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megastealer
05-27-2009, 05:10 AM
I have two fantails.

I made the mistake of not hearing about cylcing before adding two goldfish to my 10 gallon tank... the fish are still small, only about 1.5-2", and I am in the process of getting a 29 gallon tank.

I don't know if it has always been this way, but my oldest goldfish which has survived 4 months of a one gallon container, and the only fish to live through my cycling so far, seems to have 4 tail fins.

It might have always been this way, but ever since I have learned the mistake I have made I am quite nervous about him. This particular fish has a lot of sentimental value to me, and I am going to try everything I can to make sure he lives a healthy life.

My new goldfish (I got him 2 days before I learned about cycling, and a few days after my other companion goldfish died) only has 3 tail fins, which look like the ones in pictures you see on the net.

I tried to take some pictures but my camera is dying... its about 4 years old but still takes stunning high quality pictures in the daytime outside... its just lost its ability to take nice inside pictures. It did take a nice video, but it is still uploading and encoding on youtube. I'll add it here when its done.

Here are the pics: (my camera is a bit finicky and will sometimes flash when the flash is turned off... my poor little fishies eyes!)

My gold fish, Caprica, is the one with tail fins in question.
http://i40.tinypic.com/pyart.jpghttp://i44.tinypic.com/66tj.jpghttp://i43.tinypic.com/140cf43.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2m7f5dx.jpg
saix88
05-27-2009, 05:47 AM
I don't really understand what you are saying, but I will try...

Lots of times goldfish are born with imperfections, fancy goldfish are suppose to have a split caudal*tail* fin so that's 2 already, so I'm guessing the other two are the anal fins? Or are you counting the lower caudal as separate tails?

Anyways there is nothing wrong with your goldfish if he doesn't have the proper amount of fins. 1 dorsal, 2 pectoral, 2 pelvic, 2 anal, and 2 caudal.
Gayle
05-27-2009, 05:53 AM
Yep I am a bit lost here to. Is it a natural looking split in the fins, or is it jagged looking? And you had this fish in a 1g for 4 months??? What are your parameters???
megastealer
05-27-2009, 07:49 AM
My parameters were I was at school and didn't know much about fish.. so I kept it in a 1g and did a 100% water change once a week.

My parameters now are I put him in a 10g tank still not knowing about fish now that it was summer, and I have a full test kit being shipped to my house. Water changes every day, a small bit of aquarium salt (even though I've learned on these forums its probably unnecessary), AmQuel once every other day and sometimes each day, and StressCoat once a day.

Here is the video where you can see his back fins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uIZwHj1_Ls
Little Embers
05-27-2009, 09:19 AM
It is understandable for you to be concerned if it is something that you hadn't really noticed before, but I agree with saix88, there are many different strains of fancy goldfish and with all the crossbreeding going on, some may have more finnage than others. I have seen goldies with 4.

It is hard to tell from the pic. but it looks OK to me, as gayle mentioned concerning the look of it, I would look at it closely and if it has a normal clear defined edge to it I wouldn't be concerned. Fish can often tear their fins on sharp decor (if this is the case here) and the filaments usually grow back together relatively quickly if good water quality is maintained. If the fin has a whitish/grey or reddish edge to it and is ragged looking, then it could be finrot/fungus.

Caprica is a lovely name BTW! :ssmile:
labnjab
05-27-2009, 02:05 PM
That looks normal to me. Our 2 orange orandas have a similar tail
megastealer
05-27-2009, 03:59 PM
Alright, thank you!
bigbad-ratman
05-27-2009, 06:52 PM
on a similar note, i have noticed that most of the fancy tailed goldfish i have seen have a pale edge on their tails. am i seeing early finrot, or is this normal? i am pretty sure that i see the same thing in mega's pics.
megastealer
05-27-2009, 09:29 PM
Yeah I think the pale edge is normal as well. I used to think it was new fin growth, but after seeing some full grown goldfish on youtube with a lot of it hanging off, I guess its just to make them a bit more showy and attractive to a possible mate.

Just a guess though.
saix88
05-28-2009, 01:32 AM
on a similar note, i have noticed that most of the fancy tailed goldfish i have seen have a pale edge on their tails. am i seeing early finrot, or is this normal? i am pretty sure that i see the same thing in mega's pics.

100% normal, most of the time it's where black use to be. Black fins usually turn clear or orange. Most goldfish can't hold black and it changes, it's all due to genetics.