I'm discouraged

[Ace Rimmer]

Hi guys

I'm pretty new to this whole fish keeping thing, but have really got into it and was quite enjoying my fish

however after one death and now I find 2 of my guppies have a terrible Camallanus worm infection

I am rather discouraged and wondering if fish keeping is for me

I need some kind words or something

 

[Alia]

Well, that is dicouraging, I must admit. Can you get your fish store to replace the sick fish? Unless you've had them a long time, I'm thinking they must have had these parasites when you bought them. But you said you were new to this, so . . . I would try to get them replaced, maybe with just a store credit for now until you are certain you have a healthy tank. Then when you are ready to bring home more fish, I would use extreme caution -- quarantine if at all possible, etc. This fish seller probably does not quarantine new fish, and you could wind up with another problem.

Someone else will be better qualified to help you get your tank healthy. I have been lucky and have only dealt with a bit of ich in mine.

All I can say to try to help you through this is that this is a bad day for you, and there will undoubtedly be other bad days, but I would hope that there have been far more good days than bad -- you did say you'd been enjoying the fish -- so I guess just try to put it in perspective. Some days I just rage at all my animals (though not my fish, so far ) for being so high maintenance and never giving me a moment's peace. But I can't bring myself to part with them, so I must put up with it. Perhaps you can take heart that my fish have been the least of my problems, and once you get through this it might be smooth sailing for years!

I hope that that is the case. Good luck getting back to enjoying your pets!

 

[juliethegr8t]

I can say that I know how you feel, totally. I had done a whole lot of research before starting my own tank, but never really understood the whole "cycle" thing. Now I do, but unfortunately part of this knowledge is due to the fact that I lost some fish. It was really hard because for awhile they were all doing so great, and then *poof* , some sort of something or other killed them all off. So that was really really hard for me , I almost gave up on the whole thing more than once... But anyway, now I have a thriving school of Zebra Danios, even though my tank is still cycling. They're holding a record for being alive the longest, so I'm hoping for the best. Keep trying, and don't give up, it's gonna be worth it once everything gets worked out, I promise!!

 

[shimanocono]

I've never had a parasite problem so I couldn't help you. Although I've had ich and fin rought a few times. It's sure to happen to lots of new fish keepers. Just keep trying and soon you'll learn more and can come here and give other people helpfull advice and tell them not to quit when they had the same problem as you.

 

[sandyd]

Hello, sorry to hear about your problems, but i think it gets easier, it did for me anyway. The beginning is always the hardest, but that is why we have this great forum to ask questions and get help with our troubles.

I was a little fed up in the beginning about taking care of my tanks, but once i learned that water changes are a must and a test kit (to play mad scientist) is a must, it got alot easier.

I now have 4 tanks and fish everywhere which i love. I hated cycling, but it is needed, its like shipping people to the moon and not checking out air quality, we would not make it. Once you get your tank under control with the parasites, and your tank is cycled, it will be well worth it.

They are well worth the time and money that you put into them. It can become an expensive hobby once you get into the huge tanks, lol . I hope that i have helped you some, fish are great and they dont really need as much care as some animals, they just need love and good water and food of course. No walking them in the rain, not that i dont like dogs, i have 1 i just hate walking him in the rain.
Sandy

 

[Mogo]

Cheer up Ace!

There's no reason to give up, as someone else pointed out, it's not your fault. Intestinal worms are brought home, they don't just appear out of nowhere. If it makes you feel any better, here is my story. In January I brought home a couple of ladies for my male Zebra Chilumba (he already had one female). A couple weeks later I started having problems with my fish. So I would treat, they would get healthy and then they would be fine for a week or so. Then they would fall sick again. This went on for a while, a couple months and I was completely puzzled. I started to suspect something was seriously wrong, however, I was not fortunate enough to have worms dangling out of the bums. It took me countless days, and countless hours under the microscope searching hundreds of fecal slides until I finally found the nematodes, as these were the kind that stay inside and only release eggs in the feces (which blend in nicely with fecal matter). Anyways, they were treated and the worms are gone, but their immune systems are still not quite up to par yet, and have been dealing with minor problems, little bit of tail rot and fungus. I lost the oldest female late last night but I knew this was going to happen as she's been in the hospital tank since January and her recovery was very poor. The other two ladies are looking good, but it's still gonna take a bit of work. Somehow, the male managed to go through this whole ordeal with nothing wrong, which I guess is the brighter side of it all.

We all run in to problems now and again, but the rewards outweigh the occassional downfalls. Keep it up, and as you learn more, you will become more confident in your fish keeping abilities, and will be able to spot potential problems early and be able to deal with them accordingly. It's a wonderful hobby and I'm sure in time, you will start to suffer from MTS (multi-tank syndrome)

And besides, if you gave up now, there would be no reason to visit this forum, and what about all the wonderful helpfull people here you'd be leaving behind?

 

[plecoguy]

OH MAN....i know how you feel....lets see...in the last week ive lost one guppy, one balloon molly, and 3 pictus cats. I know how it goes, and ive wondered if i should do it too...but then i think about how much fun it can be and how cool it looks...just hang in there, things will get better.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

cheers for the replies guys

I do feel a bit better now, I'm just cut that the pet store gave me wormy fish

but hopefully the little fella's will pull through and all will be well in my little tank of horrors

 

[-=DG=-]

Unfortunately this sort of happened to me. Once i had setup my malawi tank, got it running perfectly, looking beautiful, there was nothing left. So i thought the only option was to change to something else.

But when they started breeding, things change and now i'm as happy as i was

So wait till the babies start coming

(i'll probably change them for marines in the future anyway)

 

[cool_jool]

Hi I'm sorry you have had a bad time. I'm quite a newbie too - about 6 months. I have been fortunate and only lost one fish - a green tiger barb - but I was really upset. Sometimes I get quite distressed, particularly when I had a bullying fish. I would say persevere the fish are worth it I hope all goes better for you. cool_jool