# HELP ME please very urgent! i think my fish is going to die



## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

Help me please.
yesterday my venustus for some reason tried swimming through a hole that only his head would fit through, he must of been stuck say no more than 20 minutes, but he was stuck that i had to actually nudge him back through the hole....

anyway i noticed he had some scale damage to the top and bottom of his head, and his tail from frantically kicking i guess..

about 5 minutes after the male zebra obvious saw his time to become the dominant tank mate and has gone nuts at the venusuts, chasing him etc etc.

by the afternoon ( even happend around 10am) hte venustus appeared to be over the shock and stopping this and acting normal.

anyway today, things looked bad, he wasnt eating, his wounds look worse and now look bloddy, and his tail looks liek it has got a whiteish scab over it

what should i do? is he going to do

please,

i have a spare tank witha 2 inch flame back anda 5 inch zebra (( medic tank) but i cant catch these two guys out fo the 2 foot medic tank and i dont want the venusuts to be trapped in a tank where he cant get away from harmfull mates.


























plesaes help me

BRyn


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## CHK (Jan 12, 2007)

Looks like the chap might have septicemia from his wounds. Its not good. If it spreads anymore you will probably lose him, like I lost one once. You have to isolate him in a separate tank with very fresh water. Medicate with antibiotics, Maracyn 1 and 2. A salt dip may also remove extenal festering infections quickly. Soak food in antibiotics to feed if he is still eating.

Perhaps Kim or Robin can chime in over at the health subforum.

Sorry about that though, really sucks.


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

well, i got an empty 2 foot tank, filled it half way with his orignal water, and then toped it off with de chlorinated stuff,

added melafix
and then got him into a large plastic bag, and let it floot ontop to get use to it, i have added him in

sadly i think he will die tonight 

he is floating with the flow of the filter, spinning arund etc, so i turn off the filter and he sinks to the bottom upside down 

any more help


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

It doesn't sound to good at all. If he hasn't died which we all hope he hasn't, empty some of the water and add more clean fresh water. May sound crazy but a few teaspoons of salt is good for the fella in his time of need.

PS. always use clean fresh water in this sought of case

Let us no how things turn out


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

yeah i only added 50 % original tank water so it wasnt to big of a shock, and the temperture would be close to the same..

He is stull lying upside down, 

i have a tub of cichlid salt stuff that i purchased months ago when i came home form two week holiday to find one of my zebras with NO FINS ANd less than half his size.

he sat on the bottom fo the medic tank on his side for 3 days then on the 4, he was fine 

he has been seperate in the medic tank till about 5 hours ago when i put him back in the tank, and he has already become the dominant one

PS. WHAT RATIO DO I WORK OUT WITH THE SALT?


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

it should say it on the box, but generally it's about 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. disolve the salt first


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

i just dont understand, how he was swimming upright in the tank, and appearing okay (apart from the wounds)

but after moving him, he cant seem to stay upright, only upside down how do i fix this, like is blood rushing to his head or sometihng?


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

one last quick question.

it appears the only salt i have left, is conditioning salt..

is this the same stuff or not?

the tub says nothing about use for sick, only used to balance water hardness and ph etc etc


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

before you go adding anything like that you should check your water parameters if possible.
I would use ordinary rock salt or sea salt from the supermarket. Preferably one that didn't contain iodine. (iodised)
But if your water parameters need fixing then yeah add the conditioning salt


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Ordinary table salt is ok to use in a pinch. There isn't enough iodine in it to hurt. I have 1.6 Tbls. per 10g. water wrote in a notebook. Don't know if it's right but it doesn't sound like to much.
I'd try to get the Maracyn I & II. They are antibiotics and will help better than the Melafix. Change the water before adding it though. You don't need any old tank water. All fresh water would be better. Good luck.


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

cheers, its not looking to hopefull, i got out of bed and checked the tank, he is still upside down, still breathing and moving the side fins, but looks pale and i think swollen

im sad to say it, but i think hes gone


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## QHgal (May 18, 2006)

If this was my fish, I'd probably just go ahead and put him down. No sence in him suffering. Just put him in a cup of water and drop an ice cube in, or put the cup in the freezer. he will slowly go to sleep and then you can dispose of him.


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

Not trying to sound like a dick but this is a good example why mbuna and haps don't mix well maybe if you had a 6 foot tank they wouldn't have went crazy and your fish wouldn't have started to kill each other. there is no need to put the fish down you have a good chance at saveing him still i have saved fish is far worse shape just listen to the people on here and treat the fish properly.


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

As long as he is still kicking there is still hope. It's up to the fish whether it makes or not, all we can do is provide it with the conditions to help the process a little.
Let us know how he is in the morning..........If he is still alive do a 25% water change without disturbing him to much. And then do 25% each other day until he comes good.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I really don't think he would develop septicemia overnight, but it's possible. It could be that something was going on before he got stuck, and this just pushed him over the edge.

How is he today?

It almost sounds as if he has a swim bladder injury, which may well be from the struggle while stuck. He's a pretty good sized fish, so I'm sure he put up quite a fight.

If he's still alive, I would focus on keeping the water pristine in the tank he is in, and adding the salt as discussed above. Antibiotics aren't going to hurt anything, but at this point, I'm not sure that they will help, either.

Kim


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

thanks for the responses guys, I got up this monring bright and early, and he was dead 

i dunno why someone posted here saying thats why not to mix, as he has never been injured before, and this was a self inflicted wound, up till the point hte next largest male sure his chance to kill him. 

but yeah, he had wounds on the head seen int he picture, and a fair bit of damage around those fins that drop down from underneither (( dont knwo their name) and ofcourse the tail where he rubbed it against the rocks trying to kick himself through the hole.

He measured in at 22cm in length, so 8 and half inch i think that works to be,

im so sad, but yeah, thats life


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Awww sorry about your loss. I'm sure you're sad and that's normal too, just like death is. Hope something good happens to cheer you up soon.


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## CHK (Jan 12, 2007)

Sorry for your loss. 

However, reading your first post, the fish seems to have gotten injured on day 1, got septicemia (?) on day 2 and died on day 3.... Thats really fast, considering that fish was over 8 inches.

I suspect it could have been a fairly infectious and lethal bacteria/virus that took hold. Might do well to check your water parameters to seek a cause and perform massive water changes to the main tank. That may help you save your other fish.

HTH.


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## Aussie_cichlid (May 12, 2007)

yeah thanks, i did a 75 % water change today to flush out any nasty stuff and was thorough cleaning everything ,

yeah he hurt himself on day one, just looked like mild scale damage,

next day scales looked darker, by the night it looked like the pics, and next morning he was dead at 8am

crazy.

i just dont understand  but yeah thats life.

when i get my new setups ill get venustus again, i hate loosing my favourite


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

I'm sorry to hear that the big fella passed away 

First thing i would do is go buy another one :thumb:

As for mixing them with mbuna, like you said even the smallest fish would have seized the opportunatey.... So it's not your fault if anything the mbuna are lucky he let them live in the same tank as him


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