[Lucillia]

Sooooo.... I'm here to tell you about Klaus! My coworker is having some life changes and can no longer keep her 2 year old pearscale goldfish. She brought him into work and of course I was dying at how cute he is. She was telling me that she really wants him to go to a good home and that I should take him. So I go on my break... mulling over where I could even put him. I would probably just adopt him out after he gets settled into a home much more experienced with golds. I came back from break to discover that she had released him into the koi tank... and they were torturing the poor thing. They literally vacuum suctioned out a chunk of his pearls and tore his fins bloody.
Sooo I brought him home. My family fell in love with him and asked me to set up the small tank downstairs so they could watch him. I agreed since I will have to treat him anyway, and dosing a 10 gallon is much easier than my 20long. This is temporary. If I keep him I will be upgrading him (promises). So. He's sitting in the 10 gallon moping around. I put in some of his plants that my coworker gave me and then I added in some wisteria and watersprite of my own. I'm going to be putting in gravel for him as well so he can dig around in it.
Now. Treatment. I gave him a dose of AQ salt, used some stress coat and a dosage of paraguard (I don't trust the koi tank and I don't want him catching anything parasite wise). My plan is 50% changes daily with AQ until I see him getting a good chunk of healing. I've read that the pearls pulled out will not grow in as pearls but as regular goldfish scales. Is this true? Poor baby. He is also sitting at about 68F. Is there any benefit to raising the temp as he is healing or is it better to leave it alone? Is there anything else I can do to make him more comfortable for now? ( I can't drag the 20 downstairs unfortunately since I have two rams in it as a QT, its sitting at 82F and I dont want to kill him!) I gave him a slice of cucumber to munch on (Its elastic'd to a rock at the bottom) and some tropical flakes (I knowww!!! I'm bad! I hopefully should be getting his NLS goldfish food today). I will be picking up some anachris for him and possibly some other plants to give him more hiding spots. Definitely attaching them to a rock though. He's enjoyed uprooting everything I've put in so far. It's quite adorable. With my research thus far I've learned that I wish I had done a goldie tank over my complicated tropicals to start.

Also, hoping for clarification here.
Fancies usually get from 6 inches to 10 inches?
They live 10-20 years?
Omnivore scavengers? (peas work on them!)
Sensitive to digestive issues?
How can I tell if he's obese, underweight or just right? They all look chubby and cute to me... >.<
They are...social? I read this somewhere... If this is true and I keep him I will be getting either a 30g or a 45g to get him a friend... Same type or same speed to avoid competing.
Bearing that the 20g is minimum and its additional 10 gallons per goldfish after that?
Should I add the bubble bar for extra surface disturbance? (more oxygen...somewhat I know it doesn't help much)
Gravel or sand? Or a mixture? I can do a mix as well.
What do they prefer to dig in?
They remind me a lot of horses. Silly, qwerky, constantly eating and loving. Now to complete the day, pictures! I have some of him in the bag before his torture and then after I got him home and set up. I also love it when he swims through his branch hoop and sits on it. I lose myself at the adorable fat chub of Klaus!
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[keepsmiling]

I sent you a message. But just so others know, this is a fancy goldfish, so not a coldwater fish at all. Commons, comets, and shebunkins, etc, like colder water. Fancy goldfish need warmer temperature. I keep mine at 76F. He does not look too bad. 7-10 days in API Triple Sulfa should get him on the road to healing and keep him from getting a secondary bacterial infection.
Yes, they need a lot of space, extra filtration, extra oxygen, and once healed, and the other fish is fully quarantined and treated, a friend would be good. Once this guy is well I would also treat him for flukes and potential internal parasites. He looks a proper size. Beautiful. I suggest several high quality pellets, occasional treats of bloodworms, Repashy soilent green is good, peas on occasion after a fast is good. Feed carefully, not too much. They are prone to being floaty.

 

[keepsmiling]

Greens are also good. I clip them to the side of the tank and they rip them up. It also gives them something to do.

 

[keepsmiling]

OH..and I suggest NO SUBSTRATE! I have large marbles, just a few handfuls scattered.It's easy to push them around and clean up anything on the bottom of the tank. Goldfish are super messy and need clean water as the most important thing. Even if cleaned, substrate is dirty and traps detritus. Sand can impact them, as they will ingest it trying to eat. Gravel is the same...they will suck it right up. Larger river rocks are safe as far as them ingesting it, if you insist on a substrate.

