Oh no!! Filter accident

[Synirr]

I came home from a fun day in Houston to a sight that almost made my heart stop. El Shaddai, my beautiful copper red HM, had gotten his tail stuck in his filter intake and was stuck there!!! He can barely swim with those massive fins as it is, and I guess when I switched his tank from gravel to sand the other day it made a larger gap under the filter than was there previously and he swam under it. It's one of those small internal filters that comes with 2.5 gallon minibow aquariums, and the intake is on the bottom. There's no telling how long he had been under there, and his fins are literally just destroyed... his dorsal fin is barely hanging on by a thread, and I'm sure he'll lose it, too

I lowered his water level to a few inches and added some Stress Coat, and right now he's just floating on his side at the surface, breathing heavily. I don't know what I'll do if I lose him... If he does make it, at least he'll be able to swim without all that weight trailing behind him.

Sorry if the picture disturbs any of you, but I just had to show how torn up his poor fins are

Here's what he looked like before:

 

[Booboo puppy]

So sorry! What an awful way to end the weekend. Let us know how he does.

 

[oneponygirl]

Poor guy. I hope he makes it alright!

 

[Karah's_Mommy]

Poor boy

If anyone can get him through it though, it's you. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, be tough lil guy.

 

[Kiarra]

Poor baby. Are there any marks on him other than the tattered fins?

 

[Mina]

Oh, the poor baby! I hope he gets better soon! At least, from what I understand, they have little to no pain receptors in their fins so they should not be causing him pain.

Just give him a bit of salt and keep him in clean, warm water. (As you know, but it never hurts because I know I cannot think when stressed.)

I know you can pull this off, just keep up hope and make sure he's comfy. Keep us updated!

 

[Synirr]

Poor baby. Are there any marks on him other than the tattered fins?

[snapback]857486[/snapback]​

No, his body is fine, but his caudal, dorsal, and anal fins all got sucked into the filter, and there are even some tears in his poor ventrals. I'm guessing one fin got caught and then the others followed once he was trapped. He's extremely stressed right now, and if it weren't for that I'd be confident he'll survive, but I'm not so sure... He's spending more time upright than on his side now, so I have my fingers crossed.

 

[Kiarra]

I'd say his chances of staying healthy are pretty good since there's no damage to the body. However, I'd consider adding some salt and maybe some Methylene Blue to the water, in small doses. That should counter any potential advantageous illnesses that might conquer his immune system due to stress. It's not really necessary, but it tends to be what I do when I'm worried about it. Should also keep infection from attacking those tattered fins.

 

[Synirr]

His tank already had some salt in it, but I added a little more... I don't really want to add any kind of medicine right now for fear that it might irritate him somehow. If he isn't much better by tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get my hands on some colloidal silver

 

[JoLtNbolt]

How about adding some melafix or betta fix? those are supposed to help repair fin damage.

 

[Synirr]

Melafix and Bettafix are both made with melaleuca which is just an antimicrobial... it doesn't actually help repair damaged fins, it just keeps them free of infection. Being that it's also an irritant, I'm not too keen on using it when the poor guy is already so stressed

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

Oh Synirr, how horrible! I am so sorry for your lil' guy.
Keep us posted on how he is doing.
Hugs and kisses to you both...

 

[JackDemp528]

That's terrible. I hate the intakes on those filters. I've had problems with them too. So I stopped using most of them. Good luck with him. I hope he recovers and grows back most of those beautiful fins.

 

[red99cat]

The accident is horrible. Rooting for his recovery.

 

[MegTheFish]

Poor guy! Hope he gets better!