any hope for my dumb rosy barb?

by **tekneb** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:46 pm

So I wake up this morning just as the lights start turning on in my fish tank. I look over at the driftwood and through the crevices I see something shiny and red and not moving. I start thinking to myself "damnit one of my fish died, first one since I started collecting again." Upon closer inspection, I see that it's one of my male rosy barbs, and that hes still breathing! The idiot got himself stuck in the driftwood while trolling for algae. I tried coaxing him out with food and nudging him with the net but to no avail. I finally had to pull the dumbass out of the hole with my hands. A few of his scales are torn up, one pectoral fin is torn up and the other one isn't moving at all, his tail has a tear in it from where I grabbed him, and hes having quite a bit of trouble maintaining buoyancy, so I think his swim bladder is messed up. I already treated him with stresscoat and melafix, but honestly, is there any hope for this guy?

by **natalie265** » Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:19 pm

I had a similar traumatic event with one of my male bettas and he survived. Best wishes for your rosy barb.

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:56 am

too many fins torn and bouyancy problem...sorry to inform you, but this fish may need to be put down (if the fish is unable to move it means it is dying - a tell tale sign of a fish dying is, it does not move, a healthy fish always moves unless it is "sleeping" at night)

you can take a tablespoon of clove oil, place it in a small dish, place the fish in the fish, it will struggle, then it will slowly die without pain (it will numb its gills etc to the point that it will slowly fall off to sleep (takes usually about 20 seconds or so) - you can buy the clove oil at a pharmacy, it is in a very small brown bottle with a red cross on it, used for human toothaches

hope info helps

let us know how it goes - truly sorry for the fish, he/she is dying

by **tekneb** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 7:42 am

The fish died a few hours after I originally posted, so no need for euthanization. I just can't believe how freaking dumb the fish was to get itself stuck like that.

by **yasherkoach** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:32 am

I sometimes will find one fish who attempts to wiggle itself through the algae and the glass of the tank, and it gets stuck, luckily I am usually in time to literally set him free......so fish will get stuck because it is very hard for a fish to back out from a problem

yes, does not surprise me that the fish died...anytime a fish does not move except for "sleeping" it means the fish is dying

sorry about the little guy...next time you see something like this, put it down in clove oil (less painful)

any hope for my dumb rosy barb?

5 posts