horror story

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bigmac1878

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Messages
129
Location
uk
i have had a s*** night. things where going well. i was talking to my sister on the phone about how well her fish was doing and mine also. she told me about how much her youngest liked the video of my tank that i emailed her, so i said i'd get a little more footage as i'd put in a few more plants, jiggled the gravel around and generally made it look a little more attractive. i managed to get the white clouds, the guppies, the 2 goldies and the shubunkin. but then i realised that i hadn't got my nephews favourite, my black moor (bruce), picked and named by my son just over a year ago. i couldn't remember seeing him at feeding time, he's normally slower than the others, so i look out for him, but i was pre-occupied with head counting the smaller ones. so i done a surface scan to see if he was a floater, joy, he wasn't there. but then i looked at my 'castle turret' decoration and to my horror, i saw what looked like a little black fin/tail. the poor little fella was stuck in between the turret dec and my aerator. as soon as i saw this, i stuck my hand in and moved the decoration so he could free himself, but to no avail. he must've been trapped there for a few hours as he was really skinny, probably due to him s***ing himself with fear and stress. his gills looked swollen and were the most furthest out part of his body. his belly was shrunken and whitening, probably due to the friction of the bubbles from the aerator. sadly, he was still breathing. at that point, i knew i had to euthanise him. i was shaking and close to tears. i put some water in the freezer, my wife told me to put some ice in it to speed things up. when i came to get him out, he tried to get away, but didn't really put up a fight, and when i'd got him and got him out of the water(but still in the net) there was no struggle, just gasping. i then put him in the icy water but in my rush , i don't think it was cold enough. i was panicking, trying to put him out of his pain too quickly. i put him into the freezer straight away. in retrospect, an extra 5 secs freezing or another 10 mins suffering (this doesn't make me feel any better). how do you prepare to put a fish out of it's misery? it's not like you can keep an icy bowl of water at hand, and this was an emergency.
i did think about hitting him with something big, but there is no way i could've done that. even though it would be quicker.

i'm as sick as a parrott.

the reason for this long winded post is to maybe point out that little movements of things while cleaning, in my case aerator or decoration(maybe both) can have a serious, detrimental affect.

my first pieces of advise on this forum are
1 : if you move it while cleaning,and things where fine before it was moved, put it back where it was.
2 : if there are mechanics involved, leave plenty of room around it.
 
I'm so sorry you lost a fish. :(
So many things could have caused your black moor's death - some of them completely out of your control.

You should check your filter and water params, but if they look OK, it must have been caused by age, bad genes, or a weak immune system.

Don't blame yourself about the decoration. When any animal is dying, it is instinctive for them to find a secluded spot.
 
true, animals prefer to die in peace, I doubt the aeration made him skinny, maybe it was a parasite, still truely sorry to hear about your loss
 
I am also very sorry to hear about your loss, I myself lost my prize dragon goby two days ago.

I think that you did the best thing to euthenise the poor fish, sometimes it does take a little longer for the to die, it is not pleasent watching them suffer but except hittting him with something heavy it is the quickest way for them to go.
 
I had to put down my yellow mollie (Molly) last week. She was suffering for a few days, she couldn't swim right, I think swim blatter disease, and the other fish were picking at her. I had no choice but to put her down. I found online that a bowl with some tank water and some alcohol in the bowl +/- 20% (bicardi limon in mollys case) is the most human way. I put her in there, and basically they get drunk to the point they go comotose. They don't feel anything and just pass out. Im not sure if this is all true, nor do I know if this is the correct and most humane way to do it, but I thought it made sense.
 
tropicfishman said:
I doubt the aeration made him skinny, maybe it was a parasite

i'd only seen him the previous day and there was nothing wrong with him. normal size, shape, colour etc. could a parasite do that kind of damage in 24 hours?. i'd done a 25% pwc 2 days earlier so there isn't anything wrong with the water conditions. also his behaviour was perfectly fine. i really don't think he went there to die.
maybe someone will read this thread and learn something.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your loss,

Yestarday one of my goldies almost died, I had to take him out of my 20 gl tank and put it into a 5 gl while he gets better.. yestarday he couln't swim, he could not even move his twin tail today he was swimming a little better.
I know it hard to lose a fish.. sory dude.. Hope it doesn't happen again.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your loss....
When I have to euthanise a fish I net it, put it inside a plastic bag (I prefer bags that don't allow you to see through...) and hit it with a heavy object. It's the quickest way to go. I also tried beheading them, but it's more painfull to look at...
 
Im also very sorry to hear about your loss. I've had to euthanize a fish or two before and it never gets easier. I've found a humane way was to add water to a cup and dose it with baking soda. Therefore allowing the carbon dioxide to let them fall asleep and simply not wake up. No matter what choice you make, it still sucks just as much.
 
Sorry for your loss as well.

Please note that ICE is not a good way to go about this (but you did the best you knew how). Ice will cause pain due to the outer layers of skin/eyes/gills beginning to freeze before the fish dies (as well as rumors of ice crystals forming in the blood). Alcohol will cause burns of the eyes and gills prior to the fish dying. Baking soda will drastically increase the KH of the water and I'd recommend against that one as well. Bashing the fish and/or severing the head (as long as it only takes 1 shot) is definately the most humane way if no other methods are available.

Here is the most humane way I've come across (and will be using if I ever need to euthanize a fish):

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

Makes complete sense and seems the most humane (since they are incapacitated with the clove oil they will feel no pain from the alcohol).
 
igongora said:
who decides when a fish has to be euthanized?

You can ask opinions from here and from any other aquarist you may know. But the short answer is it it is up to you. If you think a fish is suffering and won't recover you make the final decision.
 
Agreed. There are several well known conditions that have easily identified symptoms that have no cure, or are very unlikely to be cured. In these situations "quality of life" plays a very important point at which you feel the time is right to end suffering.

Many people are selfish and refuse to end a fish' suffering for many reasons. Other's jump to euthanize too quickly. It's important to find the proper compromise between these 2 extremes...but in the end, its still a tough decision.
 
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