Fish Awareness

[DebraAustin]

I have only had fish for about 5 months now, but it is interesting how aware they are of what is going on. I have a sick fish right now and due to tank constraints (I only have one at present) I cannot move her to another tank. All the other fish know she is sick and keep checking on her. Luckily, no one else is showing any signs of illness and I hope it continues that way. It doesn't look good for Ramona and that will make me very sad, cause she and her sister were my first two fish.

I've been medicating her as best I can (removing to another bowl so I don't have to medicate the entire tank) and we've even added an aerator to the tank to put in more oxygen, but she is still doing very poorly. It makes me sad, because I don't know what else to do. All I can do is continue to take care of her and hope she rallies. She's been about the same for three days now.

Debra

 

[Jules H-T]

If you're having problems with a sick fish, perhaps a post in the emergency section may be of benefit?

 

[DebraAustin]

If you're having problems with a sick fish, perhaps a post in the emergency section may be of benefit?

Been there, done that (actually someone had posted the exact same problem just before I did so I read their posts). This was mostly a post to acknowledge that fish actually seem to care about each other. Like right now her sister is checking up on her, going real close and seeing how's she's doing. The other two mid-level fish have checked on her regularly, as well.

When one of my catfish died his/her partner was distraught and swam frantically for three days until I could replace it with another catfish. They seem more sensitive than I realized when I started keeping fish and was sharing that aha with fellow fish lovers.

Debra

 

[SamUK]

what do you mean you dose her in a bowl?

is she back in the main tank?


the meds need to build up over the dose time in the tank so if your putting her back in the tank minus the meds then that wont be helping.

 

[DebraAustin]

what do you mean you dose her in a bowl?

is she back in the main tank?


the meds need to build up over the dose time in the tank so if your putting her back in the tank minus the meds then that wont be helping.

Yes I am taking her into a bowl and then moving her back into the tank after .5 hour. The med I am using says to put it in the tank, then wait four days. So, I figured if I dosed her once a day for a half hour then it could possibly equal the four day wait. She actually seems to be doing a bit better this evening. I'll keep trying.

Wish I had a LFS that actually knew something around here.There are two that are exclusely fish stores and they still don't know anything. I have to rely on what I read on the net, and I read on a site that deals with fish disease (i.e., that is their business) that dosing the way I am works. Who knows. I'm certainly clueless. There are so many differing opinions that no matter what I am doing someone is going to think it is wrong (don't worry I'm not offended or trying to put you down). It just seems that there needs to be some concrete information on care of fish, but everything I've seen has been either so scientific an average person couldn't understand it, or so simplistic that it doesn't cover anything, but how to care for a perfectly healthy fish. To top it all off some of the books were published quite some time ago and I understand that there are new developments in fish care that supercede these books...Aaaaagh!

If you know of a really good book on diseases, that is reliable, I would like to know about it. Actually on all aspects of care, because I am a newbie and I have been relying on internet information, which is varied at best. That way I can better care for my fish. There just isn't anything available at the local bookstores that is very helpful.

Thanks for your concern,

Debra

 

[SamUK]

u dont need a book, jus save this place in your favorites and its better than any book anyone could write!


if its happened to a fish then someone has written about it here

jus sometimes takes a lil while to get the right answer as youve already probably seen there a billion different outcomes and diagnoses to figure out



as for the meds, personally id dose the whole tank with the sick fish in.

using the correct dosage your healthy fish should be fine and it helps to get rid of what caused the illness even if (god forbid) you lose the fish with the actual illness.

thing is the bacteria or illness (sori, i dont get the science too well either) could be in your water or on a plant or ornament so dosing the whole tank should kill it and prevent other fish getting ill.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I'm with Sam on this one, I'd dose the whole tank, I know what you mean about it all getting confusing though.

I would expect that most meds are designed to allow for there being some poorly and some healthy fish in the tank and to not damage the healthy ones.

I've found Wilder on here to be the most knowledgable fish disease person I've ever 'spoken' to. I'd tend to just go with whatever she say's, has saved a few of my fishes