Did my fish bite each other?

[Allisonm24]

I have a 45 Gallon Freshwater tank that I’ve had set up for about 4 years. So far in the tank all I’ve had is one Shubunkin goldfish and one Oranda (fully orange) goldfish. Both these fish are “best friends” and they have thrived in the tank forever. About 4 or 5 days ago I decided to add 2 more fish to the tank. So I added another Oranda (white and gold) and a Telescope (fully orange) goldfish to the tank. I made sure they were big enough to not be beat up by the 2 existing goldfish. When I added the fish they seemed fine and the existing Shubunkin and Oranda goldfish did nothing to harm or harass the new fish and seemed to “welcome” them to the tank very kindly. So far they’ve been doing well but this morning I woke up and I noticed my Telescope goldfish seems to have a broken piece of his tail. This could be from him scraping against the a piece in the tank, or he might have been bitten by one of the other fish. I’m not sure what to think because both the Orandas and Shubunkin kind of hang out at the top of the water together and the Telescope goldfish seems to like being at the bottom swimming alone. The Telescope goldfish was shy at first when it came to eating and preferred staying at the bottom of the tank and eating the flakes that sank to the bottom while the other fish swam to the top to eat. It’s been about 5 days since I put him in with the white and gold Oranda and he is just now going to the top to eat. So, he’s getting more comfortable. Although, he is the smallest in the tank and I’m not sure if he got in a fight with my fully orange Oranda because it also looks like it has some damage to it’s tail, although it has also scratched against some items in the tank and gotten damage to it’s tail; but the damage to the Telescope goldfish seems like a bite. What should I do? None of the fish are fighting and this must have happened while I was sleeping. I haven’t seen any of them bite each other or chase or harass each other in any way.


The Orange Oranda, my Shubunkin, and my White and Orange Oranda hanging together at the top.

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My Telescope Goldfish’s broken tail.

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Another picture of my Telescope Goldfish’s broken tail.

Also, I know my tank is a bit dirty, I’m cleaning it today!


This is a picture of my Oranda (fully orange) Goldfish’s tail. You can tell it is “cut” or broken from something. I don’t think it’s bit, but it is damaged a little.

I’m not sure what to think.... maybe he sliced it a bit on a decoration or rock, or maybe one of the other fish bit him. I haven’t witnessed any signs of any of the fish having bad behavior towards him, so I just don’t know what to do or think. Please let me know what you think!

 

[Allisonm24]

For some reason the pictures didn’t load but atleast you have one picture of his tail to see

 

[SaraB]

45 gallons might be a bit small for them and is causing them to fight. You could have also just bought a fish that may just be a jerk.

 

[King Fisher]

Could be fin rot. What is your water readings?

 

[Allisonm24]

Could be fin rot. What is your water readings?

I actually posted a new forum. I ended up taking the new fish back to Pet Supermarket. They gave my old fish ICH and the symptoms of ammonia poisoning and now I’m currently trying to fight it off with any medicine available.

 

[King Fisher]

Ahh ok. I posted on your other thread about that.