Pleco fell in hot water!

[Keeva]

Hello, I was deep cleaning my tank yesterday when I thought I had gotten all the decor out safely with my albino bristlenose pleco still in the tank. Turns out he was hiding in the decor still even after shaking it around and dunking it in and out of the water. So I used my shower to spray down the decor and it was on the hottest setting (too hot for me to touch). The pleco dropped out of the decor and fell into the drain with a small puddle of hot water before I scooped him up as quickly as I could and put him back into the tank.

He wasn't sucking much and hardly moving, just breathing and I held him and swished him around a little to help colder water get into his gills and cool him down. After about 10 minutes he was sucking on the glass fine and swimming around. Today he's a bit lethargic and very very red on his tail portion. Is there anything I should do to help him? And is he possibly dying? I put Melafix into the tank last night and today. I'm trying to find my aquarium salt. Any other advice?

 

[JuiceBox52]

He has burns, probably both from the hot water and from chlorine in the water. Keep the water clean, lots of water changes to prevent infection. Clean water is your best bet. Poor little guy

 

[Guyb93]

Hello, I was deep cleaning my tank yesterday when I thought I had gotten all the decor out safely with my albino bristlenose pleco still in the tank. Turns out he was hiding in the decor still even after shaking it around and dunking it in and out of the water. So I used my shower to spray down the decor and it was on the hottest setting (too hot for me to touch). The pleco dropped out of the decor and fell into the drain with a small puddle of hot water before I scooped him up as quickly as I could and put him back into the tank.

He wasn't sucking much and hardly moving, just breathing and I held him and swished him around a little to help colder water get into his gills and cool him down. After about 10 minutes he was sucking on the glass fine and swimming around. Today he's a bit lethargic and very very red on his tail portion. Is there anything I should do to help him? And is he possibly dying? I put Melafix into the tank last night and today. I'm trying to find my aquarium salt. Any other advice?

Sounds a little like a mr bean scene, if you knew the pleco was in there why still try and shower the decor , some battles the fish will win and it can be annoying but I’d probably get an unused tooth brush and just brush it down while it’s in the tank . I’d assume the fish would pull through I’d of thought that it would of been shock it would die from rather than the wound but the wound could easily get infected,
As said above I’d just be doing lots of water changes , maybe even move the pleco out to its own tank or tub for a while so it’s easier to keep on track of water quality and medication if needed

 

[Keeva]

Sounds a little like a mr bean scene, if you knew the pleco was in there why still try and shower the decor , some battles the fish will win and it can be annoying but I’d probably get an unused tooth brush and just brush it down while it’s in the tank . I’d assume the fish would pull through I’d of thought that it would of been shock it would die from rather than the wound but the wound could easily get infected,
As said above I’d just be doing lots of water changes , maybe even move the pleco out to its own tank or tub for a while so it’s easier to keep on track of water quality and medication if needed

I didn't know he was still in the decor or else I wouldn't have cleaned it out like that. I had a "green water" algae bloom so I was trying to deep clean the tank to get rid of it. But I will keep up with the cleaning and meds to prevent infection. Don't have the space to move him to his own tank or place but I'll be diligent about caring for him

 

[Keeva]

He has burns, probably both from the hot water and from chlorine in the water. Keep the water clean, lots of water changes to prevent infection. Clean water is your best bet. Poor little guy

Thank you. I'll make sure to keep it really clean for him. I didn't even think about the chlorine part either! He wasn't in very much water and it was only for a few seconds at most so hopefully nothing internal was too damaged.

 

[GaryE]

No salt, no melafix - just clean water and hope his burns heal. Also, no cleaning like that - it destroys the cycle in the tank. With hot water, that hot, you're lucky you didn't crack the glass.

 

[Keeva]

No salt, no melafix - just clean water and hope his burns heal. Also, no cleaning like that - it destroys the cycle in the tank. With hot water, that hot, you're lucky you didn't crack the glass.

I wasn't putting hot water in the tank at all. I was only spraying off the algae from the decor with hot water. I scrubbed the tank with a rag and did a gravel clean and water change. I was using the melafix to heal any external wounds and to stop infection from starting.

 

[Keeva]

Hello, I was deep cleaning my tank yesterday when I thought I had gotten all the decor out safely with my albino bristlenose pleco still in the tank. Turns out he was hiding in the decor still even after shaking it around and dunking it in and out of the water. So I used my shower to spray down the decor and it was on the hottest setting (too hot for me to touch). The pleco dropped out of the decor and fell into the drain with a small puddle of hot water before I scooped him up as quickly as I could and put him back into the tank.

He wasn't sucking much and hardly moving, just breathing and I held him and swished him around a little to help colder water get into his gills and cool him down. After about 10 minutes he was sucking on the glass fine and swimming around. Today he's a bit lethargic and very very red on his tail portion. Is there anything I should do to help him? And is he possibly dying? I put Melafix into the tank last night and today. I'm trying to find my aquarium salt. Any other advice

Hello, I was deep cleaning my tank yesterday when I thought I had gotten all the decor out safely with my albino bristlenose pleco still in the tank. Turns out he was hiding in the decor still even after shaking it around and dunking it in and out of the water. So I used my shower to spray down the decor and it was on the hottest setting (too hot for me to touch). The pleco dropped out of the decor and fell into the drain with a small puddle of hot water before I scooped him up as quickly as I could and put him back into the tank.

He wasn't sucking much and hardly moving, just breathing and I held him and swished him around a little to help colder water get into his gills and cool him down. After about 10 minutes he was sucking on the glass fine and swimming around. Today he's a bit lethargic and very very red on his tail portion. Is there anything I should do to help him? And is he possibly dying? I put Melafix into the tank last night and today. I'm trying to find my aquarium salt. Any other advice?

Unfortunately he did pass away this morning as I assumed he would. Thank you all for your help though

 

[Slaphppy7]

Sorry for the loss; accidents do happen in this hobby.

Don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[Colin_T]

Sorry to hear about the fish dying.

If you get a gravel cleaner, you can leave an aquarium set up for years and simply do a water change and gravel clean every week. It means you don't have to strip the tank down and clean everything separately.

 

[Keeva]

Sorry to hear about the fish dying.

If you get a gravel cleaner, you can leave an aquarium set up for years and simply do a water change and gravel clean every week. It means you don't have to strip the tank down and clean everything separately.

I do have one! I usually don't take out the decor but because I had a green water algae outbreak I wanted to deep clean the decor so it wouldn't come back, but thank you for the heads up

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Man, I'm sorry about your fish, what a horrible accident
I agree with the others, it's a terrible thing to experience, but you learn from it and try not to beat yourself up too much over it. RIP little dude.