chances of survival question

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A

angryinsect

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 2, 2009
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British Columbia Canada
My 16'' florida gar somehow got outta my tank last night and i found him on the floor this morn lookin really worse for wear. he was still moist when i found him so i put him back in the tank and he is showing signs of recovery, but he has shed his slime coat, and has bloody fins and a bloody snout. i have added a some melafix and a little pimafix. I'm just wondering is there is anything else i can do to increase his chances of survival as i would hate to lose this fish

Cheers
Jordan
 
you should not have added melafix & primefix, gars do not work well with those meds at all. if u'd done yr reading u'd have known, but that's not a lesson for now. by the sound of it it sounds like he would have made it, up till the point u added the meds, i would add salt & increase the tempreature. to get rid of the meds, change 25% of the water for the next 4-6 days(make sure not to stress the gar), keep the lights off, current low to nil, water tubes not anywhere near the gar..and then after tht u can reduce the changes.
 
In cases such as this it is better to add a bit of salt but do NOT increase Temp. They will do fine. Do an immediate water change to get the Pima and Mela fix out or diluted. Watch for oxygen stress closely.. Do a 90% waterchange if needed if you see even slightly any breathing stress in the fish.
 
The chance of survival depends on how long it had stayed out of water. Though gar is a tough fish, it still has its limitaion. If the damage to its organs is unrepairable, the fish is pretty much done. I had a fl gar doing the same thing and it acted normal after I put it back into the tank, just to find it dropped dead all of a sudden two days later.
 
Do you by chance have a quarantine tank? You may move him in there, with the salt as suggested, and let him heal quietly without anyone making him move fast.
 
Perun;4083226; said:
In cases such as this it is better to add a bit of salt but do NOT increase Temp. They will do fine. Do an immediate water change to get the Pima and Mela fix out or diluted. Watch for oxygen stress closely.. Do a 90% waterchange if needed if you see even slightly any breathing stress in the fish.
Click to expand...

why not increase temp? & what's oxygen stress?
 
xander;4083558; said:
why not increase temp? & what's oxygen stress?
Click to expand...

water at a higher temp actually holds less oxygen than water at cooler temps, with most other things being equal. in this case, it will likely stress the gar a bit more if the water temp is too warm and it has to put more effort into aerial respiration as opposed to being able to get by on its gills.

at lower temps and lower levels of activity, gars don't need to surface for O2 as much, or in some cases at all.

without seeing this fish, it's hard to give more than generic advice or repeat what has been stated already. it really ends up being one of those "just wait and see" situations, where gars win out more than most fishes because of their air-breathing durability.--
--solomon
 
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