Hi!

I recently lost a pearlscale to dropsy and I was looking to possibly add some fish to give my remaining fish some company. I was wondering if German gold and blue rams and white clouds are compatible with goldfish? Also, it seems every pearlscale I get eventually dies of dropsy. Are they predisposed to this? My water parameters are perfect except for high ph. (8.2) Could high ph be what is causing it? After having a fish with dropsy in the tank, how long should I wait to add new fish and is there anything I should do to ensure that whatever caused it is not still present in the tank?

Angela

Rams are very sensitive fish and are tropical,and require a really low ph. The white clouds you can have as they are coldwater as well but the goldfish must be fancy and small.

Thanks for the information. I've seen a number of other coldwater species on the internet such as barbs, kuhli loaches, bloodfin tetras, zebra danios and pearl danios. Would they be suitable for a goldfish tank? Also, any ideas on the dropsy problem I have with pearlscales? Any information you could give me would be appreciated.

Angela

If you have dropsy then you shouldnt be adding any more fish to the equation. How big and what types of goldfish do you have.
Dropsy is usually bacterial so if you could make a seperate post in disease and fill out as much of the box at the top as possible then we can try and help with the sick fish.

Hi Sandy,

The fish that had dropsy died about a week ago. The only fish I have left is a pearlscale cross that is about 1 1/2 inches long. The tank is a 40 gallon tank with two aquaclear filters. The tank was treated with Maracyn Plus but has since had a 40% water change. The remaining goldfish looks, eats and swims fine. (except he's probably lonely!) I'm still feeding him Medigold. Should I do another water change or change some of the media (ie: carbon) in the filters? How long should I wait (to make sure everything is okay) to add new fish?

Angela

In that case you can get a small shoal of white cloud mountain minnows if you wanted, and also some danios. Theres lots of different types of danios as well. 10 of each would be nice.

Thanks Sandy. Should I wait awhile to be on the safe side? And sorry to ask again, but do I need to do anything with the tank?

Thanks, Angela

No i shouldnt think so as these small fish arent really liable to dropsy. Just do 40% water changes twice a week to keep bacteria levels down. Let us know what you get and would like to see pics as well if possible

Thanks alot Sandy for all the info. I'll let you know what I get. I still really like those Kuli loaches though! They look so entertaining!

Big Edit: Ah crap. Silly me, I didn't see that you have aquaclears! Well, I'll re-write what I need.

If you choose to use carbon in the filter, you must replace it every two weeks because it can go bad. I personally don't use it in my aquaclears because its pretty useless unless I need to remove a medication from the water. In that case, I only use it for a couple days then you need to toss it out. I'm guessing you also have sponges and bio-media in the filters? No need to ever exchange or wash those. The bio-media holds most of the beneficial bacteria that keeps the cycle stable in your tank, and if you do either of those things it may crash. Sponges are best swished and squeezed in a bucket of dirty fish water after a waterchange if they need to be cleaned.

Recently I hear about a lot of people who don't keep bio-media in their aquaclears, or keep ammonia chips in it. Bio-media is very important because sponges aren't very good at colonizing the beneficial bacteria. Ammonia chips/zeolite in the filter will completely disrupt the cycle so avoid that.

What are the exact numbers of the readings on the params? Is ammonia and nitrite at 0? Is nitrate below 30?

i have a kuhli loach and i asked if they could be put in with goldfish and was told that was a bad idea and after thinking about it i could see why they are pretty small and in a 40g tank your goldfish will get pretty big so they could easily eat them and the khuli loach has theese little sharp pointy things under their eyes and could tear the gf`s fins so it is probably safer not to have one but they are very interesting and cute but sometimes i wonder if its alive b/c they hide most of the day so im constantly perinoid about that. well i hope i helped.

Thanks for letting me know. I'd hate to have such cuties turn into lunch! I didn't know they had barbs. I wonder why they have them. For defence maybe?

Angela

Hi Kissy,

Sorry, I didn't notice your post until now. My aquaclears have biomedia, sponges and carbon. I guess I'll get rid of the carbon since there was medication in the tank. I do rinse the sponges in tank water at every water change. I siphon the gravel and do a 40% water change every week, conditioned with Prime. Water parameters are ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, Nitrates - between 7 and 10, ph - 8.2. Tank has been running for over a year. I have a few live plants in there and I leave the algae growing on the back and sides of the tank (goldfish like to eat it). I feed them twice a day, either Progold soaked pellets, soaked spirulina flakes, peas or frozen bloodworms (thawed). I thought I was doing everything necessary to keep goldfish healthy but this is the third pearlscale to die of dropsy. Can't understand why.

Angela

It does sound like you take great care of your fish, daust, and I'm not really sure why you are losing so many to dropsy. The only thing I could think of was that the carbon could have possibly gone bad and grew bacteria, and maybe the pearlscales, being as they are generally more sensitive than other fish, may have been more suseptible and came down with it. I'd replace the carbon with more bio-media. I don't know why your fish have been dying, so I'm sorry. I had that problem when I kept goldies, but it was that they all came home sick from stores. I don't keep them anymore because I could never cure them, so I know your pain

Thanks Kissy. I think I might try some other types of fish for a change. I still have one goldfish, a ryukin/pearlscale cross so maybe I'll have more luck with him. He seems very healthy. Pretty cute too! He's got the long fins of a ryukin, pearlscales and a big fat belly! And wonderful colours. He's orange and yellow with spots of black and his eyes are copper coloured. His fins are striped black, orange and white and he has some sparkly scales here and there. Maybe goldfish are like dogs; healthier when they're crossbreeds!

Angela