things and gotten scrapes like these. Keep the water super clean ( which I know you are super meticulous about!) As to the Melafix-- some fish keepers love it and others hate it. It's really just tea tree oil and some other botanicals by any other name. I use it myself occasionally for just these kinds of minor irritations, and it doesn't seem to do any harm. I have never removed filter material when doing it. I would err to the side of being conservative with this injury, unless there is some reason later to medicate. Let the little dude chill for a while, and most of this will probably disappear in a day or so. If it loses a scale. it will grow back most likely. That's my two cents, anyway.

 

[StarSapphire22]

You should be able to remove the carbon as long as the filter you are seeding still has some other media for the bacteria to cling to - sounds like there is filter floss in there, so that should be fine.

If you are adding meds, I don't know if you may also need to yank the purigen for the duration.

It looks like a local swelling from an injury, not a systemic edema (his whole body would pinecone in that case). I've never treated for that, other than being very careful about water quality; maybe someone else can give you better advice there.

I would yank anything that he could get caught on, myself. If he can't maneuver, then I would not take any chances.

P.S. wear gloves rinsed with tank water when handling fish! Less damage to slime coat that way.

I would just keep an eye on it for a day or two. These fish were just shipped a rather long distance, and are still pretty stressed out. It looks like a plain old abrasion to me, probably from one of the rock formation things. My goldfish have often run into things and gotten scrapes like these. Keep the water super clean ( which I know you are super meticulous about!) As to the Melafix-- some fish keepers love it and others hate it. It's really just tea tree oil and some other botanicals by any other name. I use it myself occasionally for just these kinds of minor irritations, and it doesn't seem to do any harm. I have never removed filter material when doing it. I would err to the side of being conservative with this injury, unless there is some reason later to medicate. Let the little dude chill for a while, and most of this will probably disappear in a day or so. If it loses a scale. it will grow back most likely. That's my two cents, anyway.

Thank you both! I think it's probably from the decor as well, but I've been watching him quite a bit today and he seems to be learning about what places he can't fit into and he seems to be maneuvering pretty well today. He's very active and swimming all over today...so much fun to watch!!! I'm looking into new decor, but I think for now, unless I see something else happen, decor will stay, though I may take out the grey holey-rock formation after seeing my moor pick the very smallest hole he could and then try to wiggle through it. :shakehead:

I'll hold off on the melafix, unless I see it getting worse, or it hasn't healed after a few days, and just keep an eye on it. I'll also keep an eye on the water parameters and maybe up my filtration just a bit to make sure all the gunk is being sucked out. I don't want him to get an infection or anything. Right now my pH is 7.4, my ammonia and nitrite are 0, and nitrates are 40 (they've been up for almost 2 weeks now, got them down from 80....but they really like being stuck at 40). Water's pretty clean, I have 300 ml of purigen in there...there's a little bit of gel food floating around, and a couple cat hairs that I can NOT get out, thanks to my cats excursion into the tank a few days ago, but other than that, it LOOKS clean. Still have a bit of a diatom problem but the walls all got a good scrubdown a few days ago, so it's not too bad.

Hopefully it grows back...I know when pearlscales lose a "pearl" it comes back as a regular scale, but it looks almost like half of his pearl is still there, so I'm not sure what will happen there. I am rather worried about the red...there's a ring around the worst looking scale and the red looks like it may be spreading. Here's some updated pictures:



Thanks for the gloves recommendation...I've been kindof worried about his slime coat, since I keep picking him for pictures, and nudging him out of places that might be a tight squeeze. I'll put in an order for some of those long gloves.

 

[StarSapphire22]

I just noticed he also has a small tear in his tail...also edged in red. It's white and doesn't go clear through the edge, it's more of a small slit. I couldn't get pictures, but you can kindof see it in the last two pictures above.

 

[JamieMonster]

I see the tear in his tail. I wouldn't worry too much- he must have just got caught somewhere & gotten a little banged up. Melafix is great for scrapes and fin tears. It doesn't look like a bad one at all. He'll be ok.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Ok...so I think he managed to hit that same spot AGAIN. I've freaking watched this fish almost all day so I could figure out what decor was dangerous...I leave for 2 hours to go grocery shopping, and THAT'S when he hurts himself. Of course. It looks like a few other scales in that area are smushed and white with red. I checked on KoKo's (thanks Jamie!) and they recommended a salt dip and adding melafix to the tank. Do you guys think this will be too stressful? It's starting to look kinda nasty and angry...I want to nip it in the bud before he gets a bad infection or anything.

So, my plan of attack is this:
20% water change
Salt dip for 5 minutes
Add melafix to the tank, removing carbon and purigen.

Thoughts?

 

[JamieMonster]

I'd follow whatever treatment plans people with more experience than I have give you for that part. I've never done a salt dip, so get instructions for that (which I'm sure you already have. You're awesome like that). For the rest- I'd take out 1 of the large decorations, and move the 2 toward the sides more toward the middle, to make a larger area between them & the tank wall, and more open space in the middle of the tank for bottom swimming. He's getting himself stuck somewhere, and seems to have difficulty with mobility. The tank will still look gorgeous with the decor more minimal, and a bit more open space will help him get around. Try to eyeball the length of his body from nose to tail, as well as how wide he is from side to side, and go for there being no places in the tank that are smaller than that between tank walls, and hard pieces of decor (I'd even try for 2 inches larger than he is in any direction, honestly, or just use your balled fist as a guide- if it can't pass around easily- make more room.). Keep in mind that he needs room to fully turn around along the sides of the tank between the wall & decor, and between the pieces of decor themselves. It isn't looking like he is very capable of swimming up and over tall things, so, he will do a lot of turning and spinning on the bottom, or just above it, to get around- this may be how he is getting stuck. Is he also getting stuck in plants, or does he seem ok there? He's gonna be ok, you just need to rolly-poly proof the tank, now that there's a little chunker living there.

 

[StarSapphire22]

Yep, got instructions!

I'm going to take out the grey rocks, they are just begging for trouble, and I think that's how Batman has been losing scales now and then...I saw him wiggle through the smallest hole this morning (out of the like 10 he could have picked, of course that's the one he chooses!). I was thinking the same thing though, to move stuff towards the middle. I may even take out everything that's not plants, and see if I like the look of it. Somervell was going to PM me how to make some rock things that work for her bubble eyes, so we'll see if I like those.

Considering he looks like he ate a baseball, he actually moves pretty well! Tight turns seem to be an issue, but he can swim at whatever level he pleases...he'll hang out on the bottom or go up and over stuff, he swims up to the top now and then for a breath and then lets out a BIG bubble on the way down. He seems to have the most trouble on the bottom, with turning and stuff...sometimes he rolls sideways or diagonally. Today he seemed a little floaty, at least in the morning. He's been sleeping on the sand for a few hours now and is able to stay down, but he wouldn't even be wiggling fins or anything earlier and just start floating straight up if he stopped moving. Yesterday he was very low for the most part, and I never saw him go more than mid-tank high. Today he was everywhere though, which made me happy. It's nice to know that, other than buoyancy issues and tight spaces, he isn't too inhibited by his shape. I love this little guy.