Put down my 7 year old jag or no?...

[DDK]

Hey guys my 7 year old jag isn't doing well at all.. I noticed that she was having a hard time swimming on sunday and I prepared myself that my 7 year old friend might be dead when I come home from work. She has a curved spine and cannot swim for crap. She seems to only be able to move her fins and breath, eye movement is good tho. Ill sit next to the tank and she'd try her best to come over..

Water parameters should be fine unless I had some sort of freak of nature bio crash or something. Kinda freaked out and just did a large water change when I came back from work and noticed shes still alive.

Shes solo in a 125 at around 16-17 inches. Water quality should be great now as I did a 90% water chang, filter clean, and dosed with a crap ton of safe just to be sure. Doesn't seem that she is getting any better or any worse.

Has anyone ever dealt with a fish's body curving and going limp out of no where??? Shes at the bottom of the tank and she can only move her fins. Its been two days now.. Any suggestions? Should I put her down? I'd get some pictures right now but its late and I dont want to disturb her, Ill update with pictures in the morning.

 

[convict360]

I haven't had a fish develop a limp body, but I have seen parasites create some deformity over time; do you use feeder fish?

Quite a dilemma here, I haven't put a fish down before; I've been close to it before, but don't have easy access to clove oil, if that is the option you take, clove is best.

 

[boldtogether]

It is never an easy decision. ...well almost never. When you determine that the fish is suffering and in pain, your options become very limited. As taboo as euthanasia is, I believe it to be the best recourse.
You can either continue to treat the fish either by yourself or get some professional help or you have to put the fish down.
I had a goldfish I got at a school fair that was 1" and grew over the next 8 years to over 10", it was my favorite fish...just a plain old comet. One day the fish was nearly bent in half....curved at the spine from I still don't know what. It got a weird thick slime coat and sat on the bottom gasping. Of coarse I had to do something. I began nursing it back. That fish lived another 3 years..didn't ever staighten out, but those three years it struggled every single day to feed and just exist.
The point is, like I said before, when a fish gets sick or deformed or seriously injured, you have limited options....

 

[jwh]

If it suffers, please put it out of its misery.

 

[DDK]

Update, day three,

Still curled up and she seems perfectly fine, its just that she cant swim for a dam. Ill hold her upright for hours at a time and she'll seem to enjoy it. Even pinned her upright with a aquaclear 110 filter but it seems she tends to breath easier being curled most of the time.






I highly doubt that she broke her spine running into the tank, I just dont know what the hell is going on. I can flatten her out on the side of the tank. I even gently tried straightening her out with great success. Its just that she seems paralyzed.

When I was a child I had tons of fish die due to high nitrate levels cause I just didnt know any better. Showing the same symptoms but just refuses to give up? I'm doing daily 90% water changes.
Water parameters.
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate roughly 20 ppm

Anyone have suggestions? Or just put her down? She cannot eat at her current state, Last I fed was three days ago but it seems she crapped everything out on day one.

 

[DDK]

I haven't had a fish develop a limp body, but I have seen parasites create some deformity over time; do you use feeder fish?

Quite a dilemma here, I haven't put a fish down before; I've been close to it before, but don't have easy access to clove oil, if that is the option you take, clove is best.

Last time I used feeder fish was about three years ago, just stuck with a good stable, hikari cichlid gold and thats all I feed.

 

[DDK]

It is never an easy decision. ...well almost never. When you determine that the fish is suffering and in pain, your options become very limited. As taboo as euthanasia is, I believe it to be the best recourse.
You can either continue to treat the fish either by yourself or get some professional help or you have to put the fish down.
I had a goldfish I got at a school fair that was 1" and grew over the next 8 years to over 10", it was my favorite fish...just a plain old comet. One day the fish was nearly bent in half....curved at the spine from I still don't know what. It got a weird thick slime coat and sat on the bottom gasping. Of coarse I had to do something. I began nursing it back. That fish lived another 3 years..didn't ever staighten out, but those three years it struggled every single day to feed and just exist.
The point is, like I said before, when a fish gets sick or deformed or seriously injured, you have limited options....

Looks like im gonna give her another 2 days top and then put her down... Shes living but paralyzed pretty bad. This is some stress, I kinda wish she was dead from when I got home from work on day one... Hopefully more people with experiences like yours will chime in. Its looking to be like your gold fish.. Never gonna straighten out....

 

[pops]

not looking good, sorry man , clove or as bad as it sound Blunt force trauma at the base of the spine where it meets with the scull.

 

[pops]

if you go clove I would suggest a hand full of alka seltzer also, put in after fish appears sleepy time.

 

[DDK]

if you go clove I would suggest a hand full of alka seltzer also, put in after fish appears sleepy time.

Luckily I can get clove oil easily, will the alka seltzer kill her for sure? I was just going move her into a ten gallon and follow this video.

First sedate her slowly then just mix the whole container of clove oil and dump it in and wait 10-15mins, even tho the video uses a teaspoon. Last thing I want is for her not to be dead you know?