So you've had a sick fish. Chances are you've felt a mix of emotions, I know I sure have. It happens, its not fun, plain and simple it sucks.
Once I had my first fish get sick (internal parasite, died and found out all fish from that batch at petstore died.) But this isn't to tell tales of how bad I've had it. Now my fish are good - or so I would like to believe.
Paranoid that what if that one time my favorite fish brushes up against the rock is the start of an ich outbreak. What if ... well you get the picture. Needless to say you can see what I'm getting at.
The more I learn about fish diseases the more symptoms i notice. Do their gills seem a bit more red today? What happens if there was an over night nitrate spike ? Nitrate poisioning?!?! oh wait... no just the lighting. So I go into the realm of the unknown...
How the heck do you know your fish is getting sick???
So you look in your tank you see your fish rub up against some of the rocks 3 times... I've had it happen I am so scared that what if he does this continuous ... when should i start medication ? Whats going on? Is he going to be okay? Wait... oh he was itchy and doesn't possess the limb to scratch.
I am relatively new to fish keeping and I have a bad habit of reading a lot of information... so the combination of which i know way too many symptoms to way to many diseases. (As I write this i ponder the three times my green terror rubbed against the gravel at the bottom of the tank).
But that is my question like
How many symptoms to a disease would warrant the fish possessing that disease?
Just because I cough doesn't mean I have asthma but there is always that question of 'what if its more?'
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THE FOLLOWING IS A STORY ABOUT ME
avoid if you just want to post your opinion, I'd much rather hear what you have to say then to not post because you got bored reading my ranting.
To those of you commencing thank you.
I bought my 125 gallon. I loved it. Put everything in it, looked great. It was amazing. Got 15 feeder fish put them in. Loved it more. 1 feeder fish died a day for 10 days. Then I got some danios to help cycle. Then came the oscars. 4 brightly coloured oscars. The first day they ate great, good colours, chasing the danios only catching a few. By now there was only 3 gold fish. Noticed white feces thought it was just cause the danios. Next day they seemed 'tired' Not really eating much. In retrospec white mucousy fece's was a give away... but I didn't know, I didn't pay attention to it. Ask petstore they just say they are new to the tank and scared. Next day 1 dead oscar. Not happy but no worries i'll get another. Then the day after throughout the day all 4 died.
Yes it sucked, I'm no hardened tough guy, seeing some animal die thats intended for a relationship die is hard. I could never be a farmer because I would name all the cows and when it came time to slaughter... looking at Betsy and Bree I couldn't.
And I thought that was bad.
I had a Texas Cichlid. Who everything was going good until... (Yes again we hit this dreaded until) I noticed a small hole... close to his head. I freaked out. Read everything I could about Hole in the head disease. Heck I read diseases nights on end trying to find out what this could be. Meanwhile it started to progress. Maybe it wasn't HITH. However to my dismay it was. I started looking at different peoples opinions on it, and learned everything I could. I tried. However nothing colud make it stop. It was not a highlight of my fish keeping career.
So it got to a point where I questioned the value of the life Walker (the Texas Cichlid) had. He was no longer able to swim correctly and was not eating. And by now he had some major holes. I phoned the petstore being like ... could you put him down? Nope. None of them would. It was difficult. Its knowing that here's something that thinks, breathes, eats, and lives. That because of me - will no longer.
To get a feel for my researching ways I even looked through the best way. I choose an alkaseltzer in water to put him to sleep then into the freezer. I know you may wish to debate, know thats horrible you should have done it this way. Perhaps you'll recommend I have chopped his head off. Well usually judging by how incredibly fast the electric nerve impusles travel I just don't think its viable to behead something and for it to not have the final moments in excruciating pain. Then again - this wasn't exactly a healthy fish, that wasn't pain free.
The scene plays back in my head, and I'm plagued by the question of what happens if he could have gotten better? What if... A constant question. What if these fish I look at while I type this might catch something... I named them. This tank is at the foot of my bed, In the middle of my room. I wake up and I turn on the lights to the tank. When I go to bed I turn off the lights. I do my homework often in my room. These fish can probably distinguish an integral from a derivative and do it in liebniz notation just to show off.
