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Jacksmum asked in PetsFish · 10 years ago

Goldfish. HELP! He looks bruised and has a torn fin!?

Hi,

I've got a 20gallon tank with a normal Goldfish and a Fantail. Goldfish is bigger than fantail, water was properly cycled and it is clean with a good filter. All levels of amonia, nitrite and nitrate are fine.

The fantail has stopped eating and just stays in one position. I noticed today that his fins are torn (new today) and that his face is getting black patches.. like he has been in a fist fight!

What could this be???? I'm worried that the Goldfish is attacking him when we're not in because he is fine. I've isolated the Fintail now to see if that helps.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Update:

Thanks for the answers, I will try a liquid tester for amonia and chlorine levels as suggested. The Goldfish is in no way suffering from black patches or anything, in fact he seems to be thriving! Which is what makes me wonder if Fantail is being bullied/nibbled at.

We also have two very small zebra fish and 2 water snails in the tank, and they are all fine too. It's just my poor fantail that seems to be suffering :(

Will keep him isolated a few days and see how he does. I've given him a couple of bits in his temporary home from the tank as well as some water, but I've given him plenty of fresh water too.

I hope he gets better!

3 Answers

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  • Calla
    Lv 6
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Did you test with a liquid test kit or the strips? The strips can be very inaccurate

    I'm thinking the black patches, torn fins and not eating point more toward water quality

    Standard goldfish are considered pond fish, will grow over a foot long, are very fast swimmers, and yes, they can definitely be bullies towards fancy goldfish

    If you've isolated the fantail and happen to have an extra filter I would suggest putting some media from the 20 gallon into the isolation tank, along with a little bit of original tank water so it's not a complete shock to its system. Putting it into completely new unestablished water conditions will probably do more harm than good

    A little regular aquarium salt or melafix if you have either on hand wouldn't be a bad idea for the fantail

    I would also consider re-homing your standard goldfish before it kills your fancy - whether that's from fighting, or the bio overload that's going on in the tank

    Good luck. I really hope you get it sorted out and he starts to recover

  • 10 years ago

    Goldfish are peaceful no matter what kind they are, they don't really bully each other to death like that.. and if they were, you would have seen it happen at least once. Black patches on your fish and frayed fins usually means that your fish is healing from burns caused either from chlorine or ammonia. Test your ammonia levels again and make sure to add de-chlorinator to you water. If everything is fine in that area just allow the patches to heal, perhaps add some Melafix to the water to help repair the fins and kill harmful bacteria.

  • Anonymous
    4 years ago

    How previous is your fish? If he's youthful he might desire to be achieving adulthood and getting his person colorings. If he's previous, he might desire to be changing coloration by way of age. only as human beings get gray hair or canines ears and muzzles turn white.

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