Saturday: Another Day, Another Neon
Apr. 5th, 2004 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyActually, it was a cardinal tetra. I have the bad habit of referring to all of the brilliantly colored little tetras as neons. He'd been sick for some time. There was a dark spot on the side of his head that had been growing, and another near his tail. I've decided to stop treating anyone in the 20 gallon tank. It's my opinion that they're all goners, anyway.
(Go no further if you're easily upset by descriptions of euthanasia)
When I woke up Saturday morning (afternoon, but who's counting?) he was swimming in spirals. By the time I got organized enough to get a clean tin can, and mix some vodka and clove oil, he was nearly motionless at the bottom of the tank. I keep on wondering if they're right, that freezing is inhumane. It seems that it couldn't be, to me. They're cold blooded critters, so shouldn't they just slow down as the temperature falls, and then stop. I assume they'd be dead before they actually began to freeze. Freezing, I would guess, would hurt. When the water in the cells crystalize, it ruptures cell walls. Clove oil is not supposed to hurt. It's an anaesthetic. However, the fish always seems to thrash a bit before succumbing. The poor bastard on Saturday took quite some time, and I had to add more clove oil. His breathing, barely detectable, became what would have been hyperventilation if he were a land critter when the second dose hit him. That really doesn't look painless. On the other hand, freezing him looks painless because I don't have to look.
Of the thirty five or so fish that have lived in the 20 gallon as of 18 months ago, 8 are still alive. Most have died in the last six months. A number of them look to me to have died of internal parasites. Not that I'm an expert. Diagnosing fish is damn difficult. My current theory is that there is something particularly nasty and probably unkillable in that aquarium. I'm going to move the survivors to the 10 gallon, once it's ready, and keep them on maintenance there. Then I'm going to sterilize the 20, and start over. I'm currently debating whether it's worth while to boil the gravel, or if I just want to get new. What a bloody, poxy mess. I wish I knew where the damn parasite (assuming it is a parasite) came from so that I could avoid it in the future.
(Go no further if you're easily upset by descriptions of euthanasia)
When I woke up Saturday morning (afternoon, but who's counting?) he was swimming in spirals. By the time I got organized enough to get a clean tin can, and mix some vodka and clove oil, he was nearly motionless at the bottom of the tank. I keep on wondering if they're right, that freezing is inhumane. It seems that it couldn't be, to me. They're cold blooded critters, so shouldn't they just slow down as the temperature falls, and then stop. I assume they'd be dead before they actually began to freeze. Freezing, I would guess, would hurt. When the water in the cells crystalize, it ruptures cell walls. Clove oil is not supposed to hurt. It's an anaesthetic. However, the fish always seems to thrash a bit before succumbing. The poor bastard on Saturday took quite some time, and I had to add more clove oil. His breathing, barely detectable, became what would have been hyperventilation if he were a land critter when the second dose hit him. That really doesn't look painless. On the other hand, freezing him looks painless because I don't have to look.
Of the thirty five or so fish that have lived in the 20 gallon as of 18 months ago, 8 are still alive. Most have died in the last six months. A number of them look to me to have died of internal parasites. Not that I'm an expert. Diagnosing fish is damn difficult. My current theory is that there is something particularly nasty and probably unkillable in that aquarium. I'm going to move the survivors to the 10 gallon, once it's ready, and keep them on maintenance there. Then I'm going to sterilize the 20, and start over. I'm currently debating whether it's worth while to boil the gravel, or if I just want to get new. What a bloody, poxy mess. I wish I knew where the damn parasite (assuming it is a parasite) came from so that I could avoid it in the future.
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Date: 2004-05-24 07:31 am (UTC)I changed out my 29 this weekend, used the new gravel I'd bought to set up my spare 10 which will doubtless happen someday, but not soon enough to worry about, and was in the end very very happy that I hadn't gone to all the trouble of washing and sterilizing the old gravel. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the old gravel, which is sitting in a bucket in the living room because I don't want to lift it. Probably I'll just dump it in the alley. It seems silly to throw away rock.
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