Fish

[ste_noni]

Earlier this summer, I discovered that Ellie loved my brother's aquarium so I decided to get her one. I got a all-in-one package from Wal-Mart. Then I got the gravel, fake plants and 6 fish (2 black, 4 orange). Everything was great for a while until we went away for vacation and all 4 orange fish died. I consulted my brother and he said I needed a heater. So I got one and everything was fine. He also said I needed a plant to keep the water fresh so I got one of those too. A snail showed up with the plant and everything was fine. Then my parents got Ellie some fish because the aquarium was a bit boring with just two fish. Now, I had 4 black and 4 orange fish. Then we started to have an algae problem so I mentioned to Joe that we needed a placostimus (algae eating fish). The next night he came home with 2 placostimuses and 4 neon tetras. Now I had 14 fish in a 10 gallon tank.

Then the four neon tetras died all pretty close to each other. The algae started taking over and I noticed the fish had little white spots on them. This was Ick and required action. These were all signs of stress on the tank. So I changed 25% of the water, as directed by my brother, only I screwed up when I put the new water in. The new water was too hot and too much temp change kills fish. Since then (48 hours ago) two orange fish have died and one is basically dead now.

(eta: I just killed the dying orange one. He wasn't going to get better and I didn't want him to suffer.)

Anyway, I feel bad that I'm killing all these fish. I was actually trying to give them a nice place to live and they ended up dead. I feel stupid that I'm actually sad about this, but I am. Not super sad, but a little sad.

Comments

[sarameg.livejournal.com]

I swear, this whole post is repeated by countless individuals all over the planet. "I'll just get a fish" they say....

My SIL finally managed to keep the fish (gotten for my wee nephew's benefit) alive for a year. And then they moved. If she had to hand carry the tank over to keep those things alive, she was going to do it,damnit!

They were still alive last I heard.

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

See we are moving in 4 months so I wans't going to get a tank. BUT, I got the pet store owner to promise to take the fish back when we move (if any of them are still alive by then).

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

One of my firm early childhood memories (age 4?) is of coming downstairs in the mornings and following the slime trails from the snails who has escaped the aquarium in the night. As we eventually discovered (we, I mean my parents) the thermometer/heater was broken in the tank and it was too hot so the fish kept dying and the snails were trying to escape and live. And every morning we tracked them down and put them back in the too-hot water. Poor snails.

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

Poor snails! I have a thermometer now which is how I knew the fish were going to die. My brother keeps telling me that small aquariums are the hardest because little changes make such a big difference.

[cindywrites.livejournal.com]

Oh, the poor fish, and poor you, too. Thank goodness Ellie's still too little to mourn.