Fish updates
I'm very sorry I didn't make a note of the date, but I got a new goldfish a few weeks ago. [EDIT: Found the sales receipt! I got Louie on October 5th, 2010! :)
It was a few days after Nama's funeral, and I had to go to the pet store to get medicine for Minnie, who was sick with that turned out to be ich. It never showed as white spots on her, although Benny ended up having white spots before it was all over. I got some super anti-ich medicine (which worked), and somehow ended up bringing home a tiny little goldfish, as well.
In the tank of small fantails there was one who was a mix of white and orange, with a black stripe from his nose to the tip of his tail. Remember in the old Pepe LePew cartoons, how the black cat would run under something with white paint on it, and get the skunk stripe? This fish looked like he'd swum under something with black paint on it. He was really hyper and friendly, and as I was pointing him out to Mom a nearby employee remarked, "Oh yeah, that's the one that ambushed me when I was cleaning the tank yesterday. I don't know where he'd been hiding, but he sprang out from somewhere and was all over my hand! So friendly!" Awwww!
I needed something happy to think about after losing Nama, and there was room in the 37-gallon tank with Freddie and Polly.
So that's how Louie came to join our fishy family. After a week in quarantine he joined the other babies, and although they weren't instant BFFs like when Shelley came, they've gotten along just fine.
So that's the good news, fish-wise.
The bad news is that Minnie isn't long for this world. I don't know if that run-in with invisible ich did more damage than I thought, or if this is completely different, but after being totally fine Thursday night, she was upside-down Friday morning. She wasn't able to get up from the bottom for more than a few seconds, and just laid on her back in the gravel all day. By yesterday, Saturday, she was getting red marks and had labored breathing, and I knew there was nothing I could do. I've had fish long enough now, and unfortunately seen enough of them ailing and dying, that I know when I can and can't help them. A month ago when she was sick with ich, I could tell it was treatable. This wasn't. Fish can have heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms, and all those fun things that people suffer from, and something like that must have happened to her. She's not a young fish, and although I'll never know exactly what happened it had to have been something internally catastrophic.
I was hoping for her sake and mine that she'd be gone when I got up this morning, but she was still breathing. The tank was overdue for a cleaning, and with her fins starting to break down I was really concerned about the water quality for Benny. I finally decided that I needed to protect Benny's health, even if I couldn't save Minnie.
I simply cannot get myself to euthanize, even when it would be an appropriate action. I will let nature take its course, hard as it is. I put Minnie in a five-gallon tank on the floor next to the 55-gallon tank, and covered it with a towel. Then I did a big water change on the big tank, and Benny definitely perked up.
She won't live much longer, and it doesn't really make a difference for her if she's laying in the big tank or in the little extra tank. She's a fish, it's not like she "wants to die at home" like a person might. Death is a natural thing and fish don't wrestle with deep thoughts like "Oh, I never got to go skydiving, or see Europe, or get married, or learn to play piano." They don't worry about how their loved ones will deal with grief. They don't fret over the afterlife. It's just a part of nature and although it rips my heart out to witness it, I have to remind myself of these things.
Minnie has a safe, quiet place to be while she's still with us, and this way Benny's not being stressed.
What now? The three baby goldfish in the other tank are simply too small to be with Benny. As I learned during the couple of weeks that Shelley lived in the big tank, Benny doesn't even recognize fish that small as being a member of his species. He can't bond with a fish that tiny. And although he might not hurt them on purpose, it's like an elephant hanging out with a cat. With the size difference, accidents can happen. Plus, their diet is quite different from his, and they can easily overeat when Benny-size portions are around.
So they have to stay as a trio in the other tank. I don't want Benny to be lonely, and I don't want to have only one fish in that huge tank.
Thus I'll be shopping for a new fish soon, one large enough to cohabitate with Benny.
Much as I enjoy picking out and getting to know a new fish, I'm just devastated to be losing Minnie. I've had her since June 2006.
It's also weird to think that Benny is the first and the last of the second generation of goldfish I've had.