 

[Lucillia]

I will work on trying to suck out the rest of that sand then >.< that was the left over that I couldn't get out when I had taken the tank down. I do have some decorative marbles; the rounded flat sided ones . Do you know roughly the size that they cannot try to eat? I know I sound stupid but I want to make sure he isn't bored during the day when no one is home.
Any greens you find they like best? He has a cucumber right now, I have some spinach and I believe another dark type of lettuce. Is there a green that they CANNOT eat? I know most animals cannot eat grapes, onions, or garlic. Obviously I won't be feeding him onions and garlic (Unless treating? I've heard that can help in some cases with internal things) but it's nice to know just in case.
I believe he was on the NLS goldfish food. I'm not sure if its a pellet or flake but hopefully my coworker will bring it in for me tonight.

 

[keepsmiling]

Pellets are important, you want a sinking pellet. Not a floating one. Flakes float and get away from the fish. Pellets that sink are a much better and more controlled way to make sure he eats them all. You don't want them sucking at the surface. This can also make them floaty.
I don't like to give spinach, I know some people do. Spinach is higher in oxalic acid and blocks absorption of calcium. I give blanched romaine, and sometimes other leafy greens. Cucumber and also zucchini is ok.
NLS small sinking pellets are good. I give the Thera-A. I also feed Hikari Saki{purple bag} Dainichi pellets, and the small Green Supreme from "your fish stuff" dot com. I just vary daily which one I use.

 

[Lucillia]

Romaine! There we go! that's the other dark green we always have in the fridge. I will pick up a nemo clip at work tonight. I will check into what kind of NLS goldie food we sell to see which one it would be. I'm assuming its a pellet.

What do you think of the shelled green pea trick? Is that actually true for golds? From my animal nutrition classes it makes sense in my mind but fish are such a different beast from my land animals that I worry its completely different.


Is there anything else about fancies I should know? I feel so lied to about them. >.< Dumb petco classes. But now I can better educate my customers. I usually tell them for one fancy they need a 20L. So at least I was right about that.

 

[keepsmiling]

I recommend actually no less than a 29 gal for GF, especially two. With a mindset that even that will eventually need to be upgraded. They get really BIG! I have three in my 90, and won't be adding any more.
Yes a day of fasting, followed by the green pea is good to help keep things moving. But I think the greens helps just the same. It is always recommended to have at least a ten times tank turnover{GPH} in filtration. This can be somewhat smaller if a canister filter is used, since they have more media and are more efficient.
Treat for flukes, internal, and external parasites. Especially if imported, which most high end fancies are. Change at least 50% of a cycled tank per week. Clean clean clean water!

 

[keepsmiling]

I do not recommend plecostomus with GF. They will seek out the fish at night and suck off their slime coat. Even BN plecos, which some people do. I do not recommend it. My previous crown pearlscale lost half of his face to a BN pleco. Then I lost him a few days later.

 

[Lucillia]

How often can I feed him greens?
and wow, I definitely will not be putting a BN in there. I probably will only do the two golds. I really don't want to add on to any more waste and pleco's are pretty bad. My goal is to get a 30B or a 40B for him.
Pearls like more horizontal space to swim right? I want to go with the wide tank for him. He does swim but its little bursts and then he has to rest... Is that normal? I think he has some pretty bad ammonia poisoning from my coworker's husband. :<
I have stuffed the tank with plants... Every coldwater plant he came with and that I own. Hopefully it will help but after the water change his ammonia spiked again to .25ppm. o.o they are really really dirty. Currently its only my AquaClear 20. But once the 20L is done being qt for ich I will probably take the filter andplop it on to the 10. It will be 2 Aquaclear 20's then. Hopefully it will help.

I don't think he's imported but he's been living with my coworker for 2 years in a healthy tank. I'm honestly not too worried. But I like being cautious.

 

[lilnaugrim]

You can use Prime to help bind the ammonia so it doesn't further hurt him ^_^ dose 20 drops for the whole 10 gallons once a day and that will help lock it for a little while.

 

[Lucillia]

Here is Mr. Mopey-butt after his water change yesterday! I tried to get all the sand... There's still specks unfortunately..
He already looks a little better. He definitely has a 'if I can't see you, you can't see me' mentality. Its really cute!

 

[Lucillia]

Just as an update!

Klaus is doing fantastic! He moved into his new tank last night... I've never seen a fish so excited in my life!
His face in the corner says it all!