Please Help, My Tang Is Stuck In A Rock

[FlyinggFish]

I woke up to my blue tang being stuck in the crevaces of the rock she sometimes sleeps in.

What should I do?!?!?!?
Please any ideas!
I know she's stuck because usually she comes out and she's just wiggling her tail.

Should I try to pull her out or just shake the rock around??!!!
Please this is a very big emergency.

[lenny8671]

have you tried enticing out with some nice food?

or you could flush her out using a turkey baster?

just some ideas

[FlyinggFish]

She's like really really stuck in there. I tired tugging on her a little bit. This is so freaking horrible.

[faze07hd]

i had that happen, i ended up pulling the fish out and heard the scales scraping the rock as i tugged... u might want to pull a little harder, also try wiggling the fish side to side when you pull...

it may end up with a couple battle scars by the end of the day

Keep us posted on the progress.

[chimmike]

take a deep breath and stop for a minute.

Are you sure it's stuck or just trying to hide from your hands? I know my blue hippo does the same thing, and sticking my hands in the tank doesn't make it any better..........

give it an hour or so without bothering the tank and see if it comes out.

[FlyinggFish]

I'm trying everything, she's really stuck in there....anymore ideas?
How long can she live like this?
Will the tugging really hurt her?

[FlyinggFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14541309#post14541309 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chimmike
take a deep breath and stop for a minute.

Are you sure it's stuck or just trying to hide from your hands? I know my blue hippo does the same thing, and sticking my hands in the tank doesn't make it any better..........

give it an hour or so without bothering the tank and see if it comes out.


I will , but I pretty sure she's stuck. I saw her even trying to wiggle out.

Maybe breaking the rock?

[FlyinggFish]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/butterflyslie/Damn003.jpg


I've tried pulling on her a little. It seems like she's slowly coming out now. But I'm thinking about what damage I'm doing to her eyes and everything. I'm really afraid to see what she'll look like when she get's out, if she every does.


Anymore ideas?

[chimmike]

give her about an hour....don't mess with it for an hour, i'm sure it's stressed out as it is.

[FlyinggFish]

How long can a fish last like that, wedged into a rock?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Oh man, poor thing. I'd have to agree with Mike, don't stress it out anymore than it already is. As long as it can still breathe in there (as it should be) it'll more than likely manage to wriggle itself out.

[agreeive?fish]

Just leave her alone for a while..hipo tangs are known for plastering themselfs againt rocks..she looks like a small or tiny hippo so iam going to ask a couple questions that may help others give you some pointers

how long have you had her?

what tank mates

any chance she is "hidding" from a tank mate

[FlyinggFish]

I've had her for about a month and a half.
She loves her tank mates to death. She gets along very well with them.
They are:
- Engineer Goby
- Six line wrasse
- Percula clown
- Purple Firefish

She would never be frightened from any of them, only if they were frightened from something is when she would follow along and hide, but reappear in a couple seconds.

I knew something was wrong when I woke up b/c usually she is out and about even when the lights aren't turned on...and she wasn't out.


Do you think there is any hope that she will live or get out on her own? Especially after I was tugging on her a little?

My dad suggests that once she doesn't eat for a couple days (if she's stuck in there that long), she get skinny enough to slide out of there. I hope that won't happen though.

[FlyinggFish]

I guess, I'm just going to have to leave her in there like that.
I called my LFS, whose owners are my aquarium gurus, and they said if the fish got itself in there the fish can get itself out.
So I will wait a couple more hours, or a day. But damn, that fish is totally and unbelievably wedged in there.

[FlyinggFish]

Anybody have any ideas or any more opinions?

Do you really think she'll get out?
It's odd though because she's stuck in the spot she always goes into.

[EleganceMan]

ever thought of breaking the rock....it looks like you could get a chisel on the piece sticking out and tap in the direction away from the fish....

[rpeeples]

If you have access to the rock, remove the rock from the tank, place in a container with tank water, then gently break the rock apart with hammer/chisel where she is located.

I had this same experience. What you may find is when the rock is being removed from the tank she/he may break free.

Call me if needed... 336.253.0071 and I can walk you through it.

[cakemanPA]

Just leave the poor thing alone for a while. Only bad things can happen by messing with it. Stress, damage by pulling, or damage while breaking the rock. Patience and it will work its way free

[FlyinggFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14541836#post14541836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cakemanPA
Just leave the poor thing alone for a while. Only bad things can happen by messing with it. Stress, damage by pulling, or damage while breaking the rock. Patience and it will work its way free

You really think so? But what if she doesn't come out in a day? I've tried giving her a little tug like I said, and she's not budging.

[rpeeples]

Cakeman...does have a point....I would just monitor it closely and throw some food out there. Last resort should be to take the rock out and chisel away.

[Tangalong]

What about using a turkey baster and gently blowing some SW around her? Might loosen up some debri around her enough she can back out. Dumb?

[kar93]

I'd just leave it, it got itself in there it should be able to get itself out. If she really cannot get out then my first idea would be as Tangalon suggested and blow some SW around it and it might work. Tugging on it will most likely do more damage than good.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I would wait for a few hours. If its still stuck in 4 hours, break the rock.

[FlyinggFish]

I tried blowing some saltwater, she just would wiggle her tail.
I guess I will wait some hours. Poor thing.

[chimmike]

my hippo did that and got out by itself. As I've found out firsthand, those guys get ich from stress SUPER easily, so I try to not stress out the guy as much as I possibly can.

