Mori, our surviving goldfish, was dead when we got up this morning. I’d moved him to the smaller tank while we kept treating the big tank and, oddly, I think that might have been the death of him. So now we are fishless again.
I’m at a loss for what to do next. I don’t want to buy more fish if we’re only going to kill them.
Yep, I have killed another Siamese Fighting Fish. I am a serial fish murderer.
As well as that I am sick. Suddenly and really annoyingly sick. One minute last night I was cooking dinner, the next I wasn’t sure whether I was going to throw up, faint or both. My back and neck ache, I get dizzy every time I move and I really can’t face food. It really sucks and it’s most inconvenient.
As Mark said, he can go to work while he’s still ill, but he can’t go to work while I am ill. He’s still pretty unwell, but he did a truly heroic job of kid wrangling on little sleep this morning while I stayed in bed. I honestly don’t know how I would have coped with Finn and Leila if he had gone to work this morning. He’s gone back to bed and Leila is asleep so it’s just Finn and I at the moment, but even so I’ve thought about asking Mark to get up and help.
It’s not that Finn is being particularly naughty. He’s just being a healthy, attention-seeking four year old in a house full of sick people. Even mild noise and excitement is too much today. So the poor kid can do little right.
Looking at the computer and typing is making me ill now. Argh! I might go stare at a wall for a while. They don’t move.
Yesterday we went out to Bunnings. On the way home we stopped at the local aquarium shop and got a new Betta and five Cardinal Tetras for my little tank.
The Bettas were displayed in the usual teeny tiny tanks and each tank had a name on it. I actually found myself turned off some of the fish based on the name on the tank. Who would want to buy ‘Barry Hall’ or ‘Steve Irwin’? Who could buy ‘B1′ and leave ‘B2′ behind? In the end I chose Yoda. He’s the colouring I liked the most, he seemed nice and active and I didn’t object to his name.
I wanted some little fish to add a bit more interest and movement to the tank so we opted for some little Cardinal Tetras. We wanted four, but one fell out onto the floor while being taken out of the big tank so we got a fifth one free. These little guys are tiny, brightly coloured and supposedly very hardy. I didn’t name them because they all look the same and it was probably a good thing.
One tetra disappeared not long after we put all the fish in the tank. While Yoda hadn’t seemed hugely bothered by them, he had chased them a little bit and I wondered whether he’d caught one. I suppose I’ll never know. The other four seemed fine for the rest of the day, but when Mark got up this morning there were three dead tetras on the bottom of the tank. The lone survivor has spent most of today hovering in one spot, looking very nervous.
Despite my optimism, this morning I found Old Gregg quite still at the bottom of the tank. No amount of prodding would move him so he is most definitely dead.
I feel bad about that. He was an apparently healthy, happy and active fish when I brought him home and I killed him.
I’m not entirely sure how I killed him. I suspect it may have been constipation from the freeze dried food I gave him since his decline started immediately after eating. Or it could have been that the water was not right - I could have been a bit hasty about putting him in there. I’ll probably never know for sure.
So now I have a tank. I will need another/some more fish at some stage. I’m just not sure when or what. Another Betta? Some other robust tropical fish? Or will I just stick to gold fish since Finn’s are doing brilliantly?
Before I decide I will dispose of Old Gregg’s remains and clean the tank.
Old Gregg was the fish that looked at me on Friday. When I went back on Sunday he was the only one left. We seemed fated to be together.
When we first put him in his tank he seemed fine. After I fed him, though, things changed. He initially spent a lot of time huddled down in a bottom corner of the tank. After a while he changed to hanging out at the top, leaning against either the filter or the heater. When he wasn’t resting against something he tended to list to one side. More than once I’ve thought he was dead. If I put my finger in the tank he won’t move until I touch him. He does move on his own, but rarely.
After reading Joanna’s entry I’ve done a couple of things. I checked the thermometer in the tank with my glasses on and it was indeed a bit warmer than the heater was set to, so I’ve turned the heater down a bit. After following her link (thanks very much for that) I read a bit about swim bladder disorder and, while he’s not upside down, I do wonder if perhaps he does have a slightly dodgy tummy from that first feed. There’s still a bit of food floating around the tank so I’m going to scoop it out and replace some of the water to clean things up a bit. Then I’ll do some more reading on that site.
While I feel bad that Old Gregg is not happy, I’m getting less concerned that he’s going to die any minute. His condition has been basically unchanged for the last 2 days - he hasn’t improved, but he isn’t any worse either - so I’m reasonably optimistic that he’ll hang on while I perfect my betta keeping skills.
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