EMERGENCY New arrival congi is dying.

My congicus arrived this morning and was floating in his bag. The bv endli I ordered was also floating. I snapped a picture and immediately floated them, cutting the tops of their bags to make 'boats,' and adding a diminutive amount of prime. I allowed the temperature to settle and drip acclimated them. Both still looked very bad, so I gave them each a salt bath. The bv endli perked up, as did the Congi. After their salt baths I released them into the tank. The bv endli is fine. The congi careened into the substrate and flipped over. I helped him back onto his belly. He struggled but was weak. When he flipped again I removed him and placed him in a hospital bucket with a heater and air stone. He is on his belly but is very distant.

What do I do? Someone help me!

I can't tell if he's breathing or not. This is miserable.

The salt bath just saved the endlis life. And they didnt get moved around. The temp acclimation, drip acclimation, and salt bath all happened in the same place. It was a mild salt bath, known to remedy stress. 1/8 recommended dose. Within 40 seconds of adding the salt the bv was breathing normally and capable of keeping his belly down/back up.

He was removed after repeatedly rolling onto his back. The bucket has my most effective airstone and a heater.

The bv endli is now hunting ghost shrimp. He almost just got one. Already proving to be highly active and energetic. That blows my mind. I pulled him out of the box and was 100% sure he was dead. Not three hours have passed and he's already fine tuning his abilities to hunt and kill inverts. If that doesn't say '100 million years of refusing extinction' I don't know what in the hell does. What a mind blowing species.

Appeal to your gods for my congi. If he dies I'm going to feel like hell. He would've been fine in the wild. But thats how it goes, isn't it? We love them because their world is incomprehensible to us. We are transfixed. And thats just how it goes. We're on top of the chain this time around, and so we do what we want. Sometimes because it stimulates us and sometimes because we can. Even if it is sometimes a cruel thing. Its really just a chilling reminder that among species who can understand what it means to have clean hands, there are no clean hands. The others tear each other to pieces day in and day out and there is never any dirt. Its not like that for us. I don't want to know what it means.