The Hospital Tank

[lydamorehouse]

I really need to be reviewing my corrections which are due back at my publisher’s today, but instead I find myself once again embroiled in FISH TRAUMA.

Last night, at dinner, I noticed that Gill (the new Bob) had a white spot on his fin. We stared at it a long time wondering if he was just brightly colored, or if he had a growth. After much consideration, we decided it looked a bit too furry. We found out that it was entirely possible that Gill had a fungus. One of the simple solutions for a fungal growth is a “salt bath,” wherein one puts regular table salt into the hospital tank and lets the fish stay there for a couple of days.

Our hospital tank is really a plant nursery, which means we don’t have an aerator (no bubbles) and it is not anywhere near conditioned (as there has never, ever been a fish in there – until now.) But, it’s also brand new water, which means there are no ammonium, no nitrites, and no nitrates. The oxygen has not been gobbled up yet, either. So, it seemed like a good, temporary place for Gill to hang out.

So far so true.

Now Nemo (the new Frieda) is floating upside down in a cup. She was sinking (like her predecessor) and I snagged her to put her in the hospital tank, too. She zipped around a bit, and then started doing that freaky twisty “oh-look-I’m-almost-upside-down-nope, I’m-good!” swimming. A death nell, as far as I’m concerned. Suddenly, looking at Gill (who is relatively healthy comparatively), I thought to myself: What if she gives what she has to Gill? Then we’d loose two again instead of one. So, now she’s floating in a cup awaiting death. Cruel? Maybe, but it doesn’t seem right to contaminate either Joe (aka healthy as a MOOSE) or Gill in his salt bath.

Having fish is depressing.

Thank god they’re only 12 cents.

However, I think that this is the last fish I get from PetSmart. I may take Doug’s advice and get my fish from the HarMar pet shop or I may range even farther out and try getting fish from “A World of Fish” in Richfield. They have everything a fish hobbiest could want, and more… including, I hope, healthy fish.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

>However, I think that this is the last fish I get from PetSmart.

That's probably a good idea. It's been ages since I've kept fish and I never had great luck with them (although I did have an Angelfish that lived and lived and lived, and grew and grew and grew...my dad kept trying to eat it), mostly because I tried to get too fancy for my own good. But a specialty fish store is likely to have better-informed staff and better cared-for fish. And feeder goldfish tend not to be kept in the best conditions anyway--poor beasties are already stressed by the time you get them home.

[lydamorehouse]

That really seems to be true. Each time we put a new PetSmart fish in our tank they tended to hide. I've read that goldfish actually can be quite shy and it must be very traumatic just to have so many fish in one tank with no cover.

[tlmorganfield.livejournal.com]

It sounds like Gill has Ick, so it's good you're isolating him from the other fish since it's highly contagious (though also quite common). I think most fish that are sold through smaller vendors are generally more healthy than ones you buy at PetSmart or PetCo. That's where I used to buy all my fish--at a place called Tropical Fish Palace--before we moved up north and PetSmart is the only pet store in the area. PetSmart's rodents though seem to be pretty good; at least the two fancy mice we got from them a couple months ago have flourished and are still thankfully alive and healthy

[lydamorehouse]

You probably have a lot more experience in this regard because I've never actually seen "ick," but the descriptions I read made it seem like a different kind of fungal growth. However, if this stuff we bought that's supposed to help fungal/bacterial problems doesn't work, I'll get the Ick treatment stuff. At least ick seems easy to fix.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I had very bad luck with two PetSmart gerbils. Gave up on gerbils after that. ::sniff::

[sbarret.livejournal.com]

Petsmart has a bad rep for fish. That said, I lose about 25% of my new fish regularly. Not that I'm the stellar fish person here, but in my tank, tetras seem to hang on. Mollys are great, but once they get knocked up, it seems they hide until giving birth and then die. The Guarmies were going great for about 5 months then... belly-up. Same w/ the african frogs. Those were sooo cute too. *sniff*

[lydamorehouse]

From what I've read (and I've been terribly obsessive), 25% die-off is actually really good. I've experience the more common 50% die-off rate, and I was trying to be really, really careful. I guess there's only so much you can do, and frankly I'm willing to go quite far, but there has to be a kind of happy medium. If have to super-treat my water all the time, that becomes kind of a hassle. So, Shawn and I made a pack to only do so much, you know? Goldfish are just going to have to cope. :-)

[sbarret.livejournal.com]

Ah.. never did the goldfish in a fishtank. We've gone the tetra/guppy etc route. Filter,tank, oxygen bubble maker (dunno it's real name) and a temperature thingie that I think is busted.

