WendiDell
Aquarium Advice Addict
For the first time in 7 years, I had to euthanize a fish.
He was the one of the first Mbunas we got. He was a beautiful Cobalt Zebra. When we would watch him at night with a flashlight he would glow an iridescent green. I wish it was something I could captured on camera.
Anyway, I have an OCD thing where I go in and do a head count on my Mbunas a couple times a day. They like to hid a lot so I like to make sure they are all, OK.
I couldn't find Marty this afternoon, so I put in just a little food. They all show up for that, but still no Marty. So then I lifted all the rocks & decorations to see if he'd swim out, or worse float out, still nothing.
So the I started to remove it all instead.
The tank is in my Grandsons room and he had wanted a sunken Pirate ship. The hole was plenty big enough for all of our fish to swim through, so I never thought it would be a problem. Turns out it's a big problem.
Somehow Marty had swam half way in, made a 45degree turn that a fish half his size shouldn't have been able to do, and got himself stuck. I don't know how long he was stuck, but he was really jammed in there. I tried everything to get him to swim out on his own, but he couldn't swim backwards.
Long story short, I had to pull him out by his tail. When was finally out he looked awful. All his fins were in shreds and I could see blood under the surface of his tail where I had grabbed him. He was barely breathing.
he didn't have any fins to swim with so he just flopped over on his side and floated around.
I know fish do this kind of thing, I've read about it here on AA. Is there any way to pull a fish out of whatever insane place they have gotten stuck in, without doing damage?
It was obvious that he wouldn't live very long so I stopped his pain and started mine and my grandsons.
I'm sorry for droning on but I've never had to do this before and I'm really sad. I've lost fish before but not by doing it myself.
Casey is very sad and cried the entire time I was taking care of Marty, it just broke my heart. Especially when he kissed the tank glass and said good bye to Marty.
I was going to add a picture but for some reason this posted before I was done. So I'm adding a second post to take care of it
He was the one of the first Mbunas we got. He was a beautiful Cobalt Zebra. When we would watch him at night with a flashlight he would glow an iridescent green. I wish it was something I could captured on camera.
Anyway, I have an OCD thing where I go in and do a head count on my Mbunas a couple times a day. They like to hid a lot so I like to make sure they are all, OK.
I couldn't find Marty this afternoon, so I put in just a little food. They all show up for that, but still no Marty. So then I lifted all the rocks & decorations to see if he'd swim out, or worse float out, still nothing.
So the I started to remove it all instead.
The tank is in my Grandsons room and he had wanted a sunken Pirate ship. The hole was plenty big enough for all of our fish to swim through, so I never thought it would be a problem. Turns out it's a big problem.
Somehow Marty had swam half way in, made a 45degree turn that a fish half his size shouldn't have been able to do, and got himself stuck. I don't know how long he was stuck, but he was really jammed in there. I tried everything to get him to swim out on his own, but he couldn't swim backwards.
Long story short, I had to pull him out by his tail. When was finally out he looked awful. All his fins were in shreds and I could see blood under the surface of his tail where I had grabbed him. He was barely breathing.
he didn't have any fins to swim with so he just flopped over on his side and floated around.
I know fish do this kind of thing, I've read about it here on AA. Is there any way to pull a fish out of whatever insane place they have gotten stuck in, without doing damage?
It was obvious that he wouldn't live very long so I stopped his pain and started mine and my grandsons.
I'm sorry for droning on but I've never had to do this before and I'm really sad. I've lost fish before but not by doing it myself.
Casey is very sad and cried the entire time I was taking care of Marty, it just broke my heart. Especially when he kissed the tank glass and said good bye to Marty.
I was going to add a picture but for some reason this posted before I was done. So I'm adding a second post to take care of it
Its amazing that stores put products like that on the market 
