Is this Uronema? Join my QT adventure...

evolved · Feb 17, 2019

I'm thinking spinal injury as well, but it doesn't look that bad. It can be recoverable, and given how mild it looks I think he'll be okay. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Big G · Feb 17, 2019

Beautiful fish. Best of luck

Falcon53 · Feb 17, 2019

HotRocks said:
I think it's a spinal injury. If he is eating well, he may recover. The fact the fish can still right itself and is eating are good signs IMO. It may just be a very minor injury and hopefully it will recover.

evolved said:
I'm thinking spinal injury as well, but it doesn't look that bad. It can be recoverable, and given how mild it looks I think he'll be okay. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Big G said:
Beautiful fish. Best of luck

Thanks for the replies and encouragement. It's still eating but seems to have progressed to him being upside-down. I'm not that hopeful at this point, but I will keep feeding until he stops eating.

Should I continue with the treatment of General Cure?

Falcon53 · Feb 20, 2019

Still alive today. Not eating very much (but still eating), but given that it is barely moving, maybe it doesn't need as much food. It doesn't look gaunt, so I guess that's good.

Frtdrmrose7 · Feb 20, 2019

Falcon53 said:
Still alive today. Not eating very much (but still eating), but given that it is barely moving, maybe it doesn't need as much food. It doesn't look gaunt, so I guess that's good.

Has his ability to swim improved at all?

Falcon53 · Feb 20, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
Has his ability to swim improved at all?

If anything, it appears to have gotten a little worse. I'm not that optimistic.

Anecdotal reports seem to suggest that if this fixes itself, it will take 2-3 weeks. I feel bad about the fish's current condition (although I doubt it feels anything like humans would), but I will keep trying for a few weeks, or until it stops eating.

Frtdrmrose7 · Feb 20, 2019

Falcon53 said:
If anything, it appears to have gotten a little worse. I'm not that optimistic.

Anecdotal reports seem to suggest that if this fixes itself, it will take 2-3 weeks. I feel bad about the fish's current condition (although I doubt it feels anything like humans would), but I will keep trying for a few weeks, or until it stops eating.

Unfortunately that’s how mine went it slowly stopped eating and trying to swim. Took about two weeks total.

Falcon53 · Feb 20, 2019

So unfortunately when I came home, the fish was basically folded in half and no longer eating or able to swim well. I assume at this point it would be best to euthanize? Or should I wait?

Frtdrmrose7 · Feb 20, 2019

Falcon53 said:
So unfortunately when I came home, the fish was basically folded in half and no longer eating or able to swim well. I assume at this point it would be best to euthanize? Or should I wait?

I would probably euthanize

Falcon53 · Feb 21, 2019

Unfortunately, I did euthanize it last night. It stopped eating completely and just stayed folded over. It could barely swim at all anymore. Time to get a soft net top for QT and start the process all over again.

Frtdrmrose7 · Feb 21, 2019

Falcon53 said:
Unfortunately, I did euthanize it last night. It stopped eating completely and just stayed folded over. It could barely swim at all anymore. Time to get a soft net top for QT and start the process all over again.

Sorry for your loss

Falcon53 · Feb 21, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
Sorry for your loss

Thanks. Hopefully the next round goes well!

Big G · Feb 21, 2019

Sorry for your loss. Such a beautiful fish.

This hobby can be harsh at times.

Falcon53 · Feb 21, 2019

Big G said:
Sorry for your loss. Such a beautiful fish. This hobby can be harsh at times.

Thanks. I'll be getting another one soon, and will never QT with a hard canopy again. I went with a hard canopy only to avoid the evaporation loss. Now I guess I'll be topping up 2x a day.

4FordFamily · Feb 21, 2019

Sorry for the loss, spinal injuries get worse before they get better. I think swelling has a lot to do with that. Adding epsom salt is a good idea to aid this in the future. One TSP per 5 gallons.

Falcon53 · Feb 21, 2019

4FordFamily said:
Sorry for the loss, spinal injuries get worse before they get better. I think swelling has a lot to do with that. Adding epsom salt is a good idea to aid this in the future. One TSP per 5 gallons.

Thanks for this. I'm just curious...are you suggesting that maybe I gave up too soon? I'm not taking offense, just trying to learn. I'm a little annoyed with myself that Epsom salt and a bit more patience might have saved it.

4FordFamily · Feb 21, 2019

Falcon53 said:
Thanks for this. I'm just curious...are you suggesting that maybe I gave up too soon? I'm not taking offense, just trying to learn. I'm a little annoyed with myself that Epsom salt and a bit more patience might have saved it.

Honestly my personal experience isn’t very good with these. I have had probably 6 fish with it and one made a recovery. It got very bad and he hid for a couple weeks or more before emerging. I don’t know how he survived that long but he did. He made a good recovery until he jumped out of a tiny hole in the lid (implies quite the recovery).

Most of the time minor spinal injuries turn to serious ones in a few days and it goes rough. It’s impossible to know, but I wouldn’t feel bad at all about your decision to euthanize.

evolved · Feb 21, 2019

4FordFamily said:
I wouldn’t feel bad at all about your decision to euthanize.

Me either. You as the observer can see best.

I've never had one recover either, but I've never had one this mild either (initially). I've seen others get them to pull through when it wasn't too bad, and I was hopeful you'd be another.

Things happen beyond our best control.

Falcon53 · Feb 21, 2019

4FordFamily said:
Honestly my personal experience isn’t very good with these. I have had probably 6 fish with it and one made a recovery. It got very bad and he hid for a couple weeks or more before emerging. I don’t know how he survived that long but he did. He made a good recovery until he jumped out of a tiny hole in the lid (implies quite the recovery).

Most of the time minor spinal injuries turn to serious ones in a few days and it goes rough. It’s impossible to know, but I wouldn’t feel bad at all about your decision to euthanize.

evolved said:
Me either. You as the observer can see best.

I've never had one recover either, but I've never had one this mild either (initially). I've seen others get them to pull through when it wasn't too bad, and I was hopeful you'd be another.

Things happen beyond our best control.

Thanks everyone. I've learned a lot from all of you, and that is one of the fun things about the hobby. I'm hopeful a net screen top will prevent this from happening ever again. I'll post when I get some new fish in QT.

4FordFamily · Feb 21, 2019

Falcon53 said:
Thanks everyone. I've learned a lot from all of you, and that is one of the fun things about the hobby. I'm hopeful a net screen top will prevent this from happening ever again. I'll post when I get some new fish in QT.

A gentler net will be better than say a metal mesh. Such fragile creatures. We are glad to help, friend!