Today hasn't started off that well. I lost a fish today, my large Head-and-Tail Light Tetra. He's been around for a while, maybe two-three years, can't remember exactly. But he's been around for a while, and today I had to do something I've really never had to do before...euthanase. He had marks around where his abdomen/swim bladder is, but he was fine previous days, if put off his food. Today I woke to find him gasping at the surface (no other fish is gasping), and these marks. I came on these forums looking for a solution, anything. Shortly afterwards, he lost all control of his body and started floating around the tank, and soon succumbed to whatever injuries he had sustained. I consigned myself to the unimaginable, and decided to make sure. I removed him from the tank as quickly as I could...unfortunately, the next part didn't go 'perfectly.' It wasn't a single chop to sever his head...which I feel very bad about. He didn't attempt to struggle as I removed him, and he was still on the plate in the seconds before I 'euthanased' him, so I suspect he might have gone quite suddenly. The onset was quite sudden, so...
I hope I didn't cause him a nightmare. I don't even know how to destroy the brain to prevent hypoxia...if there's any risk of that. Or was...
I then did something else I've never done before, and should have really. I got the shovel, went out to the back garden - and dug him a resting place. I'm not a gardener, so it was just a pit. The bit I feel very angry at myself about is when I moved his body off the plate with the knife I used. His head first...then the rest. But it didn't line up perfectly, his back end was in the opposite direction...and I feel as if I've defiled him now, not painstakingly ensuring his body was properly positioned. I didn't feel like messing around a lot, so I just filled in the grave...
I'm now going to see if there are any spare plant tags, the ones you plant in the ground, so I can mark the site (already took some photos to remember the spot, to remember where I laid him to rest).
But...I just hope I haven't done it haphazardly or wrong or defiled his body or anything. I know I had to bury him quickly, and deep enough (cats around the area...won't let the little terrors ruin this), but did I do it disrespectfully? Or is it enough that I laid him to rest somewhere other than the bin like I used to?
Just three months ago had a major scare because the old fish tank, one I had had for six and a half years, sprung a leak. Evacuated all the fish in the space of a couple of hours. The Clown Loaches put up pretty well, lots of other fish did too (one Black Neon even got himself stuck in the rock in the new tank that morning...and turned out perfectly fine afterwards). Except my Red Phantoms...five of them died (leaving one on his own), and a Neon Tetra. And that time, I didn't bury them, even though I know I should have... It's basically a new thing, properly honouring my fish. But I obsess about things a lot (OCD), so... A short while afterwards, a Head-and-Tail Light who'd been going for quite a while, a real fighter, also succumbed to his own problems (I daren't ever remove fish who can still swim pretty well, it'd cause too much stress for all...and this guy was putting up extremely well despite health issues). That was three months ago, though...
I'm doing another water change tonight, had one planned anyway, Nitrates do seem rather high, although the other fish aren't exhibiting signs of major stress. I lost two other fish recently, a Neon Tetra and another Head-and-Tail Light... Nitrites are definitely fine (they don't even register up against the colour chart - and yes, test kit, Nutrafin, not test cards), Ammonia should be fine (don't have any safety gear for that one, don't want to inhale the reagent used or anything...I'm rather particular about these things) because I dose with Nutrafin Cycle and the other fish do not exhibit any signs of ammonia poisoning. Ph about 7, hard to tell, but it seems within the safety range. I'm basically also worried I'm not doing enough for the other fish and that I'm some sort of murderer...
If this is in the wrong area, sorry about that. It's not quite a tropical fish emergency though...just need to talk about what happened...get a few things off my mind.
EDIT: Something I forgot...prior to dying today, my fish seemed to spit out white particles that the other fish seemed interested in checking out, even eating (he might have eaten something and decided it wasn't to his liking, and had broken it up before spitting it out, or...I dunno...).
I hope I didn't cause him a nightmare. I don't even know how to destroy the brain to prevent hypoxia...if there's any risk of that. Or was...
I then did something else I've never done before, and should have really. I got the shovel, went out to the back garden - and dug him a resting place. I'm not a gardener, so it was just a pit. The bit I feel very angry at myself about is when I moved his body off the plate with the knife I used. His head first...then the rest. But it didn't line up perfectly, his back end was in the opposite direction...and I feel as if I've defiled him now, not painstakingly ensuring his body was properly positioned. I didn't feel like messing around a lot, so I just filled in the grave...
I'm now going to see if there are any spare plant tags, the ones you plant in the ground, so I can mark the site (already took some photos to remember the spot, to remember where I laid him to rest).
But...I just hope I haven't done it haphazardly or wrong or defiled his body or anything. I know I had to bury him quickly, and deep enough (cats around the area...won't let the little terrors ruin this), but did I do it disrespectfully? Or is it enough that I laid him to rest somewhere other than the bin like I used to?
Just three months ago had a major scare because the old fish tank, one I had had for six and a half years, sprung a leak. Evacuated all the fish in the space of a couple of hours. The Clown Loaches put up pretty well, lots of other fish did too (one Black Neon even got himself stuck in the rock in the new tank that morning...and turned out perfectly fine afterwards). Except my Red Phantoms...five of them died (leaving one on his own), and a Neon Tetra. And that time, I didn't bury them, even though I know I should have... It's basically a new thing, properly honouring my fish. But I obsess about things a lot (OCD), so... A short while afterwards, a Head-and-Tail Light who'd been going for quite a while, a real fighter, also succumbed to his own problems (I daren't ever remove fish who can still swim pretty well, it'd cause too much stress for all...and this guy was putting up extremely well despite health issues). That was three months ago, though...
I'm doing another water change tonight, had one planned anyway, Nitrates do seem rather high, although the other fish aren't exhibiting signs of major stress. I lost two other fish recently, a Neon Tetra and another Head-and-Tail Light... Nitrites are definitely fine (they don't even register up against the colour chart - and yes, test kit, Nutrafin, not test cards), Ammonia should be fine (don't have any safety gear for that one, don't want to inhale the reagent used or anything...I'm rather particular about these things) because I dose with Nutrafin Cycle and the other fish do not exhibit any signs of ammonia poisoning. Ph about 7, hard to tell, but it seems within the safety range. I'm basically also worried I'm not doing enough for the other fish and that I'm some sort of murderer...
If this is in the wrong area, sorry about that. It's not quite a tropical fish emergency though...just need to talk about what happened...get a few things off my mind.
EDIT: Something I forgot...prior to dying today, my fish seemed to spit out white particles that the other fish seemed interested in checking out, even eating (he might have eaten something and decided it wasn't to his liking, and had broken it up before spitting it out, or...I dunno...).
