[Betta132]

I was down at a local river today, and somebody foulhooked this little minnow-looking critter by the gill. It looked to be in pretty bad shape, so I thought I'd take him home and just euthanize him with clove oil. I was gonna smash his head in with a rock, which is a humane death, but I didn't think I could bring myself to do it. Now that I've got him home, he's perked up a lot! His colors are back and he's moving around... He keeps kind of tipping over onto his side, but I think he's okay. Problem is, though, he was being handled by a little boy for a minute... I'm not sure if he has internal injuries. Gonna try to attach some photos. The one in the bag is the first photo, the second one is now. You can see that there was a bit of the gill-feather sticking out below his gill cover, but that part has turned almost completely transparent. I think that means the blood is no longer circulating through that bit, but he seems to be breathing alright.
Is he gonna be okay? Any way for me to help him? Or should I just euthanize him?
If you think he's gonna be okay... What is he? I checked my game fish guide and he doesn't seem to be on it. A couple of fish were similar, but they didn't have that black tailspot.

Okay, now he really doesn't look good. He's laying on his side, unable to move anything but his head and a trembling tailfin, and he's gasping. I'm going to euthanize him soon if I don't get anything that says I shouldn't.

Apparently spasmic trembling of the tailfin is bad. Poor thing's dead now... Well, any idea what he is?

 

[ADJAquariums]

That wasn't a foul Hook, He was used as bait for fishing. You loop the hook up under the jaw and through the nostril area of it's head. Most likely Commercially available bait, so it could be any multitude of species

 

[Lab_Man]

I would not have taken the chance introducing diseases into my tanks.

I hate to see it happen, when I catch a fish in the gill. Sometimes a fish will make it, sometimes they won't.

 

[Betta132]

Actually, no, he wasn't bait. There were a couple of kids fishing, and one of them pulled this out. They were using worms for bait, not fish.
He didn't make it... I'm not sure why, since he didn't seem too badly injured. Could it be his gill was all messed up inside? I'd think maybe he'd still be alright, since he has another gill...
Any clue what he is? I'm in Austin, Texas, if that's any help. He was in the San Gabriel River, and I see a lot of his kind darting around in shallow water.

EDIT: I've just identified him as a blacktail shiner.

 

[burr740]

He was a cute little fellow, RIP

 

[Betta132]

I've put him in a little jar of alcohol to see if it'll work to preserve him... Curiosity more than anything else.
The sunfish I saw today made me want a native fish tank. If that ever becomes reality, I'm putting a few blacktail shiners in there... They're pretty neat.

 

[lamiskool]

poor guy, glad you tried to save him though. Also yea, after seeing some pics of some pygmy sunfish, I really want to keep some!

 

[Lab_Man]

My wife and I were vacationing on the Table Rock Lake in MO. We were catching sunfish that were so beautiful that if I had an empty tank available I would have taken a few.

It has left such an impression in me that I still reminisce about going back there to bring back a few sunfish.

 

[jrill]

Why do people insist on making fish suffer on by trying to save them instead of just putting them down. I don't get it. Should have used the rock and ended it right then.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[TedP]

I've used a lot of golden shiners for bait. They aren't the most hardy of species even before you put a hook in them. I assume blacktails are similar.

 

[PlantedRich]

Careful when speaking of sunfish. I have always lived around areas where sunfish, bluegill, perch, or bream were used pretty much interchangably for a small game fish. Now I see on the forum there is a totally different fish available as sunfish. Totally different so check before getting either to avoid a big disappointment.