Goldfish bleeding and lethargic, need help!!

[rainger]

Hi. I got a comet goldfish and rubberlip pleco about a week ago. They are both in one 20 gal tank, which i know is small but i’m looking to upgrade from to a larger tank soon when i have the money for it. The comet was fine for the past week until today when he was sitting on the bottom of the tank for most of the day and blood streaks started appearing on his tail and on a bit of his side.
I did a 50% water change and put denitrifier as well as ammo lock in the tank in case. After the change he’s been a bit more active but mostly swims to the top of the tank, sits there for a little bit, and then sinks back down to the bottom.
Water quality is fine, ammonia nitrates and nitrites are all at 0. I never saw him hit against anything before the bleeding and he really was just sitting all day so I doubt it’s a physical injury. The pleco is perfectly fine. What can I do?
Pictures below, the patches of (what i think are) missing scales were already there when i got him.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

Is your aquarium cycled? what are the results of tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

It looks like your pleco has been sucking on the goldfish. You would not necessarily catch him doing it, Plecos will be most active when the lights are off. The rubber lipped pleco should have a stabble temperate between 72 and 78, he should be in a tank with a heater to keep the temp stable 24-7. The comman goldfish does not need a heater. I suggest that you sepoarate them Immediatly. I dont know how much for the little golfish can take. Get some stress coat with aloe for him.

 

[rainger]

Is your aquarium cycled? what are the results of tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

It looks like your pleco has been sucking on the goldfish. You would not necessarily catch him doing it, Plecos will be most active when the lights are off. The rubber lipped pleco should have a stabble temperate between 72 and 78, he should be in a tank with a heater to keep the temp stable 24-7. The comman goldfish does not need a heater. I suggest that you sepoarate them Immediatly. I dont know how much for the little golfish can take. Get some stress coat with aloe for him.

Thank you for the response. my aquarium is cycled and is over a year old. all test results of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are 0. i will separate the two fish and put the pleco in an old 10 gal tank for now. is there a way for them to live together at all without risk of this happening again? i’m a bit tight on space right now so keeping one tank would be ideal but if i have to i could probably have two separate.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

Sorry, but all plecos have the potential to suck on slime coating or mucous membrane of fish. And once they taste it, they don't stop from what I hear. Unfortunately you cant talk to fish and say "hey, stop eating that candy"
I can not say for sure if that is the cause of what is wrong with your goldfish. But the symptoms match.

 

[rainger]

thank you all for the responses. i have moved the pleco to a different tank and the goldfish looks about the same as yesterday. he’s been sitting on the bottom for most of the day but the blood streaking and related issues seem to not have gotten worse. what should i do to treat this? i’ve seen that methyl blue can help as well as salt baths, is there an advantage to using one over the other (or something else) in this situation?

 

[TClare]

Are you sure your test results are accurate? It’s quite unusual to have zero nitrates in a cycled tank, unless it is very densely planted or understocked. Also red streaks in goldfish fins is a typical sign of ammonia poisoning. And if you only got the fish a week ago even if the tank was cycled it may not have coped initially with the increased bioload. I would keep changing water, adding salt could help, and it would be best not to feed the fish for a few days.

It is remotely possible that the pleco was the culprit but I very much doubt it, I would expect to see damage on the sides of body rather than the fins, and the reports of plecos sucking on fish have been on deep bodied laterally compressed species like discus and angelfish, I don’t think it’s likely on a goldfish.