topbella

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Squirt, the Magic Fish

So me and Mr.J seem to be fish killers lol.

We've had a big 3ft'er in our place since we moved in almost 4 years ago, the fish I wanted back then needed a heater so we decided to do nothing till we bought a heater.

Almost 4 years later we decided to buy a heater (lol we're slow) anyway the aquarium that had the fish I wanted closed down so we went to a different pet shop and picked some fish.

We got 10 neon tetras and 3 comet goldfish. Oddly enough, the sales assistant didn't bother to tell us that those two fish should NOT be kept together. Needless to say, the 3 comet goldfish ate all the tetras and then one goldfish died because of the heater - we think...they're not tropical therefore cannot be in with the heater. Since the tetras were dead, we turned the heater off.

Then another goldfish just died of natural causes...Mr.J said I over fed them. Well sorry but if I feed two fish and one wants to be a pig and eat all the food then that's its own fault haha
The last goldfish (killer, as I'd named him) looked a bit how-ya-going and lonely so we took him back in the hopes that they can save him - turns out he wasn't well anyway. We couldn't have kept him anyway as any fish that was smaller than him, he would've eaten (he was HUGE, all the fish in the pet shop were smaller than him), as well as any fish that are better looking - apparently!

So we bought 5 new fish. Lemon Cheesecake-a small yellow and white goldfish, Skittles-a small orange, black and white goldfish, Dorothy (Muffin named it after Dorothy the dinosaur)-a white with black spots butterfly fish(aka mini oreo), vanilla milkshake - a big white with black tail butterfly fish and squirt, an all black, tiniest of the tiny butterfly fish.

Well Dorothy died first, after only being in our care for a few short weeks...then over the past week and a bit, Squirt has started showing signs that he too, was next. Floating backwards along the top, flittering lifelessly, losing his colour etc.

One day, he was dead. I told Mr.J to do what needed to be done.
For whatever reason, he did not, but I was not aware of this. That night I fed the fish.
Squirt started swimming around eating the food...

The next day, Squirt was almost floating still on the top of the tank. That afternoon, as he lay still on a rock on the bottom, he was dead.
That night I fed the fish.
Squirt started swimming around eating the food...

Last night, Squirt was floating, upside down, in the corner of the tank, at the top, not breathing, not blinking, not anything-ing. He was dead!

Today I feed the fish....all of a sudden I see Squirt, poor life-less Squirt, swimming around, eating the food WTF! He is not well, its quite clear of that, he's losing his colour, he's a bit slow, his tail has practically gone (looks almost burnt off). But he's not dead.

how has this happened I don't know.!

I'm thinking tomorrow of going out and buying a small fish bowl and transferring him in the hopes that he might get better in new fresh water on his own...I hope so.

Poor Squirt - he's a trouper I made This Video for him, when I thought he'd gone. (the pics are from his first few days at home...bit blurry.

3 Reader Repsonses:

MeggyMoo said...

Are you feeding them flakes by any chance?

Ms Boop said...

Yeah cuz the granules go all fuzzy and gross if they don't get eaten right away...i'm sensing flakes are not the way to go? Lol

MeggyMoo said...

Depends on the fish and where it eats its food. A lot of fish don't eat off the surface of the water, so when they eat the flakes they also take in air, which bloats them and makes them float, go all sluggish, swim upside down or backwards etc until the air passes out their body.
Push the flakes so they sink into the water :) or give them pellets or granules.

Fishy will be ok.


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