I just lost this rainbowfish to a swim bladder problem. I think for once, it wasn't due to anything I did or failed to do.
It made me think of the fish I lost since I got back into this hobby about two years ago. I had 4 fish that were still around from when I got them in 93-95 but I neglected the tank (but they somehow lived through my minimal maintenance).
I learned a bunch from my mistakes that ended up with dead fish. Maybe you can learn from them and perhaps.post some to help others learn from your mistakes.
It felt therapeutic writing this. I wrote.in the rainbows thread originally but moved it here to a separate thread
1) learned to clear the tank of clutter during a water change and to try not to do a water change when I feel rushed.
I learned this from losing one of my 20+ year old loaches. I remember being in a hurry. I think I grabbed.this sponge filter and the base dropped. My theory is that one of the loaches got startled and jumped.out. I didn't notice until a few days later when I notice I hadn't seen that loach. I had some junk next to the tank and didn't notice the loach had jumped.out and was in this stuff. This is probably the loss.that upset me most.
I now clear the tank of stuff I have stored.around it when I'm doing a water change. I also try to keep the lids closed as much as I can when water changing and try to do a head count after.
2) Cleared some caves where fish could get stuck (I probably need to take out some lava rocks as my small loaches continue to grow. My originals never got stuck there while growing but I suppose it could happen,).
I had a fish get stuck about this time last year when I was doing a water change on the QT tank and a female rainbow got startled and got stuck in the hole in this flower pot. I threw that pot out and it probably saved some of my clown Loaches as I took some caves out of the main tank, where they could get stuck.
3) Secure python while filling and draining
I had the python flail around during a water change and hit the same type of female rainbow that had gotten stuck in the pot. she was swimming near the surface after and wasn't surprised when I found her dead the next day
Now I secure the hose when I'm filling the tank and also while draining. I feel fortunate that I didn't lose any clown Loaches from this happening. (Usually the hose would flail around when I turned off the water or when I used the spray attachment in the kitchen sick to rinse a bucket).
4) don't feed Canadian mysis to small fish. It took losing rummynose two different times ingrain this lesson.
I think the Canadian mysis shrimp that were too big for their stomachs. I noticed they almost choked.and it was more than half as long as their bodies.
I now only feed those mysis to the display. I've kept my praecox rainbows in a 10g QT tank because I need to finish all my mysis before I move them to the big tank. I almost.made this same mistake again thinking these fish were big enough. One almost.choked but it didn't die so I learned my final mysis lesson without losing another fish.
5) Don't overdose Safe.
My biggest lost was 8 rummynose. I woke up one day after a water change and they were all dead. My theory is that I used too much Safe. I actually measured how much I should dose and I was dosing way more. I now.use a 1/64th tsp and I think that's at least a triple dose.at 0.5ppm chlorine. Before I would just put some in my 1/4 or 1/2 tsp measuring spoon and dump it in. I figured my airstone would prevent oxygen from dropping too low.
I think what happened was I out too much safe. I had done this before for at least a year but two things contributed. A rummynose had jumped.out of this little gal I had. I realized I had the plastic part of the lid on backwards so I fixed.that and covered the only tiny space remaining with plastic wrap. I think this reduced air exchange. Even worse this time I filled the water too high. The plastic tube went all the way to the top of the tank. I think filling a little more than usual might have reduced oxygen exchange as well
6) Secure every little gap in the lid if a fish can fit through. I was shocked that.rummynose had been able to jump through that gap.
7) I'll probably just run sponge without the tube. I haven't had any fish in there since I lost the rummynose. I had to lower water to try to treat the swim bladder fish and I noticed sponge moves water fine without the extra tube. It probably would be best to cut it but I've read that it's fine to run the sponges without the tube anyway.
8) I lost two loaches the next day after I got them from an LFS. I had planned to not buy loaches until I knew they had been in the store for awhile. This was two years ago when I was buying fish for the first time in 20 years. I got anxious when I saw a sick clown Loach at this one store where I had been checking on a batch of loaches that were in the store for over three weeks. (I think it had internal parasites which isn't rare for clown Loaches).
After I left that store, I went to go buy this clown Loach that someone had traded in. It too had been sitting in the store for 3-4 weeks. It was sold a few days prior.
I got into desperation mode and broke with my plan and bought three loaches at this store I hadn't been checking on.
One good thing that happened is the one that survived is my fastest growing loach.
I also learned to buy fish online which I prefer now. I've had great success with Imperial Tropicals. I also bought loaches and rainbows from liveaquaria Divers Den. I think if I do get a bigger.tank I'll get all my additional.loaches here due to their quarantine procedures (though I'll still deworm and QT them ).
