Very Cold Fish

[Midnight Rose]

We don't have many fish left after moving home to a smaller place. There was a blown fuse in the house, the fuse that feeds the fish tanks, while we weren't in the house. When we came back the fish had been without a heater for possibly 24 hours. The water was so cold I was having trouble feeling my fingers after I'd hooked all the fish out. Many were dead, some weren't. I took them out and floated the boxes they were in in warm water so they slowly warmed up. Only one survived the night. I put him back in the original tank (after it had warmed up), this was just over 24 hours ago. He swims ok when he swims, he can swim pretty much like he did before, but mostly he lies on the bottom on his side. He's a big (4 inches maybe) malawi cichlid that is 5 years old.


Basically, I need to know if the kindest thing is to help him along to the great lake in the sky or if he is just stressed and will recover. It's really not nice to see him lying on the bottom like that, I love that fish so much (his name is Fishy) and I don't want him to suffer any longer than he has to.

 

[kribensis12]

Well, if he appears to be doing better. Leave him. But, if he seems tob e getting worse, you can freeze him, or put him a a bag of Clove Oil .

 

[WILDER]

Best to let the tank heat up gradually rather then take them from cold water to warm very fast.
Shouldn't alter temp by more than two degrees either way.
is he own his own.
if so try a bacterial med as altering water temp to fast can cause swim bladder, whitespot, columnaris.