Jumping Fish Recovery

[willisd]

Hi all,

This is a strange question, but i did a water change yesterday and did not "clean up" the fish room when i was done and left my new water trashcan with about 1" of water in front of the tank with my pump. I went to straighten up this morning and lo-and-behold there was one of my pyramid butterflyfish at the bottom of the bucket.

I was stunned, and then even more suprised to see that he was still moving. I immediately popped him back into the display tank and he seems to be doing "ok". He is swimming around (hiding more) and when i fed he did eat a few mysis shrimp. He did not eat with the normal gusto that they tend to, but this seemed like a good sign. I am sure the temp difference from the bucket to the tank was an additional stressful shock.

His scales seem a bit beat up on the side he was laying on, is there anything that I can do to help his recovery or things that I need to watch for? I wasn't sure if this was appropriate for the disease forum or the fish forum. I can't imagine how he got there, it must have been a jump over night or as the tank was getting refilled. I could have sworn i saw him last night when I fed though.

I will get a photo once the tank is more white.

Thanks,
Willis

 

[Nano_Man]

If you had a QT itcould of gone in there but hopefully you and the fish were lucky

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Miracle fish.
My guess is if he’s strong enough to be eating already he’s going to be fine. Hopefully he has lots of places to hide in the short term.

 

[willisd]

he is acting remarkably normal as the day progressed. I have a lot of Tonga branches and he was hiding in it most of the day in his normal spot but then has been joining in with his other pyramids during the day. I fed frequently today and he was always out eating (a little more tenative than normal but he has had a day)

I will write this off as a complete miracle. I have saved my flasher wrasse enough times I will be getting a custom lid asap

 

[larrysaltisfun]

So just for my own fascination, he jumped out of your tank and landed into your bucket that you used to do water changes? And you had enough water in that bucket for him to survive wow.

 

[willisd]

It was a brute 30 gallon with a synchra zero in it, so the water was barely even covering him… and it was sitting out all night. I am completely in awe, and have had the feeling you get when you narrowly miss a car accident all day in my throat.

In retrospect I had to adjust my Red Sea overflow box valve for noise after the water change and to do that i peek in the top of the overflow. Maybe this is what spooked him into jumping.

His scales are a bit damaged but my experience with pyramids is that happens frequently. I will be feeding with Zoe and selcon frequently to keep him happy

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Great looking tank with Mr. Miracle fish