E. Nose is inside my rock decor or dead???

[crissy7399]

I bought an Elephant nose a couple days ago along with 3 otos. It seems my otos are doing fine now (thought one was sick). Well, the e. nose decided to make his home in the big fake rock with a peice of driftwood behind it that kinda was like a little cave. Well, this rock has many holes for the fish to go thru, it's tall and wide but not deep. It also has an airtube going into the middle of it where the e nose would reside, but the hole for the airtube is about 2-3" wide and I think the whole thing is hollow.

I last saw him last night right after turning off the lights and he came out just a little bit. Haven't seen him since.

I moved the rock over slowly and turned it a little to try and look inside, but I can't see him at all, he must be way in there. He is definintely in there, because my tank is all taped and there is no fish outside the tank...he wouldn't burrow in the gravel...and there are no other hiding places that he could hide where I couldn't find him.

Ugh. What should I do? I don't know if he's just hiding there, or if he's stuck or dead. Will the water start smelling bad if he died?

CAN ANYONE HELP ME!???? I really don't want him to die.

thank you

 

[crissy7399]

never mind. he's dead. I think he got stuck in there..

Now I don't know if I should replace him with the same. I know I'll definitely have to remove the rock, or else plug that stupid hole.

I'm so upset now. I thought I was doing good.

Should I replace him? Should I wait until I've had more experience? I done so much research, I thought it would be okay. I guess fish are just so sensitive, I shouldn't expect every single one to survive all their trauma.

My whole thing was to get him before all the rest of my fish so he could get adjusted with a lesser amount of fish in the tank.

My plan was to next buy a school of xray tetras, and then possibly one or two blue rams (yes, I know they are touchy too. ugh, why do I love the "picky" fish), then last an angel fish (the only fish my husband wants).

Should I go with the tetras and then wait a few weeks before deciding what to do about the e. nose?

I'd still love any responses. I'm really depressed now.

 

[Timbo]

Sorry to hear about your loss Chrissy. Probably the best motto for this hobby is that **** Happens. In fact all too regularly and especially when setting up. Obviously the first thing to do is check your water quality with the test kit that you must have somewhere, and if found wanting do some water changes.
But the fact of the matter is that fish get VERY stressed in transit. And on several journies as well. Then of course every time thay are re-housed either in transit or at a new perminant home they encounter a whole new set of perameters and bugs.
So ... Read all you can about the type of water and physical enviornement that your fish requires, get as close as you possibly can to those ideal conditions, and try again.... It may take a few goes but if you are close enough it will work....
Failing that stick to easier fish. thay can be just as interesting and beautiful....

 

[crissy7399]

thank you Timbo.

 

[FroggyFox]

Crissy did you check your water parameters after you found him dead? How did you acclimate the new fish to the tank? Oh and can you refresh our memories on if you fishless cycled the tank or if you're doing a fish-in?

Assuming your tank is cycled I guess it really doesn't matter which fish you get first...unless you think something killed the elephant besides him getting stuck. If you got him from a reputable store they usually guarantee live for at least 6 days or so, so you should be able to get a refund or replacement. Another thing to check is maybe you want to get the tetras first because they are cheaper and they'd be a good way to make sure there really isn't anything wrong with the tank and use them to get the tank a little more established before getting anymore of your favorites that are more sensitive?

Hey most of all dont give up You have a great start and we all had issues with this hobby when we were starting out...it just takes a little extra patience sometimes.

 

[crissy7399]

thanks froggyfox.

I've been thinking over the whole thing and I think I was wrong about him getting stuck. Everyone at the stores keep telling me that if he can get in, he can get out.

Well, the other thing I think what probably happened is stress. I should have realized this, but didn't think anything of it at the time, but they originally had the elephant nose in this 55corner tank and I think they got him a couple weeks prior... but when I went in a few days later they had moved him to a smaller tank because they needed the 55 to babysit someones fish. Oh, why wasn't I thinking. That was probably too much stress for him. So that's 3 moves in 3 weeks.- DUH!

There's another LFS that has 5 of them for sale now and they are more active (although they have 2 in each tank and in one tank there are black ghost knife fish-big no no). Well, I also asked to see them eat and the guy put in flake food and they were eating it which to me is a good sign cause they like live food. They have also had them in that same tank for 1 month. I'm thinking that the chances of survival on these are 100% better than the other store I went to. I should have known better, but that one store had such a good price on him (the one that died).

anyways, I'm rambling... so, I will keep my mind open... thanks everyone!

oh, and I had checked my water almost every day or everyother day and for this last week it has been 0-0-9. I've done water changes every other week, and my ph has been at 7.5. So I'm really thinking it was either due to the stress or maybe by chance getting stuck.

 

[Fishckabibble]

that is terrible to hear about your fish, my peacock eel died the same way, he got stuck underneath an ornament and passed away.