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I had an accident when introducing my 6 harlequin rasboras to the 10g tank. The bag exploded and two of the fish hit the floor. I found one right away but it took 5 min or more to find the other. I had given it up for dead when it gasped, I finally got it into a cup with some tank water and it started swimming normally, sort of, backwards. I placed it back in the bag with the other fish and it swam normally. I introduced them to the tank with no more problems. That was Friday, today one of the fish is gasping for the breath, it seems to be swimming less than the others as well. The problem has to be with the fish as the rest are not having any problems. I am not sure what to do with it. The pH is 7.4, I am gradually bringing it down (it was 7.5) so the plants will be happier, and to help the danio with the hole in its side to heal. The tank cycled in 2 wks, I seeded it really well from the other tank to do so. The water was just changed recently, I have shieldex added to the tank, I have res-q to add, or melafix or pimafix, although I am not sure if those would help anyway. It is a planted tank, but I could do a salt bath if that would work.

I'm testing to get the rest of the parameters, temp is 25 C
pH 7.4, I don't know the hardness, I filter with peat though, so it should be low.
Nitrites are high, I'm doing a water change, there are nitrates as well.

Last edited by luvmykrib at 11-Dec-2005 17:01

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Gill tissues are actually crushed when a fish spends a long time out of water, so the fish might be suffering from compromised respiration and symptoms of shock. Put in some anti stress aids, and make sure the water is well oxygenated. I would be loathe to continue changing the water conditions. Often it is better to leave things stable even if they are ever so slightly wrong rather than keep exposing a fish to highly stressful changes of water quality. Put your efforts on hold for a while and let the fish recuperate, this may take a week or two. Stability gives it the best chance .

The damage may be fatal anyway, but unless you leave the fish to recuperate its chances will worsen.The thing with shock and respiritory stress is to provide the essentials and leave well enough alone after that.A salt bath wouldnt help under these circumstances. Let the fish rest without further scares and changing conditions.

You can do too much.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 11-Dec-2005 19:04

Thank you for your reply, I did do a water change as the nitrites and nitrates were pretty high, the ammonia was zero though. I won't do anything else except add the shieldex as recommended for healing and stress. There are plants in the tank, but I'll turn the filter up a bit for added aeration. I'll let it be for two weeks, if he makes it that long. It was such a bizarre accident, I have always cut the bags and never had one explode like that!

Again thanks for the reply, I think you were right that it was fatal, he just took a roll in the filter return. The danio is circling him like a shark and the other harlies are avoiding him. Too bad, I was hoping he'd make it after that amazing recovery, he made the first time.

The fish just died, it was fatal. Hopefully the other one doesn't also die, it was out of the water a lot less than this one was. I'll continue to use the shieldex and maintain the conditions of the tank. The other fish are excited but not overly so. They don't seem to be stressed. The danio has come out if hiding, and is not chasing any other fish around. I will move it back to the 25g when the wound heals. (It was wounded before going in the tank, likely a shark-like feeding attack by a barb) I moved the whole danio out of the tank so the wounded one could heal.

Last edited by luvmykrib at 11-Dec-2005 19:25

Last edited by luvmykrib at 11-Dec-2005 20:41

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

I thought things might go that way, fish exposed to air for more than a minute or two often dont survive, and nearly always take some damage, but if the exposure is less than a minute the chances of recovery are much , much ,better. Hopefully all will be well with the remaining fish. Give it a week and then work on getting that nitrite reading down to zero.


Last edited by longhairedgit at 12-Dec-2005 21:00

Some fish can stay out of water longer than others. You must return them very quickly and pick them up with "wet" clean hands.

Then add some stress coat or similar name.

My large Silver Shark often jumpes out when I am doing a water change and make a sudden movement close to the tank.

Never lost him yet.

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