Goldfish scraped up on decor

[HenryKing]

Yesterday morning I woke up to our goldfish stuck in a plastic pot...I quickly and carefully removed him but he got pretty scraped up. It was water change day so I did that and added salt at 1 tbsp per 3 gallons. Today he is acting more like himself and eating well.

My question is will this amount of salt be enough to stave off infection or should I bump it to 1 tbsp per 2 gallons?

The main issues with bumping up to that level of salt is we have 3 dojo loaches, several hillstreams loaches and a ton of low light plants (crypts, swords, java ferns, val)

 

Is 1 tbsp per 2g too high for those fish and plants? I would move him to a separate tank but I I've only got a spare 10g and I think that might stress him out more and cause other issues.

 

I would use maracyn but the tank is 85g with a 29g sump and would cost quiet a bit and I don't have enough it might be cheaper to buy a 20g QT at that point. 

 

Thank you for the help! 

[Colu]

I would do 1table spoon to 2gallons for  a week

[HenryKing]

47 minutes ago, Colu said:

I would do 1table spoon to 2gallons for  a week

Do you think the loaches would be ok and the plants? 

[AdamTill]

Pretty sure the plants won’t be okay at that level. Here’s a guide 

Aquarium Salt: When and How to Use It Properly

WWW.AQUARIUMCOOP.COM

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Should aquarium salt be used in freshwater tanks? Some people recommend dosing it all the time to provide fish with essential electrolytes while others say it’s mostly used for treating diseases...

Also, this is why decor and goldfish isn’t a great idea

 

[HenryKing]

Yea a learning experience for sure. The pot was for the loaches to noddle around in and had been overgrown by crypts growing out of it. 

That article is a big help but I've gone through it a couple times. Now I'm just needing info on if I'll kill my plants and loaches at high salinities. 

Any warning signs to look for in the loaches? So far everyone is fine with 1tbsp per 3 gallons.

[Colu]

Salt will affect your plant can you Qt and treat with salt or treat main tank with melafix  to help heal the fishs body

[AdamTill]

Because it’s a wound and not disease, treating in another tank would be an option. That said, you don’t HAVE to treat if nothing goes badly. We had lots of fish get injuries that healed with no issue. Saltwater on an open wound doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me.

[HenryKing]

Yea a learning experience for sure. The pot was for the loaches to noddle around in and had been overgrown by crypts growing out of it. 

That article is a big help but I've gone through it a couple times. Now I'm just needing info on if I'll kill my plants and loaches at high salinities. 

Any warning signs to look for in the loaches? So far everyone is fine with 1tbsp per 3 gallons.

[HenryKing]

53 minutes ago, AdamTill said:

Because it’s a wound and not disease, treating in another tank would be an option. That said, you don’t HAVE to treat if nothing goes badly. We had lots of fish get injuries that healed with no issue. Saltwater on an open wound doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me.

The salt is to help irritate the slime coat so the fish produces more. This makes sure bacteria or other pathogens can't get into the wound. 

Plus it helps fight off whatever bacteria he might have picked up on those wounds. I have no idea how long he was in that pot but he did a lot of trashing at the bottom of the tank where a lot of potentially harmful bacteria live. 

1 hour ago, Colu said:

Salt will affect your plant can you Qt and treat with salt or treat main tank with melafix  to help heal the fishs body

I've not used melafix before and I don't have the right sized tank for him to QT in. I have a 10g but I think that would stress him out too much which would make things worse. I'll be getting more tanks plus a rack here in a few months so I'll plan for a larger tank then. 

[JohnFX]

My goldfish have never had a gash that big but they've definitely gotten their fair share of scrapes and bumps off the decor in the tank. I even had a young oranda orange cap scrape up his eye and he spent a few weeks with a puffy/cloudy eye that I was worried about. But they always healed, it just took time. I threw a little salt in the tank and let the fish do the rest. My plan was always to quarantine and do more with medication IF it seemed like it was getting worse, but so long as it appeared to stay the same (e.g. it was healing slowly and I couldn't tell day-to-day), I didn't want to go overboard and do something to make it worse by accident. That wound might warrant special treatment upfront if others with more experience suggest it, but my advice is to just leave it alone and monitor it, and only take action if it appears to get worse.

[AdamTill]

I know why it’s recommended, I’m just saying it’s not always necessary. It’s not like the fish’s body is unaware of the trauma after all. That said, I also wouldn’t criticize using it.

[HenryKing]

Thanks! @JohnFX I just gotta have patients with little Bubba Jr. (Yes that's his name). I trimmed back plants to give him some more space and he's being as picky as he always is, waiting for bug pro instead of eating his goldfish pellets. So that's a good sign. I'm going to put in an order for maracyn and look around for a 20g just in case since it looks like I have a little time.

 

That piece hanging off looks like the top layer of skin the scaled attach to, underneath it looks clean just a bit red.