Hurt Comet

[me]

Hi all,

This morning I awoke to find one of my comets with his head stuck in a
tank ornament (obviously it was poking around in there because its an
inanimate part). When I noticed some of his scales were off, I realised
he was in trouble.

After 5 minutes of gently helping the poor bugger out, he finally became
unstuck, albiet missing a lot of scales on both sides of his body.

He lives in a fairly well stocked tank (24" with 6 other comets and one
other fish I really can't recall), with pretty decent filtration, but
given the tank recently had a shortlived fin rot outbreak, I thought it
best to relocate the patient to the hospital tank.

So - he's now isolated and missing a lot of scales where the edges of
the ornament were rubbing against him as he tried to escape. I've added
some Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stree Coat in attempt to get the slime
back over the poor bugger. For a normally fairly active fish, he's
pretty docile at the moment - really just staying in one spot (moves
occasionally).

Can anyone recommend anything else I can do for this poor little fella?
Any thoughts as to how long he should be isolated before I put him back
into the community tank?

Cheers,
David

[Logic316]

me wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This morning I awoke to find one of my comets with his head stuck in a
> tank ornament (obviously it was poking around in there because its an
> inanimate part). When I noticed some of his scales were off, I realised
> he was in trouble.

Fish scales regrow in a couple of months if lost (unless if there's
heavy scarring). In the meantime, I'd consider using a little aquarium
salt which will stimulate the fish's natural slime coat and help reduce
the chance of disease. Also keep an eye out for any white fuzz (fungus)
growing in the areas where the scales are missing. If any shows up, try
treating the comet with short high-concentration salt dips. Details
about salt dipping can be read at http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Salt.html

- Logic316




"If people were required to *know* all the laws, and not just to
obey them, the government would be overthrown tomorrow."

[me]

Thanks Logic316,

Will look at acquiring some aquarium salt. I've been keeping an eye on
him - he's just had a little food, and thats about the most movement
I've seen out of him all day. Thanks for the advice.

Logic316 wrote:
> me wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> This morning I awoke to find one of my comets with his head stuck in a
>> tank ornament (obviously it was poking around in there because its an
>> inanimate part). When I noticed some of his scales were off, I
>> realised he was in trouble.
>
>
> Fish scales regrow in a couple of months if lost (unless if there's
> heavy scarring). In the meantime, I'd consider using a little aquarium
> salt which will stimulate the fish's natural slime coat and help reduce
> the chance of disease. Also keep an eye out for any white fuzz (fungus)
> growing in the areas where the scales are missing. If any shows up, try
> treating the comet with short high-concentration salt dips. Details
> about salt dipping can be read at http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Salt.html
>
> - Logic316
>
>
>
>
> "If people were required to *know* all the laws, and not just to
> obey them, the government would be overthrown tomorrow."

[Geezer From The Freezer]

I'd be more worried about 6 comets in a 24" tank.

You do realise 1 comet requires minimum 20 gallons of water?

[me]

Yeah,

luckily at the moment they're still small (they've all been 2 inches~
for a while). Was a bit of a humanitarian cause winding up with these
little buggers. I acquired them after finding about 60 of them crammed
in someones 18" tank when they were fry. I figured I could at least
give half a dozen of them a decent chance at survival.

Tanks got a canister filter hanging off it which helps until I can find
another solution for them (read: new house to fit bigger tanks). At some
point I'll probably have to sell them off one by one now they're
bigger than feeder food. Found that canister filters on smaller tanks
like 24" make life a so much easier, especially for messier fish.

Everything is fairly stable in there - pH is the same as my tap water
(quite high, but at least if it drops I can tell in a hurry things are
wrong). No ammonia, almost non-existent nitrite. Can't test nitrate just
at the moment, but thats not quite as important.
Huge amount of aeration and regular waste removal/water changes and
everything is fine. If I can keep that under control, I'll be able to
let them get a bit bigger yet.

I mainly keep small tropicals, so spending hours every week leaning over
a tank is hardly a problem. Unfortunately, I just don't have enough
tanks to separate each comet.


Geezer From The Freezer wrote:
> I'd be more worried about 6 comets in a 24" tank.
>
> You do realise 1 comet requires minimum 20 gallons of water?

[Geezer From The Freezer]

Me, fair enough. Water changes are a good idea to remove nitrate and hormones
Might wanna do at least 2 a week though.

Fair play for saving them!!!