My aro got out, now what! please read!

[jkruger83]

I was asleep last night and my cat woke me up pawing at my head. He was meowing profusley at me like, "get up, get up, somethings happened!" So I look at the fish tank like I always do when I wake up and there was no aro in there. Damn, im thinking and I hear this flapping sound. My cat is looking at something under the bed, " Oh my god" Its my aro stuck to the carpet! I had no idea how long he was out of the water for or if he was even still alive. I reached and picked him up, he moved a little so I put him back in the tank. He sank like a stone, and just lay on the bottom for 10 minutes or so. He slowly began to re-animate and started to swim around lamely. Now Its the next day and he is just kind of like floating around listlessly, no interest in food and his left side looks, messed up. His eyes are yellowish and cloudy and his back is not straight across anymore. Is this damage irreversable? Or will he get better with time? I'll try to post a pic later so you can see what I am talking about. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Also this is not the first time he's gotten out, however the other two times were during feeding and he got so excited that he lept right out of the tank but I quickly returned him to the water. Nothing to this extent has ever happened before.

 

[ospy]

Well I think we've learned a great lesson about securing the hoods. I had a cichlid on the floor from my daughters tank that I thought for sure was dead. So, I put back in the tank and he was all disoriented but improved over a couple days. Now he is fine. So, don't give up hope. Also, Do you turn your tank light off, then walk straight to the wall light shut it off and climb in bed? back in the 80's I had an arowana that would AWAYS jump wildly when the tank lights went out and it went to complete darkness. I learned that I always (even still today) shut the tank light off and leave the room lights on for at least 10 minutes. This give them a period of "dusk". Some fish freak out when suddenly daylight turns to the dead of night in the snap of a finger.

 

[rallysman]

add some salt and keep the lights off. if he is swimmnig there is a good chance he will survive.
goodluck and keep us updated

 

[vanimate]

Thanks go out to the brave cat for his selfless action and quick thinking in a situation where punctuality was of the utmost importance.

 

[ospy]

I don't know. If I was a cat, fish would look like a small can. Not the evil thing flopping on the floor. Your right of course. I am a cat person also. I believe he probably thought about it, but had the "keeper of the foods" best interests in mind. Also, Rally's right. Keep the light off for a couple days. If nothing else, it will mellow out his tank mates and keep them from taking advantage of the arows questionable status

 

[jkruger83]

Thanks for the positive insight. I am remaining optomistic, but he really doesnt look to happy, its depressing to look at. You cannot see the extent from the pics but his eyes are cloudy and his back is bent, his left pectoral fin is red, and he has alot of damaged scales, his gills appear to be ok but the right one seems a little raised on the edge. Let me know what you think. Thanks!!

 

[ospy]

I think you'll be surprised. Is he eating yet? Don't be in a big hurry for results. I think your fish will come through in a hurry all on his own. you will know within two days how he's going to pull through.

 

[TankBuster]

Thanks go out to the brave cat for his selfless action and quick thinking in a situation where punctuality was of the utmost importance.

Not to make light of the situation but...
That is some outright feline ass kissing.

 

[xxblwn408]

It looks like you got lucky. Like ospy stated, you would be surprised how fast aro's heal up. I had aro's jump out and they don't take food for a while (4-5 or more days)
Your aro looks very good for what he has been through.
Just add 1tsp of salt per gallon. Then sit back and watch him return to his former glory.

 

[rumblesushi]

Thanks go out to the brave cat for his selfless action and quick thinking in a situation where punctuality was of the utmost importance.

And I think the aro looks surprisingly ok. I'm sure it's going to make a full recovery.