My Poor Baby

[Just_Another_One]

Well i was moving my Sparkles back from his 2.5G holding tank just now to his 6G that i had scrubbed out with bleach yesterday to get rid of a nasty worm problem and like i always do i just used my hands to move him since nets seem to mess up their beautiful fins a bit and he usually does mind me using my hands...

Well i had him cupped between both of my hands and somehow he still managed to slither out and fell down about 3 feet and landed flat on my hardwood floor. I carefully picked him up with a bit of struggle on his part and quickly put him in the new clean 6G tank but he went nuts and turned a little bit white and i could kinda tell he was just drifting away and dieing as he layed on the sand in the tank just moving his gills rapidly and one of his little side fins was stuck to his body.

At first I thought forsure he was dieing right before my eyes and I had caused this all unnessarily to a fish ive had for 3 years and love with all my heart!!!

I decided to move him back to the 2.5G since there may have been some salt/beach left in the 6G as he was turning whitish which i thought was odd. I gave him some fresh dechlord water in the 2.5 and hes just laying on the bottom not really moving at all exepct his gills. I also noticed that his pectoral fin that was clamped to his body before was moving now but it seems all shredded from the wood...

Well after writing all this out I just went to check on him and hes swimming about!!!!

He even did a little half flare at me, i guess hes a bit pissed off at what ive done to him and he looks a lil rough, it looks like hes been crying as well but at least hes out and about and drinking some air from the surface, not just laying on the bottom...

Please say a prayer for me that my lil fighter makes it through this. I feel so bad that i caused this and after having him for 3 years i am so attached to the little guy i would be devestated if I caused his death like this.

I must say this fish is a real strong trooper. I feel like a aweful fish mommy letting this happen not only once but Sparkles had fallen 4 feet down shortly after i got him 3 years ago when he jumped out of his holding dish during a tank cleaning. Hes a old guy now and at first i thought forsure he was gone but I have hope that he will get through this just like last time

 

[azulfire24]

wow, thats alot for a fish to live threw...as for the white i have no idea maby it could be bleach, i run a tank in the bathtub to over flowing for at least 10 minits to rinse it,, was the water in the 6 gal filled with decloniator???

 

[riogal_11]

He will probably snap completely out of it by tomorrow. When going through something so traumatic as a long fall to the floor they are bound to act out of sorts for awhile. Sounds like he's pulling through quickly. I'm sure he'll be back to normal before long. I would add a little salt to help his finnage issues and keep the lighting low to keep his stress as low as possible for a day or so. Goodluck with him!

 

[LauraFrog]

I hope he makes it! If he's able to swim normally, it sounds like he will probably be okay. I did the same thing to a platy, she lay like the dead for an hour and a half and i thought I'd lost her but within 24 hours she was normal.

 

[Spishkey]

probably just a little concussion. if you fell from a height and smacked yourself into a hardwood floor, i bet you'd turn a little pale and be woozy for a while!

hope the little guy is feeling better now.

 

[Just_Another_One]

Thanks for all your advice.

Sparkles seems to be doing well for the most part- A little sleepy though as expected. He gulped down a bunch of pellets which surprised me he'd be hungry so soon after his little event.

I just turned on the lights and found him asleep up on the heater brackets (his tank is empty right now as i had to throw away all the live plants due to wormies so theres nothing else for him to really sleep on. im picking up lots of plants and wood this weekend for the little guy)

He slowly made his way out when he saw me and did many many rounds around the tank flaring non stop...

He continues to flare dance all around the tank and for some reason wont stop. I guess its a good thing that hes being active in some way or another.

His right pectoral fin is all shredded but its not clamped to his body anymore and hes swimming about fine so its not broken(thank God)

I just pray that I still have him with me when I wake up in the morning

 

[danni_69]

Just as a side note.. I will say you should never clean a tank with bleach.. either use boling water or salts.. bleach = bad for fish!!!

 

[jonny_dw]

Just as a side note.. I will say you should never clean a tank with bleach.. either use boling water or salts.. bleach = bad for fish!!!

I agree Its not a good idea.

 

[Just_Another_One]

Just as a side note.. I will say you should never clean a tank with bleach.. either use boling water or salts.. bleach = bad for fish!!!

thats odd because ALOT of poeple disinfect there equipt with a diluted bleach solution. I think the solution is 1 part pure bleach to 20 parts water but i just pour a bit in. It is perfectly safe as long as you rinse super well with lots of decholorinater and maybe double up on the dechlor when ur fill your tank for your fish.

After all bleach is just a strong chorine mixture, same thing thats in our tap water which we use decholorinator to get rid of...

Thanks for your concern though.

 

[Syphoniera]

A few years back, if anyone had told me I'd use bleach on tank equipment, I'd have laughed hysterically - but there are too many nasties around now.
Lots of rinsing, lots of dechlor are obviously required - a good dose of paranoia is better than complacency where bleach is concerned, as the merest whiff is disaster for fish, but used with caution it's indispensible under certain conditions, as when sickness/parasites are involved.

 

[LionMom]

I'm really, really glad your little guy is doing so much better!!!

I wonder, though, if moving him in your hands is really the best way to go about it. If you don't want to use a net, why not use a cup or glass? You can use your hand to kind of herd him into the glass. At least that's what I do.

Just an idea.

 

[Just_Another_One]

I'm really, really glad your little guy is doing so much better!!!

I wonder, though, if moving him in your hands is really the best way to go about it. If you don't want to use a net, why not use a cup or glass? You can use your hand to kind of herd him into the glass. At least that's what I do.

Just an idea.

Your right, using my hands is probably not good at all for him as I could have lots of contaminments and they would get on his skin from the contact as well as him jumping out but i made sure to rinse my hands really well for a few mins so hopefully that helps a bit.

I usually do use a little cup to scoop him in but yesterday he was being a brat and kept wiggling away so i just reached down and gently grabbed him.

Hes doing SO MUCH better today and if i didnt know what actually happened I would have never guessed anything happened at all. he is no longer stalking around the tank flaring at everything either lol.

Im going to add some little cories to his tank later today from one of my other tanks to keep the bottom sand in good shape so we'll see how he gets along with them. In the 3 years ive had him hes never really had any tank mates except once i added some white clouds which he proceded to chase and nip at so i had to remove them... im hoping he'll be fine with cories since they mostly stay on the bottom. Fingers crossed