# Rehabilitating fish that may have been in O2 depleted conditions



## hornell (Oct 27, 2011)

Hi guys,

I recently picked up two female and one male scarlet badis. I drip acclimated them for about 45 minutes using tank water in the vicinity of my aeration stone. I assumed this would assist in getting O2 levels back up.

Two of them seemed stressed, but immediately started swimming around my tank and now seem to be doing fine (colour has come back). One of the females was in really rough shape (I think she may have gotten herself stuck in one of the folds of the bag), symptoms included:
*- sinking to the bottom
- struggling to maintain balance (tail rising, laboured swimming etc).
- Scales looked dried out and "flaky" and the fins were very compact
*
Her swimming improved marginally over the next few hours, but she still looked pretty rough. To avoid harassment from my horny male, I decided to put her into a 1 gal tank by herself with a sponge filter, some moss and frogbit (water quality). I added some API aquarium salt as well as a small dose of pimafix. I do 75% water changes every 12 hours or so with water from my established tank. It's been two days and she looks to be improving. She has even eaten the grindals I've put in the tank for her. Scales look to be peeling, similar to a sun burn.

Are there any additional tips for rehabilitating fish that have been in O2 depletion/poor water quality?

Thanks


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