Hello all,
I have a question about fish recovery I am hoping I could get some opinions on what to do.
Basically what happened is my filefish nipped at some not dry glue that I had used to clamp down a coral and it was stuck on the top part of his mouth. This made it really hard for him to eat. After a while he got really thin and started laying on his side. I was able to capture him and had him in a small like 1 gallon mesh container that floated at the top of the tank. I couldn't figure out what to do, but eventually he became so low on strength from no food that I was able to cup him in my hand and use my other hand to pick at the glue and it worked! I got the glue off! Though at this point he was so low in strength I had to shoot tiny bits of food into his mouth. Slowly but sure he has gained more and more strength. But even after a few weeks of feeding twice a day or more, he still doesn't appear to be full strength, he is much better then before. But he is still grabbing on to the side with his mouth to stay level and floating. He swims around more and eats quite a bit so he seems okay. But I don't feel like he is ready for the big active moving tank yet. I am sure there will be another grace period when he enters where some of the dominate fish will want to remind him of his place like it was before he got sick. Nothing too bad but I want him to be able to stand up for himself like he did before.
My question is, should I just continue in this little 1 gallon mesh container and feed for as many weeks as it takes until he is swimming more stable? Or I have a 10 gal nano tank with no fish just corals I could put him in for a while, there are a few aptasias he could eat in here as well. Or would this make things worse? What do you all think I should do to get him back to full strength or close enough where I can feel comfortable letting him back in my main large active tank?
Thank you
I have a question about fish recovery I am hoping I could get some opinions on what to do.
Basically what happened is my filefish nipped at some not dry glue that I had used to clamp down a coral and it was stuck on the top part of his mouth. This made it really hard for him to eat. After a while he got really thin and started laying on his side. I was able to capture him and had him in a small like 1 gallon mesh container that floated at the top of the tank. I couldn't figure out what to do, but eventually he became so low on strength from no food that I was able to cup him in my hand and use my other hand to pick at the glue and it worked! I got the glue off! Though at this point he was so low in strength I had to shoot tiny bits of food into his mouth. Slowly but sure he has gained more and more strength. But even after a few weeks of feeding twice a day or more, he still doesn't appear to be full strength, he is much better then before. But he is still grabbing on to the side with his mouth to stay level and floating. He swims around more and eats quite a bit so he seems okay. But I don't feel like he is ready for the big active moving tank yet. I am sure there will be another grace period when he enters where some of the dominate fish will want to remind him of his place like it was before he got sick. Nothing too bad but I want him to be able to stand up for himself like he did before.
My question is, should I just continue in this little 1 gallon mesh container and feed for as many weeks as it takes until he is swimming more stable? Or I have a 10 gal nano tank with no fish just corals I could put him in for a while, there are a few aptasias he could eat in here as well. Or would this make things worse? What do you all think I should do to get him back to full strength or close enough where I can feel comfortable letting him back in my main large active tank?
Thank you