HELP! Anthias mouth injured!!!

[Fish Ed]

After I drip acclimated my new lyretail anthias, I decided to fish him out with a net since I didn't want to get any of the water from its source into my tank. And unfortunately... It got caught, on its mouth and gills :headwally:. And I was seriously terrified for my life(in this case, for his life). I cut the net and took a while to untangle it, seriously my hands were shaking. Now it's in my display tank and it's mouth is injured. It's opened and gasping(without closing fully). Also it's laying at the back of the tank.

What do I do?!?!? Well I pretty sure I can't do anything in this scenario but what can I try to do to help him!? I don't want it to die D':

I seriously do not want to transfer it into the quarantine tank. After what's happened. Not even with a Tupperware containter.


NOTE: NEVER EVER USE NET FOR ANTHIAS

 

[Triggerfish]

What do I do?!?!? Well I pretty sure I can't do anything in this scenario (

thats about it..
if nothing sees it as wounded and leaves it alone it could recover.

 

[Fish Ed]

Alright. The mouth is closed now. But its still laying behind a rock motionless. The colors drastically changed, it's super pale and showing 'stress patterns'. I'll just leave it be and see how it goes. Hope for the best.

 

[Betta132]

Offer him some nutritious food like mysis, if you can manage it without scaring him. A turkey baster or similar should let you do that.

 

[Fish Ed]

It's finally swimming in the open, looks fine but is scared of me when I'm there. I couldn't feed it since it's hiding when I'm near.

I'm afraid it won't be getting it's daily food. Since everyone is always saying they need to be fed daily or at least once every 2 days(occasionally)

 

[JiveTurkey]

I hope this ends well. I lost my favorite fish Tuesday. He was a tremendous Lunare Wrasse who would glow electric blue in a barely describe able fashion whenever he was happy. I had both my sump and recirc pumps fail me Thursday of last week. I was able to keep the temperature stable and currents going via added power heads and airstones during the emergency. Sunday I was able to replace both pumps after a total tank breakdown and changed out all of my substrate for new aragonite as it was approaching the decade old mark. The live rock all went back into the tank with the fishies Sunday evening. Monday morning and everyone is accounted for and happy except for Larry the Lunare Wrasse. He was coiled up in a (only one in the tank) big conch skeleton he used to love. I hadn't seen him in there in ages, but as he could sometimes be a drama queen I simply attributed it to him being shocky and wanting to hide. Turns out he was stuck in the shell. I noticed because I was able to watch his respiration and it began to increase dramatically. I knew he was stuck when I tried very gently to help him wriggle out. Panic set in.
I called a very knowledgeable pal and he told me to break the shell immediately as it was Larrys only shot at survival. Understanding the dire state of affairs I filled up a five gallon bucked with clean warm sump water and set to work. I eventually became desperate after a twenty minutes of failure with light hammers and decided to pop it with my 5lb hand sledge (12" handle) Larry was already looking very bad by now. I broke the shell perfectly first hit with the 5lb hammer (my Jeremy Clarkson hammer) but Larry had died. Oh did I cry and cry. I buried him where I bury my fish that die in a cigar box and rolled over a nice big headstone for him. The tank seems very empty without his showstopping bobbing breast stroke. He would play so frequently in the jets and currents and OH how he loved to murder Gastropods! I am trying now to get into corals as I'm simply not the sort to "replace" a fish because personalities cannot be replaced. I hope if rebirth does occur, that he has already been reborn into a wild reef destined to live a life entirely free from captivity. It disgusts me that his last hours were spent stuck, and frightened.
So, companion of the coral reef do not despair as you will not endure a lonely existence as a sensitive soul, others are out there who also deeply love and bond with their animals.

 

[humaguy]

sorry to hear...nets are evil...try a trout net....

 

[Fish Ed]

Damn, JiveTurkey...Sorry for your loss

My anthias recovered and normally swimming with the occasion of hiding, gotta get him some girls. I decided to turn off my sump, filter and everything except my powerheads when I feed it so the food will just be suspended within the display tank and it seeps into his liverock caves. It worked.

I've learned my lesson to never use nets unless I'm certain the fish doesn't have any protruding spines. Happened to my otocinclus before a long long time ago, it died shortly after.:facepalm: It's whole body is spine; scales+dorsal fin. Now its always my DP hahah.

 

[Betta132]

I've had a cory (small freshwater catfish) get a bit tangled up, but he was fairly easy to detach. Now I get 'em by hand- which has problems of its own. They're sharp, you know. Little barbheads. At least they don't thrash around and stab into me.

Do you suppose a strawberry basket would be a good compromise between a net and a bowl? No resistance to being pushed through the water, like you get with a bowl, but won't tangle a fish up...

 

[thenewguy997]

I always hand grab my fish