avid got stuck behind the heater this morning, he cant have been there for more than a couple of hours. anyway, he has the most horrible almost zig-zag gash where he has literally been cooked and its just opened him right up! hes paralysed on the side he burnt himself on too. what do i do? what do i do?? what do i do???

Amy, thats horrible! How bis is Avid?
What I would do is keep the water as perfect as you possibly can, get some salt or melafix in it, and put some neosporin or any other antibiotic cream on the spot. Clean it with hydrogen peroxide before though....I don't see any reason why Avid shouldn't come out of it.

Heaters are a touchy thing. The only tank where the fish fish could squeeze behind the heater is my veiltail tank, and I have not attached the heater to the glass there. It just dangles from the top in the middle of the tank.
Good luck with Avid, and let us know how he is doing!

thanks andrea. avid is only small, about 2-2.5". hes still moving but obviously only going round in circles at the moment. hes starting to get some movement back into his fins. not much, mind you, but hes getting there. hes breathing much more rapidly but thats to be expected i guess, and hes not touched any medicated food im offering him. ill see how he goes though. ill just dangle the heater in future. i cant help but feel there should be some sort of warning on the box though. i might email the company. thanks a lot for the help

sorry to hear about avid amy, you can buy guards to put over the heater if you think he might get hurt again.

i think i might just hang it there in the tank in future so no-one gets stuck. i did the hydrogen peroxide swab and put some melafix in there. im just going out now to get some cream. i just noticed there is some blood in his poo. is that a cause for concern?

Amy I am sorry to hear about your poor little fishy. I do hope he makes a full recovery.
I am not sure about the blood in the poo, I know when animals have blood in the poo it can be a bad sign.

Blood in the poop, hm? It could be that the burn got so deep that it reached a small part of his intestines. I don't think there is much that you can do right now besides what you have already done. If he refuses the medicated food, let him be for a day or so. If the intestines indeed got hurt somehow, I don't think its a good idea to have food passing by there at this time.
Let him heal for a day, and try the medicated food again, maybe crumbling it a bit smaller - or maybe a bloodworm or two, since its easier to digest....

bad news, hes hemeraging through his anus now. quite badly most of the day. oh, i hope he makes it... thanks for all the help. oh, andrea, how often should i use the hydrogen peroxide?

Just once, Amy. But you can reapply the neosporin up to twice a day...
Oh, I hope Avid makes it!!

well, at last some good news. hes moving a lot more and hes stopped bleeding! thanks so much for all the help. we cant get hold of neosporin over here. well, at least not without a perscription and, as much as i love the little guy, im not going to fake an injury for him! ill see how he goes tonight and post back tomorrow. i just got some pics of his injury. ill just resize them etc and then i post them up.

Well, its good news that he seems to be improving somewhat!
It doesn't have to be Neosporin, Amy - if you can find ANY antibacterial cream anyplace that will do it. Neosporin only with prescription! Imagine that.....

bad news. he died last night. i feel so bad for him. im still trying to get hold of the company to get some compensation. the gash gradually opened as the day went on and by this morning, i could see his intestine. it was horrible. even if i dont achieve getting conpensation, at least i may be able to get them to put a warning label on their product saying that fish of a certain size can fit beind it, so hopefully other people can avoid this situation.
rip avid

oh, and just in case people were interested to see what the gash was like, ive got a pic of it here. it was a lot worse this morning though.

awww amie, i'm sorry you lost him, such a shame

hope something comes of a warning though for heaters

aww...that is just terrible. I'm sorry for your little fishie

I'm so sorry for your loss Amy!!!!

Oh, Amy, I am so sorry that Avid didn't make it! The gash doesn't look so bad on the picture, but if it has gotten worse during the day, maybe some bacterial attack has gotten hold of him.
Poor Avid, he was a cute little darling....

Oh Amy, I'm so sorry!

I've noticed there's new types of suction cups out on some of the heaters or even replacement ones that I didn't think where such a good idea. I still have the older typ of those and they just don't allow any room, well, a guppy might be able to get behind it, but it would have to be very small indeed. <_<

At least I have learned something from this though, I'd have never suspected a goldie would try to get behind the heater! I think in future I'll be looking at one of the newer types of heaters that are incased then.