dalmation fish and gold fish same tank

Question
I have a 26 gallon tank that I have 6 gold fish in a variety of sizes and two sucker fish. Recently my husband came home with a dalmation fish. We noticed it nibbling, or what I thought was cleaning the gold fish and thought nothing of it. After a weeks vacation upon our return we noticed the fins of the larger gold fish are gone and what is left appears to be bloody. Again we still seen  the dalmation nibbling on the goldfish, so we removed him to a seperate container. I now have learned more details about the dalmation fish. What can I do to assist in the healing of my goldfish?

Answer
Mrs. Lewis,


Hello, sorry to hear you have been having problems with your fish, and I will try to explain what is going on. There are several problems in the tank.
GOLD FISH are freshwater fish and they need no heater. Meaning they like water temps at 66 to 70 degrees. Depending on the size of your goldfish, they need a lot of room. Fancy goldfish need 20 gallons of water for one and 10 gallons each for every added fish.

MOLLIES are tropical and need a temp of 74-80 degrees. They are also brackish, which means they need salt in the water. Not like a salt water tank, but you do need to add salt to their tank. They are also bullies and go after the fins of other fish, like yours is doing to the gold fish.

I am thinking that the fish will heal up on its on quite nicely. If not you can put him/her though a salt dip. I do this when my Betta's are sick or injured. Lets wait and see if it heals on its own, if it doesn't, or the injury gets worse, let me know and I will walk you through the salt dip..
Hope all works out

Good Luck