[EleganceMan]

your fish is not going to die from this....they are a lot stronger than most think. It could sit like that for days....but if its stressing you out to bad.... and you feel confident breaking the rock with out damaging the fish go to it....i would have already got him out because i am not a patient person....and i am a surgeon with a chisel.....lol...good luck

[barclayrl]

I would not use a hammer and chisel if you go that route I had one stuck and used wire cutters to nip away at the rock.. It work very well and there was no impact.. Just a few nips.. the cutters went throught the rock quickly.. calcium rock is rather soft...

[sikpupy]

Thats what I was gonna say. Get a good pair of side cutters like these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1536825 and snip away at peices of rocks around it. I would bet it is not coming out due to the dorsal fin getting caught in the rock. Once it has time to relax, lower them and slowly wiggle out, it would be free. Eh, I would give it a day, then cut away.

Your having a hard time with dicks and tangs, hmmmm, whats up with that? :cool:

[Toddrtrex]

I wouldn't do anything for at least 4 hours, it is fairly common for them to wedge themselves in the rocks. The more you mess with it now, the longer it will take for it to come out. Triggers do the same thing, in fact I have fully pulled a rock out of the water, and saw my trigger in there (( this was many many years ago )). Even with the rock out of the water for a couple of minutes, it stayed in there. Put it back in the water and in about in hour (( when it calmed down )) it came back out.

[Reeftanks6]

I think you should just let her go for a little and see what happens. Hopefully she can get her self back out! Best of luck

[Tswifty]

I would wait it out for now... then if it doesn't free itself...

I'm in for the chisel... Although I would probably use a dremel instead so you could be a little more careful/precise with the cut. Then when you get about 75% though... you should be able to break the rock away with your hands.

[ZoaFan08]

I had a royal gamma get stuck in a rock and I stressed it out so bad trying to get it out that when I finally did get it out it was so stressed out it was spazzing and died when it went through the overflow, down the drain, straight into the skimmer pump where it got chewed up. couple days later my other gamma go stuck and I just left it, he worked his way out 3 days later and was healthy as can be.

[fishtanker]

Like my mom always told me.

"If you got your head through the railing you can get it out. "

[sikpupy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14543022#post14543022 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishtanker
Like my mom always told me.

"If you got your head through the railing you can get it out. "

Guess you dont have big ears like I do? Nice mom, lol :p .

[FlyinggFish]

....No less than an hour, I check back on her. She was unstuck and swimming around.

Thank you so much for your support and ideas.
Sorry it took so long for the update, my phone line got messed up in the area.

She does have some marks on her that are white and black. They don't look that deep. Hopefully she won't catch ich -- as soon as I saw her out and swimming I fed her mysis, cyclopeeze, flake food, and put some veggies in the tank. She ate everything, as usual.

Thank you so much again.

Now I just have to diagnose her injuries, which I hope are only minor and won't cause a parasite or bacteria to start up.

I was thinking I'll do a small water change tomorrow, about five gallons.

Thank you thank you thank you everyone!

[Toddrtrex]

Think the marks are from when you were trying to get it out, and should be nothing to worry about. Just keep an eye on it, and a water change tomorrow sounds like a good idea.

[jksteele010]

you might soak its food in garlic also. can't hurt and will probably help it recover

[Tangalong]

I love happy endings..congrats...

[FlyinggFish]

Yeah, her seaweed is the one that comes with garlic additives.
Thanks so much again!!!!
I love happy endings too!

[Gdevine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14545368#post14545368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tangalong
I love happy endings..congrats...

I really like happy endings too... :-)

[redheadfishlady]

I am glad she freed herself and is doing well...

[spleify]

Wow glad it worked out. That was horrible to see.

[Jova]

Good to know that your fish got out of it's little mess... but honestly, I think you put yourself through far too much stress about this whole deal. It's a fish, and fish get stuck in crevices all the time in the wild, and they get out. If this happens again, I wouldn't try to do anything about it, because chances are, you're just going to make it worse. This fish got out, and most likely, any fish in the future that is in the same situation will get out as well. Glad to hear that your fish is doing good... Get yourself a beer or something, you deserve it:)

[screwsloose]

edited

[thegrun]

Great news, I was rivited to your post waiting to hear if she made it out.

[FlyinggFish]

Yeah, I def. won't touch a fish if it got itself stuck (or what looks like stuck) in the future. Here's a picture of her and her battle wounds (both sides). They look a lot worse in person.

The big black and white gash on her top fin:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/butterflyslie/DoryStuck008.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/butterflyslie/DoryStuck011.jpg

The gash by the front of her top fin and some on her body (in the black)
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/butterflyslie/DoryStuck012.jpg

[j'field]

Great to hear tat FlyinggFish!

For what I noe is that when a fish that is either stuck or hidding in a hole, it will get itself even more inner to the hole and get itself even more stuck if we disturb of stress it further.
Unless there is an opening toward it's head. And can try to chase the fish out that way by blowing some wave/curennt towards it head.

If not, try to pull a fish out by it's tail is gonna make the fish stress further and it will only swim forward and get itself stuck further in. ;)

[Tangalong]

FlyinggFish...I am so happy and relieved for you...we KNOW what we are SUPPOSED to do...but sometimes, we fish Moms get a little stressed because we love them and will do anything to help...that's just part of what and who we are..l

Now, if my buddy's stomotopod pulls through her ordeal, my day will be wonderful. Two happy endings in one day...what a blessing.

[fishysteve]

Happy endings involving slippery dicks are better.