WHOA! feeding misadventure!

[super stooge]

feeding my fish tonight definetly did NOT go to plan. i usually feed my fish by defrosting half a cube of food in a small net then slowly releasing it into my fish tank. well somtimes the fish get so excited that they bite the outside of the net while i lower it into the tank.

so it started off as usual the clown, and six line begin bighting the net but after i let a bit of food float out i lift up the net and to my amazment the sixline is still holding on so i quickly dip it back in the water and he still wont let go. i take a closer look and i see that hes not holding on but rather hes swallowed a loose thread and is now dangeling off the net with his mouth gaping open like a fish on a hook. i tried to gently pull it out of him but i was worried i was causing more harm than good so i quickly grabbed some scissors and cut the thread. he then darted into the rocks and sat there breathing heavily. much to my relief he came out of the rocks a minute or 2 later and is swimming normally.

im worried that the thread may still be inside of him, i cant see any of it hanging out of his mouth but still. would he be able to regurgitate it do u think? and if he did manage to swallow it fully, will he be able to digest it? what do u think the proper course of action would have been in my situation?

[hartnell]

not sure about marine fish, but when fishing deep hooked fish we cut the line and the fish will disolve the hook and live on so I'm pretty sure your little guy will be just fine

[wiscsaltwater]

I hate to be Dr. Evil here but the myth that gut hooked fish dissolve the hook is something that was drawn up to make people feel better about letting them go without ripping their guts out to get the hook out. I actually went to college to be a marine biologist but changed my major 2 years in. about 85% of the fish you gut hook die within 48 hours because they cant swallow food with the hook in them, another 10% die to infection soon after.

However, your mesh net is not a hunk of metal and shouldnt impede the little guy too much and i should guess he will be fine, just watch him, unfortunately there isnt much you can do but i think he will be fine.

on a side note i would stop thawing food in a net in the fish tank, even though it probably wont happen again you dont need your fish biting at the net, they could do other damage to themselves.
i get a small cup of saltwater and let it dissolve for 15 minutes or so then i use a turkey baster to feed it.

[DazedandConfuse]

I'm not sure what kind of frozen food you are feeding. But a lot of it is high in Phosphates. So I always rinse mine through a strainer before feeding it to the fish.
Lol, I actually tested some of the water that I let the food defrost in just to see how high in phosphates it was. It turned BLACK in the test vial. After rinsing it a couple of times, then testing the water again, Phosphates were down to just a trace.

[super stooge]

i dont thaw the cube in the tank. it is thawed in a seperate container of water and then the net is dipped into the tank to release the food. its only in the tank for about 2 seconds at a time. perhaps i will have to find another way tho

[seanb1]

the fish will be fine.

think about it, they can eat raw fish bones with no adverse affects.

[super stooge]

well the good news is he's still acting normally this morning which is reasuring