I would like to thank you and show my appreciation for you reading the above. I hope this provokes some thought onto how to essentially diagnose a fish.
Once I had my first fish get sick (internal parasite, died and found out all fish from that batch at petstore died.) But this isn't to tell tales of how bad I've had it. Now my fish are good - or so I would like to believe.
Paranoid that what if that one time my favorite fish brushes up against the rock is the start of an ich outbreak. What if ... well you get the picture. Needless to say you can see what I'm getting at.
The more I learn about fish diseases the more symptoms i notice. Do their gills seem a bit more red today? What happens if there was an over night nitrate spike ? Nitrate poisioning?!?! oh wait... no just the lighting. So I go into the realm of the unknown...
How the heck do you know your fish is getting sick???
So you look in your tank you see your fish rub up against some of the rocks 3 times... I've had it happen I am so scared that what if he does this continuous ... when should i start medication ? Whats going on? Is he going to be okay? Wait... oh he was itchy and doesn't possess the limb to scratch.
I am relatively new to fish keeping and I have a bad habit of reading a lot of information... so the combination of which i know way too many symptoms to way to many diseases. (As I write this i ponder the three times my green terror rubbed against the gravel at the bottom of the tank).
But that is my question like
How many symptoms to a disease would warrant the fish possessing that disease?
Just because I cough doesn't mean I have asthma but there is always that question of 'what if its more?'
*********************************************************
THE FOLLOWING IS A STORY ABOUT ME
avoid if you just want to post your opinion, I'd much rather hear what you have to say then to not post because you got bored reading my ranting.
To those of you commencing thank you.
I bought my 125 gallon. I loved it. Put everything in it, looked great. It was amazing. Got 15 feeder fish put them in. Loved it more. 1 feeder fish died a day for 10 days. Then I got some danios to help cycle. Then came the oscars. 4 brightly coloured oscars. The first day they ate great, good colours, chasing the danios only catching a few. By now there was only 3 gold fish. Noticed white feces thought it was just cause the danios. Next day they seemed 'tired' Not really eating much. In retrospec white mucousy fece's was a give away... but I didn't know, I didn't pay attention to it. Ask petstore they just say they are new to the tank and scared. Next day 1 dead oscar. Not happy but no worries i'll get another. Then the day after throughout the day all 4 died.
Yes it sucked, I'm no hardened tough guy, seeing some animal die thats intended for a relationship die is hard. I could never be a farmer because I would name all the cows and when it came time to slaughter... looking at Betsy and Bree I couldn't.
And I thought that was bad.
I had a Texas Cichlid. Who everything was going good until... (Yes again we hit this dreaded until) I noticed a small hole... close to his head. I freaked out. Read everything I could about Hole in the head disease. Heck I read diseases nights on end trying to find out what this could be. Meanwhile it started to progress. Maybe it wasn't HITH. However to my dismay it was. I started looking at different peoples opinions on it, and learned everything I could. I tried. However nothing colud make it stop. It was not a highlight of my fish keeping career.
So it got to a point where I questioned the value of the life Walker (the Texas Cichlid) had. He was no longer able to swim correctly and was not eating. And by now he had some major holes. I phoned the petstore being like ... could you put him down? Nope. None of them would. It was difficult. Its knowing that here's something that thinks, breathes, eats, and lives. That because of me - will no longer.
To get a feel for my researching ways I even looked through the best way. I choose an alkaseltzer in water to put him to sleep then into the freezer. I know you may wish to debate, know thats horrible you should have done it this way. Perhaps you'll recommend I have chopped his head off. Well usually judging by how incredibly fast the electric nerve impusles travel I just don't think its viable to behead something and for it to not have the final moments in excruciating pain. Then again - this wasn't exactly a healthy fish, that wasn't pain free.
The scene plays back in my head, and I'm plagued by the question of what happens if he could have gotten better? What if... A constant question. What if these fish I look at while I type this might catch something... I named them. This tank is at the foot of my bed, In the middle of my room. I wake up and I turn on the lights to the tank. When I go to bed I turn off the lights. I do my homework often in my room. These fish can probably distinguish an integral from a derivative and do it in liebniz notation just to show off.
I would like to thank you and show my appreciation for you reading the above. I hope this provokes some thought onto how to essentially diagnose a fish.
