Suicidal fish

[Bubbles]

Unfortunately today, i came home to discover that i couldn't find my peacock rockskipper. i looked everywhere but figured that it must be hiding somewhere, later on i looked again only to discover him still not there. Anyway the time came when a thought that he may have jumped out of the tank, i did a brief look but could not find him, i could not understand why a sand sifting fish would be a leaper. After a much better look (my room is a mess) i found him, wriggling on the floor underneath some stuff. He was out of the water for atleast 1 hour, not counting how long he had been there since i got home.
I put him back in the water, with the net to see if he would move, after a while he did end up swimming out of the net under my close watch. Now he is lying on the sand as he usually does, but not quite healthy looking. His eyes are sort of glassy but his gills are still beating away. is there anything i could do to help him? Or is he already floating off to heaven?

[Bubbles]

no need to comment guys, unfortunately he just passed away

[Amphibious]

Sorry to hear the sad news.

For some strange reason fish choose to jump. Many bottom dwellers are known for leaving the confines of their aquarium home, Yellow Head and Blue Spot Jaw fish, Starry Blenny and many others are just a few. Of course then you got the Anthias group of midwater swimmers known for their ability to jump. Eels of all kinds sometimes find the floor. Octopus are notorious for finding their way out the tinniest of openings. It's part of the aquarium keeping hobby.

Dick

[saxman]

the real key to whether a "carpet surfer" will make it is whether or not its gills have dried out. fish with closed opercula and heavy slime coats (such as eels) tend to fare better in this situation. as you witnessed, your fish was gasping after it was returned to the tank, which is indicative of gill damage.

over the years, i've lost a dwarf fuzzy lion and a barchin scorp due to carpet surfing. the lion i could understand, but the scorp definitely took me by surprise.

sorry your fish didn't make it.

[CarmieJo]

My cherub angel went carpet surfing too. I am sorry you lost your fish. :(

[rayme07]

I'm sorry to hear about your fish.

[Skurvey Dog]

My baby went CS too even though I thought I had thoroughly secured the hatch. Sorry for your loss. Even though bad things happen, we can still try to turn it into some small positive when we learn from them.

[THEJRC]

I had a lawnmower blenny that went surfing twice but failed to meet his goal of demise...

eventually he fed himself to an anemone.... some fish just dont want to hang around.... the anemone after claiming many (one of which was a yellow tang who within 10 seconds of being introduced to the tank promptly made himself a snack) inevitably met his own demise by feeding himself to a powerhead.

That was when I realized this hobby was going to cause great emotional confusion.... yaay

[Bubbles]

Cheers for the support guys

Even though bad things happen, we can still try to turn it into some small positive when we learn from them.
yep i'm definitely going to be securing a roof for them now


That was when I realized this hobby was going to cause great emotional confusion.... yaay

Oh yes, as well as causing a great loss of funds :)