SOS I vacuumed my Clownfish :/

[ConnorD42]

Hey everyone, I was performing regular weekly maintenance yesterday and whilst vacuuming I sucked up one of my clowns. It took me a little longer than I would have liked to get him out due to the panic the situation put me in. This was not a "vacuum" vacuum I was just using some 1/2" clear tubing to remove some garbage in the sand bed and as I was checking a corner of the tank I felt him get sucked in. Afterwards I put a breeder net in the tank and dropped him in it so I could keep a close eye on him, he's missing a few scales, and his tail fin looks like it's falling apart. He seemed to be swimming fine until this evening, now he's just chilling at the bottom of the net keeping himself upright with his pectoral fins, and he's breathing quite fast and hard. I dipped him this morning after I observed a light string of a mucusy-looking strand a little before the tail. Anyone have any thoughts on what I can do?? Dosing some stress guard in an attempt to help him a little bit.

[hzuiel]

Could you get a hang on or in tank breeder box and then put an airstone in it? Slower water movement might be easier on the little guy to recover, but then the airstone should raise oxygen levels in the water so it takes some stress off. 

[Frag Factory]

Did he make it through the pipe or get stuck?

 

[Wonderboy]

You could also try letting it go in the tank with lowered flow rates or power heads off to help his fins heal; allowing fish to be in their acquainted environment aids in reducing stress. Air-stones for increased oxygen is a really good idea @hzuiel. Stress guard was sufficient. You could also increase the temperature a little over time to increase his/her immune system activity.

[ConnorD42]

12 hours ago, Frag Factory said:

Did he make it through the pipe or get stuck?

 

stuck

 

[ConnorD42]

I'll add the airstone and keep him in the breeder net! I guess also keep dosing stress guard and say some prayers, he looks way rougher today.

[hzuiel]

Fortunately clowns are really tough. I had a little clown flop out on the floor. When I found it I thought for sure it was dead. Dried out and had dead eyes. Then all of the sudden its gills flared a little so I put it in the aquarium. The powerhead blew it straight to the bottom and against a rock upside down. As I watched its gills flared, some more gill and mouth movements started. Next thing I knew it was right side up. Little while later it was like nothing ever happened. 

[MrObscura]

I personally would just let him be in the tank. Let him choose his safe place and recover. I think being in the net might stress him more. 

[ConnorD42]

Well I can certainly say I know what NOT to do next time something like this should happen 😕

[MrObscura]

Not your fault, you're just trying to help your fish. 

[BlennyBoi]

if given good conditions, his fins should regrow. if the new fin is a bit abnormally shaped, dont worry. i have a black skirt tetre that got stuck in the filter for a week, lost almost all his fins, and they grew back and hes fine. the new fins are ugly as heck, but he can swim and hes eating and thats all i care about

[Floundering_Around]

My clown got beaten up pretty badly by it partner (dominance fighting). I dosed the whole DT with melafix and made sure he was eating every day and he's fine now

[SaltyBuddha]

I sucked up a Green Banded Goby without even noticing. He must have got curious and checked out the hose while I was off doing other things. I dumped the water into the toilet...as I was walking to put the bucket away I saw him on the bottom! Now I do a headcount after siphoning

[ConnorD42]

Needless to say I lost the fish 😞 So just left with his partner and a blue damsel at the moment. I'm just going to focus on my corals for now and pray I don't suck up either of them. I might replace the lost clown with another or something else a little later. Kinda thinking a watchman Goby or a couple other smaller fish.

[Floundering_Around]

How big and how old is this tank? I wouldn't want you to stock too many fish at once and shock the tank. Plus they'll need to go through QT first. There's also a good chance the clown and the damsel will fight as they get older as they're closely related.

[specore]

Just let it be.  Breeder boxes, stress guard, dips, etc are probably adding more stress rather than helping.  As @hzuiel pointed out, clowns are pretty bulletproof.

[Floundering_Around]

9 minutes ago, specore said:

Just let it be.  Breeder boxes, stress guard, dips, etc are probably adding more stress rather than helping.  As @hzuiel pointed out, clowns are pretty bulletproof.

The fish already passed

[Ocellaris PDX]

59 minutes ago, ConnorD42 said:

Needless to say I lost the fish ? So just left with his partner and a blue damsel at the moment. I'm just going to focus on my corals for now and pray I don't suck up either of them. I might replace the lost clown with another or something else a little later. Kinda thinking a watchman Goby or a couple other smaller fish.

I'm sorry you lost the fish. Don't beat yourself up over it, though. These things happen, and while it's very sad, don't dwell on them. You can't change what happened now, only move on.

 

This happened to one of my corydoras. I left the tube in the tank while I got some food, and being ADHD, I forgot to come back to it. The next day, I found one of my albino males trapped inside. I got him out, but he was dead already. 

One also swam up the tube WHILE I was cleaning -_- I had to break the floe to get him out and he was extremely freaked out.

[specore]

3 hours ago, Floundering_Around said:

The fish already passed

Oh.  Didn't read the entire thread obviously

[ConnorD42]

23 hours ago, Floundering_Around said:

How big and how old is this tank? I wouldn't want you to stock too many fish at once and shock the tank. Plus they'll need to go through QT first. There's also a good chance the clown and the damsel will fight as they get older as they're closely related.

The Clown and a blue damsel actually get along okay at least for now, I say that, I've only seen maybe two or three instances where they've chased each other around. but yeah definitely don't want to overload the tank. I've had it for roughly 7 months now.

[ConnorD42]

4 minutes ago, ConnorD42 said:

The Clown and a blue damsel actually get along okay at least for now, I say that, I've only seen maybe two or three instances where they've chased each other around. but yeah definitely don't want to overload the tank. I've had it for roughly 7 months now.

OH I as they get older, yeah you're probably right. I have another tank I can put them in if it becomes a problem.