Had to say goodbye....

[ADCISCO]

I got up this morning and my red velvet sword tail that I had moved from my 29 gallon tank was missing......she had gotten sick with cotton like stuff on her eyes back a month or so ago and I had treated her and it went away but her eyes weren't right after that they looked strange hardly any black to be seen. I am pretty sure she was blind. I kept her in the 29 gallon tank until the other day and I put her in the quarantine tank when I took my danios out to put them in the 29 gal. She didnt swim alot just around the top and she was very hard to feed because she couldnt find the food and her tail was really droopy after her sickness...anyway I got up this morning and I couldnt find her.....I kept looking and she was wrapped around the filter.....I figured she was dead..who knows how long she had been trapped there but I turned the pump off and she fell off.....and started trying to swim but her body was bent like the shape of the filter. I couldnt bear to watch her like that so I finally flushed her. But I dont think she would have made it but she sure has been a fighter. So I had to get something for the tank so I went and bought some Rasbora tetra and a dwarf frog. The tetras are so frisky and that frog is so lazy! Now I wonder why I even got him but I do like the other fish. But my 7 year old was sad that her Angel (the sword) had to be flushed so I had to go buy some new fish anyway.By the way the dwarf frog is in the 29 gal tank with 19 fish.....you would think that someone would get his attention!

 

[LondonGman]

I used to hate “putting fishes out of there misery” until I watched one of those nature programs and I realised there is a food chain in place that these fishes have escaped.

I watched a program on Cardinal tetras and every fish, bird, reptile and frog considered the tetra as breakfast, lunch and dinner. A lot die in the wild. I still hate it when a fish dies but I am more disturbed that they died and got flushed down the toilet, for my pleasure rather than in the food chain.

Hmmmm, deep thought. Off to have a sardine sandwich

 

[ADCISCO]

I just know that she is better off. I have been putting off flushing her for a long time but I just couldnt till this morning and I just couldnt stand to watch her suffer anymore.

 

[Mr502go]

It's hard watching anything suffer, your Angel sounds like she had the same ailment my goldies did, though it ended up covering their whole bodies, and killed them inside of a few hours. It would have been much easier had I just found them lifeless, but to only be able to watch helplessly as they suffer is a horrible sensation I'll not soon forget.

 

[William]

Its horrible to watch a fish die, especialyl after you work so hard to keep it alive.


I lost a male Sailfin Molley to ich, Most beautiful molly in the world.

Tried my best to save him [ wasn't as enlightend to fish sicknesses as I am now ] but it was in vain.

I 'd

I couldn't bare to flush him, and instead gave him a propper burial in the back yard.

 

[Allivymar]

Aw I'm sorry AD Poor lil sword.

Do me a favor tho? God forbid you need to put another fish down? Don't flush it unless its dead. Getting flushed is a nasty way to go (Nemo would NOT have made it, trust me!). If you can't get some clove oil n vodka (best way), even putting them in ice water, then the freezer, is a little better.

 

[Sinuhe]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss, AD

At one aquarium advice site that I've been reading, they recommend killing the fish by placing it inside a newspaper or similar, and then hitting it with a heavy object. I think I'd rather do the ice water thing, tho.

 

[ADCISCO]

Gosh I dont think any of them at this point sounds good.....I think flushing sounds less painless at this point.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

If you do a little reading, clove oil and alcohol (vodka) are what are considered the most humane way to put a sick fishy down...the clove oil puts the fish to sleep, so it won't suffer when the alcohol gets into the system.

It's what vets and people who work with fish reccommend. Maybe flushing is less painless for you, but it isn't really putting the fish out of it's suffering, rather it's prolonging it.

 

[An t-iasg]

Sorry about your fish, ADCISCO.

My fish died last night. This is my first fish death. I couldn't bear to flush him either. Like William did, we buried him in the back yard, along the edge of the woods. I put a pink daisy on top of him.

I guess if they're already dead, there's nothing wrong with flushing, but I just couldn't do it.

 

[William]

Sorry about your fish, ADCISCO.

My fish died last night. This is my first fish death. I couldn't bear to flush him either. Like William did, we buried him in the back yard, along the edge of the woods. I put a pink daisy on top of him.

I guess if they're already dead, there's nothing wrong with flushing, but I just couldn't do it.

I put a 40lbs boulder on top of mine :\

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Loosing fish can be un-nerving.
My goldie of whome I had won at a fair probably about 8 years ago died of some sickness just days ago. He was far too large to fluch so I had to debate with myself on how to dispose of him and eventually to my dismay I had to put im in the recycling bin, I would have gladly buried him but I have no yards.

 

[An t-iasg]

Wow...you had your fish for 8 years? Sorry that he died I bet he had a very happy life with you!

 

[eastennessee]

I think the freezer is a good idea. I've heard its the best way to go, but then, I'm not a fish.

 

[Cherry Barb]

AD, I am sooo sorry about your fish. I know you've been through alot lately with your little guys. And Capt. I love hearing that your goldfish was with you for 8 years. That had to be a hard loss. I myself have a goldfish that a friend of mine won at a carnival and gave to me. He was my very first fish and still my favorite little guy. I got him in June, and he is grwoing soo fast!

And just to put my 2 cents in on the euthanasia thing, I posted a thread not long ago because of my sick Rainbow. You guys may want to check it out. It had a very good link on having to put a fish down. I learned how bad flushing and freezing really are and that the alcohol solution was the way to go.

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

He was only 1 of 4 goldies I had won at a fair.
1 commited suicide a few years back by jumping out of the tank and into an electric heater... and recently the big one died as stated before, but I still have 2 left that are recovering well though one has been very swollen for a while.
I think once I get a job I'm gonna buy them some nice plants and maybe some room mates.

 

[LonerVamp]

A friend of mine has had some fish in the past. Once his fish looked beyond repair or were suffering, he would fish them out of the tank, grab a pair of scissors, and snip his head off.

I think I would prefer the alcohol and clove oil...

 

[madasafish]

Ah, to have a back yard to bury fish in...

Sorry for your loss, ADCISCO.

Just a bit of advice on the frog--keep the lid firmly closed! I've posted a sob story about losing stray African Frogs to vacuum cleaners in the lounge under one of the big threads if you're interested. It saddened me when I was 7 (when it happened)...

But, I bet you know this!!

 

[megnmick]

I have a tetra that had ich really bad due to no electricity, thanks to hurricane Isabel. He was covered in parasites bad, and the others were beating up on him!!! Since he was the worst off, and since I already lost another one, I was going to flush him. I didn't though I figured I'd see for myself if I could keep him alive. It's been a few days now that I've been treating the tank. He looks great and nobody pecks at him anymore. So I guess we'll see...

 

[ADCISCO]

Sometimes you can save them. I try my best but if I know its not going to make it I have to so do something.I had a male swordtail that got it bad and he came right out of it and is great now and that was in June. Sometimes they just come back and then there the times when nothing seems to work. I had a paradise fish jump out of the tank the other day and I dont know how long he was out of the water....apparently quite a while....I thought he was dead and he wasnt....put him in the tank and he started swimming...noticed later in the day he was getting ick and I started treating him...the next day no spots...but he also got fin rot and started treating him for that and now he acts like nothing even happened!LOL Crazy fish!