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Whats wrong with my goldfishs top fin and tail2007-11-24 23:42:46

One of our eldest goldfishfish's tail and top fins are marred and shortened. we have 10 goldfish. which we recently put all together in a 45 gallon tank. for the past year they were all seperated into 3 different tanks, and did very well. They've grown so much.

This evening during feeding we noticed that "Loner" was struggling to get around. that's when it became apparent that his fins had been damaged. we seperated him into a small tank to recover. why did this happen? can he be returned to our 45 gal. tank?

Answers:

sounds like he has ick or tail rot,they have medication for that at wal-mart or a pet store.

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I had the same problem with my goldfish. It seemed that one of the other fish had taken a dislike to him and had basically started to eat him. If he gets any worse I would remove him from the tank as they get too weak to swim. Or try to discover the aggressive fish and relocate that one. Has your fish got fin rot as the other fish will eat that?

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Well I would think it unlikely the other goldfish did this to him. Are there any fish in there other than goldfish, especially ones no present in the tank where this fish was before? If so, thats it. I would remove the aggressor fish rather than the victim. Otherwise, it could be a few things. Does the damage seem to be wounds, like he was attacked? goldfish don't tend to be aggressive, but my panda oranda was a fin nipper when I first got him. He out grew it and there was near any appearent damage. Its possible that these fish just arent used to being together. 10 goldfish in a 45g is probably okay, dispite what others may say. But it depends on the size. I would leave him in a separate tank, but I would put in one or two of the fish he used to be housed with also. Basically someone in the big tank doesn't like him, and its probably best off that he is moved away from any fish that would do this much damage. It had to be a serious thing is both the dorsal fin and the tail fin were noticibily damaged. The only other cause for this that I can think of is disease. There are some disease that causes the fraying and such of fins. Do some searches on diseases if you think its a culprit. There are too many possiblities to dicuss here. To fix up the fins add melafix into the tank where you are keeping him. You can get this at the pet store. I'd salt the tank (if you havent already), if you dont know how and never have before, read the directions. For goldfish its 1 teaspoon per gallon. What kind of goldfish is it? Fancier varieties are goning to need a little bit more care. Be SURE that there are no other fish than goldfish (a pleco or oto is probably okay tho) in the tank. Good Luck and post back with more info if you can!!

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Overcrowding causes territorial aggression. 10 goldies in a 45 isnt ok. Baby to juvenile fancys need 10 gallons PER fish, baby to juvenile long bodied goldies need 20 gallons PER fish. Adults will need atleast 50 gallons PER fish. Provide proper housing and treat the wounded goldfish with pimafix to ward off fungal and bacterial issues and add melafix to speed up healing and keep the water pristine.