First generation: Sammy, Jackie, Tony, Mellie, Addy
Second generation: Benny, Fergie, Minnie
Third generation: Polly, Freddie, Shelley, Louie
So...yeah. The circle of life, as it applies to my goldfish. :\
EDIT: Sometime between 8:00 and 10:00 this evening Minnie passed away. Rest in peace, my crazy girl. You're in good company up there. :(
It was a few days after Nama's funeral, and I had to go to the pet store to get medicine for Minnie, who was sick with that turned out to be ich. It never showed as white spots on her, although Benny ended up having white spots before it was all over. I got some super anti-ich medicine (which worked), and somehow ended up bringing home a tiny little goldfish, as well.
In the tank of small fantails there was one who was a mix of white and orange, with a black stripe from his nose to the tip of his tail. Remember in the old Pepe LePew cartoons, how the black cat would run under something with white paint on it, and get the skunk stripe? This fish looked like he'd swum under something with black paint on it. He was really hyper and friendly, and as I was pointing him out to Mom a nearby employee remarked, "Oh yeah, that's the one that ambushed me when I was cleaning the tank yesterday. I don't know where he'd been hiding, but he sprang out from somewhere and was all over my hand! So friendly!" Awwww!
I needed something happy to think about after losing Nama, and there was room in the 37-gallon tank with Freddie and Polly.
So that's how Louie came to join our fishy family. After a week in quarantine he joined the other babies, and although they weren't instant BFFs like when Shelley came, they've gotten along just fine.
So that's the good news, fish-wise.
The bad news is that Minnie isn't long for this world. I don't know if that run-in with invisible ich did more damage than I thought, or if this is completely different, but after being totally fine Thursday night, she was upside-down Friday morning. She wasn't able to get up from the bottom for more than a few seconds, and just laid on her back in the gravel all day. By yesterday, Saturday, she was getting red marks and had labored breathing, and I knew there was nothing I could do. I've had fish long enough now, and unfortunately seen enough of them ailing and dying, that I know when I can and can't help them. A month ago when she was sick with ich, I could tell it was treatable. This wasn't. Fish can have heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms, and all those fun things that people suffer from, and something like that must have happened to her. She's not a young fish, and although I'll never know exactly what happened it had to have been something internally catastrophic.
I was hoping for her sake and mine that she'd be gone when I got up this morning, but she was still breathing. The tank was overdue for a cleaning, and with her fins starting to break down I was really concerned about the water quality for Benny. I finally decided that I needed to protect Benny's health, even if I couldn't save Minnie.
I simply cannot get myself to euthanize, even when it would be an appropriate action. I will let nature take its course, hard as it is. I put Minnie in a five-gallon tank on the floor next to the 55-gallon tank, and covered it with a towel. Then I did a big water change on the big tank, and Benny definitely perked up.
She won't live much longer, and it doesn't really make a difference for her if she's laying in the big tank or in the little extra tank. She's a fish, it's not like she "wants to die at home" like a person might. Death is a natural thing and fish don't wrestle with deep thoughts like "Oh, I never got to go skydiving, or see Europe, or get married, or learn to play piano." They don't worry about how their loved ones will deal with grief. They don't fret over the afterlife. It's just a part of nature and although it rips my heart out to witness it, I have to remind myself of these things.
Minnie has a safe, quiet place to be while she's still with us, and this way Benny's not being stressed.
What now? The three baby goldfish in the other tank are simply too small to be with Benny. As I learned during the couple of weeks that Shelley lived in the big tank, Benny doesn't even recognize fish that small as being a member of his species. He can't bond with a fish that tiny. And although he might not hurt them on purpose, it's like an elephant hanging out with a cat. With the size difference, accidents can happen. Plus, their diet is quite different from his, and they can easily overeat when Benny-size portions are around.
So they have to stay as a trio in the other tank. I don't want Benny to be lonely, and I don't want to have only one fish in that huge tank.
Thus I'll be shopping for a new fish soon, one large enough to cohabitate with Benny.
Much as I enjoy picking out and getting to know a new fish, I'm just devastated to be losing Minnie. I've had her since June 2006.
It's also weird to think that Benny is the first and the last of the second generation of goldfish I've had.
First generation: Sammy, Jackie, Tony, Mellie, Addy
Second generation: Benny, Fergie, Minnie
Third generation: Polly, Freddie, Shelley, Louie
So...yeah. The circle of life, as it applies to my goldfish. :\
EDIT: Sometime between 8:00 and 10:00 this evening Minnie passed away. Rest in peace, my crazy girl. You're in good company up there. :(