AUL emergency

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SimonL

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 23, 2005
3,213
9
68
Ontario, Canada
Hello all, need some help ASAP regarding my 12" ozzie lung.

Noticed yesterday that it had a scratch on the front of it's face, running from the nose to under the chin. Thinking it had just scratched on something in th tank, I figured I'd just leave it alone to heal.

Tonight, I noticed some bloody looking small chunks on the bottom of the tank, and saw some blood coming from it's gills. Worried, I've moved it to a separate tank. Really oddly, the AUL isn't breathing at all in the water, it just keeps coming up for air. I've never seen anything like this before!

Tanksmates were a couple small doradid cats, similar sized aros and a BGK, nothing that could have damaged it, especially internally.

And advice would be appreciated.
 
keep the tank well aerated...a 12" AUL shouldn't be relying on atmospheric air that much, but perhaps it damaged its gills somehow...at least it appears to be compensating. other than keeping the water very clean, there is likely not much that can be done for now. if you can provide pics of the damage that may also help.

stay away from any meds for now, and just keep the fish eating. hopefully it's just some moderate damage that it's healing up from currently (and needs the added O2 to pull it off). good luck--
--solomon
 
I've lowered the water level to increase aeration and make it easier to get to the top. I don't think aeration will matter now though, it's not using gills at all at the moment. Fortunately it's still swimming around like normal.

I wonder if the gills are clogged by blood in the mouth from the nose injury...only reason I can think of they aren't "working".
 
Agree with Solomon, just keep the water clean and well oxygenated. When my AUL used to be at 8" it was actually doing the same thing too. Not breathing and kept going to the surface and will even lie on it side or upside down. I lowered the temp to 78F and add more airstone. It took about 3 weeks and it went back to normal.
 
Things are looking grim this morning, the AUL is extremely lethargic and keeps rolling over. I've suspended it in a shallow net at the top to make breathing easier. Oddly, now it's breathing from the gills again.

Here's a picture of the wound, I'm still at a loss as to what happened.

IMGP0367.JPG
 
Unfortunately the AUL just died...I'm still drawing a total blank as to what happened. I can only think he got spooked and swam full out into a rock or maybe the lid.
 
wow sorry for your loss :(
 
SimonL;4067585; said:
Unfortunately the AUL just died...I'm still drawing a total blank as to what happened. I can only think he got spooked and swam full out into a rock or maybe the lid.
Click to expand...

That sucks and hopefully you won't give up on getting another one as we are doing another group order. Going for my fourth one. Sorry for your lost.
 
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