Damaged Dwarf Gourami

[emmaisaguppy]

Hi all

I got 2 new dwarf gourami at the weekend and they have been doing well. However when I got home last night one of them had tried to swim through a hole in a rock and got himself completely jammed in, I have no idea how long he must have been stuck like that but he was pretty stuck! I tried to gently push him backwards but that didn't work so I had no choice but to grab him (quite firmly as he is a wrigler) at the tail end of the body and pull him quite hard. I had to do this a few times as he kept swimming forwards every time I freed him a little. In the end I had to be quite ruthless and pull and turn at the same time.

He has big flesh wound on the top of his head and a damaged dorsal fin and has lost a lot of scales. I put some medicine in the tank last night thats supposed to help fin damage and general nicks etc.... he was swimming around this morning and seems ok apart from a funny jumpy twitch every now and then.

Is there anything else I can do for him or do I just have to wait and see how he does over the next few days.

I feel terrible for not thinking about the fact that a fish may try to swim through the hole and get stuck, I have removed the rock (to the distaste of the rams!) and will try to get something that a fish could not get stuck in instead.

Advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[LakeyGal]

do you have a hospital tank ?

 

[emmaisaguppy]

no - if it is vital - I will get one this pm.

I have tried to reply on here about 6 times now so I hope that this message finally works?! If there are multiple replies from me I apologise profusely!

Emma

 

[eweeb]

if i'm honest I dont think it'l be a good idea to put him in a hospital tank right now. he's been injured and is no doubt stressed. putting him in a hospital tank will give him more stress with the move. so for this i wouldn't move him. it doesnt sound like he has a contagious disease.

 

[emmaisaguppy]

especially as he only got introduced a few days ago

I am worried about:
1) he might get an infection in one of his wounds
2) he might have some internal damage from where I had to grip im to pull him out
3) his stress levels
4) his funny occassional twitchy jumpyness

 

[eweeb]

yeah, i think your right. plus it wouldnt be a properlly cycled tank and thats the last thing he wants! I think keep and eye. perhaps put something else in there for him to hide in to help ease his stress (you can get all sorts of ornaments that fish can go in) that is if you havent already. Keep the lights low for a bit, the jerky swimming maybe down to stress, tho im not sure. hard to tell without seeing. a medication for this sort of thing is disease clear, king british , which ive used and found to be effective. it helps with regeneration of damaged tissues and both external bacterial and fungal infections so v useful for injuries. if he gets fungal infection still don't move him because you will have to treat the whole tank anyway.

above all- good luck!! I hope he gets better.

 

[eweeb]

or melafix as a treatment. sorry- forgot that before. Melafix is v harmless because its natural.

reading back on your original post you are already treating. so its probably best to stick to that one if thats what its for. not a good idea to mix medicines. (sorry, I have a terrible short term memory when I'm reading!)

 

[emmaisaguppy]

Thanks - I will just watch and hope for the best! Hope he is still alive when I get home tonight! Fingers crossed.

 

[eweeb]

No worries. let us know how he gets on.