the420buzz
Fish Fanatic
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2009
- Messages
- 78
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Horrible experience I had tonight. I was applying my new background to my 60gal (SeaView is quite irritating, I must add), and thus had the lid off and my filter moved to the front of the tank temporarily. Well, I'm not exactly sure how he managed it, but right after I was (barely) satisfied with the way the background stuck, I turned around to see my ropefish curled on the floor. I picked him up, and he was limp, but I remembered reading that they can stay alive out of water for a good amount of time, and to always put it back in the tank to see if he's still alive. Well, as I picked him up, I noticed a small splash of blood on the ground, and my expectations were grim, but I dropped him back into the tank. He sank for a second or two, but to my surprise started gasping and began attempting to swim.
It's been a couple hours now, and he's now confined to floating around the top. He's still alive, but halfway down his back keeps floating at the surface, a bit out of the water even. I've seen him struggle to swim downwards a couple times, fighting to pull his back down, but as soon as he stops he resurfaces. Right now he is somewhat curled around my heater. I've tried moving him away plenty of times but he always swims back to it and refuses to leave it for some reason.
Now I'm figuring his chances of survival are slim to none, as much as I hate to say it. It's hard to watch him float around the top helpless, and when he attempts to swim down it's even worse. I've heard plenty of times that ropefish are escape artists, but when I had first bought him, my glass lid for my 60gal was broken, so I was lidless for a couple weeks and never had he tried to escape. Even now with my lid, he hadn't tried to escape until now. I was wondering if anyone knows anything that I could do to help him out. I just cleaned the tank today, so that's already covered. I doubt there is much I can do besides hope, but if I wake up tomorrow and he's still stuck as he is, I feel I should just put him out of his misery, unfortunately. Its a shame because he was an awesome fish, he'd let me rub down his sides as he swam around, even ate some squid out of my hand a couple times, and I've only had him about a month.
Well, sorry for rambling on, but if anyone has any info that could help me help him, that'd be great. If not, thank you for taking the time to read, I appreciate it.
It's been a couple hours now, and he's now confined to floating around the top. He's still alive, but halfway down his back keeps floating at the surface, a bit out of the water even. I've seen him struggle to swim downwards a couple times, fighting to pull his back down, but as soon as he stops he resurfaces. Right now he is somewhat curled around my heater. I've tried moving him away plenty of times but he always swims back to it and refuses to leave it for some reason.
Now I'm figuring his chances of survival are slim to none, as much as I hate to say it. It's hard to watch him float around the top helpless, and when he attempts to swim down it's even worse. I've heard plenty of times that ropefish are escape artists, but when I had first bought him, my glass lid for my 60gal was broken, so I was lidless for a couple weeks and never had he tried to escape. Even now with my lid, he hadn't tried to escape until now. I was wondering if anyone knows anything that I could do to help him out. I just cleaned the tank today, so that's already covered. I doubt there is much I can do besides hope, but if I wake up tomorrow and he's still stuck as he is, I feel I should just put him out of his misery, unfortunately. Its a shame because he was an awesome fish, he'd let me rub down his sides as he swam around, even ate some squid out of my hand a couple times, and I've only had him about a month.
Well, sorry for rambling on, but if anyone has any info that could help me help him, that'd be great. If not, thank you for taking the time to read, I appreciate it.
