Injured Goldfish- Please help!

Question
Dear Nicole-

Hello! I have a 3 year old Ryukin goldfish, "Sweetpea", who has been injured by another male fish in the tank. I have 5 good size Ryukin's in this particular tank. I have a custom built 95 gallon Acrylic tank, with a built in filtration system, and computerized water maitence system also built in... Basically the male had chased sweetpea around for about a week and I hadn't realized he was actually hurting her. I took her out of the tank and have her currently isolated. She's missing 3 scales and looks to have what looks like "red bruising" under her skin in several areas. I have her in a 20 gallon long tank, with heating at 76 F, with salt and Melafix treatment now... She doesnt move around much except the usual feeding, 2x a day with sinking pellet food... I want to know if there's anything else I can do, or should be doing. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks,

Michael
Fredericksburg, VA  

Answer
Hi Michael,

What a lovely setup...makes me green! *grin*

I believe you are doing all you can. I find clean water is the best remedy, when I have my fish in a hospital tank I try to change between 10-20% of the water daily, whatever I have time for. I use Melafix if the problem is not serious. I'm a little worried about the bruising because that can sometimes be a sign of something going wrong internally...but it's unlikely that a fish kept so well would have septicemia or internal bleeding. In any case, do your best to change a little water each day. The fresh water helps flush out any nasties, and Melafix works best, IMO, when it is reapplied daily and some of the old treated water is removed.

You could try Epsom salts, 1/4 teaspoon per gallon - Epsom salt is a muscle relaxant and may make your Ryukin feel more comfortable. When my fish is sick, I try to give it frozen foods, such as bloodworms. Since goldfish need roughage in their diet, I would be offering some vitamin-fortified frozen brine shrimp (they also make Spirulina enhanced brine shrimp) and some daphnia. Both of these are really treats for any fish, but goldfish especially are well suited to eating these foods, since the shells of the crustaceans provide excellent roughage. Offering some greens, most especially a cooked pea innard (either unsalted and canned or thawed and frozen) might also be useful in this instance, or in general. Goldfish thrive on veggies!

I hope these suggestions help. Probably you are already familiar with http://www.kokosgoldfish.com but in case not, it's a site bursting with information - including some feeding ideas - check it out!

Take care, and good luck with getting her back to 100%.
Nicole