I am a bad fish mother

[brierebecca 0]

Hi all,

I have a goldfish in my office. I had no idea how much work fish are. But after I bought the bacterial filter, dechlorinater, automatic fish feeder, and got used to cleaning out the tank every 10-14 days, it got a little easier. She was doing great for a while, but now she has a bacterial infection, and she really looks pathetic. She has white patches on her. One of the paralegals in my office is bringing in some antibiotics today. I hope she pulls through it. I never would have thought I'd become so emotionally attached to a fish.

Brie

"Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

[piisfish 135]

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I never would have thought I'd become so emotionally attached to a fish.

wait till we meet

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[micduran 0]

Will you babysit my cat?

Be patient with the faults of others; they have to be patient with yours.

[pinkfairy 0]

You can get special medication for aquarium fish in the pet shop.

Some fish diseases are specific for fish and caused by other parasites than bacteria.

Fish can also get fungal infections, and that's quite common, especially if they get a wound or go in bad water. That causes a "hairy" white patch.

You can test if the water is OK by using test kits that you buy in the pet shop. The most important ones are PH and nitrite. Goldfish are quite hardy, and should tolerate a wide variety of PH readings, anything between 6 and 8 should be fine. Nitrite concentrations in the water become high when you feed too much or the filtering system isn't working properly. This can cause the fish to refuse to eat or otherwise look sick. follow the recommendations on the packet, I hardly ever have any readable values of nitrite in my aquariums (that's good).

If your fish dies, you're not nescessarily a bad fish mother: farmed fish, such as fancy goldfish are almost always given a lot of medication in the fish farm, some of them just can't cope when they are put in normal water. Also: some fish are bred unhealthy, just like some dog breeds are. They may look good, but they don't live long, and conditions that are survivable for normal fish aren't good for the "highly bred" fish.

You will find much better advice on goldfish health and fish disease on special aquarium forums, such as http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/. I'm sure there are even pictures of fish with different diseases.

Giving antibiotics to an aquarium fish, is IMHO very drastic. If the fish doesn't have a bacterial infection at all, you're just going to kill the filter bacteria that prevents accumulation of nitrite in the water without killing the parasites that makes the sick fish sick. That way you'll get a sick fish in bad water, and that further decreases the probability of it getting well.

Fish die, and if the goldfish dies, buy a new one. You might also want to look at other kinds of fish to have in that aquarium instead of the goldfish. guppies and tetras make less mess, and will therefore require less maintenance of the tank.

How big is your aquarium?

Edited to add:

Automatic fish feeder? It's a common misconception that fish need food every day, and they will probably tell you that it does in the petshop. Going without food every weekend is no problem for a goldfish. If the aquarium is big, and especially if there are live plants, the fish will be able to go without food for weeks. My fish certainly have.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[brierebecca 0]

Thanks for all your advice. I'm pretty sure it's a fungal infection - my fish does have "hairy" white patches. I did give her some medication this morning - I hope it works. I'm just going to follow the directions on the package and see if it works. After the cycle I'm supposed to change some of the water, which I guess is to help replace some of the good bacteria in the water.

For now, I'm just hoping for the best. And trying not to have so much fish angst.

Brie

"Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

[peregrinerose 0]

Are you giving her an antibiotic? Antibiotics won't do anything for a fungus... fungi are not bacteria

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[sharimcm 0]

It kind of sounds like ick. My betta fish had that when I first bought him, but he's all better now. I took the most pathetic looking fish hoping I could save at least one little fishies life... I took him home, treated his water, a couple of weeks later, he was a happy betta. I've had him for 10 months now. Good luck with the fishy!

"I had a dude tip his black cowboy hat to me after I provided him with a condom outside my hotel room at 3-something in the morning." -myself

[livendive 8]

I can't be the only guy who opened this thread in hopes of seeing a hot MILF wearing a freefly team tank-top.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[Shotgun 1]

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I can't be the only guy who opened this thread in hopes of seeing a hot MILF wearing a freefly team tank-top.

Yeah, that's what I was expecting too.

[lauraliscious 0]

OMG Brie, you sound like a wonderful fish mother!!!

My betta that my boyfriend gave me committed suicide, I was such a bad mother. He jumped out of the tank. I still have the tank, b/c it has plants in it, but I have yet to get another fish.

My very 1st pet of my own killed itself. How depressing.

Enemiga Rodriguez, PMS #369, OrFun #25, Team Dirty Sanchez #116, Pelt Head #29, Muff #4091

[normiss 622]

cubed

[pinkfairy 0]

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My very 1st pet of my own killed itself. How depressing.

Ouch!



Well, what about me: I bought a betta, that was killed by two gouramis I bought. That was my first aquarium.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[tigra 0]

Goldfish are odd- most of the time they are pretty sturdy and low maintenance but then you change something about their water or overcrowd the tank and suddenly you've got issues with them.

In my experience, cleaning the tank too often (or too thoroughly) isn't a good idea either- they seem to thrive on the bacteria- you think the tank looks gross and as a responsible "fish mama" clean it, change the water so its nice and clear then all the sudden your fish are sick! I HATE when that happens!