The Ultimate Guide to keeping fish: Part 2 - death
Depressingly enough, I'm now down to four fish - one of my clown loaches has passed on.
When I came back from Japan a couple of weeks ago, I was greeted by a very skinny and fin-nibbled fish. It had not been eating, so I suspected it was ill (No shit, Sherlock).
I put it into a separate bowl (with a filter, of course), and put it on Vitamins and some other healing solutions. It didn't seem to work, and the little fishy didn't eat a bite.
Then, about a week ago, I was convinced that it was going to die. Everytime someone asked me how it was, I'd say "Well, it'll probably be dead by tomorrow." This was mostly because it got soooo skinny, it was like a moving skeletal figure you'd see in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
But it kept getting thinner. And everytime I thought it would be dead by the morning, it wasn't.
Well, it's dead now. Gave it a rather unceremonious burial (wrapped in tissue paper and flung into a dustbin). It's the first fish death I've had in about 6 months. Guess I still have much to learn in the art of fish keeping...
- Other entries in this series:
The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Fish
3 comments:
hey chris, is your filter the external or the submerged type?
External ones are better, otherwise despite the water being clear the fish will still be living in their own (poisonous) urea. This is nitro-based, it all boils down to the concentration.
For the fin/tail damage, you can get capsule-based antibiotics from some aquarium shops (ironically, antibiotics can be purchased without prescriptions!). Just split the capsule and mix some powder into the water in the quarantine tank. Much more effective than those little bottle$ of promises that never materialise.
good luck man.
Thanks for the tip!
I once had about 8 fishes. Went on holiday praying they would be fine. Scattered goodies around the tank. What did I return to? Poisonous fumes, skeletal fishes and a half mauled black fish! Or maybe half rotten. Can't tell. Some of the fishes were decaying. It was sad. Very sad.
The only fishes I own now are in my screen saver tank!
Post a Comment