Oranda shortens tail overnight....

[marlin08]

So I go out to the stock tank the other morning to feed and don't see my big black Oranda ( see avatar ). I found him upside down between the filter box and wall, apparently he was there most of the night, flailing to try to flip back over, because when I set him back upright, most of the ends (last 1-2") of his upper caudals and one lower caudal, were missing the black color and shredded.

He's been in a QT with salt and some Melafix for 2 days now, doing big twice daily water changes and the end sections that were shredded and had the color rubbed off are slowly sloughing off.
So far, he's eating great and getting around just fine, he is just losing the damaged ends. There is no sign of infection.
I'm guessing the sloughing will stop once it gets to healthy finnage ?
This is a first for me, any other suggestions?

http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a444/wowen01/Kai%20tail%20injury/IMG_5787.jpg

[suphi]

Isn't shredded fins a sign of infection?

[marlin08]

My understanding is that it definitely can be, but this fish appeared fine the night before, when I found him the next morning, stuck upside down between the curved stock tank wall and the side of the pond filter, he was swimming pretty slowly for a few minutes.
My impression was that he'd probably spent a good portion of the night flailing and rubbing the ends of the upper caudals back and forth along the bottom and side of the stock tank. The 1 lower caudal that was rubbed and frayed was the one against the side of the stock tank.
The stock tank walls and bottom are not completely smooth like an aquarium or the fiberglass tubs.
I forgot to add that I added Oxolium yesterday and today, to the QT, as a precaution.

[opera]

Could he just stucked in there, when he was trying to eat some algae and could not get out? since he was doing ok yesterday?
I had my calico stuck between the planted pot before.

Seems like he is recovering...

Opera

[marlin08]

Yes, I have a feeling he was going down to eat something on the floor of the tank beside the filter. He has a fairly deep body and a very large tail and sometimes when he goes straight down the water pushes his tail over like an umbrella in the wind, and he goes over on his back. Normally he twists and quickly rights himself but I think the space was too narrow for him to twist his body all the way over and get out so he struggled for who knows how long. You can bet I'll keep the filter from getting pushed close to the wall again, live and learn !
He's taken a bit of a downturn tonight and not eating but I'm doing all I can do. He's a favorite, I'm hoping he can shake it off.