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Help - made a stupid mistake during water change - goldfish paying the price :-(


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I was doing a routine water change on my 75 gallon and made a couple of stupid mistakes that compounded to what I fear is a very bad outcome.  Here's what happened.  

  1. I run 2 filters on my 75 because I have 4 orandas, 1 SAE and 2 mystery snails in it. Prior to my water change, I turned off the Fluval Fx4 but forgot to turn off the SunSun 704B.
  2. I have one of the aquarium coop sponges over the intake tube on my sunsun.  I removed it to clean but didn't realize the bottom piece of the sunsun came with it - leaving a wide open intake tube along with a running filter (refer to point 1)
  3. About 30 seconds later I glance into the tank and realize one of my orandas was stuck in the intake tube head first.
  4. I realize my stupidity, turn off the sunsun and gently pull the oranda from the tube.
  5. He's stunned (no surprise) and slowly floats to the bottom, and hangs there for the next 3-5 minutes or so while I think about what to do.
  6. I happen to have a 50ppm methylene blue mix sitting on my counter (I've been dipping a sick fish from another tank) so decide to dip him, too.  I was able to just pick him up in my hand and transfer him to the dipping container - no net needed - and transfer him back again. Not normal.  I have no idea if dipping him was a good idea or bad.

Anyway...I have him in a breeder box in the 75g so I can watch him.  What I see about 45-minutes post injury are some red spots around his head and what would be shoulders if he were human, a circular indentation and missing scales (I think?) around the back end of his body (anal fin) where he got stopped in the intake tube, and some frayed caudal fins (they weren't frayed before).   

So, what to do.  Was the MB dip a good idea? do I keep doing it daily? Should I quarantine and start him on meds?  Or take some deep breaths and just watch him?

Note that he did eat some freeze dried blood worms but what GF wouldn't? I think they eat even while in the throws of death.

Multiple.Face.Palms.

Thoughts?

Beth

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Poor guy! Since you've noticed physical trauma I would lean toward monitoring him for infection taking hold in those areas. The MB can help to stave those off and I think that you made a decision using what you have. When I get an injured fish I tend to quarantine them with aquarium salt so that no one bothers them. The salt helps a lot with reducing the risk of fungal and bacterial infections while the fish is repairing their body and is gentler than MB in my opinion. I hope he feels better!

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I agree with @ange to monitor the poor guy for a while and give him a chance to heal.  Keep an eye out for any signs of infection - salt can help, but not with snails in the tank.  You should consider a hospital tank to keep him seperated.  Otherwise, just be patient and keep a close eye out for any issues.

Stan

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On 5/1/2022 at 6:08 PM, ange said:

Poor guy! Since you've noticed physical trauma I would lean toward monitoring him for infection taking hold in those areas. The MB can help to stave those off and I think that you made a decision using what you have. When I get an injured fish I tend to quarantine them with aquarium salt so that no one bothers them. The salt helps a lot with reducing the risk of fungal and bacterial infections while the fish is repairing their body and is gentler than MB in my opinion. I hope he feels better!

I have my cory in my 10g quarantine tank currently, so will fire up another spare 10g for the GF.  While I have aquarium salt on hand, I've never actually used it to treat anything before.  Figuring out the concentration has always confused me (math, 'ya know).  I've never found much consistency online in how to do it - the salt to water ratio that people quote seem to vary widely, and  how to refigure after a water change can tax my little pea brain.  Any tips on how to do it safely?  Or a post you trust?

 

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Okay - I have him in a 6g quarantine by himself.  I did a Level 2 aquarium salt mix on him to start.  He's pretty banged up and a bit sedate, but he is eating.  We'll see how it goes.  Because the tank isn't cycled, I'll watch the ammonia levels and do regular water changes, replacing the appropriate amount of salt each time. 

On a related note, one day before the injury I noticed a small bump rising on his scales (see blue arrow). It was still orange then.  Now it's bigger and has turned white, almost like a pimple preparing to pop.  I'm guessing that whatever it is will be helped by the salt, too, but wondering if anyone knows what it might be.

Thanks again for the help on this. Crossing my fingers it all turns out well.

  

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