please help my little dimwitted guarami...

[fishy_love]

So last night my beautiful dwarf guarami had his head lodged in a piece of fake coral we have in his tank, I have no idea how he managed it but he was STUCK. We had to remove the coral and slowly wiggle his body backwards to get him out and now he has a scrape on the top of his head and he is swimming with a tilt and his bottom raised higher than his head :-( he is still swimming around with his buddy and is still eating so I don't know what to do. Has this happened to anyone else? Will this go away on it's own or what can I do to help him? His name is Ting and we have had him since the beginning of November and he has been a really hearty fish until his recent bout of stupidity stuffing his body into a teeny tiny little hole...

 

[Mumma.of.two]

All you can do is keep stress down and keep his water as clean as possible to keep infection at bay. He should heal fine but will probably have some scar tissue.

 

[fishy_love]

Thanks, I'll keep a close eye on his head.
I'm worried about him but as long as he's still eating he isn't dying, right?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If he's still eating that a good thing. Things to look out for are him being listless, white fuzz or red around the wound, gasping at the surface and of course floating or having trouble staying upright.

 

[NinjaTetra]

I agree with mummy of two. Just keep the parameters extra good, and maybe get rid of the decoration that caused this. I had a frog that somehow managed to wedge it's leg under a rock and was there a week. I thought it was just sitin there, and got worried on the fifth day. The sixth day I moved the rock, when I saw Kermit( or maybe Kermit's gf) thrashing wildly to free herself( or himself). There was a big red spot on the leg and it healed. It wasn't so active for awhile though. Moral off ghe

 

[fishy_love]

Thanks to you both. He is still swimming at a strange, tilted angle but no signs of infection. He is still eating and being playful so I'm not worried about him dying so much as I am about him not healing properly and it inhibiting him.

 

[fishy_love]

Well, all was looking up until this morning. When I went to feed my tank, my gourami was laying on the bottom and tried (unsuccessfully) twitching to the surface when I opened the lid. He can't keep his balance and I scooped him out and moved him to his own little tank with some meds and in the water just in case it's a parasitic thing, but I think it's his air bladder... He has no visible injuries and his head has healed up very nicely, just a tiny spot on the top like a scab where he had scraped. I gave him a pea/algae disk and he scooted himself closer to it but he can't keep himself off of his side His friend keeps swimming around the tank looking for him in their usual spots and it is so sad to me... I'm expecting him to die now and I'm confused as to how he could go so downhill over night when just last night he was still swimming around albeit crooked still, but doing fine. Hopefully he will heal up in his private little tank and can rejoin his buddy soon, but I'm not so sure... Any advice on what this could be or what I could do would be greatly appreciated.