Severely injured Goldfish

[Horsesarefun]

I have a 90 gallon indoor pond. I have 4 large goldfish in them. One is a 8-year-old Comet that I had for a long time. I was feeding them and noticed he wasn't around. I went searching and found him stuck under one of the decorations in the tank. He was severely injured. Cuts on the top and his tail is completely gone. I assume the other goldfish were trying to eat him. He's in bad shape. I was going to put him down but he is still swimming, eating, and getting around. I isolated him into his own tank, adding Aquarium salt to the water. He also injured his other eye. Am I wasting my time trying to give him a chance? I have been changing half his tank water daily and I have a filter in there.

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum, sorry its under tough times.

Your best chance is to keep him in very clean water and keep up with the aquarium salt - it looks like the wounds have a big of infection so the salt should help there. I am concerned with how gone his tail is as it looks like actual flesh is missing not just the fin flesh - without the rays and spines I'm not sure how it will grow back?

Wills

 

[Stan510]

Doxycycline worked on all fungus that my goldfish had after a surgery to remove a tumor. Up to you if it's worth the cost.

 

[Horsesarefun]

Wills, I was thinking the same thing. I was suprised he was even alive. As long as he's eating I'll give him a chance but I think it's going to be a uphill battle for him. Not getting my hopes up but will do our best.

 

[Colin_T]

I hope you have removed the offending ornament from the tank so this doesn't happen to another fish.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean every day for 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine.

Add salt, (see directions below).

Monitor for secondary infections. Saprolegnia fungus will appear as white fluffy stuff sticking out from the wounds. Bacterial infections cause the wounds to go red and become inflamed. Salt and clean water should prevent both until the wounds can heal.

------------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[Horsesarefun]

Thanks Colin, will do, already moved the ornament from the tank. He is isolated in his own tank. I have a filter on it as well and have been changing the water daily. It was a cave he got to big for and must of got stuck in it. I have aquarium salt that I have been using.

 

[Horsesarefun]

I just finished cleaning the tank again. Seems more perky today. Attached more photos Looks like he may lose the one eye as well. The pond was the tank he had been in. Yes those are all live plants.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

That indoor pond is amazing! Hope he recovers... have seen fish recover from worse, even though this is a bad injury, that he's still alive is a good sign! All you can do is what you're already doing. Hope he makes a good recovery and can go home to that beautiful pond soon!

 

[Horsesarefun]

That indoor pond is amazing! Hope he recovers... have seen fish recover from worse, even though this is a bad injury, that he's still alive is a good sign! All you can do is what you're already doing. Hope he makes a good recovery and can go home to that beautiful pond soon!

I hope he recovers also. I've had him a very long time. He was bought as a feeder fish for my frog many years ago. He was the only one who survived and I gave him a reprieve and moved him to the outside pond. I've had him about eight years now. The frog has since passed away and I went strictly into fish after that. The 55 gallon was what I had the frog in before it became my community tanks.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I hope he recovers also. I've had him a very long time. He was bought as a feeder fish for my frog many years ago. He was the only one who survived and I gave him a reprieve and moved him to the outside pond. I've had him about eight years now. The frog has since passed away and I went strictly into fish after that. The 55 gallon was what I had the frog in before it became my community tanks.

Gorgeous tank as well! Love the frog, what kind is it?
Don't give up hope on him. Check out this goldie that someone saved recently. Colin and I were pretty convinced he would die, looking at the state of him at first, but look at the picture when she first posted, then look for the photo update towards the end... it's incredible! You wouldn't believe it was the same fish. So this helped convince me to not give up hope, even when things look bad.

Goldfish pineconing and covered in white. Ich medication not working at all. Help!

I have been treating for ich in my fish pond for 9 days, I have seen no improvement unfortunately. This fish has been lying on the bottom for the whole week and came up to eat a little this morning which is when I saw how bad he looks. One of the other fish has dropsy (but can still swim a...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Horsesarefun]

Gorgeous tank as well! Love the frog, what kind is it?
Don't give up hope on him. Check out this goldie that someone saved recently. Colin and I were pretty convinced he would die, looking at the state of him at first, but look at the picture when she first posted, then look for the photo update towards the end... it's incredible! You wouldn't believe it was the same fish. So this helped convince me to not give up hope, even when things look bad.

Goldfish pineconing and covered in white. Ich medication not working at all. Help!

I have been treating for ich in my fish pond for 9 days, I have seen no improvement unfortunately. This fish has been lying on the bottom for the whole week and came up to eat a little this morning which is when I saw how bad he looks. One of the other fish has dropsy (but can still swim a...

www.fishforums.net

The frog was a tadpole we found at a local pond. Grew into a green frog, well brown really lol. He died a few years back.

 

[Horsesarefun]

Letting everyone know, two years later, my injured fish sis still going strong. His tail never grew back but he's back outside now in the outdoor hobby pond. All his wounds healed, except he's tailless.