help! Foxface was stuck to my Gyre 150

[biomek]

I came home from work this afternoon. and my foxface was stuck on the bottom side of my Gyre 150. I tured it off and he swam away but looked horrible. He now has popeye and about 4 indentions on his side where it looks like the Gyre had him. He's been in my tank for about 2 weeks now after TTM and 30 days of QT. He had been eating like a pig and really never even showed any signs of stress with his colors other than the first few days during TTM. he did awesome during the 30 days in QT and was always out and about in my DT.

here's my predicament. my tanks 225g and he's back behind a wall towards the bottom by my center overflow. I can see that he's swimming in place and not just lying there at least. should I even attempt to try and get him into a 10g tank I have ready? is it worth the stress of it all or should I keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours and hope for the best?

thanks in advance guys! this is my first issue I'm experiencing with any fish in my tank so I'm sorta freaked out about it.

 

[Nina51]

have to wonder if he was 100% healthy as it's unusual for a healthy fish to get stuck to a power head. having said that, however, i have the gyre so i know how powerful it is.

i would not stress him by trying to catch him if he is staying hidden. what i would do is turn down the flow on the gyre so that if he gets close to it, it won't get him again. leave the flow turned down until you know for sure the fish is ok.

IF he comes out from behind the rocks, and IF you can catch him easily, it might be worth trying if you have another tank ready to put him into for any possible treatment.

 

[elescher]

Same exact thing happened to my Foxface yesterday too. I have two 130's. Fortunately I was looking at the tank as it happened somImwasnthere to save the day.

 

[Dmorty217]

This isn't the first time I have heard of a fish getting stuck to a powerhead, last one was a Naso that was stuck to a MP40 or 60. To my surprise the tang lived on afterward. For the Popeye I would treat with Epsom Salt since it was caused by injury and not bacterial. 1 table spoon per 5g, just make sure the Epsom salt says "USP" on it and isn't scented. As for why it happened you may never know the answer to this, could of been he just swam too close and got sucked onto the pump. Being that you Qted and TTM the fish I would rule out the most common problem which is ich providing you did the TTM correctly

 

[Dmorty217]

Leave him in the 225g, the stress of catching him and putting him in a 10g tank might be his demise

 

[biomek]

thanks everyone, i appreciate the feed back. I previously had the gyre at 80% so the pull was fairly strong but then again, i wouldn't have imagined a healthy fish getting sucked up near it either. none the less, i've set my gyre to a lower setting and also have it on a slow pulse mode for now.

dumb questions but with the epsom salts, should i just pour it in the DT or sump? it will be almost 3 cups I'm looking at adding cause for any concern with salinity as well? lastly it do any good to shut down the skimmer for awhile?

 

[Dmorty217]

skimmer can be left running, its just magnesium sulfate... I would mix it with some tank water and then pour it in otherwise it may bother some bristleworms or snails. The salinity wont be effected. I have 250xs turnover within my DT so your gyre on 80% shouldn't of caused a problem but I would leave it turned down until the foxface makes a full recovery

 

[biomek]

perfect. thanks for all of the help, i really appreciate it.

 

[Dmorty217]

No problem, hope the foxface pulls through it

 

[biomek]

Well sadly he didn't make it. It looked like he stood a fighting chance until I found him the next morning laying in the sand. I scooped him out and into a 10g I had ready to go and he never recovered. Sucks , was a cool little guy. Thanks to all for the advice. I appreciate it.

 

[Dmorty217]

Sorry for your loss