Hurt Fantail

Question
I have a Calico fantail Goldfish(Fleur) that I purchased about 2 weeks ago along with another common goldfish(Paramore) I came home and out then In with my other 2 goldfish (Peaches and Hherb) and my black mystery snail(Gary) I have a 1 Gallon glass bowl with a 1-3 gallon tetra whisper filter all was well until today.

I awoke this morning to find Fleur not moving at the bottom of the tank at first I was saddened and thought she had died... well I used my net to push  her a little and saw she moved but not well so I took her out and put her in a smaller bowl ann after observing her for a bit I noticed her  right side of her fantail and her right fin was severally damaged.

I don't know what could have done this. I researched all of my fish and there all peaceful breads and before this ive had no problems

Please tell me what happened to Fleur and what can I do to help her heal?

Answer
Hi Lena, (I love your fishes names!)
Tail injuries are common with fancy-finned fish like Fleur. She may have torn it on some rough object in the bowl or another fish may have nibbled on her fins. If this was the case she should recover just fine and her fins will regrow.
However, this could also be finrot, which is a dangerous bacterial disease. It is often caused by dirty water conditions. I know you still see goldfish in bowls and other small containers all the time but it's really no home for goldfish at all. I don't mean to sound harsh or anything but if you could move your goldfish even to an inexpensive 10-gallon tank with a power filter that would help tremendous. Fleur may have been sitting on the bottom due to poor water quality. Ammonia is very toxic to fish and goldfish tend to produce more ammonia than other kinds of fish. You could have a very risky situation here with 4 goldfish and 1 snail in a one gallon bowl is just a disaster waiting to happen, to but it bluntly.

Even with a filter, Goldfish in the tiny water volumes of bowls are literally swimming in their own toilet all the time. And even weekly 100% water changes will not be enough. Even if the water was changed several times a day the goldfish might make it OK, but he would still soon outgrow the bowl because of the clean water (which encourages good growth) he was getting. And it's really not a good environment overall. Goldfish do in fact like to interact with an interesting environment and they enjoy lots of room to swim and plants to swim through and other such things.

If you could please move your goldfish into at least a 10-gallon that would be so wonderful! Your goldfish would thank you for it. They'd be so much happier. Although later they may need a little larger tank as they grow. If you could get the largest tank you could afford that would be best in the long-run. But at least try to get a 10gallon with a power filter and full cover and Iridescent lighting.

*With an aquarium it can "cycle" which means special bacteria will colonize the gravel bed and filter and they are the ones responsible for converting ammonia into harmless substances. But they do take a while to get established and while they are slowly establishing ammonia will occur in your tank. And you must take special care in testing your water for ammonia at least everyday until the tank cycles. This is to insure you are keeping your fish at a tolerable ammonia level and to moniter how far along your tank is in cycling. Most aquariums cycle within 2-6 weeks. But during that time daily testing of your water and 50% water changes if ammonia goes past the tolerable level is essential to keep your fish safe. Eventually the bacterial will take over and soon your ammonia will drop to ZERO and you won't have to be so drastic with testing all the time and water changes. You can read a little more about cycling here: http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

Also you need to determine if Fleur has just damaged fins or if she really has finrot, I recommend that you should take a look at some pictures of fish with finrot to help you decide whether or not that's the case with her fins. Here are some links that I think may be helpful-
http://thegab.org/Articles/GoldfishIllness.html
{^Scroll down to see the finrot pictures^}
-
http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/finrot.php

If it does turn out to be finrot. Immediately do a huge water change and make sure any gravel in the bottom of the bowl is clean. It's very hard to treat with medication in a bowl so that is why it is also better if you could move them into an aquarium. You can try treating with aquarium salt plus Melafix/Pimafix together. Along with daily large water changes. If the fin rot persists you may have to try stronger medications like Mardel brand Maracyn.

If Fleur doesn't have finrot, her tail can heal just fine with plenty of clean water through lots of water changes plus a healthy varied diet. Her fins will grow back but they may not be as extravagant as they use to be and then sometimes they come back perfect, I think it depends on the amount of damage and maybe the care the fish recieves while he/she is healing.

I really hope this helps!
Best of luck with Fleur and the other goldies plus Gary!:)
Karen~