LosJames
New Member
Well, I'm new to this site (a member for about 20 minutes). I thought that I would post something about an accident Mr. Gills had tonight.
Mr.Gills, a Polypterus senegalus who is about 3.5 inches, attempted to eat another one of my Kuhli loaches. This has happened before after the loach was killed by another fish. Tongiht was different, I dont know how it started but when I noticed, Mr. Gill had about half of the Kuhli loach in his mouth (loach is about 2 inches long). after about half an hour of trying to eat this loach who was still alive, I noticed he started swimming funny and a closer look showed the head of the loach coming out of Mr. Gills gil... about 10 minutes later I decided Mr. Gills was dying and would not be able to survive having this loach sticking half an inch out of his gil. I decided to try and help the matter so this is what i did hoping I would save my fish....
I stuck my hand in the tank, and took Mr.Gills out and slowly/carfully removed the Loach by pulling him the rest of the way through his Gil.. After putting him back in the tank I was sure this was a terrible idea now that he wouldnt move at all..But what else could I do to save my fish. At this time I had to watch carefully as every other fish in the tank was trying to eat him. My green spotted puffers were nipping at ( nothing new there) , and my Violet Goby was trying to eat him. This really worried me as I know that my violet goby would choke on him. I didnt know how often a polypterus senegalus had to go up to gulp air so about every 10 - 20 minutes I would pull him out of the water to get some air...
Now it is about 2 hours later and Mr. Gills is capable of swimming on his own and going up for air. He was having trouble swimming at first. He was slithering like a half paralized snake for awhile but I see now that he is back to swimming like normal. The other fish are not trying to eat him anymore which to me is a good sign also.
At the moment he is sitting new the top of the tank on some fake plants I have... this is about 3 hours after the whole incident went down. Hopefully he is still alive in the morning. I can keep you updated if you want on how he is making out after this "emergancy operation" Thanks for reading and please go easy on me this is the first time I have ever posted on a forum.
P.S. I have been in the fish hobby for only about 6 months now. I started off with a 30 gallon tank, 1 dragon goby and 2 affrican cichlids.
I now have a 55 gallon tank ( 48x19x13 ) 2 Violet Gobies, 2 orange Polypterus senegalus ( one of which is Mr. Gills ) 2 brown in color Polypterus senegalus x2 Green spotted puffers x2 affrican cichlids x2 Knight gobies and did have x4 Kuhli loaches, but I just got rid of them after this incident.
Mr.Gills, a Polypterus senegalus who is about 3.5 inches, attempted to eat another one of my Kuhli loaches. This has happened before after the loach was killed by another fish. Tongiht was different, I dont know how it started but when I noticed, Mr. Gill had about half of the Kuhli loach in his mouth (loach is about 2 inches long). after about half an hour of trying to eat this loach who was still alive, I noticed he started swimming funny and a closer look showed the head of the loach coming out of Mr. Gills gil... about 10 minutes later I decided Mr. Gills was dying and would not be able to survive having this loach sticking half an inch out of his gil. I decided to try and help the matter so this is what i did hoping I would save my fish....
I stuck my hand in the tank, and took Mr.Gills out and slowly/carfully removed the Loach by pulling him the rest of the way through his Gil.. After putting him back in the tank I was sure this was a terrible idea now that he wouldnt move at all..But what else could I do to save my fish. At this time I had to watch carefully as every other fish in the tank was trying to eat him. My green spotted puffers were nipping at ( nothing new there) , and my Violet Goby was trying to eat him. This really worried me as I know that my violet goby would choke on him. I didnt know how often a polypterus senegalus had to go up to gulp air so about every 10 - 20 minutes I would pull him out of the water to get some air...
Now it is about 2 hours later and Mr. Gills is capable of swimming on his own and going up for air. He was having trouble swimming at first. He was slithering like a half paralized snake for awhile but I see now that he is back to swimming like normal. The other fish are not trying to eat him anymore which to me is a good sign also.
At the moment he is sitting new the top of the tank on some fake plants I have... this is about 3 hours after the whole incident went down. Hopefully he is still alive in the morning. I can keep you updated if you want on how he is making out after this "emergancy operation" Thanks for reading and please go easy on me this is the first time I have ever posted on a forum.
P.S. I have been in the fish hobby for only about 6 months now. I started off with a 30 gallon tank, 1 dragon goby and 2 affrican cichlids.
I now have a 55 gallon tank ( 48x19x13 ) 2 Violet Gobies, 2 orange Polypterus senegalus ( one of which is Mr. Gills ) 2 brown in color Polypterus senegalus x2 Green spotted puffers x2 affrican cichlids x2 Knight gobies and did have x4 Kuhli loaches, but I just got rid of them after this incident.
