Please help! Upside down Cat Emergency!

corylover5 said:

I turned my 29 gallon tank light on this morning to find one of my Upside down cats completely tangled in fishing line. I have floating java moss balls from petco and the fishing line attaches to a rock so it's in the middle of the tank. I can't get a pic of the catfish since he's hiding now. I cut the fishing line off the java moss and very gently scooped him and the rock he was stuck to into a separated bucket of tank water. I took tiny scissors and gently cut the fishing line off him. It was wrapped around him in 5 places I put him back in my 29 gallon so he could hide in his driftwood and go back with the group of upside down cats. He's really pale, his dorsal fin is completely shredded down to his back and half of it is missing, his dorsal fin is bleeding, under his neck the fishing line was wrapped really tight and he has a small cut and an indented line where it was wrapped, he has some scales sticking up from where the fishing line was wrapped, and he's breathing heavy. How should I treat my tank so he can heal and not get infections? Please help I feel awful that this happened. How else should I secure the Java Moss so this doesn't happen again?

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corylover5 said:

I got some pictures. I circled the injuries.

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Colin_T said:

BASIC FIRST AID FOR FISH

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for at least 1 (preferably 2) weeks. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the oxygen in the water.

Add some salt (see directions below).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If the injured areas look worse after 48 hours, you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

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You can use rubber bands to hold Java Moss onto wood and rocks.

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Colin_T said:

Most rubber bands break down after about 6 months in an aquarium. By then the plants should have attached and you no longer need to tie them down.

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corylover5 said:

Update: The fish is much better now! His fins have regrown although his dorsal fin only grew to 3/4ths it's normal size but other than that he is active and healthy Thanks for the help!

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