Channa Pulchra Decided To Go For A Walk....

[DeepArow]

Hey everyone,

So I came home today to find my snakehead gone from his tank (about a 5' drop from the top of the tank to the floor). Instant panic and I looked EVERYWHERE. Finally found him 3 rooms away next to my wife's planted tank. The only thing I can think of is that he escaped through a roughly 1.5" x 1.5" hole beside his filter aside from lifting a 3/8" 24"x 48" piece of glass and light. Plotting on how to fix that hole now.

He actually seems to be fine but now I'm worried about his slime coat and what I should do to treat him after his journey- I added in some stress coat to the tank and a touch of melafix. Is there anything else I should do?

Thanks

 

[Gaz_ham]

Snakeheads seem to be great at getting out of small holes. Best to block even tiny holes. Most of the time it's happened to me, they haven't survived, despite being treated with different things due to being out over night or all day while im at work. If he wasn't out too long he should recover with some care. Melafix is as good as any treatment I'd say.

 

[Hendre]

Keep stress down, keep the lights off, if you do have hiding spots leave them in.

Hopefully that helps.

 

[HumanBean]

Any snacks enroute to the planted tank ?

 

[DeepArow]

Thanks everyone for the responses; this morning he seems to be doing ok (hard to tell since this is the time he's usually resting anyways). Since putting him back in the tank he does seem to swim a bit off (not quite straightening out his back very much and instead favoring more of a 45 degree angle with his caudal fin towards the bottom of the tank). I also havent seen him flair his cadual fin wide open. So I'll be keeping an eye on him and see how he progresses.

He did take some food this morning though and I plugged the filter hole with eggcrate. Hopefully that works.

No snacks on his journey though. Quite surprising considering under him are two rows of feeder tanks (mainly convicts and 2 QT tanks); so he could have had one helluva buffet.

 

[Madou]

Hey mate,

I've had the same happen with Bleheris, and a crab as well actually! Both hung out next to the main door, ten meters away from the tank.

Both survived (though the crab almost ended up as a pancake under my foot...).

The channa was almost hard when I picked him up, figured he was dead, not moving. I put him in a glass of water, and noticed him starting to move, so I was quite happy and put him back in the tank.

He swam as if he was made of wood for a couple days, then went back to normal. He then became my biggest of the six! What you describe may be some broken back, though, but give it a bit before thinking the worst.

 

[DeepArow]

Figured I would give a quick update - he is 100% back to normal other than some minor fin damage. Thank you everyone who weighed in!

 

[Hendre]

Figured I would give a quick update - he is 100% back to normal other than some minor fin damage. Thank you everyone who weighed in!

Great stuff!