It made me think of the fish I lost since I got back into this hobby about two years ago. I had 4 fish that were still around from when I got them in 93-95 but I neglected the tank (but they somehow lived through my minimal maintenance).
I learned a bunch from my mistakes that ended up with dead fish. Maybe you can learn from them and perhaps.post some to help others learn from your mistakes.
It felt therapeutic writing this. I wrote.in the rainbows thread originally but moved it here to a separate thread
1) learned to clear the tank of clutter during a water change and to try not to do a water change when I feel rushed.
I learned this from losing one of my 20+ year old loaches. I remember being in a hurry. I think I grabbed.this sponge filter and the base dropped. My theory is that one of the loaches got startled and jumped.out. I didn't notice until a few days later when I notice I hadn't seen that loach. I had some junk next to the tank and didn't notice the loach had jumped.out and was in this stuff. This is probably the loss.that upset me most.
I now clear the tank of stuff I have stored.around it when I'm doing a water change. I also try to keep the lids closed as much as I can when water changing and try to do a head count after.
2) Cleared some caves where fish could get stuck (I probably need to take out some lava rocks as my small loaches continue to grow. My originals never got stuck there while growing but I suppose it could happen,).
I had a fish get stuck about this time last year when I was doing a water change on the QT tank and a female rainbow got startled and got stuck in the hole in this flower pot. I threw that pot out and it probably saved some of my clown Loaches as I took some caves out of the main tank, where they could get stuck.
3) Secure python while filling and draining
I had the python flail around during a water change and hit the same type of female rainbow that had gotten stuck in the pot. she was swimming near the surface after and wasn't surprised when I found her dead the next day
Now I secure the hose when I'm filling the tank and also while draining. I feel fortunate that I didn't lose any clown Loaches from this happening. (Usually the hose would flail around when I turned off the water or when I used the spray attachment in the kitchen sick to rinse a bucket).
4) don't feed Canadian mysis to small fish. It took losing rummynose two different times ingrain this lesson.
I think the Canadian mysis shrimp that were too big for their stomachs. I noticed they almost choked.and it was more than half as long as their bodies.
I now only feed those mysis to the display. I've kept my praecox rainbows in a 10g QT tank because I need to finish all my mysis before I move them to the big tank. I almost.made this same mistake again thinking these fish were big enough. One almost.choked but it didn't die so I learned my final mysis lesson without losing another fish.
5) Don't overdose Safe.
My biggest lost was 8 rummynose. I woke up one day after a water change and they were all dead. My theory is that I used too much Safe. I actually measured how much I should dose and I was dosing way more. I now.use a 1/64th tsp and I think that's at least a triple dose.at 0.5ppm chlorine. Before I would just put some in my 1/4 or 1/2 tsp measuring spoon and dump it in. I figured my airstone would prevent oxygen from dropping too low.
I think what happened was I out too much safe. I had done this before for at least a year but two things contributed. A rummynose had jumped.out of this little gal I had. I realized I had the plastic part of the lid on backwards so I fixed.that and covered the only tiny space remaining with plastic wrap. I think this reduced air exchange. Even worse this time I filled the water too high. The plastic tube went all the way to the top of the tank. I think filling a little more than usual might have reduced oxygen exchange as well
6) Secure every little gap in the lid if a fish can fit through. I was shocked that.rummynose had been able to jump through that gap.
7) I'll probably just run sponge without the tube. I haven't had any fish in there since I lost the rummynose. I had to lower water to try to treat the swim bladder fish and I noticed sponge moves water fine without the extra tube. It probably would be best to cut it but I've read that it's fine to run the sponges without the tube anyway.
8) I lost two loaches the next day after I got them from an LFS. I had planned to not buy loaches until I knew they had been in the store for awhile. This was two years ago when I was buying fish for the first time in 20 years. I got anxious when I saw a sick clown Loach at this one store where I had been checking on a batch of loaches that were in the store for over three weeks. (I think it had internal parasites which isn't rare for clown Loaches).
After I left that store, I went to go buy this clown Loach that someone had traded in. It too had been sitting in the store for 3-4 weeks. It was sold a few days prior.
I got into desperation mode and broke with my plan and bought three loaches at this store I hadn't been checking on.
One good thing that happened is the one that survived is my fastest growing loach.
I also learned to buy fish online which I prefer now. I've had great success with Imperial Tropicals. I also bought loaches and rainbows from liveaquaria Divers Den. I think if I do get a bigger.tank I'll get all my additional.loaches here due to their quarantine procedures (though I'll still deworm and QT them ).
