Why does my Goldfish have no tail fin?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Aquaticslover

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 13, 2018
Messages
3
Hi y’all, so I woke up today to my goldfish missing it’s Tail fin. It looks like it was bit right off! There is no redness or irritation look to it, it looks like there are still small strands of fin with some sort of muscle or something at the base that I see moving around when they try to swim. All the other fish seem fine is this due to bullying? I always check my fish and I have seen no signs at all of fin rot. This just happened. They are still eating and still swimming around but it’s hard for her/him to get around. Is it okay I keep thisfish in the aquarium? I’ve treated the water but I don’t know if it is going to grown back
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    179.7 KB · Views: 208
Tell a little about the tank.
Size of tank?
Filter?
Have you changed the filter pads recently or rinsed them out in faucet tap /untreated tap water?
What are the fish in the tank?
how long you have had the GF?
What are the water parameters, how often and how much water do you change?

That fish does look bad. When was the last time you saw the whole tail intact on the fish?
 
I rescued goldfish from a bad breeder that’s why she looks so bad. She looks a lot better than she was when I got her. I should be getting a 60 in soon. The rest of the rescues grew up and all their scales are in excellent condition and fins are all in perfect shape. She just seems to be struggling overall.
 
I rescued goldfish from a bad breeder that’s why she looks so bad. She looks a lot better than she was when I got her. The tank is a 30 gallon and I do 50% water changes about once a week or every other week. The filter pad I always clean under a pressured water system, but being said the water is always treated so the quality shouldn’t be the problem. And she isn’t housed with any other types of fish but goldfish. And before it’s said I’m aware that a 30 gallon is not recommended for goldfish but when I rescued her and a few tank mates that’s all I had at the time I should be getting a 60 in soon. And the last time I saw her tail intact was the night before.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Checking the parameters will be very important. You will need to adjust the water changing schedule to an amount which will get the water to be in a safe level for the main tank.

Sometimes a fish that has been in a stressful situation and/or is also currently under stress will just not be able to recover as quickly or get better quickly.

Changing the water more often would be recommended to keep the water as perfect as possible for quicker healing.

For a tank with sick fish would probably be daily 50-100% water changes. It seems crazy, but GF eat and produce a lot of waste. Ammonia in the water and other unsafe levels of Nitrite or Nitrate are going to impair healing because the fishes body and system ability to fight off infection is lower and trying to deal with low or poor water parameters uses its resources just to survive and results in low to no progress for healing.

If the fish is kept in excellent water quality, it's system can use it's energy on the healing part instead of survival.

If you can use a plastic tote or bucket that is free from being used previously with something which could be bad for fish, just clean it out and rinse a bunch of times to make sure it has no residue and make a hospital "tank". Change the water each day. Having an extra bucket is ideal.

New (always treated) water in bucket move fish gently over.

If it is fuzzy or looks like it is getting fungal infection or red or grey or white parts increasing , not decreasing you would be better to use meds for fungus or infection.

If it is only gone but not looking fuzzy or like it is decaying then I would use a little aquarium salt maybe a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon amount and one tablespoon of Epsom salts (ES) pure no added stuff in it.

The slime coat (aquarium salt - AS) and the Epsom salt which is not actually salt but magnesium sulfate to aid in healing.

Use the AS and ES dissolved and initially add to the hospital tank gradually say 1/4 amount every 4-6 hours. After that just have that amount included in each new bucket of water daily.

When you do you water changes, make sure that the water of the hospital tank and when you change it, is never cooler than the water he is already in.

Edit: Oh meant to also say an air bubbler in the hospital tank would also be beneficial. The adjustable kind are great.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom