fantail fish wont eat

Question
I wonder if you might be able to help, i was given two fantail fish, one has always been more lethargic (named Fergal,gold and white) the other is smaller(named sid, brown with an orange under belly), and is a
bundle of inquisitive energy.

I went away for a week and left a feeding block for the fish, when i returned they seemed fine
Then i noticed fergal swimming on his side, he started off at the top of the water, now he is at the bottom.

I put him in a separate bucket with shallow conditioned water, i then noticed that his tail and fin on his back looked a bit tattered.
I tried giving him some food, he wasn't interested, i tried giving him a shelled pea, he wasn't interested. i don't know what to do.

can you help, i have a fear that he may starve to death.

As an aside, Sid always hoovers up all the food and we have noticed that quite often he will nibble on fergals tail, do you think Fergal is being bullied?

he has been in the nursing tank over night, he is still alive but is just lying on the bottom with the occasional movement.

Sid is as energetic and healthy as ever, we are putting him on a two day fast as i fear  he may have been eating Fergals share of the food.

Any advise to a novice fish owner would be much appreciated.

Regards

Nicola

Answer
Hi Nicola,
I would suggest putting some aquarium salt in with Fergal for starters to help reduce stress and possibly improve his breathing.
Continue to try and give him very small amounts of food, or leave an orange slice floating in there for a few hours and see if he nibbles at it.
If and when he gets better (I hope he does) don't put him back in the tank with Sid. It is very possible that he is being bullied. Sometimes larger goldfish are a bit slower than small ones, and it also sounds as though he maybe was having a problem before you even got him.
Shelled peas are a good idea, and you might try still giving him small amounts of those too, just make sure they are squished into bite size pieces.
For more info on goldfish, check out flippersandfins.net , it may answer some other questions for you.
Best of wishes.