Grrrr. It's always the expensive ones!

[asylumdown]

Well, the fishing trip worked, but it was considerably more traumatic than I thought it would be.

I couldn't find a hook small enough at Canadian Tire, so I had to buy trout fishing flys, and then cut away at all the material until I just had the hook. I thought I had bent/filed/plied the barb down enough, but after I caught the tusk, I couldn't get the hook out of his mouth. I ended up having to very carefully cut off the loop for the fishing line using wire cutters, and then remove it from the other end with pliers. There was no visible damage to his mouth (the hook couldn't have gone through in a better spot), but in the process of getting the hook out, I handled him for about 5 minutes, and he jumped out of my hands a couple of times. I was already on my knees on the floor to try and prevent a significant fall, but several hours later and he's still lying on his side in the fish trap I put him in in the sump. His condition hasn't changed in hours, not getting worse, not getting better, and he's breathing normally, but he won't hold himself upright.

I'm going to give him the night and hopefully he'll be recovered tomorrow. As much as he was a terror in the tank, he's one of my favourite fish. It will break my heart if he doesn't pull through.

On the upside, the behaviour of the rest of the fish in the display is literally transformed. I only ever saw him being overtly aggressive to the Copper Band, who's been getting relentlessly chased, but I guess he must have been going after everybody when I wasn't looking. The replacement for this fish will need to be very carefully considered, I need a peaceful tank.

[gregzz4]

Do you have any Stress Guard or Para Guard you can add to the Tusk's water ?
It will help after the mouth wound and all the handling

[asylumdown]

I have paraguard, but he's in a vented trap in my sump, so he's still in the main system's water. Do you think a dip would help, or would that just be added stress?

[gregzz4]

If your vented trap will fit in another container, I'd scoop it out with the larger container and give him a dip in the trap, inside the larger container
Of course, all the precautions will be used, right
Lots of aeration, watching for stress etc