EMERGENCY 911 PLS HELP ME HELP MY FISH

[ameliagb]

so this morning i turn on the tank lights and my pictus cat (about 2 inches id guess) was STUCK to the filter and not in a "im dying" way in a thrashing and trying to swim off of it way looking around frantic with those big pictus cat eyeballs SO i push him off gently with the net an he swims around but his bodys a little bent and he was getting swept around with the tank current which is no good i turned off the big filter and left the small one running to make stuff calmer for him but now hes just sunk to the bottom on a rock but his gills are moving and hes alert and so are his eyes so im thinking he suffered some damage obvi while stuck to the filter but for the most part it looks like hes trying to rest it off. i looked around my tank to see what might have caused this and one of my convicts were dead behind a log it mustve happened last night one of my plants is dying but i took it out i cant think of anything that wouldve caused this

TLDR: my catfish was stuck to the filter for possibly like 5 hours and he seems okay but his body is shot like hes alive but i dont think he can move anytime soon gonna leave the big filter off for a bit see if he gets his mojo back but pls help if anything like this has happened before

 

[ameliagb]

updates: hes swam off the rock/ let himself float off and was twitching himself violently trying to get his swiming back to normal ... one second of progress, then floating, etc , looks like hes reallllyyy trying to get his **** back together i wish i could help him more its breaking my heart

 

[ameliagb]

looks like the side of the tail that was stuck to the filters a little messed up but i added some stress coat as well... hes upright on his tail thats bent just lazily spinning in circles his top halfs alive but it looks like he broke his tail or something

 

[Colin_T]

Do a big (75%) water change and put a round sponge on the filter intakes. Give the fish time and it should recover.

 

[ameliagb]

Do a big (75%) water change and put a round sponge on the filter intakes. Give the fish time and it should recover.

thankyouu i have work right now and can not be late under any circumstance do u think hed make it a couple hours

 

[Colin_T]

Assuming the filter is removing any ammonia or nitrite in the water (caused by the dead convict) the pictus should be ok. But if there is ammonia or nitrite in the water it will harm the fish. A big water change will dilute any ammonia or nitrite in the water assuming there is some.