# Goldfish ripped some of its scales and scratched a fin..?



## Bunny

Hi everyone,
Firstly, my goldfish is not smart.

Overnight it managed to get itself wedged between the cave/rock thing and the tank wall (half stuck into the hole in the rock) and my husband thought it was dead when we woke up (great way to wake up - "Sweetie!!! The Goldfish is dead!!!!!" ). Anyways - turns out it wasn't. It was just upside-down, stuck half into the cave/rock decoration. Once I pulled the cave/rock away from the tank wall (and shook it slightly) the goldfish's head came out of the hole and he went swimming on his way.

Upon further inspection, his um... forehead, the part just in front of his dorsal fin has a patch of scraped scales, and his left pectoral fin is a little frayed on the front edge and hes mostly keeping it clamped to his body, although will use it if he needs to turn around or something. He also seems to be holding his dorsal fin slightly tilted/bent (on the upper edge) towards his left side as well. It doesnt look damaged though and I'm not sure if this is a new thing or not...

He is in a mature tank with 0 nitrites/ammonia, and very low nirates (almost 0). No one ever picks on him - peaceful tank mates.

I read that adding salt to the tank would be the best option to help prevent infection or anything, but I have 2 beautiful mystery snails and would have to move/remove them. Id also be a little worried about the salt's effect on the plants (riccia, cork vals, water wisteria, dwarf pennywart, sunset hygro, staurogene repens, java fern and java moss)

Unfortunately I do not have a quarantine tank that would fit him unless a bucket counts, and I only have a small (5-7 gal) spare filter that is somewhat cycled (been in the main tank a couple of weeks).

Does anyone have any advice on what to do? Will be heal on his own? Its not overly serious, but I have bad experiences with goldfish and fin injuries....


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## Bunny

Checked him over even closer...

Pic of his scratched "forehead":









Now I'm seeing some white - ish bumps on his left eye, also not sure if this is new or not:

















And also some white bumps/scratches on his tail, this side looks like it might be split at the caudal fork....









Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk


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## Pamela

Your goldfish looks like he isn't very badly injured. If you aren't going to add salt I'd keep the water extra clean by doing daily water changes. If you see any sign of fungus starting you should give your goldfish a methylene blue dip.


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## kim86

Plus one on keeping the water clean. Clean water will help speed up recovery and decrease the chances of more serious problems from happening. A little bit of salt (half dose) shouldn't harm your other tank inhabitants or plants, especially if it's temporary. Good luck


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## Bunny

okay, thank you guys!!!! I was just worried as I have had really bad experiences with goldfish and injuries of any sort... 

Good to know its not that bad. 

Kim, when you say half dose of salt... what would that be? I dont have any experiences with medicating/salting of any sort...


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