What the crap happened to my Exquisite FireFish?!?

[SmallHobby]

One day he was fine and last night he looked like this . He’s not eating. Was he attacked by a hermit crab? Is it a parasite or bacteria? I also have a clown who looks fine and a tangaroa goby who looks fine. What happened to my poor fire fish?!? He is 1.5 years old. Is there a chance he could make it? Should I put him out of his misery and if so what is the most humane way? I’m devastated. Nothing new in the tank for 15 months and the only thing is that I use Imagitarium Pacific Ocean water for all water changes. Sorry for the stuff in the quarantine section…I was just trying to feed him. His tail fin is just gone and main dorsal and ventral fins beyond ragged. His side fins and little belly fins look fine.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

One day he was fine and last night he looked like this . He’s not eating. Was he attacked by a hermit crab? Is it a parasite or bacteria? I also have a clown who looks fine and a tangaroa goby who looks fine. What happened to my poor fire fish?!? He is 1.5 years old. Is there a chance he could make it? Should I put him out of his misery and if so what is the most humane way? I’m devastated. Nothing new in the tank for 15 months and the only thing is that I use Imagitarium Pacific Ocean water for all water changes. Sorry for the stuff in the quarantine section…I was just trying to feed him. His tail fin is just gone and main dorsal and ventral fins beyond ragged. His side fins and little belly fins look fine.

It looks like the fish caudal fin is missing all the way down to the hypural plate - fish typically don’t survive that, the bone becomes infected.
Most cases of this develop from mechanical damage….if you rule out another fish attacking it, could it have gotten stuck and injured it’s tail struggling?
Rarely, a virulent bacterial infection will just start up on its own with no prior injury.
If you can get a clearer picture under white lights I might see it differently, but at this point, I don’t see any possible treatment, sorry.

Jay

 

[SmallHobby]

Thank you for responding. Here is a photo with flash. My poor little guy. If this is not a survivable injury and again, I have no clue how it happened, how do you humanely euthanize

a fish?

 

[JGT]

That’s not from a hermit crab. Any chance he got caught in one of the power heads?

 

[SmallHobby]

There is only one power head and it is at the top of the tank in a 30G BioCube prefab tank. The fire fish lives at the bottom in a sunken ship decoration and I have never seen him go above the middle of the tank. I do also have a pistol shrimp that lives with the tangaroa goby…could he have done this?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you for responding. Here is a photo with flash. My poor little guy. If this is not a survivable injury and again, I have no clue how it happened, how do you humanely euthanize

a fish?

Sorry, that doesn't look survivable.

There are not a lot of really good options for home aquarists. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book that discusses some methods of euthanasia:

Preferred methods for euthanasia

MS-222
Every aquarist should have a plan for specimen euthanasia before they need to employ it. An overdose of buffered Tricaine methane sulfonate (MS-222) is the preferred method for euthanizing fish. Dosing at a rate of greater than 300 mg/l MS-222 along with 300 mg/l sodium bicarbonate is effective for euthanizing fish within 30 minutes. However, MS-222 is expensive, and not readily available in smaller quantities to home aquarists. Removing the fish too soon from the solution may allow it to recover. It is therefore suggested to leave the fish in a small amount of the euthanizing solution, and freeze it for later disposal.

Clove oil (eugenol)
One product that aquarists can buy that is approved by at least some veterinarians and research biologists is clove oil, also called eugenol. A dose of 50 mg/l is usually sufficient in euthanizing fish. This equates to about 0.20 ml of eugenol in one gallon of aquarium water.

Because eugenol does not mix well with water, and because larger volumes are easier for hobbyists to measure out, it can be dosed using the following method:

1) Add 2 ml of eugenol to 100 ml of tank water in a sealed container and shake it vigorously.

2) Add 10 ml of this suspended solution to each gallon of water needed to euthanize the fish.

3) Place the fish in this solution and keep it covered to prevent it from jumping out and to help keep it calm.

4) Wait at least twenty minutes after it stops breathing, and then remove the fish from the solution and freeze it for later disposal.

Other methods
A variety of other methods have been proposed for the euthanasia of fishes, but none are fully accepted by veterinary experts. Still, home aquarists need more common tools to use, so those methods are listed here in roughly descending order of suitability:

Ethanol
Regular alcohol at a dose of 25 ml per liter will cause respiratory collapse and death in fishes within 30 minutes. The trouble is that alcohol is not available in pure form unless it has been “denatured” by the addition of distasteful chemicals such as turpentine. Vodka is about 40% alcohol by volume, so using it 62 ml per liter will give an effective dose.

