Tetra Swallowed Plant!

[Luzi]

One of my silvertips swallowed a piece of (fake) plant, and now it's sticking out of its side. Do i pull it out or leave it alone? Panic!
The fish can swim normally but obviously can't eat. There's a big tear down its side

Help!

Edit: the pictures won't upload ><

 

[Piti]

The tear down it's side doesnt bode well... All I would suggest is some aquarium salt to help fight off a soon to be infection, and looking to see if you really need such a plant in your tank. I think surgery would only speed up a prosess (one way or the other) but it needs to come out...

 

[moochy13]

is it coming out of his body, or out of his bum ? bit hard to tell. either way, i would be expecting the worst im afraid. get rid of that plant aswell.

 

[kizno1]

How long has it been like that? If its only been recently i would leave it and see if it passes it naturally if its been like it for a while i think its worth seeing if you pull it out other wise it will definitely die

 

[mattshez]

like any wound, if you pull it out you might make it worse, possihbly severing something that could kill it, doesnt sound good but for now just treat as a regular wound

 

[saltynay]

melafix time me thinks and leave it.

 

[Luzi]

It fell out naturally overnight, but there's a pretty big wound. It's showing signs of infection, so i'm going to add salt to the tank. The only other inhabitants are platies which are very tolerant, but i don't know about the silvertips' salt tolerance. Would 1g/litre be ok?
Poor thing, i really don't think he'll make it

 

[saltynay]

Salt doesn't really do much as most aquarium bacteria have adapted to it due to its constant use in the early years of fish keeping. A melafix dip would be more effective for light infection if it goes really nasty then some maracyn is a more powerful broad spectrum treatment.

 

[Rynofasho]

I disagree with saltynay, and depending on your stock, a little salt goes a long way. Considering many people use just salt and heat alone to kill parasites like Ich, it definitely has its place.

 

[karin]

I don't know about salt... did nothing for my problem with ICH...BUT back to your fish, lots of water changes are always a good idea too. Sorry about that. Poor guy what a freakish thing.

 

[Luzi]

The little guy passed away this morning

I'm not suprised, the infection turned very nasty and he had columnaris in a band around his middle. Even if he'd made it through the infection, a punctured stomach and/or gut would've been almost impossible to recover from. It's a pretty bizarre situation - i've seen fish swallow and spit out small pieces of the plant loads of times. I really don't know how it managed to get through half a fish

R.I.P

 

[This Old Spouse]

I don't know about salt... did nothing for my problem with ICH...BUT back to your fish, lots of water changes are always a good idea too. Sorry about that. Poor guy what a freakish thing.

Salt wouldn't do anything for Ich, which is a parasite.

So sorry for your loss of the fish.

 

[saltynay]

RIP