Fish found outside tank: motionless. Survival chance?

[King-Kong]

I purchased a peppermint hog (http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/wrassereefsafe/pepperminthog/) about 3 weeks ago.

Since I got him, my sixline wrasse never left him alone, restricting him to the top portion of the tank.

I have a covered tank, with a hood, and a covered rear of hood.

Today I came home early from work to find the hog behind the tank, motionless, and damp.

Quickly, I grabbed him and began moving him forwards and backwards in the sump (like a catch and release fishing motion).

After 30 seconds I stopped, and noticed his gills beginning to move. I continued for another couple minutes.

He is bumbling about, now, partly swimming, still gasping, and still covered in dust. He has lodged himself in a portion of my sump where he receives freshly aerated water from the protein skimmer and overflow, so I am leaving him there.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? What are my odds of a recovery?

 

[Lpsfanatic338]

If his gills were still wet he won't die from not getting oxygen. How high is the tank?

 

[FishhyRen]

Sorry to hear that your fish tried to commit suicide!

You did everything you could given the situation- though I think his chance for survival is pretty meek...

He probably deprived himself of o2 long enough to do permanent damage- pretty suprised you got him breathing again...

Good luck!

 

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6603194#post6603194 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lpsfanatic338
If his gills were still wet he won't die from not getting oxygen. How high is the tank?

its a 24" high tank on about 30" of stand.

 

[samtheman]

I think he would have been fine if you hadn't gutted him!

 

[Lpsfanatic338]

Thats a pretty far drop for the fish

 

[fish lad]

dont know chance of survival but hope he pulls though

 

[King-Kong]

he hasnt improved past the initial 5 minute stage. He is still on his side breathing heavy.

This has reduced my hope in him over coming this.

 

[Pandora]

Sorry to hear it, kong

I can't give you real chances of pulling through, since no one knows how long he was out of water. But the real danger at this point, if he gets over anoxic shock & gill problems, is secondary infection. From being out of water, his slime coat was damaged, so he's almost like a burn victim, more vulnerable that way. Don't handle him anymore and leave him alone in the dark. Sorry, but I wouldn't put money on him making it through the night, but let's hope for the best...

 

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6604615#post6604615 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pandora
Sorry to hear it, kong

I can't give you real chances of pulling through, since no one knows how long he was out of water. But the real danger at this point, if he gets over anoxic shock & gill problems, is secondary infection. From being out of water, his slime coat was damaged, so he's almost like a burn victim, more vulnerable that way. Don't handle him anymore and leave him alone in the dark. Sorry, but I wouldn't put money on him making it through the night, but let's hope for the best...

I let him get into the baffles in my sump. That way he constantly has a small current going over him, but hes not being pushed around.

Agreed, though. I dont expect him to make it. This will be the second fish I lose to jumping. I've otherwise never had one die, so this breaks my heart.

 

[integlikewhoa]

I had a damsel go base jumping. I dont know how long he was out for either. But i put him back in and he laid there for a bit, then try to move but looked like he could. Current was moving him around. Well anyways long story short after around 5-10 min he was able to swim but mostly hid and hes been fine ever since. Ill bet he trys it again too. Stupid fish.

 

[Pandora]

I know It never gets easier, either... you can just imagine how I felt when I had 5 of my fish die at once (last power outage disaster) and couldn't do anything about it. Everything except that damsel, that I'm convinced can live in toilet water....

I "adopted" a FW fish that jumped out from my landlord's tank years ago. It was a convict cichlid, and she told me it had jumped out and was probably flopping around on the ground for 20 min or so before she got to it (she said she heard a "plunk" sound but didn't get up to look for that long)! She carelessly was keeping this 3" fish in a drinking glass because she wanted to 'scrub out the tank'. I convinced her to give it to me, set up a tank... in the next week, she lay on her side, her fins (which had been out for so long, they dried into jerky) rotted and fell off, and I thought she was a goner. But long story short, the next week, she looked great, regrew her fins.... I had that fish for years, and bred her quite a few times. But this was a different case--these cichlids are really hardy--but trying to give you a little hope at least.

 

[Alaskan Reefer]

I think he'll survive. I've had a bicolor blenny go half dry and still make it -- he only twitched once when I put him back in and I dropped him from there. Took three days for him to move, but within two weeks he was as good as new.

Those cichlids are really tough, I agree. I had an albino oscar once jump at night, he was like a slab of jerky on the floor the next morning -- dry to the touch all the way around. Put him back in the water, two twitches, and two weeks later same thing -- no problem at all.

 

[Drewcipher]

My female clown leapt when I was moving tank locations. I saw her jump but couldnt figure out where she went. Turns out she got over the railing and landed on a rug about 7 feet down. It took us about 4 or 5 minutes to find her. We thought she was trapped behind the tank underneath the backing which we were trying to get off the tank. Anyway, we threw her back in and she lived. Also, once back in the tank she went straight to the cleaner shrimp who attended to her for quite a while cleaning off the dust and stuff.

 

[iaJim]

Similar story with a FW paradise fish. Found it dry and put it in the tank. Lost fins but lived to grow them back. Different fish, different story. Hope yours works out.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

give him time.....i had a chromis go carpet surfing, how long i don't know, but he was still moist.....about 36 hours later he came out of the rock and has been good since(except for the seem to be burns on his side)

 

[King-Kong]

**update**

He's still alive and breathing, but he hasnt really moved from inbetween my baffles.

I am seeing his eyes move around, now, looking around him, but otherwise nothing else.

 

[davocean]

I have a royal gramma recovering from a similar situation.
I took out a couple pieces of LR that had HA.
After maybe 20 minutes my gramma came flopping out.
He looked pretty bad and his fins were tattered.
I quarantined him right away, and he layed on his side for 2 days
w/out eating.
Thought he was dead for sure.
3rd day he ate. it's been 5 days now and he looks pretty good.
Don't give up!

 

[mattsilvester]

I'd give him 50-50if he's looking around, and appears alert.

 

[Froggy]

Kong, I wish you the best of luck. I wish I had a chance with my hogfish last month. My twin spot hogfish took the leap and I found him dried up on the floor behind the tank stand. Hopefully you were able to take action in time and yours will make a full recovery.