Fire fish goby damaged tail

[Danthefishman]

Hey guys. My fire fish goby has a damaged tail. I just noticed it today. It looks shredded and frayed. Was this caused by another fish or is something else going on? He’s still eating a lot and is acting ok. Thanks

 

[Tahoe61]

What other fish types are in the tank?

 

[Danthefishman]

What other fish types are in the tank?

2 clowns, flame angel, flame hawk, and a cardinal.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey guys. My fire fish goby has a damaged tail. I just noticed it today. It looks shredded and frayed. Was this caused by another fish or is something else going on? He’s still eating a lot and is acting ok. Thanks

I can tell already, you have clowns who are territorial and will di this damage. You will need to isolate this fish or the clowns and allow the fish to heal which has a good chance of full tail recovery

 

[Tahoe61]

My money is on the clowns. Hopefully it's an isolated incident.

 

[Danthefishman]

I can tell already, you have clowns who are territorial and will di this damage. You will need to isolate this fish or the clowns and allow the fish to heal which has a good chance of full tail recovery

my clowns are territorial for sure. If anyone comes near their Duncan they aren’t too happy. I’ve never seen them bully the goby, but sure it’s possible that they are the culprits. The only fish I’ve seen bully the goby is actually the cardinal. He likes to chase the goby into his hole sometimes. But I’ve never seen any fin nipping and they’ve been together for like 6 months. I wonder if it was the cardinal.

 

[Danthefishman]

My money is on the clowns. Hopefully it's an isolated incident.

Yes, I hope he will make a full recovery.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I believe a similar thing happened to my fire fish and I chalked it up to it being the clowns in my tank. I agree that I would just isolate the two and see what happens!

 

[vetteguy53081]

my clowns are territorial for sure. If anyone comes near their Duncan they aren’t too happy. I’ve never seen them bully the goby, but sure it’s possible that they are the culprits. The only fish I’ve seen bully the goby is actually the cardinal. He likes to chase the goby into his hole sometimes. But I’ve never seen any fin nipping and they’ve been together for like 6 months. I wonder if it was the cardinal.

Cardinal not ruled out but the clowns are often the ones that bite and bite tails

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

my clowns are territorial for sure. If anyone comes near their Duncan they aren’t too happy. I’ve never seen them bully the goby, but sure it’s possible that they are the culprits. The only fish I’ve seen bully the goby is actually the cardinal. He likes to chase the goby into his hole sometimes. But I’ve never seen any fin nipping and they’ve been together for like 6 months. I wonder if it was the cardinal.

Cardinals don’t have a “nipping” mouth structure like clownfish do.

My concern is that if it happened once, it can happen again, and each time, there is a risk of secondary bacterial infection.