I lost a fish today.
Was expecting it. Am still treating the tanks for ich, but Flash did not make it. He has been looking terrible for days now, crashed on the bottom, rarely even rising for a breath, not eating. I finally decided to move him into the QT tank (but that wasn't cycled so it was a big risk) so I could dose him with aquarium salt, and so if he died in the night wouldn't poison the small tank with ammonia, but he did not survive the transfer. The stress of being caught was too much. I had to move the driftwood he hides under- he twitched away, thrashed a bit, was gone. My hand doesn't fit down into the gap behind the wood so I lifted his poor body out with a gravy spoon. Even in death he still had some beautiful colors.
I'd had him for eight months. This is my favorite picture of him:
Some other nice photos:
Goodbye, Flash.
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I'm so sorry. It must be frustrating when you take such conscientious care of your fish. Your tanks are beautiful and I enjoy your posts about them.
ReplyDeleteI, myself, gave up and went with fancy goldfish. They're pretty but can practically live in a sewer. (My tank isn't that bad, honest.)
Thank you. I do try- but I am not really a good fishkeeper yet. It would be so much easier to keep fishes that don't need heat- like mountain cloud minnows- I started out with goldfish myself many many years ago- but I do love the scalare cichlids (angelfish) so much, I am holding out hoping my skills improve enough that some day I can keep them without accidentally killing them!
ReplyDeleteI've also always wanted to have an outdoor pond with koi in it- so maybe I will have goldfish again too!