glofish accident...pls help pls

[fishbie]

Hi all
I ve got a 10 gallon tank with 4 glofish and 2 female platys..One of my friends gave one gigantic plastic plant standing on a bed of bushes on a pebble stone stand when i was looking for decorations for my tank. She had used it once in her 50 gallon tank,but had to dispose it when she took it down.. It was a bit big,so i had to cut down 2 or 3 tall branches for it to fit(i did not know they had wire-like things inside the stem,had a hard time cutting!),washed it properly(coz she had washed it already,no point in looking for remaining good bacteria!) and kept it in a corner even before i filled my tank..
My nitrogen cycle was perfect a few weeks after i had the tank running,but i did a big mistake..i did a 30% pwc twice a week regularly,vacuuming the whole gravel everytime and fed my fish twice daily (u can see i was pretty excited with my new tank ) The petsmart helper told me i had been constantly disturbing the nitrogen cycle by doing those things! My amm levels were between 0.5 and 1 ppm the day before yday
I did a immediate 30% pwc with prime. I was also asked to wait until next month to do the next 30%.

Well,here is the problem- one of my glofish was missing yday afternoon when i checked the tank I searched all over and took out the decors one by one only to find that the little one had been stuck in a small hole between one of the bushes in the plastic plant i was talking about I had last checked on him the night before,and did not feed yday morning (petsmart guy's idea to feed once a day) so i m kicking myself for not checking ,dont know how long he had been like that! He was not moving at all when i took the plant out but as soon as i moved the bushes to check on him,he jumped into the tank!
I threw the plant away immediately (i have another small plastic plant,2 small caves and a bridge) I was so angry with myself to have not thought about this before!
After that,he looked like struggling to swim for a while,but was atleast swimming. He was the most active and smartest among the others(knows when i m going to feed and when i m just looking ) but he was not that active yday he looks thinner and his scales looked kinda dry yday(looks better today,tho his usual shine is missing)
and when i tried to feed him,he did not come up like he used to neither did he even try to eat the flakes that sinked down near him. He was just swimming slowly this way and that. I called petsmart and they said things that scared me like hell! They said he may live only for a while now and not to let others pick on him until then. If he does survive the next day,they asked me to add a few drops of prime for soothening effect.
Well,today is the next day..i got up real early and was so happy to see his tail was still shaking,so he was alive,but was sleeping with eyes open..one other of my glofish was also sleeping,so i was not much worried..my prob now is that he is still sleeping,except the occasional swim about for 2 to 3 seconds,he comes back to the same place (top middle of tank) and sleeps.
I Ve got a few questions now-
1) Is there any medication to cure him? or should i just let him heal by himself??
2) My amm levels were ok after i did a pwc day before yday but should i be worried that i had disturbed my nitrogen cycle again now that i took that large plant out? (have other decors too which can have bact)
3)I did add a few drops of prime to the tank yday to soothe him like they said in petsmart,can i do that again today?
I dont have any other tank to qt him(cannot afford) but i dont want my little one to die..i would be very thankful if anyone can pls answer this asap...pls help...

Update- He is swimming slowly now,he even came up and ate a little when i fed them now,but i m shocked and upset to find that his tail fin looks very short (half the size of others) I was relieved yday only coz all his fins seemed intact..now that he started moving slowly,i looked him closely and almost cried Nobody picked on him yday until last i checked,could he be just shedding? Will it grow back??
I may sound silly,but i m desperate now..
Pls help immediately...pls dont say he will die

 

[LyndaB]

I ve got a 10 gallon tank with 4 glofish and 2 female platys..One of my friends gave one gigantic plastic plant

My nitrogen cycle was perfect a few weeks after i had the tank running,but i did a big mistake..i did a 30% pwc twice a week regularly,vacuuming the whole gravel everytime and fed my fish twice daily (u can see i was pretty excited with my new tank )

I did a immediate 30% pwc with prime. I was also asked to wait until next month to do the next 30%.

one of my glofish was missing ... stuck in a small hole between one of the bushes in the plastic plant... he looked like struggling to swim for a while,but was atleast swimming.

1) Is there any medication to cure him? or should i just let him heal by himself??

