[Help] I think my flowerhorn just got stung by a wasp, is it lethal?

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Death03

Death03

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2014
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Philippines
I hope someone could help me.

I have a 3.5"~ flowerhorn that's been really active until yesterday. It's suddenly lethargic, won't eat, nuchal hump has shrunk, and his gills and mouth is somewhat open all the time. I changed 50% of the water yesterday then researched about why and I came across a thread that says FH can sometimes "break" their jaw when dealing with their reflections, I assumed that was the case.

But earlier this morning I found something lying at the bottom my hornwort bush, I haven't noticed this one yesterday since the hornwort can be very thick. Then I found a wasp without its sting. I am not entirely sure how did it get there since I have a glass cover but I think that's most likely the reason why my flowerhorn has become very lethargic and why his mouth and gills is somewhat "paralyzed".

Here's a photo of the wasp I found, as you can see it doesn't have its sting
wasp.jpg

And here's a photo of my FH before and after the incident
fh.png

He lost quite a bit of his color and his nuchal hump has shrunk. He just sits at the bottom of the tank all the time and wont eat. I've been changing 50% of the water since yesterday and will continue if there's an improvement. I have also given him a salt bath yesterday. Is there anything else that I could do? Or are wasp stings to a 3.5" fish lethal?
 
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Wow, probably 1 in a 100,000 odds something like that could happen but it's certainly possible -- even after it's dead the stinger could still mess him up and I could certainly see your FH going after it dead or alive. I'm guessing you checked and the stinger hopefully isn't lodged anywhere around his mouth? Also have you checked water parameters to rule that out?

In any case if it was stung I really don't think there's much more you can do other than to try and relieve overall stress, which you seem to be doing with water changes and salt. So looks like a wait and see thing, especially as he's kind of smaller still, really hope he pulls through, plz keep us updated and good luck.
 
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islandguy11 said:
Wow, probably 1 in a 100,000 odds something like that could happen but it's certainly possible -- even after it's dead the stinger could still mess him up and I could certainly see your FH going after it dead or alive. I'm guessing you checked and the stinger hopefully isn't lodged anywhere around his mouth? Also have you checked water parameters to rule that out?

In any case if it was stung I really don't think there's much more you can do other than to try and relieve overall stress, which you seem to be doing with water changes and salt. So looks like a wait and see thing, especially as he's kind of smaller still, really hope he pulls through, plz keep us updated and good luck.
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Thanks for the response.

Yeah, I think this is definitely not a common occurrence that's why I'm not entirely sure what to do. I don't think I see any stingers in his mouth or anywhere in his body. It could possibly be still in the tank though but it's not really easy finding it since I have a bush of hornwort in the tank. I currently have no test kits available but I just did a water change last saturday and he became lethargic at around monday so I think the parameters are on the safe side of things though I think the biggest suspect is still the wasp.

I guess you're right, there's really nothing I could do anymore besides waiting and see what happens.

The fish' condition is just becoming worse as time goes by. It's still not eating and right now it's laying down to its side.
 
That's so unusual! Glad he's recovering :D
 
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