Grisly.. How To Remove Fish From Ornament?

[Double_rainbow]

Hello all,

I have a problem on my hands:
we know that there was a cichlid who wedged himself into an ornament in the tank- we couldn't find him anywhere in the tank, so we took out the ornament, and realised that there was a hole that we KNOW he got into. We know this because we took the ornament out- we cannot see him in it (it's a large branch-thing made of plastic) but we CAN now smell the decomposing fish. Sorry, all, we love our fish and this is stressing us out completely.

We want to take the fish out, somehow, without breaking the ornament. But we cannot see it through the opening. We poured water in, hoping the body would float up to the hole, but no dice. Any suggestions on what to do?

Again, sorry for the mental images and grisly descriptions!

 

[blackops]

just break the ornament

 

[Whitester]

You can just wait it out for awhile. The fish will decompose enough that you will be able to "flush" it out eventually. I would put the ornament outside in the hot sun. That will speed up the decomposition.

 

[Staxx]

could try drilling a hole just above where you think the fish is.. and flushing it out that way

should work

 

[ZoddyZod]

You can just wait it out for awhile. The fish will decompose enough that you will be able to "flush" it out eventually. I would put the ornament outside in the hot sun. That will speed up the decomposition.

that'll do it!

whatever you do do, just make sure that ornament and fish are not still in the tank - it will be causing a nasty spike in ammonia and putting your other fish at risk.