I've just discovered this site and love all of the information here. I had no idea there was so much to know about goldfish. B)

I have 2 fantails, we've had them over a year. The one that was the larger one is not anymore. I noticed several months ago that her tailfins and the ones under her belly (sorry, don't know the proper name) were just about completely gone.
Is the other fish eating the fins of this one?? Do gf do that? I haven't seen any of it, but they are in my daughters room, so I don't see them all day.
I think that things are okay now. The fins are growing back in.

Just wondering if the other gf is eating the fins. If so, should I do anything about it??

Thanks for any input.

Hello there, glad you came. I'm still new. So I will wait to see what others have to say on this one.

I hope he continues to heal.

Laurie

Yes goldfish do that, but it sounds like it may have been a passing thing. Dominance in the tank may have been changing over or something and she got beat up in the process. I would add some Melafix to the tank for a week to see if that speeds up the fins healing, and watch them both closely over the coming weeks. If you start seeing more fin damage, you will need to seperate them.

It could also have been that she had fin rot, maybe from poor water conditions or something, and now things are better and the fins are regrowing.

Either way keep an eye on them though. If your daughter is old enough, encourage her to spend a few minutes each day "critically" watching the fish. Tell her the kinds of things to watch for, even kids as young as 3 or 4 can be amazingly good at that, and they love to feel like they are helping.

hello aquarian and

like the poster above me stated, because the fins are growing back out, whatever was the culprit (bacterial infection or fin nipping), is now behind you.

this is just an assumption but, im under the impression that the tank is relatively new. in new tank setups, it takes a while for beneficial bacteria to build up to a level that takes care of the ammonia and nitrites that are everpresent in fish tanks. during that transition between a new and established tank, your goldies fins may have suffered from tailrot. its very common in new tanks without an established bio-filter (beneficial bacteria). im still assuming that the tank is relatively new here. now that the ammonia and nitrite levels have dissapated to nil, the healing process begins.

does this sound right? if not, then try to answer all of the questions from the red box above. answer each one to the best of your ability and we can try to find out what the problem was. this way, you can avoid it in the future.

post back soon!