pinkguitars15

I have 2 Black Moor fish. I'm pretty sure one is a boy and one is a girl cause one has a massive tail and one is smaller. I noticed that a sucking catfish that i had was sucking the fish. Like chasing them and like, 'poking them with his mouth i suppose, for a second and then coming off, when they'd get near the bottom of the tank. She was very lively which i thougt was weird because they are supposed to be shy.
Anyway, i noticed that my smaller girl black moor had a line of no scales on her belly, and the boys scales were not as black. I salted the tank, which i hadn't done before because i thought that might help, turned the filter so it blew more bubbles and put the sucking catfish in an isolation tank because i thought he might of been the problem. He later died.
The boy black moor keeps chasing the girl and nudging her all the time, could you tell me why he would do that? And is it normal for the scales to be gone?
thanks, lauren

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catbtony

Hi Lauren, It sounds like you found the problem and took care of it by removing the suckers, not sure but it sounded like they were CAE and they are known for doing that to other fish.
You may be doing this already: but you need to do water changes at least 25-50% daily, now you have watch out for secondary infections-in my experience water changes worked for me, and check your water chem. too- Moors should be able to tol. aqu. salt, maybe some other folks here can help with that for I have never had any moors-good luck, keep us posted..

-pinky-

This is probably not the reason your fish have lighter scales, but the older a black moor gets, the paler its scales go. Very old black moors have lots of silvery scales. How old are your black moors?

If this is not the reason then it is likely because of the algea eater. I would watch what happens to the black moors, scales. If they stay the same, or start to go back to their normal selves, then i would say it is most likely the algea eater. If the scales get lighter, i'd say it was aging.

pinkguitars15

ok i will keep you posted,
thanks for the help,
lauren

pinkguitars15

sorry by the way i have had them since january this year, and they are really big like 7 centimetres long (the boy)

gremlin

The larger one nudging the smaller one could very well be breeding behavior. They will occasionally lose scales from normal breeding activity. What size tank are they in? If you had a chiinese algae eater in with them and they were in anything smaller than a 29 gallon tank, then it is entirely possible that the cae was chasing them. CAE's can be aggressive if they are not fed enough and if they do not have enough room or enough hiding places. Black Moor goldfish are slower swimmers and the cae may have been trying to defend it's territory. The goldfish would not have been able to swim away fast enough.

pinkguitars15

They are in a 55 litre tank so i thought that i wouldnt' put any more fish in.
Thanks for the help

pinkguitars15

hello everyone.
the scale problem is getting worse. i put some fungus remover stuff into the tank, but that didn't seem to help. the other black moor doesn't have the problem, and the sucking catfish is no longer in the tank. here is an updated picture. by the way, he's also got a part in his eye that is also going white.

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aquarist48

Sorry to hear you're having problems. Have you tested your water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? pH? Temperature? Beautiful Moore I hope everything turns out ok.

What seems to be floating around in the tank? Looks like white stuff in the picture.

gremlin

In the size tank you have, it could very well be ammonia issues. Looking at the picture, it looks like your black moor is not going to stay black. Are you sure it was really a black moor and not a telescope fish? It looks like it is going through the typical goldfish color change from the black that they are born as to the adult orange coloring. The change usually starts on the belly and works its way up the sides of the fish. The white on the eye could be scar tissue from bumping into something in the tank. Fancy goldfish that have the protruding eyes have a tendency to damage their eyes from bumping into plastic plants or other ornaments or even just the sides of the tank. It is recommended that only silk plants are used in their tanks. If possible, I would suggest to move the two goldies into a 29 gallon (110 litre) tank as that is really the minimum for two goldies. Are you positive the scales are falling off? or are they just changing color from black to orange/white?

pinkguitars15

i think that they are just changing color - not falling off as i first thought. the white stuff in the tank is just the light on the picture. i will go to the pet shop and get a water test done for free to see about ammonia.

gremlin

Let us know how it goes. And more pics! Pics are always fun.

pinkguitars15

I went to the Petshop, and everything was fine except for a high level of nitrates. They gave me some "Easy Balance", to fix the problem. I did some more googling, and i found out that changing colour is normal! yay! apparently, they change color in their old age, especially where the water is warmer. Where i live, it is very warm compared to the rest of the country, so i think all is fine. I will keep with the nitrate stuff, just to keep them happy, becuase they would of died anyway, if i kept the levels like that. thanks for all the help.

Heres ones of the links from where i got the info.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...5192901AAWPWCF