My husband loves fish. He has a huge aquarium in the kitchen that contains about 7 fish (The smaller ones like to wedge themselves inside of their little "homes" and rarely come out. I've been with my husband for 3 years and I don't think I've even seen all of his fish). Anyways, he's had all of these fish for YEARS so he has a sort of connection with them and loves them.
One of his smaller fish (It's orange-ish yellow with black stripes... About the length of Justin's palm), who he has had for 8 years, has recently come out of hiding. Earlier this week I noticed a buldge on it's rear lower side. Justin didn't know what it was, but wasn't too concerned about it. Yesterday morning as we were getting ready for work he saw it laying on it's side at the bottom of the tank and said that the fish was dead. The budlge had gotten bigger, and there was a HOLE on the fish's other side across from the buldge! We had no idea what happened.
He left the fish in the tank and went to work cause he was running late. When we got home from work, he went to go scoop the fish out of the tank and swam away. It wasn't dead. There is a hole in it's side and it's not dead. Justin moved it to a smaller tank to separate it from the other fish. The fish doesn't move. He just lays on the bottom of the tank, unless you "threaten" him and then he will swim a bit and then lay back down.
Justin thinks that fish may have eaten more than it could handle, but I'm not sure. Justin doesn't feed the fish that much. He feeds them every other day because "in the wild they don't eat every day". Plus, there is 7 fish in the tank competing for the food that he does give them. I just can't see how this fish over-ate.
Anyways, we don't know what to do with the fish. I can only imagine that the fish is in pain with this hole in it's side. I don't want it to suffer longer than it has to, but how do you euthanize a fish? He's too big to go down the toilet. I don't want to just throw him in the trash can and let him suffocate without water until he dies. Plus, Justin has had this fish for 8 years so I am sure that he is feeling some sadness over this. Is there anyway we could even save this fish? I don't know if there are fish vets out there, but if there are I'm sure that they're expensive as hell and we don't want to do anything that's going to cost too much money.
What would you do? What should we do?
They are all fresh-water fish.
The fish died while we were sleeping last night.
http://www.ehow.com/list_###-###-####_causes-fish-bloatin...
He needs to do some research to try to zero in on the cause of this. Otherwise the whole tank is at risk.
Try treating the fish in isolation but also treat the tank as needed.
You need to quarantine the fish. get a small fish tank, or a betta tank, and put it in the water, so it floats, and use the water from the fish tank. There is fish medicines you can buy from pet smart and things, so you could go along and read the packages until you see one that matches your fishes symptoms. More than likely he has bloat, which is fairly common in fish, and the other fish have been picking at him causing the hole.
I used to be in a fish club - which is very naff to admit, but I love fish!
You can euthanize a fish by placing it in pure alcohol. You can use vodka or tequila. Pour the alcohol into an appropriate sized container and place the fish inside. It first acts as anesthetic and then causes death.
Don't flush it. That is just cruel.
It's hard to watch things suffer, even if it's only a fish. I did a saltwater fish tank for a year, and whenever something seemed wrong with a fish, it usually died within a week.
Most of the time I didn't know what happened to them, but I did finally figure out that one of my fish was aggressive, and was coming out at night and torturing the other fish. He would pick on one fish at a time until he killed them. (In a saltwater tank, that's a lot of money.) If fish are hiding all the time, it might be from an aggressive fish. If they are smaller, that sounds for sure like what it is. You might want to watch the fish closely and see who's the bully.
If he has a hole in his side, he will probably die shortly. I don't think you should euthanize a fish your husband had for 8 years, without clearing it with him first.
We had this with a fish and I couldn't stand to watch it suffer. I friend of ours, who is a fish guy, told us to just mix some clove oil with distilled water, then add to the bowl. THis puts the fish to sleep. Then add vodka to the water to euthanize. You can get clove oil at most drug stores. People use it for tooth aches.
Hope this helps!
please dont flush fish that are not native to our area. Not that the fish will survive it, or even get as far as a lake or pond, but that his infection will. With a fish that old. Generally they dont get that old in the "wild" these fish are not wild, they are captive born exotics. With that comes all the ailments of inbred, captive born fish. Its a tumor or a bacterial (viborosis) infection. I am guessing by the description this is a Tiger Barb. Might want to ask a local pet store if they have medications for bacterial infections. Usually its cause by water quality. Not all fish die but its tired, it cant swim, and the infection may have already attacked the swim bladder that keeps fish upright and afloat.
I second freezing it as humane. The cold will put it into a sleep-like state.
Call your fish store (not a pet store; a store *specializing* in fish) and talk to the professionals. It doesn't sound as if there will be a happy ending to this story, but it can't hurt to call and ask questions. Yes, there are vets who look after fish, but I'd call the store first. And I thank you for being so caring. Some folks think fish and other little pet critters are just - disposable.
Flush the fish, get some anti parasite medication from the pet shop. More than likely the whole tank is infected.
Just picked up the too big to flush. The only other way is pull him out but I would hate to watch a fish suffocate.
My daughter flushed one too big, every taken a toilet apart? ;p
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Next time you may want to point out they are Cichlids. Apparently some people are unaware that there are fresh water fish that get huge and live forever.
Go to a site called wetwebmedia. If its still alive....you can email them questions and they have a ton of knowledge.
It's up to your husband what to do with the fish.
He's in isolation for now and that's good.
Maybe he over ate, maybe he's got fish cancer or a twist in his bowels, maybe another fish took advantage of his weakened condition and started to scavenge off him.
It's possible he might heal (how big is the hole?).
If he doesn't he'll die on his own.
I agree euthanizing him in his own water is the best way... but gosh that sounds hard to do too...
We had our one fish, Igor for about 6 years... he just died yesterday! I thought I never cared about him too much but I am feeling some sadness today, or at least some wistfulness over it.
Poor little guy. I'd tell your husband what you read on here and let him take the lead on what to do.
Since they are big fish and your husband has had them for years, I'm assuming these are salt-water fish and not fresh-water. Here in Madison, WI, we have a salt-water fish store called Living Art Aquarium. Call them ###-###-####) and see what information/help they can give you. They might even be able to tell you if there are any salt-water fish stores in your immediate area.
Sorry to hear about the poor fish. Sometimes they can regenerate tissue; it just depends on how bad the damage is and what caused the damage.
Good luck!
