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View Full Version : You are not going to belive this!!!


wut?
Feb 26th 2009, 10:53 AM
Had the 2 fire eels, they were starting to not get along with each other, so my brother took one for his girlfriend.
Ever since then, the one I kept has been acting funny.
yesterday he decided to get into the habbit of climbing out of the tank and going into the filter system. He barely fits in there being that he's 13" long.
I picked him up out of there a couple of times...he never struggled to try to get away, just looked at me when I picked him up. Fire eels are very silky smooth, it was neat.

Well.... This morning I got up to make my hubbies lunch and coffee for work, and we couldn't find the eel in the tank, he wasn't in the filter either, the lid of it was moved a bit.
The fire eel was on the tile floor..his body very cold, dusty, and not breathing anymore. We were very upset::(:

I picked up his cold, stiffening body, hubby asked me to rinse him off with warm water so he wasn't so dusty from struggling on the floor under the tank before we disposed of his body. I took him over to the sink, and not a movement from him. The water was fairly warm ( I don't have chlorine in my water) I started rinsing him off and I felt a muscle movement!:err: still no movement of gills though...I ran the warm water over his face, and rubbed the dust off,
and I saw a gill move!:err: :err: It was only once, so I warmed the water temp up a bit more and put him under it, and he opened his mouth with another breath while the tap water was running over his face!!!!

quickly rushed him back into the tank. You could watch his gills and mouth move more and more. Still no movement in the rest of his body.

within 20 min, he was breathing normal again.:waycool:

I dosed the tank with Pimafix and Melafix, and it was almost as soon as I did that, he started swimming around:red_dance:

He's acting like he's feeling his normal self agin... so far, hopefully his immune system won't let him down.
I taped the lid down on the filter system, so if he goes back up there again, he won't be able to make his way back out there agin. So far, he hasn't bothered making the effort.
I think the real warm water shocked his little system, and brought him around.

So, a word for the future, if you have a fish that escaped the tank, and it's body is real cold and starting to stiffen, try a good dose of real warm water, and give em a bit of a rub, it's worth a try, might save your fishes life:pompom:

CACAdmin
Feb 26th 2009, 11:20 AM
That's amazing! I'm so thrilled for you. I know how upsetting it would be to have lost him. I hope he continues to do well.

I wonder if his escapes were an attempt to find his missing buddy (the one your brother took). They may have been squabbling but who knows? Maybe they're like kids who fight continuously until you they're apart and start missing someone to squabble with. :rolleyes: :Dunno:

Melody
Feb 27th 2009, 06:34 PM
They breathe through water with the gills - you gave him oxygen. :Smile: Glad it turned out ok!

Pamelajo
Mar 1st 2009, 04:10 PM
That is soo amazing, glad you got to him when you did.

wut?
Mar 3rd 2009, 07:13 AM
I'm glad he's alright.
I was worried that he wasn't going to eat, but last night was very hungry, and filled his gut.::D:

CACAdmin
Mar 3rd 2009, 11:12 AM
That's definitely a good sign... I'm sure you were relieved when he downed his dinner.

capnbrad
Jan 17th 2011, 02:36 PM
i have actually had a similar experience with a chinese algae eater, i found him latched onto my large pleco so i took it out of the tank and put into smaller tank by himself, the next morning he was found on the baseboard heater rockhard and dry, i was going to try to preserve him so he went in a sourcream container with some water to clean him off and next thing i know hes flopping around on the floor again.

Kimr
Jan 18th 2011, 07:39 AM
congrats, glad he made it through OK. you did a great job.

CACAdmin
Jan 18th 2011, 01:35 PM
It's amazing how tough fish can be... he's definitely a survivor. Glad to hear he did ok.

mdfa.ca
Jan 19th 2011, 08:53 AM
That is an amazing recovery!! I'm glad he is ok. Maybe you should bring his buddy back? ARe you sure they were squabbling? Maybe they are married?:laugh::tongue:

calebj
Mar 24th 2011, 12:20 PM
That's awesome. Glad everything turned out ok.

characincody
Apr 22nd 2011, 12:08 AM
I believe you! i met someone with the same problem last week. kept climbing into the finter. I suppose that might not have been the unbelievable part but still two cases in two weeks. congradulations on the recovery. i bet you found it just in time.