Why is my fish's tail curved up?

Question

I have a long finned minor tetra. About a week and a half ago I noticed her going belly up so I seperated her from the other fish and put her in a glass container beside the tank to see what happened. She lived through the night so I researched and found out she may have swimmers bladder. I have been treating her for that.
I also noticed when I seperated her that her tail which was perfectly straight before is not curved upward (allot). What would cause that to happen?
Four days ago my dog also pulled the container from the table spilling her onto the floorbin an effort to bring me the towel under her bowl to wipe his mouth. So I know she is definetly a survivor.
Any thought on the curled up tail would be appreciated. Also any humane ways to put her out of her misery if its something bad. I am glad I did'nt flush her a week and a half ago when this started.

I quickly read through some of your answers, thanks for the help. Here are a couple of answers to some of your questions. The fish is only about an inch long fin and all. The curve starts 3/4 through her, not just before the fin but just behind her flipper. My tank is only 10 gallons. I use a several things to keep the tank water balanced and I have been lucky to keep it at great levels. All the fish I currently have are 6 months to a year old. The sick fish is about a year old. I am changing the water in the glass bowl I am keeping it in twice a day since it is pretty small. I am using tank water since I know it is a good balance and the other fish are ok. To treat the bloat problem I have added more Nitrate stuff and a little extra salt to keep it calm. It is half and half active. It sits upside down at the bottom part of the day and swims around very active other times. She was once very orange and is a little paler now. She has no odd spots that I can see.

Other than the curved tail and being upside down she looks really healthy.

Answer 1

You Fish could have a Certain type of Tail Rot.
When a fish gets an infection, the immune system is weak causing it to be vonerable to other types of infection it would normally be able to fight off. Meaning...Fish can have various types of infections at the same time. You can treat for various infections with several types of medicine, or find one that treats multi-purpose ailments.

The Tail curling up can also be a side effect of certian types of a Diseases the Fish my have contracted, Is the tail itself curly at the base of the tail, Or just the Fin towards the End?
If it looks like there is discolorations, bumps, frayed ends, or any type of texture incosistent with the normal body hten I would Still try to treat her just in case it isn't a nasty side effect.

Also there is a Neon Tetra Disease that you can read about in 2 links below. The disease can cause the Spine to Deform causing the tail to look curved depending on the look of the tail and where it's curve begins.

I would go to your local Pet shop,,, one that specializes in Fish sales (not just some random guy they hired at a low wage that doesn't know about fish).... and ask them for a medication that will treat multiple infections and make sure you tell them everything about the fish and what you've already used. and how big the Tank she is in right now is.

Is the Fish still Floating, does she have any type of White on her (this could be Fungus or Ick), does she have black spots?
Is she acting Overly Excited, swimming vigourously through the bowl, Or is she inactive.
If she is overly Active or Inactive, she is not cured of the infection at this time and needs to have proper treatment or she's die eventually. It sound like she has some Life in her to live through the sickness and the fall.

How often are you changing her water, and are you treating it to get it at the correct PH Balance?
What is the water Temperature, you don't want it to be too hot since Fungus can thrive in hotter waters.

Look up water temps, ph balance, and medications for your specific type of fish.

If she doesn't get any better, I don't really have any Humane ways to kill her. The only thing I could think of is, just let her Die on her own, you never know with Fish, sometimes you think they're going to kick the bucket and then you wake up in the Morning and they're happy as could be getting better.

Good Luck

Answer 2

The curve in the tail may very well be from damage in the fall. If you don't see any signs of the fin rotting, no real redness in the fin and nothing looking like fungus on the tail, I would say trauma is the most likely answer.

Fin trauma is not uncommon in long finned fishes and will straighten some over time, but usually not back to normal.

I'm assuming you mean the fin itself and not the fleshy part just before the fin.

Answer 3

Just keep treating her. You're doing a good job. Her tail is probably just curling upward because of the displacement related to her distended belly. It can't be from anything broken if the fish is still swimming. It wouldn't be able to swim if there were anything broken. I'm a big fan of not giving up on a fish until it's really dead. You never know. You may choose to kill it before it's time and if you hadn't, it may have survived its illness. How can you know whether it might survive or not? I choose not to give up and to keep trying to do everything I can until the very end. That's my opinion anyway.

Answer 4

don't flush. never flush. they could go for days in raw sewage. nasty.

2 easy at home methods of euthanasia for fish are 2 alka seltzer in a quart of water

1/2 a cup of grain alcohol in a gallon of water or 1/2 cup 80 proof (vodka, gin, rum, most alcohol) in 3 quarts.

the fish will get really giddy before they expire but its quick and they go with a buzz.

there might be some spine problem causing the tail to bend up maybe? is it angled odd or smoothly?

Answer 5

Fishie euthanasia-best way is with clove oil.

http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?Story_No=1885#ct-4

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/how_to_euthanize_a_fish/

Also, check the symptoms against this, for neon tetra disease.(can affect all fish, not just neons)

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/neon_tetra_disease/