Last Thursday, "Mac" was discovered upside down in distress on the rhizome of the java fern. He was gasping, and his orange stripes were almost white. After a while I thought he would feel better if he could be upright again, so I tried to nudge him gently off the rhizome cradle. When I couldn't budge him, a closer look revealed that he had somehow gotten entangled in the long, adventitious roots and was literally tied to the rhizome - trapped.
This was indeed a freak accident brought about by panic over the sound wave shock. The only way to free him was to cut him loose, and to do that I had to remove the section of the plant that he was attached to, and "operate" out of the aquarium. I did so, cutting out the section of rhizome with Mac still attached firmly. So tightly enwrapped was he, that even using Swiss precision nail scissors, I had trouble getting between the roots and the fish. It was a difficult and stressful operation.
This is Mac right after being freed. The photo is poor, but the bulging red area on his underside is obvious.
When I saw him close up, it seemed to be a large section of muscle, only. To my untrained eye, it seemed as if the vital organs were still inside.
The job had to be done underwater, so I used a small, shallow tub filled with aquarium water. I trimmed him free strand by strand, pausing between each cut to inspect him. The process took some time, as I had to be very careful not to stab him with the scissors. The whole time he seemed pretty lively and energetic. He tried to get away from me at first, but then after a while, he calmed down, and I was able to see my way clear to cutting his bonds. Don't ask me how I know, but I'm sure he realized he was better off staying still, because when he did he became less entangled. Fish are not dumb. He knew he was being freed, little by little, and that I was helping him, not hurting him. Anyway, when he was completely free, I released him back into the aquarium where he swam off, acting normally.
Here he is giving me a reproachful glance, and I don't blame him.
The slash just behind the eye, is part of a more gruesome wound that continues across the chest.
The cut seen here is skin deep:
There was nothing else to do but release him; he was not dead or even half-dead, but very lively, despite everything that had happened. I thought, if he's going to die at least he'll be in familiar surroundings with his usual tankmates.
While twisting and struggling in the roots for who knows how many days undetected, Mac sustained several serious injuries. His beautiful, sail-like dorsal fin is gone, churned away down to his back. Just a few shreds remain. The tail fin and the fins on the left side are shredded. The other side doesn't look bad. His left side has some kind of whitish patch, and this is what I'm most concerned about. It looks like some of the scutes are missing or rubbed off, and I fear some kind of rot (fungus or bacteria) will set in. I'm medicating against it with Melafix.
Is it possible for the missing plates to grow back?
Perhaps most horrific of all is this:
A complete, diagonal chest slash, cut through to his insides by the garotting nature of all those tightly wrapped java fern roots entwined around him. How he managed to get so entangled I'll never know. It is a one in a million disaster that no one would anticipate. He's laid open like Alexander the Great.
Anyway, despite this grisly wound he seems to be functioning. He is eating his peas and his veggie flakes - I'm trying to keep him on a high fiber diet - and he is always on his piece of maple wood, so I assume he is eating that as usual. I do not know how he is excreting. It may be normally, or not. I can't tell. He seems to be satisfied, and is not gasping for air, or flopping over, or acting sick. One thing he is doing differently is that he is spending more time on the glass. I suspect this is because it is cool and smooth and feels good.
On the glass, looking almost normal:
On the first day, the wound was bulging open and his insides were hanging out, as shown in the first photo.
Today, the latest photo shows it is actually improving, the edges are clean and not puffy or infected.
Am I right? Do you think it looks a little better?
I'm changing a little water every day, and keeping the sand clean. Increasing the water circulation as Marc (van Arc) suggested, was a good idea, especially since I'm dosing Melafix. It may be too optimistic, but I have high hopes for his recovery. The other fish in the tank are not bothering him and he seems to be comfortable. Do you think I'm being overly optimistic? Do fish with such wounds ever recover?
I suppose an accident like this can happen with any kind of loose, tensile material. I can't believe simple fern roots, which snap so easily, did all this damage, but when there are lots of them together they are like bonds of steel. The hammering and banging that terrified him so much to start with, and made him lose his bearings, is what drove him into the thicket. He never goes in there otherwise, not once in one and a half years has he set a "foot" into those plants. He always stays under his wood. I'm very attached to this fish. If anyone has a suggestion about further proper treatment for this kind of injury, please post it.
Deborah
EDIT: 01 Sept 2006 - To update topic title.
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