crippled valentini puffer

[reefnut]

woke up this morning to find my valentini in one of my mj 1200's.was cleaning them last night and stupid me forgot to put one of the covers back on it.any ways i dont know how long he was in it could have been 11 hours at most.his tale end was sucked in.i think its broken and or paralyzed.some of his skin is torn and his tail is red like a cooked lobster.he is still mobile with his other fins but he just wedges himself in the rock.not sure if i should just flush him now or see if he pulls through.

[Chin_Lee]

many marine animals can live and survive after a massive injury. Look at the number of turtles, dolphins and seals that bear the big bite mark of a shark attack and they survive. Pending another predator attack which puts them at a distinct disadvantage of hindered mobility from the injury, they can survive. just keep an eye on the fish for infections and if it heals... great. You may have to target feed it to encourage the healing process and keeping it healthy.

[Fras]

Sorry to hear that! Mine died when I did the same thing and left the bottom cover off a 802 powerhead....sucked onto his side during the night.

Do you have another tank to quarantine him in?

[shadowboy]

lets not flush him yet. Keep your water quality top notch, target feed with selcon or other vitamins. when he dies then u can flush him, but dont count a fish out untill you know he's dead, mbaye not the toally humane thing to do, but he went through hell being netted, bagged, shipped, stressed out at the LFS, its the least you can do to help the bugger out.

jmo tb

[reefnut]

the valentini is my favourite fish by far so of course iwant to help him but when i went to check on him some of my hermits were eating his tail.ive since put him in one of my sump compartments containing live rock.he seems to have gained some movement of his tail and the color is coming back.i cannot get him to eat so this brings him to almost 24 hours without food.how long can he go before starvation worsens his injuries?

[bulletsworld]

Please dont flush this little guy. He's been through enough. I would just let him go on his own terms in the comfort of his home. Then you dont wonder what if he made it after you flushed him. Weirder things have been known to happen. I have rescued fish before that I thought they had no chance only for them to prove me wrong, they fully recovered and are in new homes still to this day.

Sounds like your guy may not make it anyway but always good to keep hope.


Hope he pulls through, *hugs*


Lee