I came home to find my juvenile bonsai flowerhorn wedged under a rock, i got him out and he is upside down swimming and his fins are badly nibbled and his color is horrible. I immediately set up my 10 gallon with the same water from his tank with the same sponge filter and bubbler from his tank, I added some salt to the tank and heat. Is there anything else I can do before placing him in it. since its the same water and sponge filter from teh tank, he should experience less stress right? I only added a small amount of salt, I wanted to up the salt to about 1 teaspoon per gallon, but not sure if that is to strong at this point, OMG freakin out here... send some advice my way please
EMERGENCY FH all messed up...
- Thread starter niekomaster
- Start date
so i think it is dropsy, swollen tummy. I do weekly water changes and the fish are all juveniles.. I wouldnt think there is much waste. I have a canister.. how often do I remove and replace media in it? I thought it is good for a while... Do you think this is what is causing dropsy? and none of my other fish are effected... but she is the smallest...
yeah, i think since she was having problems, she wedged under a rock and they nibbled her from that point. it is the fins that were exposed that are damaged. As far as placing something to make her stay upright, she seemed to be trying to wedge again the sponge in the hosp tank, but i didnt think that was good for her, so i moved it. Is it ok to try to get her upright? She seems better but still completely upside down... 
nippled huh water =D
Try creating a space to keep him upright if not, he'll just float all over. If it's dropsy, you should have seen it well before the fish was swimming upside down. You should also be treating for it if you think it's the case, because it tends to be fatal at that stage, especially when he was nibbled and stressed even more.
Damn, I'm not sure what I was thinking when I was writing that.. but that was a fail lol.
@OP: It's best to keep your fish upright. Letting float upside down puts more stress on the fish. If you could somehow wedge it between something, it'd be better off for the fish.
Most likely it got beat on so it attempted to I hide the stress plus the fin damage could make him/her swim badly. Plus the rock probably caused damage also by the fish rubbing aqainst it and also leaving itself more defenseless. Since you don't have pics just use salt, pimafix, and melafix. Half the dose of each won't hurt. I like those mess because they are natural and can't cause much harm. Only use strong mess when you have no choice or are 100% percent sure of the issue. Good luck
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Thanks everyone, I am stuck at work. Hopefully I can get the stuff and get it going after i get off work and I really hope it helps her. Even upside down, she still has clear eyes and looks pretty normal.. just her belly looks swollen... It is possible that I didn't realize the issue before, because she is really shortbodied and really only has a belly and fins... I posted a pic about 2 weeks ago and one friend said she looks like she was holding eggs.. so I didnt think much of it... Thanks again for the advice, I have never been exposed to dropsy and have really just started stocking up my 125g, so it could have been any of my newbies that got her sick. What would be a good measure to make sure my tank is not contaminated? She is in her own hospital tank for now.
Thanks again for the advice, I have never been exposed to dropsy and have really just started stocking up my 125g, so it could have been any of my newbies that got her sick. What would be a good measure to make sure my tank is not contaminated? She is in her own hospital tank for now.
I purchased some Maracyn 2 from the lfs. It is for dropsy and will use it for as long as it says too. Problem is that her tail fin is pretty much gone because the other fish decided to eat her since she was sick... Based on the pictures, do you think her fins will grow back? Or ever be upright again? Her belly is a little swollen, but she looks the same basic shape that she has been all along, it is not as swollen as i see in the dropsy photo's i have found. I was warned that this little girl would be the one i had to watch out for being mean and ends up she is the one wounded...