Injured Bubble-eye goldfish

Question
I think the chineese algae eater we have is eating our bubble-eye, I have seen it on his back before, but when I went in to feed them this morning, the bubble-eyes back is all white with little bloody spots and his tail is shredded a bit.  I put the poor guy in a large glass bowl, I am just wondering if you know of anything I can toss in the water to help out.  He is dying I think, he is so sluggish and barely eating.  Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi Olivia,

You never, ever, ever want to keep a goldfish, especially a delicate goldfish like a bubble-eye with any of kind of fish other than another bubble-eye or other delicate goldfish like a lionhead or ranchu or celestial.  Plecos and other algae eaters are notorious for attaching themselves and sucking the slime coat off of goldfish.  This can not only kill them but they will suffer horribly and end up sick because they are exposed to bacterial and parasitic infections.

You also never, ever, ever want to put a goldfish in a bowl.  The ammonia will back up so fast in a bowl that he will burn and suffocate to death from the excess waste.  All fish need a sufficient home that is filtered.

I would re-home the algae eater to another tank or to the petstore or to another person that can care for him in a non-goldfish, appropriate sized tank.  Chinese algae eaters can get large and need a 50+ gallon tank.

Goldfish require a 20 gallon tank for one and 10 gallons for each additional.  I also always recommend double filtration (40 gallon filter for a 20 gallon tank for one) as it always helps keep up with the tremendous bioload that these fish produce.

After you separate the fish and get the bubble eye back into a filtered tank of no less than 20 gallons with great filtration I would increase aeration with a bubble wand or some sort of airstone as medications will decrease the oxygen in the water.  Make sure you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5-20 ppm nitrate to ensure that the medication will be optimally effective.  I would change 25% of the water, double dose with Seachem's Prime in place of your usual water conditioner, add 1 tsp. per 5 gallons of water of aquarium salt, the apprpriate amount of Melafix (this will soothe the irritated skin).  I would also add a Mardel branded anti-biotic for fin rot and this will help any other broad spectrum bacteria that he has aquired since his slime coat has been eaten off.  I wouldn't feed him for 3 days since you need to preserve the water quality while medicating.  When you do feed, only 2 mouthfuls at most, which is about 2-3 flakes.  Change 25% of the water daily while medicating and replace with fresh, clean water.  You should see a vast improvement in about 5 days.

Let me know if anything changes.

Good luck : ) April M.