Please Help!!! Family fish takes leap! Please Help?

[DugOut]

Our fish toke a leap from the tank and was laying on the floor almost dead. I placed him back into the tank and he went belly up to the bottom. A half hour later I added a 1/4 cup of salt to the water and prayed my heart out that he would recover, once the salt toke effect in the water he began pushing water through his gills alittle more by the minute. After about 40 minutes he pulled himself back up right but still hasn't fully recovered. My children are worried that he will still die over night and honestly so am I.
Is there any signs that you can go buy to possibly determin if it will recover or not.
We aren't sure how long it was out of water, soon as we placed it back in his gills were only pulsating once every 3 to 4 seconds- Now they are pulsating every second with like a hic-up every 5 seconds. Almost normal except the hic-up! The fish isn't moving unless coaxed too.

Is there anything else we can do???

Our kids bought Christmas gifts for it and thier little hearts are gonna break!

 

[Zagz]

What kind of fish is it and how big is it? My goldfish did that once and I gently pushed him slowly back and forth through the water until water got through his gills, he is fine today and that was a month ago. But he is a large fish 7". Does he have any tankmates and what are the water parameters of your tank? Make sure his water is pristine and keep an eye on him. I hope it all works out for the best!

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm sorry about your fish. I hope he pulls through! It is a good sign that he is moving water through his gills. He may still be stressed at this point, so maybe keeping the aquarium lights off for awhile will help a little, and be watchful, but don't try to make him move. I cautiously think there is hope. He has begun breathing again on his own, and that is a good sign. Hopefully tomorrow, or sooner, he will start to swim around again. An extra water change can't hurt - maybe a small one so he is not stressed by it. Good luck!

 

[DugOut]

Its a bass that is about 13" and weighs 2 1/2 lbs. we had him for so long he is like a member of our family! On a good note; we got him back into the water before he had a chance to dry out but a think this hic-up may be air in its belly or lungs that it sucked in while laying on the floor. the fall was less than a foot so I don't think that hurt him as much as being out of the water.

 

[Zagz]

Yes keep the lights out and the air should move out of his lungs hopefully on it's own. Being a larger fish gives him a definate advantage.

 

[DugOut]

I can tell it is stressed by the grayish film on its body. I was in the process of cleaning the tank so I removed him and place it in a large rubber tub. I accidently left the cover off giving him reason to jump because it wasn't use to being in anything other than our other tank during cleaning!

Can a fish get trapped air inside of itself?
If so what can I do to help remove it?

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

The grayish film may be because his natural slime partially dried out, or he is producing excess slime as a response to stress. It sounds like he is probably adjusting his air bladder by himself-bass can do that. Fish can actually breathe in the air for quite some time as long as their gills dont dry out (just like we would suffocate if our lungs dried out). Make sure his water stays very clean and watch for secondary infections.

 

[DugOut]

Well its been 24 hrs now and what a big improvement. Sad thing is, now he isn't eating anything I feed him. I have 5 minnows and 2 cray fish lurking the tank and the fish just plays tag with him. Almost as if it watched finding nemo! "Fish Friends, Not Food"! I can understand why his attack speed is down but buy now, it would have already consumed 15 large minnows.

It also acts as if everything is new to it, Except he still enjoys rubbing noses against the glass with my 6 year old daughter.

I have been keeping his light unpluged so he can't switch it on. Actually, I haven't even seen him go near the top surface to make an attempt.

This may sound stupid but do fish get brain damage after being out of water for so long?

He was fairly close to dying!

 

[Zagz]

Good question, I would guess it certainly is possible. Don't know really. He may just need some more time to recover. Be patient since he is showing improvement he may just be in shock.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

It's possible that he has tried to turn the light on but you had it unplugged, so when it didn't turn on, he stopped trying. I say plug it back in, and turn it on yourself. That may encourage him to eat also. How long was he actually out of the water?

 

[DugOut]

I really don't know how long he was out of water, I would say atleast 5 minutes.
May have been longer.

He seems to be moving around pretty good now but still acts as if there is a missing brain wave or two.

Our Pastor stopped in and said a prayer with it, special request of our daughter.

Great Guy!