PLEASE HELP - Naso in trouble

[brett559]

I (foolishly) tried to remove a foxface from my tank with a net. I chased him around for maybe 10 minutes. I was not successful.

While I was doing it, my naso tang got white spots on him and just laid down on the sand. I could have picked him up with my hand (too bad he wasn't the fish I was trying to get out...). It's been maybe 2 hours and he's just laying there on the sand on his side. His breathing is okay.

He was perfectly fine before I tried removing the other fish. Is he just stressed out? Did I just kill my favorite fish!?

Please let me know what you think or what to do.

[wooden_reefer]

I have not used a net to catch fish for decades.

I use a very large clear plastic bag, have the opening stretched wide open with both hands, and move every slowly to induce the fish to swim into the bag.

Committment to spend a fixed amount of time in removing the corals and rocks and a good fraction of the tank water into several large containers is the preparation.

Unplug AC first.

Doing it in semi-darkness helps often.

Stress can only add to problem that already exist.

When fish dashes wildly it often gets injured and lead to wounds that get infected. Plus the net itself can harbor nesty stuffs.