Fish stuck in rock

M

Max Taffey

AC Members
Oct 18, 2006
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One of my dwarf neon rainbows somehow got himself stuck in one of the holes in a rock I provided for my khuli loaches to hide in. I've had this setup for over two years and this is the first time anything like this has happened. Anyway, I freed the poor SOB, but I'm not sure how long he'd been stuck. He's swimming very erratically - struggling really. One side seems almost paralyzed. He also has a raw wound on his dorsal side, I imagine from struggling against the rock.

Question - should I put him out of his misery now, or is there any chance this is temporary paralysis that he can recover from?

Anyone ever experience anything like this?
 
One of my dojo loaches had an injury that caused her to swim upside-down and sideways very erratically for a couple weeks. I thought for sure I'd lose her, she wasn't nearly as active as normal. But after a couple weeks she was perfectly fine, you'd never know anything had ever happened to her.
I'd watch him, see if he's getting enough food, maybe move him to a cycled QT tank or something if he can't get to the food easily. Also do very frequent water changes.
 
i would put him in a qt by himself - add some melafix and see what happens- i would also put some fake plants in the tank so he wont be stressed and have a place to hide out.
 
Turn off lights in tank and room, perhaps even black out with towel or whatnot, and leave it until tomorrow - this will minimise stress and give the best chance of recovery.

Fingers crossed for him.
 
Thanks for the quick responses. Much appreciated. I'll follow your advice first Coler, and see how it goes.
 
I would also either make the hole in the rock bigger or remove it to prevent further "stuck-ees" :headshake2:
 
Just wanted to give an update on this. I followed Coler's advice, and it worked! He seems well on his way to a complete recovery - he's swimming almost perfectly, his wound is healing nicely, and he's eating.

I really had figured him for a goner when I first freed him - he was literally swimming vertically, rising and falling constantly - really struggling. I had started freezing some water to euthanize him before I had second thoughts and posted here.

Thanks again for the great advice!
 
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