dja1980
11/08/2010, 04:28 PM
About a week ago, I noticed my Blue Spotted Jawfish swimming around on the sand, away from his burrow. I thought this was a little strange, but figured maybe he was looking for some new building materials for his home. When it came to feeding time, he didn’t seem to be as aggressive at grabbing food as usual, which I also found to be a bit strange.
I went out of town for business meetings later in the week, and returned on Saturday. On my way home, my wife called to tell me that she had completely forgot feed the tank the last few days I was gone. Since they only went unfed for 2 days, I told her that it should be ok. Well, when I got home, I immediately went to feed and found the Jawfish in his burrow and not coming out for food. It seemed that he didn’t have enough energy to stick his head out of his hole to grab food, and he was breathing hard.
On Sunday morning, I checked on him again, and he was laying on his side on the sand and breathing REALLY hard… not looking good. I had to leave the house for the day, and I really expected him to be dead by the time I got home. When I got home he was on his back still gasping for “breaths”. At this point, I considered flushing him because he really looked like he was suffering… fighting for his life, but I decided to give him more time.
This morning he was in the same state… rolling around on his back on the sand and breathing hard. I really can’t believe he is still alive at this point, so I figured I should post to see if there is something I can do. My wife still thinks that she killed him by forgetting to feed, even though I assured her that wasn’t the case. This fish already survived a major tank crash back in July… I’d really hate to see him go this way if there is anything I can do to save him.
Any suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance… Dave
I went out of town for business meetings later in the week, and returned on Saturday. On my way home, my wife called to tell me that she had completely forgot feed the tank the last few days I was gone. Since they only went unfed for 2 days, I told her that it should be ok. Well, when I got home, I immediately went to feed and found the Jawfish in his burrow and not coming out for food. It seemed that he didn’t have enough energy to stick his head out of his hole to grab food, and he was breathing hard.
On Sunday morning, I checked on him again, and he was laying on his side on the sand and breathing REALLY hard… not looking good. I had to leave the house for the day, and I really expected him to be dead by the time I got home. When I got home he was on his back still gasping for “breaths”. At this point, I considered flushing him because he really looked like he was suffering… fighting for his life, but I decided to give him more time.
This morning he was in the same state… rolling around on his back on the sand and breathing hard. I really can’t believe he is still alive at this point, so I figured I should post to see if there is something I can do. My wife still thinks that she killed him by forgetting to feed, even though I assured her that wasn’t the case. This fish already survived a major tank crash back in July… I’d really hate to see him go this way if there is anything I can do to save him.
Any suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance… Dave