Decapitation/pithing
Cutting a fish’s spinal cord, right behind the head, is a quick method of euthanasia that is approved for use in food fishes (where the use of chemicals would otherwise make the flesh unfit to eat). The issue is really that the method is distasteful for most people to do, so it is rarely used by aquarists. However, it is quick and effective.

Freezing
Placing the affected fish in a small amount of aquarium water in a sealed container and then placing the container in a freezer is a euthanasia technique used by some people. However, it is slow to work, so it is not considered humane. Its appeal as a method is that the fish is “out of sight” so people feel more detached from the process.

An option of last resort
The animals in your aquariums are completely reliant on you for proper care. It is your responsibility to see to it that their lives in captivity are humane as possible and that all of their needs are met. If you cannot meet their needs, please find someone who is more able. Euthanasia should be considered only for health reasons, not because it is no longer convenient to care for an animal.


Jay

 

[CrimsonTide]

Poor dude had a rough day. Sorry for your fish. I dont think I've seen one love with that much damage. If they aren't eating that is not a good sign.

 

[SmallHobby]

Thank you for your help. Reading the optional methods made me choke up with tears and I really do wish I had been prepared ahead of time.

 

[Karen00]

I just wanted to say I am so sorry to see what happened to your fish. This hobby can be heart wrenching sometimes and it's even worse when you don't know what happened like with your fish. :-(

 

[SmallHobby]

I just wanted to say I am so sorry to see what happened to your fish. This hobby can be heart wrenching sometimes and it's even worse when you don't know what happened like with your fish. :-(

Thank you. I didn’t expect to get so upset. You really do get invested caring for these pets day in and day out. He is actually my favorite and would come out and “play” at the glass whenever I sat by the tank. I don’t know if fish feel pain the same way humans do but I hope he’s not in agony.

 

[Karen00]

Thank you. I didn’t expect to get so upset. You really do get invested caring for these pets day in and day out. He was actually my favorite and would come out and “play” at the glass whenever I sat by the tank. I don’t know if fish feel pain the same way humans do but I hope he’s not in agony.

I know exactly what you mean and I teared up reading your post. They are our babies, no different than our dogs and cats. It's bad enough losing them to old age but something unexplainable like this is a punch in the guts. I'm thinking of setting up a camera so I can see what's going on, even at night. I was really hoping Jay's reply was going to be hopeful. I'm so sorry.

 

[SmallHobby]

I actually had a camera on the tank but it got bumped and was looking at the wall instead. You’re exactly right, old age seems natural, but this? And in a tank that’s had no changes or additions for 15 months? Baffling and heart breaking. I just bought a small amount of the MS-222 but I don’t think it will arrive in time for my fire fish. I think I am going to have to do the Vodka solution.

 

[SmallHobby]

I just wanted to thank Mr. Hemdal and everyone who repsonded so quickly. I am truly grateful for your help in a moment when not just myself, but more importantly a suffering creature was in need. Thank you all.

 

[SmallHobby]

Sorry, duplicate.

 

[reefsaver]

I would only use the above methods for a large fish. The most humane way to put down a small fish is to do it instantly as fast as you can.
Not drown it in alcohol. It's as simple as netting it, getting it into a plastic bag fast and thwacking it against something as hard as you can, tie of the bag for smell and throw it away. It's basically the equivalent of dynamite going off next to you in water, instant.
It's not something to enjoy or pleasant.

 

[SmallHobby]

Is that really what most people do to humanely euthanized a fish?

 

[Lavey29]

Is that really what most people do to humanely euthanized a fish?

I've heard people will use the freezer to euthanize.

 

[455Cutlassdave]

The most humane way to dispatch any animal is always whatever gets the job done quickest with the least discomfort. People get a bit squeamish with methods they consider brutal especially when it is a pet. This is understandable but not always the best for the pet. Given the choice between gasping for air while freezing to death or an instant decapitation I know what I would choose.

I would imagine the 100% ethanol method would be very quick as well and is certainly instant when doing a mite check on honey bees. You can get very close to 100% without it being denatured if you know the right guy, it will probably come in a mason jar. Wink Wink

 

[brandon429]

I'm very sorry smallhobby. I can tell you care and at 1.5 years into it before the challenge you were really providing him a decent place.

 

[brandon429]

a brainstorm to shore up future fish health where possible:

in this tank have you added wet items from a pet store in the last several months...new frags/snails / some macro etc

reason am asking: looking for potential disease input vectors if any, just to factor alongside any mechanical causes. I know you're interested in not repeating the issue if possible and I didn't see if we've got a solid vector control plan in place for the setup.