thank god for insomnia

trvsty · May 30, 2020

not a question or anything. just thought i would share the near heart attack i had this morning. i couldn't sleep last night and didn't wind up sleeping until 5am. when i then woke up at 7 to my cat yelling at me for food i was mad... but thank god i woke up for it because when i went to go feed her i noticed my white longfin clown was nowhere to be found in the tank. i thought maybe she was just hiding, which would be unusual and when i bent down to grab the bag of cat food i see the fish on the floor, not having any idea how long it was there or if it was alive. i immediately went to pick it up and it started moving which honestly made it that much more terrifying, knowing that if i didn't act fast it could die. i picked it up and cupped it in my hand while putting it in the water, it was unresponsive at first and COVERED in cat hair which i started trying to pull off as gently as i could. pretty much immediately after she was fine and swimming around like nothing happened... good thing i already ordered a lid for this tank that'll be here in a couple days

Billldg · May 30, 2020

I am glad to here everything seemed to turn out alright. I would watch the fish for the next few days. Though it may seem fine now, it may show signs of stress in the next day or so. Hopefully it doesn't and everything is normal though.

Fishbro · May 30, 2020

Wow that’s crazy what an amazing save!

trvsty · May 30, 2020

Billldg said:
I am glad to here everything seemed to turn out alright. I would watch the fish for the next few days. Though it may seem fine now, it may show signs of stress in the next day or so. Hopefully it doesn't and everything is normal though.

yeah i plan on keeping a close eye on it for at least a few days. so far she's ravenous as usual, so that seems like a good sign. i've had this happen once before on another tank while i was doing a water change and my helfrichi filefish jumped out. that one definitely scared me since it did not seem like it was gonna make it for like a day or two after, now that one's great and somehow more social so i'm hoping for the same energy

TriggerFinger · May 30, 2020

Glad your cat didn’t decide to have a snack before waking you up!!

Tastee · May 31, 2020

When we setup our first tank 3 years ago I was pottering around on a Saturday morning and when I walked upstairs (split level house) I spotted our female clown lying on the floor next to the tank. Like you I was able to quickly pop her back in and she is still going strong today. Needless to say I had a temporary lid on the tank by the end of the day and a permanent one on order not long after.

trvsty · May 31, 2020

Tastee said:
When we setup our first tank 3 years ago I was pottering around on a Saturday morning and when I walked upstairs (split level house) I spotted our female clown lying on the floor next to the tank. Like you I was able to quickly pop her back in and she is still going strong today. Needless to say I had a temporary lid on the tank by the end of the day and a permanent one on order not long after.

pretty much the same thing here. i literally ordered a lid the day before this happened. right now i have some temporary mesh and tape solution until it gets here monday or tuesday

Billdogg · May 31, 2020

Glad you found it alive!

I'd monitor it closely for bacterial/fungal infections over the next few days.

When my Eel - a 4' Gymnothorax Undulatus - escaped the first time I found it on the floor stiff. I nudged it with my foot and his mouth opened! I had to go to work, so I picked him up and put him in the tank, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. By the time I got home 12 hours later he was swimming around like nothing was wrong. Within a day or two he developed a horrible bacterial.fungal infection completely covering the area from his gills and back another 6" or so. I got some broad spectrum meds and placed them in his food - whole capsules at a time - just guessing at dosages. Luckily enough, he ate whole fillets form the seafood counter so that was pretty easy! It took a couple weeks but he healed up just fine, and lived another 20 years with me.

dbl · May 31, 2020

So glad you found it in time and thankfully the cat waited for its regular food.

Averhoeven · May 31, 2020

I have an insomnia (though not jumping fish) story too and was so glad I wasn't sleeping. I had set up a new "wife appropriate" fresh water reservoir which was a pretty glass vase we found at a store that I cleaned out excessively. I had filled it earlier in the evening, but got distracted by the kids and left the project midway done. By the time I could have gotten back to it, it was late and I figured it could wait to run the line.
Cue 2AM while I'm playing video games in our basement. I hear a dripping sound from the unfinished portion of the basmement (below the tank) and my dog starts to bark at the door. I walk back there and see water dripping from the floor above. Fearing the tank had bust and I was about to have 200 gallons of saltwater in my house I sprint upstairs and discover the new freshwater reservoir half empty on the floor. I had placed in the pump and hose, but hadn't run the hose yet. It had apparently started a siphon at some point to the other end of the hose on the floor.
Fortunately, it was just freshwater. I was cleaning it up in the wee hours of the morning with towels and a shop vac. Then left a couple big box fans over the area for a couple days. Strangely, my wife didn't insist on the prettier container anymore!

Ardeus · May 31, 2020

Some time ago I saw a post on Facebook where someone was saying that his anthias had jumped. I was in the bedroom and I got up to check the tank and... yes, there was a filefish on the floor, almost dry.

It took her a couple of days, but she recovered.

I trusted that the eurobrace would prevent this stuff. I got a cover immediately.