Macneill’s Assessor in Rough Shape

[litsoh]

Yesterday I received a Macneill’s assessor from someone who was taking down their tank. In the process of them getting the fish out it had wedged itself into a rock and got stuck, so they had to break apart a chunk of the rock to get it out. I wasn’t sure if would make it through the night but almost a full 24 hours later it’s still alive. It has been laying at the bottom of the acclimation box in my QT just gasping and hasn’t been interested in food. I had some RallyPro on hand so I dosed it into the tank to treat its injuries but is there anything else that I can use to help it recover?

 

[litsoh]

 

[Decamicron Labs Verified Sponsor]

Those marks do look quite bad. I hope your fish is able to pull through.

In my personal opinion, though this may be at odds with others, the best course of action would be to let the fish rest and heal. I would suggest hatching some artemia tonight to try and get some calories in. I always have newly hatched artemia for new imports in case similar situations arise.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

 

[Piotrek]

I once found a clown that jumped out of the tank, some minutes ago. Can't tell exactly, but it wasn't hours - I was doing some work in the tank.
He looked all dried up and ready for the journey to the eternal reef. I put him back in the tank with 0 hope, and he started moving after ~10s. To my suprise he managed to recover within days. He had similar marks, so as long the fish is alive there is always hope.

 

[litsoh]

Those marks do look quite bad. I hope your fish is able to pull through.

In my personal opinion, though this may be at odds with others, the best course of action would be to let the fish rest and heal. I would suggest hatching some artemia tonight to try and get some calories in. I always have newly hatched artemia for new imports in case similar situations arise.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

I was planning on keeping it in there with the lights off for as long as it took. I was initially hoping that it’d perk up and get off of the bottom overnight. I can try to feed but it’s been uninterested in anything so far.

 

[litsoh]

I once found a clown that jumped out of the tank, some minutes ago. Can't tell exactly, but it wasn't hours - I was doing some work in the tank.
He looked all dried up and ready for the journey to the eternal reef. I put him back in the tank with 0 hope, and he started moving after ~10s. To my suprise he managed to recover within days. He had similar marks, so as long the fish is alive there is always hope.

I’ve heard basslets can take a bit of a beating too, so I’m hoping he’s just been shellshocked for an extended period of time. I’m worried that it may have gotten a spinal injury of some sort while the previous owner was getting it out of the rock, but I can see the tail fin move slightly as well as the pectorals.

Was your clown laying on the bottom for a day or two?

 

[Piotrek]

Sry, I can't recall. It was 4years ago.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve heard basslets can take a bit of a beating too, so I’m hoping he’s just been shellshocked for an extended period of time. I’m worried that it may have gotten a spinal injury of some sort while the previous owner was getting it out of the rock, but I can see the tail fin move slightly as well as the pectorals.

Was your clown laying on the bottom for a day or two?

No fish can take a beating without negative results. This is not shell shock (??)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yesterday I received a Macneill’s assessor from someone who was taking down their tank. In the process of them getting the fish out it had wedged itself into a rock and got stuck, so they had to break apart a chunk of the rock to get it out. I wasn’t sure if would make it through the night but almost a full 24 hours later it’s still alive. It has been laying at the bottom of the acclimation box in my QT just gasping and hasn’t been interested in food. I had some RallyPro on hand so I dosed it into the tank to treat its injuries but is there anything else that I can use to help it recover?

This fish from likely the rocks endured injury and is very stressed and added aeration with air stone may be of help I suggest turning light down low to help it relax and keeping an eye on areas for redness developing.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yesterday I received a Macneill’s assessor from someone who was taking down their tank. In the process of them getting the fish out it had wedged itself into a rock and got stuck, so they had to break apart a chunk of the rock to get it out. I wasn’t sure if would make it through the night but almost a full 24 hours later it’s still alive. It has been laying at the bottom of the acclimation box in my QT just gasping and hasn’t been interested in food. I had some RallyPro on hand so I dosed it into the tank to treat its injuries but is there anything else that I can use to help it recover?

How does it look today?

There isn’t anything you can really do to treat trauma in fish other than to keep the lights dim, add aeration and limit its movement - all of which you’ve done….

 

[litsoh]

No change in overall behavior today, still at the bottom just breathing. It definitely does move around along the bottom a bit since he’ll be laying in different areas.

Thankfully there hasn’t been any redness so far. Is the RallyPro good enough to use or is there something better than I can dose to help it along?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No change in overall behavior today, still at the bottom just breathing. It definitely does move around along the bottom a bit since he’ll be laying in different areas.

Thankfully there hasn’t been any redness so far. Is the RallyPro good enough to use or is there something better than I can dose to help it along?

I don’t think there is any indication of a secondary infection (yet). Rally Pro isnt going to be of any help for the original physical injury, it also is more bacteriostatic than antibacterial…..

 

[litsoh]

No change in overall behavior today, still at the bottom just breathing. It definitely does move around along the bottom a bit since he’ll be laying in different areas.

Thankfully there hasn’t been any redness so far. Is the RallyPro good enough to use or is there something better than I can dose to help it along?

I don’t think there is any indication of a secondary infection (yet). Rally Pro isnt going to be of any help for the original physical injury, it also is more bacteriostatic than antibacterial…..

What would help heal the external injuries?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

What would help heal the external injuries?

Sorry, If there is no secondary infection, there is really no treatment for trauma except what I mentioned. There are those “bandage in a bottle” products, but those are not proven to help, just a marketing ploy.

If the damaged tissue become infected (lesions growing larger, deeper or turning red) then would treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic in a hospital tank.

 

[litsoh]

What would help heal the external injuries?

Sorry, If there is no secondary infection, there is really no treatment for trauma except what I mentioned. There are those “bandage in a bottle” products, but those are not proven to help, just a marketing ploy.

If the damaged tissue become infected (lesions growing larger, deeper or turning red) then would treat with a broad spectrum, gram negative antibiotic in a hospital tank.

Have you treated any fish that bounced back from something similar to this?

 

[Cael Gallery]

It doesn't look like there's really any water flow through the acclimation box in the video. I would suggest aiming some kind of pump or wavemaker towards it. That might be why the fish is gasping so hard.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Have you treated any fish that bounced back from something similar to this?

Yes - but internal damage is really impossible to assess. The rapid breathing is a bad sign though. How does it look this morning?

 

[litsoh]

It doesn't look like there's really any water flow through the acclimation box in the video. I would suggest aiming some kind of pump or wavemaker towards it. That might be why the fish is gasping so hard.

I can try and point a pump through the box, I do have it in the way of the HOB filter that I use for the tank so there is a slight flow.

 

[litsoh]

Have you treated any fish that bounced back from something similar to this?

Yes - but internal damage is really impossible to assess. The rapid breathing is a bad sign though. How does it look this morning?

Moved from its last position, but still at the floor of the box. It isn’t breathing as rapidly as in the initial video, seems to be at a normal rate and there are times where it’ll be waving its pectoral fins back and forth

 

[litsoh]

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