Tail Fin on fish gone

[Cap18]

I'm not sure what happened to my fish but I'm very sad about it. I don't want my fish to die.

Today I woke up to my fish with no tail fin. It looks a bit red as well. What made me notice it was that my othe Fish (one just like it) was chasing it around the tank and i noticed it was swimming funny. This could be a result of bullying This fish also likes to hide behind things so the fin could have got caught in something as well.

I'm not sure what could be causing this or how to treat it. Any advice would be great. I have separated the fish just in case it is a result of bullying but unfortunately I don't have another filter. So I'm sure this isn't helping it.

I won't have access to a pet store until tomorrow so I hope that it can last through the night.

Here is a picture of the fish.

Thank you for any help that you can give.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi I see you are new. Welcome! Is that a male Molly? A fishes tail and fins will usually grow back. Normally all they need is clean, healthy water to grow it back. It would be a better idea to keep the fish in its tank with the filter. A little bowl can get dirty very quickly and can stress the fish. Do you have something like a divider to separate him off from the rest? May I ask what size tank, what kinds of fish and how many? It will help us help you with the problem of the bullying.

 

[jlk]

How do your water parameters look (amm/nitrite/nitrate)? Im not familiar with your breed of fish but if this occurred overnight, bullying/nipping looks like it could have been the cause. Seperating the injured fish from the bully is a good place to start but your going to have to figure how you want to address this in future (another tank?). I would start by dosing with aquarium salt & see if this helps over next few days (in addition to healthy water). If this doesnt help or his tail looks worse, a course of antibiotics may be necessary.

 

[absolutangel04]

That appears to be a male platy with some fin rot. The fin may have been nipped off by a different fish, but the redness and white edges suggest fin rot to me.
Clean water helps a ton to fix this.
In order to really help though, we do need to know the parameters like jlk said as well as the tank size and tank mates.
How big is the bowl? Does it have a filter? I agree with mumma that the bowl could get dirty really fast, so it will be hard to keep the water as clean as he needs it to be.
BTW, welcome to the site. I hope your fishy pulls through.

 

[Cap18]

Hi I see you are new. Welcome! Is that a male Molly? A fishes tail and fins will usually grow back. Normally all they need is clean, healthy water to grow it back. It would be a better idea to keep the fish in its tank with the filter. A little bowl can get dirty very quickly and can stress the fish. Do you have something like a divider to separate him off from the rest? May I ask what size tank, what kinds of fish and how many? It will help us help you with the problem of the bullying.

Thank you for the welcome. I only two fish of the pictured kind in a 3 gallon tank. It's only a small one.

I only plan to keep the fish in a bowl until I get to the pet store tomorrow to buy a new tank and filter.

 

[Cap18]

How do your water parameters look (amm/nitrite/nitrate)? Im not familiar with your breed of fish but if this occurred overnight, bullying/nipping looks like it could have been the cause. Seperating the injured fish from the bully is a good place to start but your going to have to figure how you want to address this in future (another tank?). I would start by dosing with aquarium salt & see if this helps over next few days (in addition to healthy water). If this doesnt help or his tail looks worse, a course of antibiotics may be necessary.

I'm not really sure what you are talking about (parameters). I don't really know much about fish. I will add salt to the water. I used pure bottled water as opposed to tap water. I hope this was a good thing to do.

 

[Cap18]

That appears to be a male platy with some fin rot. The fin may have been nipped off by a different fish, but the redness and white edges suggest fin rot to me.
Clean water helps a ton to fix this.
In order to really help though, we do need to know the parameters like jlk said as well as the tank size and tank mates.
How big is the bowl? Does it have a filter? I agree with mumma that the bowl could get dirty really fast, so it will be hard to keep the water as clean as he needs it to be.
BTW, welcome to the site. I hope your fishy pulls through.

The tank that it was in is a 3 gallon tank with only two fish. The one pictured and another one just like it. It did have a filter.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm glad I found this place.

 

[KonvictKeeper]

Well, if he's in with another male platy, then that could have caused it. I have two males and one was constantly bullying the other. He completely stopped once I added a pair of gouramis to the stock.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

its a great community

that looks like nipped fins, because of how sudden it came on.
were the both males, i.e did they both have the long thin fine around the anus instead of fans? xx

 

[jlk]

Well, its ok if you dont know much about fish! This is a GREAT site to learn and everyone here wants to help! Ok, bare with me here, ill will try simplify things & i know someone will post links for you to read!! Your water parameters are the levels of ammonia, nitrite & nitrate in your tank water. Your fish produce waste (ammonia). Bacteria grow & convert the ammonia into nitrite. Both ammonia & nitrite are highly toxic to your fish. A second set of bacteria then grow to convert the nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate is not as toxic as amm or nitrite and is removed with regular water changes. This growth of bacteria & conversion of toxic stuff is the basis of the nitrogen cycle (amm>nitrite>nitrate) and why a tank needs to be cycled (to keep fish healthy & thriving). A bit simplified but understandable (i hope!). Keeping asking questions-we will help!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Well, its ok if you dont know much about fish! This is a GREAT site to learn and everyone here wants to help! Ok, bare with me here, ill will try simplify things & i know someone will post links for you to read!! Your water parameters are the levels of ammonia, nitrite & nitrate in your tank water. Your fish produce waste (ammonia). Bacteria grow & convert the ammonia into nitrite. Both ammonia & nitrite are highly toxic to your fish. A second set of bacteria then grow to convert the nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate is not as toxic as amm or nitrite and is removed with regular water changes. This growth of bacteria & conversion of toxic stuff is the basis of the nitrogen cycle (amm>nitrite>nitrate) and why a tank needs to be cycled (to keep fish healthy & thriving). A bit simplified but understandable (i hope!). Keeping asking questions-we will help!

Here we go. These links will explain.
FISH IN CYCLING
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html
FISHLESS CYCLING
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html
(Jetta's) FISH IN CYCLING
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/fish-in-cycling-step-over-into-the-dark-side-176446.html

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Oh and some bad news the 3g tank isn't big enough for those two fish. I'm not sure of the minimum tank requirements of plattys but I know someone else does.

 

[absolutangel04]

I recommend 10g minimum for platys generally.
Honestly, 3g isn't really enough for much besides shrimp. Some people keep bettas in tanks that size, others say 5g is minimum for even a betta.
I suggest you consider getting a slightly larger tank if you really want to be able to keep fish.
I agree that the fin was probably nipped in the first place, but I do see evidence of fin rot which was probably caused by a bacterial infection from less than clean water.
I hope your little guy can pull through, but it will be hard to keep him and another fish healthy in such a small tank. He is very pretty though, so I can see why you got him. I keep platys too and I like them a lot.
Would you consider getting a bigger tank, like a 10g? They are only about $30 for a kit at walmart.

 

[ndtyank49]

I have this problem also with my black swordtails. One bullys the other all the time, and her tail fin is almost gone, unfortunatly i don't have another tank so i put her in joint compound pale and hopefully this works. Its ghetto i know, but this happened outta no where and i wasn't prepared.