JUST A RANT, I GUESS
My poor fish. I've killed roughly...20?...since August.
I'm not sure I have any other purpose here except to bemoan their fates.
Well, I adopted 3 goldfish from my parents, who didn't want them anymore. They were fine for about a month, then I decided to upgrade their tank size. I thought they'd appreciate that, but in the process of setting everthing up and transferring them, I stressed them out so bad that they broke out into ich and I couldn't save them. I didn't know anything about cycling and such things at the time, because I had never had fish before.
Of course, I felt pretty bad about that because they were about 3 years old. But I had a 30 gallon so I figured I ought to give it another go. I cycled it this time... over several weeks, I stocked it with 5 platies, 9 minnows, a pleco, and a rainbow shark. They were doing fine for about 2 months, then my cat decided to launch an assault on the tank while I was at work. He knocked a bunch of stuff into the tank and I came home to find him fishing....he didn't catch anything, but he freaked them out and my 2 panda platies broke out into that damned ich. I turned up the heat on the tank and put in salt at that point. Unfortunately, the biggest male platy attacked them the next day while I was gone and tore up their tails (he was chasing them around the tank when I got home). The ich was mild in the fish and cleared up fast this time, but the pandas were really messed up from having their tails ripped up and died. That was really frustrating. Then I left the top half open one day and a minnow committed suicide.
So I'm feeling pretty bad about that. Then I came yesterday to find another platy dead, and this death is particularly annoying because I don't even know why it happened, as the fish had been perfectly healthy as far as I could tell. I bought a couple of replacement platies the other day and had them in a small quarantine tank to keep an eye on them because they seemed kind of lethargic and one has a strange yellow streak on his tail. But tonight I was changing some of the water out and a platy jumped and went down the sink drain. I tried to grab him but he wiggled out of my grasp on down he went. #136###!!! And the other guy still has a weird looking tail so I don't know if he's sick and dying...
Oh god, that's not even including the original 12 minnows I got that my cat feasted upon.
Basically, I think I am cursed with a fishy touch of death and it is causing me to despair. I love fish and having an aquarium but I hate that I can't go for more than a couple of months without some catastrophe befalling them. It's stressing me out and I might be the next to break out in ich...
The 30 gallon now consists of 8 minnows, 2 platy, a pleco and the rainbow shark. I'm afraid to add anymore fish although I'd like to. The minnows are just some little gray guys I saved from a ditch that was drying up. They are rather plain so I'd like some more colorful fish in there, but can't seem to keep them alive.
As far as I can tell, according to water readings the tank is fine (I clean it regularly, have good filtration, treat water when changing it, etc), it is just stupid bad luck that keeps wiping out fishes.
Is it normal to lose a lot of fish when one is getting into the hobby? I keep trying to tell myself that at some point I will have a stable aquarium, where many months or hopefully years will pass when nobody has to die.
My poor fish. I've killed roughly...20?...since August.
I'm not sure I have any other purpose here except to bemoan their fates.
Well, I adopted 3 goldfish from my parents, who didn't want them anymore. They were fine for about a month, then I decided to upgrade their tank size. I thought they'd appreciate that, but in the process of setting everthing up and transferring them, I stressed them out so bad that they broke out into ich and I couldn't save them. I didn't know anything about cycling and such things at the time, because I had never had fish before.
Of course, I felt pretty bad about that because they were about 3 years old. But I had a 30 gallon so I figured I ought to give it another go. I cycled it this time... over several weeks, I stocked it with 5 platies, 9 minnows, a pleco, and a rainbow shark. They were doing fine for about 2 months, then my cat decided to launch an assault on the tank while I was at work. He knocked a bunch of stuff into the tank and I came home to find him fishing....he didn't catch anything, but he freaked them out and my 2 panda platies broke out into that damned ich. I turned up the heat on the tank and put in salt at that point. Unfortunately, the biggest male platy attacked them the next day while I was gone and tore up their tails (he was chasing them around the tank when I got home). The ich was mild in the fish and cleared up fast this time, but the pandas were really messed up from having their tails ripped up and died. That was really frustrating. Then I left the top half open one day and a minnow committed suicide.
So I'm feeling pretty bad about that. Then I came yesterday to find another platy dead, and this death is particularly annoying because I don't even know why it happened, as the fish had been perfectly healthy as far as I could tell. I bought a couple of replacement platies the other day and had them in a small quarantine tank to keep an eye on them because they seemed kind of lethargic and one has a strange yellow streak on his tail. But tonight I was changing some of the water out and a platy jumped and went down the sink drain. I tried to grab him but he wiggled out of my grasp on down he went. #136###!!! And the other guy still has a weird looking tail so I don't know if he's sick and dying...
Oh god, that's not even including the original 12 minnows I got that my cat feasted upon.
Basically, I think I am cursed with a fishy touch of death and it is causing me to despair. I love fish and having an aquarium but I hate that I can't go for more than a couple of months without some catastrophe befalling them. It's stressing me out and I might be the next to break out in ich...
The 30 gallon now consists of 8 minnows, 2 platy, a pleco and the rainbow shark. I'm afraid to add anymore fish although I'd like to. The minnows are just some little gray guys I saved from a ditch that was drying up. They are rather plain so I'd like some more colorful fish in there, but can't seem to keep them alive.
As far as I can tell, according to water readings the tank is fine (I clean it regularly, have good filtration, treat water when changing it, etc), it is just stupid bad luck that keeps wiping out fishes.
Is it normal to lose a lot of fish when one is getting into the hobby? I keep trying to tell myself that at some point I will have a stable aquarium, where many months or hopefully years will pass when nobody has to die.
just let the filter go. Surprisingly the first month went great. Then 1 died. 2 weeks later one died then s good month. Then ich. Uggggh. Whole tank gone but 1 Molly. My tank is flourishing now though. 