The only time we did goldfish was when someone told us you could put goldfish in a horse trough to help keep down the algea population. Poor sacrificial goldfish. The horse played w/ them to death within 2 days...

You know, if they're feeder fish,

[plaidder.livejournal.com]

probably PetSmart doesn't have too many customers who are trying to keep them alive longer than a week or two. So they probably don't provide a whole lot of care for them in the store. You might have much better luck with fish that are actually being sold as pets, even if they're more expensive. I mean who knows if they're even feeding them in the pet store before you buy them.

Good luck,

The Plaid Adder

[tiernsshadow.livejournal.com]

A World of Fish is fantastic. The staff is very knowledgable, and anytime they find a sickly fish in one of their tanks, the whole tank is quarantined until they're sure all the fish in it are healthy. Definitely worth a visit. (My goldfish-obsessed friends buy from this store and swear by it. I'm planning on getting my fish from AWoF when I have my own tank later this year.)

[lydamorehouse]

Loved A World of Fish (which I alway say with a fake echo at the end.)

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

You've had good advice about alternatives to where you buy your feeder fish from.

Another idea might be to get a small water turtle or frog instead of fish. (Or even a tadpole that can grow into a frog--more educational!)

[lydamorehouse]

Actually, I saw tadpoles for sale at A World of Fish... definately something to consider for the future.

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

I had another thought I meant to tell you last Thursday and forgot: you may want to move up from feeder fish. I mean, they are meant to be used as food for other fish - they aren't going to be the most carefully maintained critters in the store, I would think. Try a couple of Tetras, maybe a Zebra fish, something like that. Our Tetras have proved to be pretty tough little buggers overall. Avoid Betas - they're pretty, but too sensitive to tank conditons, at least for casual fish keepers like our family.

I do think that there is a "break in" period for a tank and new fish. I don't know why, but that seems to be kinda common. We lost all but one of our first round of six fish, and have lost several more since then. It's a bummer, but, you know, they're fish. Maybe it helps that I don't know them by name.

You have a hospital tank? Wow. We haven't gone that far yet.

[swords-and-pens.livejournal.com]

Oh, and apologies to Plaid Adder - I didn't see your post on buying other fish until I had finished mine. Didn't mean to repeat you. :)

[lydamorehouse]

Well, read my next post. We only have a hospital tank because we were gifted a 10 gallon and a 5 gallon at the same time and I wanted a place to grow my aquatic plants.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

>I do think that there is a "break in" period for a tank and new fish.

It's about establishing a colony of beneficial bacteria. The bacteria need ammonia to "eat," if I understand correctly, so you can't get them going without some fish in the tank (though you can do things like add some from an established tank to help with the kickstart). But too many fish, too quickly and you end up with more ammonia than the young bacteria colony can handle, and that's toxic to your fish. Some fish more than others--I know some people will cycle a tank with entirely different fish than they plan to keep down the road.

TC Reptiles

[davehd.livejournal.com]

Maybe try Twin City's Reptile down on University and Raymond. They've always had a good selection of fish. And I think that's where we bought the indestructible feeder goldfish of which we bought a dozen and dumped them into a small pond in our yard. Near as I could tell they only died of cannabalism or predation and we had to keep the three biggest survivors alive in a bucket in our basement over two winters when the pond froze solid (back during the twentieth century ice age when things still froze.) The new owners buried the pond recently, but I'm sure the fish are still swimming around in the bucket under the wash tub sink.

Re: TC Reptiles

[seanmmurphy.livejournal.com]

For some reason, Dave, your comment about leaving the fish in the bucket in the basement when you moved made me grin from ear to ear. Twisted, I know, but I think the image of forgetting to pack the fish up when one moves is fairly hilarious. "Okay, hon, got everything?" Yup, no furniture, no dishes, I've been through all of the cabinets and cupboards, and the last boxes just went out." "Hmm, I feel like we're forgetting something, though..." "Yeah, me too." And meanwhile the fish are in the bucket under the sink, just waiting patiently...