Oh No! So my, Probably 1 or 2 inch, Raphael catfish are always getting into sticky situations. They get stuck behind rocks, or in plants or stuff. And today I cleaned the canister, replaced the cartridges in the HOB and swept the tank. So to sweep the tank, I always remove all of the decorations. And this time i noticed a missing Raphael. So I figured he just came out with the plants again, So I searched Every Where. I had no luck. I couldn't find him anywhere. So then I just assumed that the Pleco snatched him one night or something. But then when i replaced the filter cartridges, I noticed something fall out of the little bag that the filters were in. It was the missing Raphael. So I grabbed him and he was pretty well dry. And i put him in a little breeding holder and he is breathing very fast, and lying on his side. I put a tiny bit of stress coat in the little holder thing, and he seems to have no slime coat. So I was wondering what else can I do to keep him from dying? I really don't want him to die, But he is lying there and he is so helpless. It's just sad. Also, My mom says that I shouldn't remove all of my decorations to sweep the tank. But I say yes. So do you guys take the decorations out when you sweep your tanks? please help.
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I did
When I had gravel, I removed everything every other week including fish to do a thourough 50% water change. On the off week, I just sucked out 50% of the water and didn't vaccuum the gravel. It is stressful to the fish, but with my specific fish it is just a stressfull to siphon with them in the water (My silver dollars completely tweak out regardless of how I handle them... i hate them) Now that I have sand and siphoning isn't so robust a project, I don't remove the decorations or fish. In your case, I probably would only remove the largest decorations, and leave the fish and small decorations and plants in the tank. Unless you have khuli loaches, in which case you must remove them to siphon the gravel. Hope your raphael is doing better, they're cute little things.
i had a cory cat casualty a
i had a cory cat casualty a few weeks back. i had my tank draining and he decided to stay on top of the sponge and didnt flop off... :( now I am more careful about it.. I usually only take out a couple of items and rearrange the rest.
Awesome dude
Awesome dude
Well Now hw is doing a lot
Well Now hw is doing a lot better. He is swimming freely and breathing fine. I will keep him in he holder for like the next couple of days to be monitored.
Aeration and a little salt.
Aeration and a little salt.
I move them but I don't REmove them.