CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I'm asking this not about my tank, but about my girlfriends. She has three 5in+ goldfish, about an 8in pleco, one betta and one tetra (there used to be more, i believe). Yesterday she noticed that her pleco's nose was damaged, and she's not sure how it could have happened. Also this morning she found her albino goldfish's scales seem to have "peeled off" of his head.

I will attach pictures. I have no idea what is wrong with these fish.

The other fish have no ailments other than a white film over their eyes.

.......just as an update both the albino goldfish and the pleco died.

how big is the tank? were any fish added recently? what are the water paramiters? i have no clue what this could be but the only thing i can sudgest is make sure your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are ok, you might also want to try adding some aquarium salt and raising the temp a little bit. like i said i have no idea what it could be so i'm just describing what you would do with any other illness, i'll do some quick research to see if i can find anything

well eye cloudiness seems to usually be a sign of a bacterial infection so mabe treating with some melafix could help and i'm betting the lost scales are due to stress from the infection and poor water quality due to overcrowding because i'm betting your gf didn't have a large enough tank to house three large goldfish and a large pl*co as goldfish are messy and need quite a bit of space of course i could be wrong but it's just a hunch.

the tank is a 75 gallon bow-front. It did seem a little small for such humongus goldfish. I'm not sure of the waters paramaters, but I will let her know that she needs to check that out.

thanks for the help.

Water quality is very important in a goldfish tank..She needs to do a 50% water change and clean the filters NOW!! You can treat most of this with MelaFix, this is a bacteria infection going..The pleco is not good for a gold fish tank, they are extreamly messy (both) and plecos dont eat poop..ONLY algae..You can't even feed the pleco with out the golds eating it first.. I have mine in for the winter in a 55, nothing but gravel, no deco..I do treat mine with DesaFin monthly..This kills out all parasites that may attack the golds..BUT this is for a pond with goldfish/koi, not a tank with OTHERS in it too, so this is not an option..the Melafix can be used in this tank and it will help the pleco too.. Every 5 days, she needs to do 30-35% water changes and clean the FILTER BOX!! This is mandatory for a goldfish tank..
I change out 25-28 gal of water in my American 75 gal tanks weekly, I use a rubbermaid toughy trash can for the change water to mix in and I have a mark on the side of the tank so I know when to STOP on vacuuming so I dont' loose to much water.. Amazing what we go through for our fish..

75x.30%=22.5 gal change
75x.35%=26 gal water change
75x.40%=30 gal water change..
75x.50%=37 gal water change..This is necessary to get the tank back into shape..They are tough fish, this will not hurt them..
MEDICATE only AFTER you do a water change and CLEAN THE FILTERS!