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Worried about littlest goldfish!

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Castro235 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys, right now my tank is both just starting the cycling process(maybe 3-4 days in), and I know it is overstocked (6 goldfish, still youn from 1-3.5 inches.)

I know that in the cycling process their chances are far less than ideal as is, but I'm starting to get very worried about my littlest one, hes about an inch long(bodywise, maybe 1.5 with the tail at best)

He seems like his tailfins are getting shorter and look tattered, but doesn't look like finrot, I took the plant I suspected as it was kind of sharp out yesterday, and it seems like its gotten a bit worse still.

He is also seeming really slow and sluggish, he pretty much just sits there barely swimming, unless something startles him, and it seems like if another one of them goes to him he runs away, as opposed to when I put the net down around him he just casually swam away from it.

He was really active before this, and all 5 others are still very active as they were, I didn't notice him eat anything today, as I was watching him the whole time and even saw flakes float right past him and it was as if he noticed them, but just kind of gave up.

I'm worried that maybe he's being bullied since every other fish dwarfs him in size, and I don't know if I should take him out and seperate him into the 1 gallon tank I have, but thats so small I would only want to keep him in there very briefly, so I really have no idea what to do here.


The tank is 71 degrees, has been constant between 71-72, the pH alkalinity nitrite and nitrate levels all seemed good last night before I changed out the water, all of the water is cured with dechlorinater and left out for at least 4 hours before changing the water, the temperatures between the tankwater and the water i switch in are identical(I keep thermometers in both, and the water sits out right next to the fish tank so it gets the same exposure and temperatures)

I don't know if theres anything else I can point out to see if it is like he's being bullied, or if maybe he's just not hardy enough to make it through the cycling process, but if anyone has any ideas I would love any suggestions or help to keep him around!
 
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#2 ·
He looks worse than he did a few hours ago, I noticed yesterday he looked like his bottom tailfin had gotten caught or something, as it seemed shorter than the top, from looking up online, it seemed like he looked most like a comet with a nice long tail split down the center, but now he practically has a short flat tail.

I'm very nervous about losing him, especially since he doesn't have good water to help him get better, I would really appreciate any suggestions on whether I should keep him in there, do anything while he is in there, or put him in my gallon tank which has no filtration of any kind.


I really don't want to lose him, if there is anything I can do, or even try to do, I would really appreciate the help.


(he is the very small one in the middle of the picture, kind of hard to see, but his tail is what I'm trying to show.)
 

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#3 ·
I guess I don't really need anymore advice, I couldn't find him, and had to move around all of the plants to finally get him to come out at which point one of them nipped at him as soon as they saw him.

I took him out and put him in the small tank until I can see if I can get another tank, or keep him in the 10 gallon once I transfer the others to the larger tank I hopefully get.

I'm hoping he can stay okay for a few days in the gallon tank, but he really is in horrible shape, his tailfin is very much destroyed, it looks like his other fins are pretty tattered, he'll barely swim, he won't eat the bits of food dropped directly in front of him and he seems like he's just not inerested in moving.

I don't expect him to make it through this, but I'm going to leave him alone in the tank and hope for the best.

If anyone does have any ideas other than just letting him be, I would still appreciate any help.
 
#4 ·
I'm no expert but I think there are some products that can help with wounds like melafix (its tea tree oil - not a antibiotic) and or stress coat.

I'm sorry your goldies aren't getting along. I have 4 in my 20g long tank until I can get a pond up and running but they seem to get along just fine other than the occasional nip. I wonder if its just the comet's nature???

Best of luck!
 
#5 ·
Goldfish have a lot of personality but unfortunately that sometimes includes nipping. I think you did the right thing taking him out of the tank.

I don't think you need to treat him for anything just yet; if the edges of the fins (where they're torn) start to turn white then that's a sign of fin rot and you can treat with a mixture of Melafix and Pimafix. For now, though, the most important thing is water quality. I know you don't have a test kit yet but I'd do something like a 50% water change every day since the tank isn't cycled. Good, clean water can do wonders in healing damaged fins.

Keep us updated!
 
#6 ·
Unortunately he passed at some time during the night as I expected.

He was really bad, they literally ate I would say 1/4" of his tailfins, and I can't even tell what other damage they did to him.

It seems like he was getting bullied pretty bad, as when I put him in the new tank he just went to the bottom and kept trying to go into the rocks to hide like he was terrified.


The other 5 seem to still be doing okay, but I'm starting to worry as it almost looks like they are getting finrot, so I'm going to check them out more carefully and buy some medication to tell if it is.

I have been trying to be careful not to overfeed them, so they have been getting a pinch of food 2 times daily, and anything they couldn't eat in about 2 minutes I've been careful to remove from the tank, many places even seemed to suggest feeding them less than this, but I'm curious if maybe this wasn't enough food for them?(the other ones left are between 2-3.5 inches so not very big yet)


And I'm also wondering, now that I've had my first casualty, any decorations or gravel and anything that are in the water with a fish when it dies, should they all be thrown away, or will cleaning them good suffice?

And if one of my 5 were to die in that tank, should I do a full water change or anything, or should I just continue on the routine I have been doing?
 
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