2) My amm levels were ok after i did a pwc day before yday but should i be worried that i had disturbed my nitrogen cycle again now that i took that large plant out?

3)I did add a few drops of prime to the tank yday to soothe him like they said in petsmart,can i do that again today?

his tail fin looks very short (half the size of others) Will it grow back??

Sorry, but I cut out all the extraneous stuff because it was way too hard to read (for me anyway). Give me a second to read through and then respond to your issues.

Edited to add:

You did not make a mistake by doing water changes.

Do not add Prime to "soothe the fish". You must maintain water changes in order to keep the water pristine which may help restore his fin unless it's damaged too close to the bone. You should also soak the food in Garlic Guard or Vita-Chem to help boost his immune system.

Not doing a water change for a month is really horrible advice, especially when you have sick fish.

By removing the plant, you have not affected your beneficial bacteria, they live mostly in your filter and filter media, but some may be found on decor (not enough to matter).

 

[fishbie]

Sorry, but I cut out all the extraneous stuff because it was way too hard to read (for me anyway). Give me a second to read through and then respond to your issues.

Sorry about that,just got worried and carried away..pls do read my 2 updates too...i m worried about my little one

 

[LyndaB]

I read the updates, too.

 

[absolutangel04]

Ok, to start with, I am sorry about your fish. I hope he pulls through.
Do a pwc whenever your ammo goes over .5 ppm or so. Up to 1ppm it is probably ok (depending on your temperature and pH), but do not stop doing pwc. Ammonia in high enough concentrations is toxic to fish, so leaving the fish to sit in climbing ammonia is not good for the fish. Telling you not to do pwc was poor advice. That said, you don't need to worry about it until the ammo climbs up to over .5ppm.
Honestly, 2 30% pwc a week were probably fine. If anything, maybe a bit on the low side, but concentration of ammo is the most important thing for determining frequency of pwc during a cycle.
He could well have internal damage from being stuck. Time will tell. There is not a med that can cure him since the issue does not to be just one thing. I am going to be honest, it doesn't good, but you can try and hope for the best.
Clean water helps a fish keep up its immune system and fight off infection or other issues. Make sure to keep the water clean for him and see he does. Prime after pwc helps, but I don't know that adding more beyond that will actually help him any.
Those are the important things. I am going to tell you that is quite a bit of stock for a tank that size. Since you just got the fish, I am guessing they are young. Keep an eye on them, and I suggest you try to look for a tank more like 20g for them later if you can. I know what it's like to have a money and space issue, but you can often find used tanks cheap on Craig's List, and a 20 tall doesn't actually take up too much more room than a 10g. Just something to think about for the future. In the meantime, keep the water clean and I hope your fish can pull through.
Let us know if you have any other questions.

EDIT: LyndaB ninja posted before me!

 

[fishbie]

Sorry, but I cut out all the extraneous stuff because it was way too hard to read (for me anyway). Give me a second to read through and then respond to your issues.

Edited to add:

You did not make a mistake by doing water changes.

Do not add Prime to "soothe the fish". You must maintain water changes in order to keep the water pristine which may help restore his fin unless it's damaged too close to the bone. You should also soak the food in Garlic Guard or Vita-Chem to help boost his immune system.

Not doing a water change for a month is really horrible advice, especially when you have sick fish.

By removing the plant, you have not affected your beneficial bacteria, they live mostly in your filter and filter media, but some may be found on decor (not enough to matter).

I dont know if the damage is too close to the bone,so i m attaching 2 pics-before and after the fin damage..pls give me ur opinion..he is pink in color,i named the little one rachel coz i thought he was female since he had a rounded belly.
The first pic i took yday with the hood lights on when i checked if he had any fin damage..pink one's fins were normally smaller than the others (1st pic shows the orange one too) but now seems very small.
Does it look bad????

 

[fishbie]

Thanks a lot absolutangle..will sure think about it,though i m not sure coz i move a lot and thought a 10g would be most suitable for me. I ve attached pics of my fish..pls do give me ur opinion about what i can do now..seeing his tail fins like this pains me a lot..

 

[LyndaB]

I'm sorry, the picture is too fuzzy to really see the damage.