help! My goldfish is being bullied!!

Question
Hi....I recently bought a large fish tank and brought a fancy goldfish along with a couple of butterfly carp, tiger goldfish and some smaller fish. Everything was going fine until I noticed that the fancy goldfish was getting white patches on its body where another fish must have been eating it. Another time my friend spotted it was trying to swim away from the tiger goldfish. I have now put it in a seperate tank with my little newt and will transfer it to his own tank asap!! Please help as I am very worried. when I first got him he was an even orange colour all over...now he looks sore with white patches all over is body and has black markings on his body and tail. have the other fish been eating him? I did not realise that would happen?? are the other fish safe in the tank if the carp and tiger goldfish are bullying!!
My little goldfish looks a bit unbalanced at times in the water and turns upside down. when I have tried to feed it...it will take the food then quickly spit it back out! please help me asap as I really don't want my little friend to die!!
Rowena

Answer
Hi Rowena,
I've never heard the term "tiger goldfish" but it makes me think you might actually be referrring to Tiger barbs- here's a link to a pic. I'm not entirely positive on this but just making sure-
http://www.cob.montevallo.edu/DavisVM/tigerbarb2.jpg

If this is the case, then the problem is the tiger barb himself. They are always aggressive and especially more so when kept alone. They do much better with a large group of 8 so they can occupy themselves with play-fighting with each-other rather than nipping other fish. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about the "Tiger Goldfish"...

The injured goldfish should honestly recover just fine. Just make sure his water is very clean through large daily water changes and his wounds will heal just fine. Keeping the water is most important. The flipping upside down may be the goldfish's swim bladder getting messed up. This is usually related to the diet the fish is fed, too much starch or high protein and the goldfish gets a blockage that interferes with their swim bladder (which controls their equilibrium) and so they flip over and loose their balance all the time. The best solution to this is to hold off on the goldfish's regular food for at least a day and then try to offer the goldfish a mashed and peeled green pea. if the goldfish is eating too much dry pellets or dry flakes then that could be a contributer as well to the swim bladder trouble. Make sure you presoak all dry food to make sure its water logged before feeding it. For more info on swim bladder and treatment-
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Swim%20Bladder%20Disorder.html

I really hope this helps and I hope you can get everything straightened out soon!
Best wishes,
Karen~