Dorantic

I have a small decoration that I picked up a petsmart a while back. It has a big hole in the back, and 2 smaller holes in the front.

My 3.5" Opaline gourami swam into the back, and got stuck in the smaller hole in the front. I walked in to the room, and saw him, and didn't think anything of it. He likes to swim into the ship and poke his head out.

As I watched though, he tried swimming out, jerking his head from side to side and straining to get out, before giving up. I ran over and pulled the decoration up and set him free, but his head is all torn up on both the top and bottom The top scales are torn up for about 3/4 of an inch, and a little less than 1/4 an inch on the bottom. (it's a slight purplish color where the scales are gone and a darkish blue around the edges, and the bottom, just in front of the anal fin, is a blackish color).

When I first set him free, he was leaning toward one side, and had changed color to a dark blue. He's straightened himself up, and his color is lighter again, but he's not as active as he was. He's been sitting in the back corner, around mid level, going up for air every once in a while. Except for going up for air, he's only moved around the tank twice in the last, hour and a half.

1) Is there anything I can do for him, other than letting him heal on his own? Do I need to quarantine him, or do more water changes, or add something to the water?
2) How long does this kind of damage take to heal? I really feel bad for him.

agabr123

aw poor guy!!!

1. the best thing you can do is have absolutely pristine water. i'd go ahead and do a 50% water change tonight, maybe with some stress coat if you have it, and just keep an eye out for infection
2. i'm not sure how long it will take to heal, but if it doesn't look like it's improving in a week, then it could very well be infected. do you have a picture of him so the members can see what kind of damage you're talking about?

i'm sorry about your little guy hope he makes a full recovery!

Lucy

Oh, how scary for you both. I'm so glad you saw him. Being a labyrinth fish, it's possible for them to drown.

Along with Alex's good advise it would be a good idea to use some Garlic Guard (or a couple drops of garlic juice) Vita-Chem and Fish Protector (or some extra Stress coat.
These will help the healing process by building up his immune system and helping his slim coat.

Good luck, I hope he feels better soon. Oh, and don't forget to plug that hole with something.

agabr123

oh, for plugging the hole, aquarium sealant/silicone is probably your best option, anything else will probably get torn out by your fishies, or could potentially be toxic.

Dorantic

I've added pictures of him.

I checked my water param's about 30 minutes ago. I have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, and my last water change was Thursday night.

Should I really plug the hole? My Danio's love zipping in and out of it, and the otto's love to chill inside during the day. Could I settle for making the bigger hole smaller so maybe he can't fit into the decoration at all?

agabr123

aw poor thing.....


hmm, you could try just making it smaller, but i'd be concerned that one of your smaller fish might get stuck and you wouldn't be able to get them out. IMO plugging it up or getting another type of decoration would be the best thing to do, but feel free to try making it smaller and see how you feel about it.

DPmom26

Awww poor guy, hope he gets to feeling better soon. I would have completely freaked out if my girl Paris would have done that, good thing you acted quick and got him out.

Mike19

Hi,

I know how you feel it happened to me and my boy ended up fine.

Gourami :(

Fishies-for-me

I also think I would take some sandpaper to it and smooth off the rough edges that scraped him. Other fish can get scraped to even if they don't get stuck.

Dozey

I’ve only been a member here since November and this is now the 4th or 5th thread I’ve read on just the same issue. After reading the second thread I removed my ornaments and now build all my caves using smooth rocks. As the floor of all my caves are gravel if a fish did happen to get stuck they could likely dig themselves out. And it not all I would have to do it lift the rock ceiling to release them.

agabr123

yeah same here, i have mostly just plants, driftwood, and rocks but the decoration that i do have is the greek column. luckily, i know for a fact that my betta girl hera will squeeze through the tiniest hole she can possibly get through, so i base all of the decorations that i get on that assumption