My poor fish!

I can't believe what happened yesterday...My beautiful Maroon clown "Maggie" got stuck in my Remora pump! I bought the skimmer used from a fellow hobbyist and he forgot to give me the plastic filter piece that goes over the part of the pump that sucks in the water...I was concerned about getting that piece but couldn't find it at any LFS. OK Back to the story of my fish....I walked by my tank yesterday and saw her body sticking out of the pump not moving at all. I about fainted! I turned off the pump and when she fell out she looked dead, her body was curled up like when a fish dies and she had a indention ring around her head from the suction and one of her eyes was popped out or swollen! I held her in my hand under the water and saw that she was barely breathing out of one gill so I started swishing her around in my hand and then she started breathing out of the other gill I continued moving her back and forth in the water and then she started moving her fins and slowly swam out of my hand but dove face first in the rock. At this point I thought for sure she was going to die but I wasn't going to give up on her so I tried to grab her again to gently move her through the water like I had been doing but when my hand got close she got spooked and swan behind a big rock and fell to the bottom of the tank. Now I was thinking OH NO she will die back there and I won't be able to get her out. Then suddenly she swam up towards me and into her favorite spot and was swimming there for the rest of the day. Today her eye isn't swollen anymore and she is swimming all over the tank eating well and acting normal. She still has a ring around her head but I am sure that will heal in time. I love her so much and literally cried when it happened and I get choked up when I start telling people because I feel so bad for her and how traumatizing that must have been. I am so happy she pulled through and is acting like her usual self, she is one tough little fish.

 

I'm glad she is looking better than she was when you found her and that she is eating and swimming around.

You may want to keep an eye on her for a day or two and I would definitely fill in that hole. I would think you could use something as simple as a piece of bridal veil and a rubber band. I've used those for fragging and they don't seem to have any impact on the water.

The same thing happened to my Algae Eating Blenny. He got his head lodged into a tiny slit in my filter output and didn't make it.

I'm sure others will jump in with some good advice about covering the hole..

 

Wow, glad she seems to be doing better. Clowns are tough fish, hopefully she'll pull through

 

Hope she pulls through, congrats on reviving her.

 

I fixed the Hole right away and I contacted the guy who sold me the skimmer and he is going to give me the part tomorrow. But yes she is recovering quite well, it amazes me that her eye healed over night. It was popped out and I thought her eye would permanently be damaged but no she is almost back to her beautiful self however I will keep my eye on her...