Back from the Dead? Holy clown loaches!!!!

[jbimflyer]

Ok so I picked up a clown Loach about 2 weeks in an attempt to provide some company for my other clown loach but something very strange happened. On the way home I trusted my son to hold the Bag and he dropped it, it wasn't far but from his car seat(he's 5) to the car floor. The Loach seemed a bit shaken up but ok nonetheless.
So long story short I Get home and we Acclimate it to my aquarium, Scoop it out and it Dives in the tank shoots straight for the bottom and into the cave to hide. Now mind you I peeked into the cave and it Looked lifeless floating on its side.
No activity from it a couple of days later and I saw it doing what appeared to be floating around in the cave, so I wrote it off as Dead caused by stress. At this point I actually left it there since I couldn't scoop it out of a cave in a 55 Gal, and I wasn't willing to drain the water and stress the other fish. I really wanted another clown Loach to keep mine company so I went back to the LFS and told them what had transpired, But they said they only have babies(mine was medium), so I figured I'd wait till they Get a shipment.
FF to today, so I was throwing in some shrimp pellets all were eating when I saw what I thought was a reflection of my clown loach because it wasn't as bright appeared near to the Glass and eating. But after a closer Look I COULDN'T BELIEVE MY EYES!! My clown loach wasn't Doing what that Reflection was Doing... It was the 'Dead' clown Loach eating, but how??!! It's not as Bright orange as the other one, I had never really seen it in the Aquarium Light since I Got it. Can anyone shed some Light on this?... Did it Die and come back to Life, is that possible? And if so could it be Damaged in some way neurologically like what happens to people if their brain Doesn't Get oxygen for a period of time? After it ate it Disappeared, back into the cave... so I took a Look and it appeared to be sitting in the substrate wiggling in place a sort of swim motion and then just stopped and sat there. So was it under there the whole time and stressed or too shy to come out? Please shed some Light on this phenomenon, thanks.

 

[Jferrante]

it's not a zombie lol
it definitely didn't die but you should probably keep an eye on it for while hopefully it doesn't have any broken bones and starts to recover and become relaxed. the lack of color probably has to do with all the stress it's been through. During the next few weeks are crucial to how it will recover from the incident. Luckily the cave will probably help make him feel safe so not to have any prolonged PTSD which is probably why he's still hiding in it. He should come out on his own eventually and do normal things but he may be more skittish for a long while. But the fact he still eats is a very good sign, he's a fighter

Might want to look into having a hospital tank ready to go if things should go south. just have the equipment ready anyways you don't have to fill it up till the time arises. But patience maybe just what is needed.

 

[NigelK8485]

If you think a fish is dead you should scoop it out. If it's in a cave, lift the cave. If you need to drain water, drain water. Letting the body rot and foul the water is going to be more stressful to the fish than simply draining some water from the tank and scooping out the dead fish.

The fish was just shaken up. Try dimming the lights to make it more comfortable. It's usually recommended to keep clown loaches in larger groups, 5 or more, and also realize that they will need a bigger tank than 55 gallons.
Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Mebbid]

Clown loaches commonly play dead.

 

[fishy14]

I wouldn't really trust a 5 year old to hold a bag of live fish


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[jbimflyer]

I wouldn't really trust a 5 year old to hold a bag of live fish


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

He's Done it well before, and it was only one fish... but he's on suspension from holding the fish Aquarium transport bag for a while.

 

[michellev512]

They sleep on their sides as well...it's cute


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[azmodan]

Yup, as Mebbid pointed out already: http://youtu.be/IsEBzYmq5q0


Sent from my iPad using science

 

[jbimflyer]

Yup, as Mebbid pointed out already: http://youtu.be/IsEBzYmq5q0


Sent from my iPad using science

Wow that's funny, they should be paid for their act

 

[jbimflyer]

Update... so the Clown loach in Question has just recently started coming out during the day, but it's only when basically holding 'fins' with it's buddy the other clown Loach in there. It swam all around kind of nervously Like it had never actually explored the tank, and even into the Glass like it Didn't realize the limitations on the tank. Wow its Gotta get out more often.