Dropped Object On Fish...fish Lying On Side

[purplebetta]

Hi all,

There's a fish emergency I really need help with and I'm hoping someone can help me out. My uncle keeps a tank of Angelfishes and while changing their water about a week ago, he accidentally dropped the heavy air pump into the water and it actually took a fish down. Since then, the fish has been laying on its side, floating at the top. He seems to be breathing fine. He can't seem to get back up vertically and since I'm not there (my uncle lives in another province), I don't know if the fish has been able to eat at all. Is there anything we can do at this point? Is there a possibility that he might be able to get better again? We feel absolutely horrible about this and don't know what to do. I only found out today or I would've posted immediately when it happened. Thank you in advance!

 

[Livewire88]

Dam!! was the air pump on at the time? has the fish got any obvious injury's?

Poor thing

 

[Chad]

It is possible that he could heal from this but that depends on the nature of the injuries and how well he can eat and breath. I've actually seen people use a little rig of sorts to help keep the fish upright. Let me see if I can find an image...okay...here's one from google, not my fish or anything, just an example.

 

[purplebetta]

Dam!! was the air pump on at the time? has the fish got any obvious injury's?

Poor thing

I know.

He never mentioned if the pump was on at the time, but if I had to take a guess, I would say yes. I've seen him change the water once and don't think he normally unplugs it. I don't think so anyway.

It is possible that he could heal from this but that depends on the nature of the injuries and how well he can eat and breath. I've actually seen people use a little rig of sorts to help keep the fish upright. Let me see if I can find an image...okay...here's one from google, not my fish or anything, just an example.

Thanks, tcamos! Is there a link or an article that accompanies that image? I tried to search for something similar on Google, but probably not using the right search terms because nothing comes up. Really do hope this injury is temporary!