Injured fish and no 'hospital' tank

[HelenB]

Hi from NZ

I found one of my gourami wedged in one of the ornaments in my aquarium a short while ago.

I was able to get him/her out of the ornament. The gourami suffered a few abrasions but otherwise seems ok. However, the other fish started nibbling at it.

I don't have a second tank and at the moment the injured fish is in a plastic colander that I've got sitting in the water at the top of the aquarium.

My local pet supply shops don't have anything that I can adapt to use as an isolation area within in the existing aquarium and Google hasn't helped. I've looked through my kitchen cupboards and my inexperienced eye hasn't spotted anything that will allow the fish to swim and eat without being attacked by his 'friends'.

Does anyone have any suggestions, please?

Many thanks

Helen

 

[ColdKoi]

How big is this colander that you’ve got? I don’t see why using that would be an issue unless it’s very small or the gourami is fairly large/mature

If you’ve got a spare air pump or one you can split for another tank, basically anything can be used for a hospital tank. A plastic tote, large pot, heck even the kitchen sink! Lol

If you’re using a filter with some sponge media and you’ve got an air pump, you can quickly fashion up a makeshift sponge filter that’s already cycled and ready to go. All you need is something to hold water!

 

[HelenB]

Hi there

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly

The colander is just the standard plastic kitchen colander with a handle - the sort you use for draining vegetables (photo attached - I hope). But it does mean that the fish is having to stay at the top of the aquarium and I daren't switch on the aquarium light in case it disturbs the fish

I don't have a second air pump or filter. I don't have a second heater either and the nearest town that might have a proper pet supply shop is around 70km away so the injured fish is going to have cope with my home made 'hospital'.

I'm still wracking my brain trying to think how I could make a submersible hospital for my sick friend (who I've had for just a few weeks)

Thank you again for your help

Helen

 

[ColdKoi]

Personally, I’d just go with what you’ve got there. The colander isn’t constricting the fish’s movement, is got fresh water/flow and it’s safe from its tank mates.

As most of us value the fish Over the plants in the tank, I would go with what you’ve got there, and keep the light off (it wouldn’t be nice on that fish to blast it with light like that!). Any live plants aren’t going to thrive without good lighting, but you’re not going to kill everything if you have to leave the light off for a week or 2 and rely on room lighting. You could even rig up a temporary lamp or such to shine light from the side so the injured fish isn’t getting blasted with light

 

[HelenB]

Thank you again for getting back to me so quickly again.

I'll stop looking for potential fish hospitals in my kitchen cupboards and hope that my little friend makes a full recovery. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him/her wedged in the ornament and at first glance I was sure s/he was dead. So it was huge relief to find that despite having some injuries s/he was still alive. And if that wasn't enough drama for so early in the new year, one of my horses appeared to be unwell this morning. Sigh!


Thanks

Helen