Help, puffer got stuck

[Jake622]

I just came down to feed my fish and noticed my porky was not swimming around as normal. I found him stuck to the drain. I thought he was dead but when I freed him I noticed he was still alive but not looking well. He is resting on the bottom breathing very heavy. Is there anything I can do to help?

Thanks.

 

[enjetek]

What are your parameters for the tank?

 

[Jake622]

The display is 350 gallons. All water parameters are within normal range.

I have a fox face in a 65g QT that I got last weekend. I could put the puffer in there if it might help.

 

[humaguy]

i know this might sound odd, but was he playing? my large gh trigger loves to get stuck on the drain, sometimes he hangs out there, with his top fin out of the water...also recall have a df puffer who did the same...he may be breathing hard because you moved him and stressed him...just a thought, and i hope the case, so yours is not sick...good luck...

 

[humaguy]

ps. when i said drain i meant my prefilter...is that what you mean?

 

[Jake622]

He never did it before that I know of and I don't know how long he was stuck. I turned the lights off last night and didn't check on them again until I got home tonight from work.

He was stuck on the drain for the closed loop.

 

[Recty]

Do you have a filter on the drain or is it a unfiltered piece of PVC? It can hurt a fish to be stuck hard to a piece of PVC, but it's a filter with a lot of surface area I wouldnt worry too much about it.

Basically, do you see skin damage at all in the area he had against the drain?

 

[NewbyReefer]

Why does everyone ask about water parameters when its irrelevant? People could say"my fish was on the floor for a half hour and doesn't look good" and the first thing is "what is your water parameters?":deadhorse1:

Its obviously stressed due to being stuck for an extended period of time. I wouldn't move him as that might stress it more. As long as other fish aren't nipping at it I would give it some time and just keep a close eye on it. It could also just be very exhausted and just regaining its energy. Good luck and hopefully it makes it through.

 

[Jake622]

There is a filter on it but it is made of PVC. I can't see any damage, he just doesn't look good. He is sorted of half puffed up sitting on the bottom breathing very hard. I am hoping he just needs time to recover.

 

[enjetek]

Why does everyone ask about water parameters when its irrelevant? People could say"my fish was on the floor for a half hour and doesn't look good" and the first thing is "what is your water parameters?":deadhorse1:

Its obviously stressed due to being stuck for an extended period of time. I wouldn't move him as that might stress it more. As long as other fish aren't nipping at it I would give it some time and just keep a close eye on it. It could also just be very exhausted and just regaining its energy. Good luck and hopefully it makes it through.

how does that even make sense? i bet if you asked around if it were normal for a fish to be stuck against the overflow, a general consensus would be that it is NOT normal at all. most fish that get in that situation have issues that need to be corrected so asking for water parameters is not something outrageous to ask for. did the op even say that the fish had jumped out of the tank? he said that he was going to feed the fish as normal and noticed something was wrong. he mentioned nothing out of the ordinary that had happened prior so asking for tank params (temp, ph, etc etc) would be a good place to start.

 

[Dragon moray ki]

I hope he pulls throught

 

[Jake622]

So he is not breathing as heavy but his right eye is cloudy and some of the spikes on the right side are sticking up but none on the left.