Copperband laying sideways. Emergency!

[HockeyRooster]

He’s been in this quarantine tank for a week and was eating and swimming around until Thursday. The ammonia was up so I did a water change and he then spent the next two days staying in one spot. This morning he is on his side. He’s breathing heavily.
what do I do? Please help!

 

[HockeyRooster]

So immediately after I hit post, I increased air into the tank and he got up from his laying down position and is breathing less heavily.
Is this a copperband joke?
Is it possible he wasn’t getting enough oxygen?

he is back to sitting on the bottom but not laying sideways.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Unfortunately once I’ve seen fish lay on its side the turn around hasn’t been very good. Maybe oxygen was at play here. Has he been eating? Has he been swimming normal? CB are very finicky eaters so hopefully he’s been eating. Also do you have any meds in the water column? If not and you are still seeing ammonia I would dose some prime to eliminate it.

 

[HockeyRooster]

He was eating and swimming normally until the ammonia went up.
No meds in there because I’m in Canada and we can barely get anything for meds here. I’ll hit the lfs this morning to get some prime. Appreciate the quick response

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

He was eating and swimming normally until the ammonia went up.
No meds in there because I’m in Canada and we can barely get anything for meds here. I’ll hit the lfs this morning to get some prime. Appreciate the quick response

Getting drugs in Canada sure is a big issue. While the problem could have been low dissolved oxygen, there is probably something else at work here, and turning up the air may just be a temporary fix. As @Redfoxtang said, once a fish becomes moribund, it is almost impossible to reverse the situation. The only times I've seen recovery from that point was when there was an acute problem; shipping stress, and fish jumping out of the tank, etc. Once the acute problem was resolved, the fish sometimes recover.

Is your ammonia at zero now? Depending on how high the ammonia got, it may have burned its gills.

Jay

 

[HockeyRooster]

Thanks Jay. The ammonia was tested on one of those ammonia alerts and it was into the second category “alert” (not at home as I’m off to lfs). It’s in the “safe” section now.
And that was only after 5 days in the tank that included water and live rock from the dt. Couldn’t believe the ammonia jumped that quickly. I’ve never done a quarantine tank before. Now I wish I’d have put him in the dt. I’ll be devastated if I’ve done this.