shredded tail ?

Celeste

Hi all , need advice in a hurry .
We only have Goldfish breed in a 125 juwel tank , everything been going great for months but tonight we noticed one of the smaller fish swimming like mad agaist the pump current then it goes to a gorner and stays completely still at top of the water for 5 mins , obviously getting his breath back ( so to speak ) It's tail fin is completely shredded and is all whispy and he looks very skinny . His other fins are perfect , its just obviously worrying why his tail has gone like that ... Can anyone shed some light on his problem ...i e , has he been attacked , had his tail sucked into pump etc etc ?
Thanks
C&R

frogman6

my idea would be he his tail gettin stuck but are gold fish the only things that are in the tank and to treat it i would use melafix but use as directed

GW

Test your water!
I've noticed with my own tank when it was cycling that during high levels of Ammonia there would be times when fish would stay in front of the output for the filter, facing it, I'm assuming it being easier to breath there because of the higher level of oxygen.
I used Goldfish to cycle my tank and a few of them had damaged tailfins!

mHeinitz57

good thinking GW. The highest level of oxygen is going to be near the filter output and he could be just trying to breath. Can you tell us the water parameters? Does the fish show any other symptoms? Is he eating well? Do you notice him defacating normally? What kind of Goldfish is it? The reason I ask is that internal infections are not uncommon with Goldfish and bacterial infections can cause a fin and tail rot. When he swims does his boyancy seem right or does he seem imbalanced at all?