HELP! Fish jumped!!

[tnc112105]

My swissguard basslet just jumped. Have had him for 2 years and has been eating well with no signs of illness. Seemed agitated about 5 mins before I heard the splash, so as soon as I heard it I knew what happened. Got him back in within a min ( was behind the tank, so required some finagling), rinsed him off with tank water and the cleaner shrimp immediately began attacking him shredding his caudal fin. Caught him again and put him in the sump with the skimmer off. He appears to be barely alive. Is there anything else I can do for him? Has my cleaner shrimp gone rogue? Should I try to remove him?

 

[gentlefish]

Oh no. So sorry. Not too much you can do now. Keep things calm, observe behaviour and if an infection occurs antibiotics in hospital tank. Carpet surfing is an extremely common sport. I had jumpers with gap of 1/4 inch. Get yourself a good cover and keep in mind that this little guy can also jump out of the sump.
PS not to sure if the caudal fin injury happened on the carpet or in the tank...

 

[tnc112105]

Thank you for your reply. He is remarkably still alive this morning. I am thrilled. He looked pretty awful yesterday. I am reluctant to move him back to the tank where I won't be able to monitor him so he'll stay in the sump today while I'm at work and will assess again when I get home. He is upright and swimming normally so I turned the skimmer back on in the meantime.

I know it's not worth much now, but out of all the fish in the tank, I figured he'd be the least likely to jump (shows what I know) since he has the nicest and most private hiding spot out of everyone. So when I saw the shrimp go after his fins immediately when he was put back in the tank, and saw him out of his den and agitated 5 mins prior I assumed the shrimp might have been the one pestering him in the first place.

 

[tnc112105]

So my little escapee is still hanging in there. He was swimming normally, but wouldn't eat in the sump, so I tried moving him back into the display yesterday and immediately regretted that decision. Despite only being out of the tank for a day, the other fish behaved like he was an intruder and immediately started bullying him. I also didn't realize how bad of physical condition he was in. Aside from the torn up caudal fin which I knew about, it looks like he lost some scales as well.

He's in a hospital tank now. Fortunately I had one set up from some fish that I QT'd over the summer and never got around to taking down. (Sometimes being lazy pays off). The first order of business is getting him eating, but what should I do next? Treat with antibiotics? Just monitor? Also, the QT wasn't exactly sterilized between inhabitants, although I think the QT has been fallow since early September. Should I treat prophylactically with meds to be safe?

Also, I don't want to think too far ahead, but what about eventually returning him to the main tank? You're supposed to add least aggressive fish first, but in a situation like this where the more dominant fish have already established themselves in "his" territory what do I do?

 

[gentlefish]

Monitor, antibiotics if infection occurs, but less likely. Feed to fat and healthy. Be prepared for reintroduction in 1 month via tank separator or acclimatisation box.
If lots of territorial going on may also have to rearrange the furniture (rocks). Best of luck!

 

[tnc112105]

Will signs of infection be obvious? What antibiotics do you recommend if that does happen?

 

[Crustaceon]

Hospitalize it as long as needed to get the fish healthy first and foremost. After that, get a little “critter carrier” or acclimation box, put the basslet in it and set it on the bottom of the display. I usually put a chunk of liverock in it to keep it held down. Give it a week and try to release it again.