R.I.P. guppy…

 

It became apparent…that my guppy had fish TB…I think…O.O

I couldn’t risk the health and safety of my family, especially because I’m soon to work in a public health environment…So I decided to do what was the best for my family, and also probably the best possible decision for my guppy as well…

I didn’t flush her down the toilet or anything…I thought that was inconsiderate and heartless…after all, I did have her for more than 2 months…and we kinda really developed a relationship…

She was barely moving at all when I got my best friend to take her out of the water in a plastic spoon…

I prepared a sandwich bag lined with "Snuggle” tissue and we put her in the bag and sealed it…

She didn’t move at all through the process…

Which ensured me even more, that my decision was probably the best for everyone…

I wrote a note that said: “dead fish inside…R.I.P” and stapled it onto the bag…then…the bag was tossed in the garbage…O.O

For the reason of contamination, I decided not to flush her down the toilet (since we don’t know if fish TB is transmittable through water as a vector…and for the same reason I didn’t want to bury her…)

I ignored the suggestion of taking last pictures of my guppy, because I thought she deserved her privacy as she took her last “breaths” and that it was WAY too emotional for me to look at her or the bag that she was in…>.<

Anyway…I’m sincerely hoping that whatever she died from…(which presumed was fish TB,) that I will not be affected by it…considering I need to be soon tested for TB as a condition of working in a hospital…

God bless us all??!!

That’s all….*sigh*

Somehow I don’t have a good feeling about my guppies…

 

After my trip to NYC, I came home and found that my other female guppy’s tail started to rot. =(

I immediately took her out of the large tank and hospitalized her along with my first sick guppy.

I found both of their gills to be inflamed and that their eyes were somewhat popping out…

I went and got them some medication, from an Asian aquarium store…the medication is call “fish saver” I used it for a couple of days, and didn’t really pay MUCH attention to the dosage that I was giving me…

I woke up this morning and found one of the 2 guppies (the one that’s lost her tail on the filter,) to be almost covered in BLACK specks!

I don’t think this is another symptom, considering that I couldn’t find a matching symptom description on my “fish sickness” guide, so I concluded that this is the result of having too much medication in the water, and the specks are markings of the fish being BURNT….

I changed their water…and now they’re in just clean water with no medication in it at all, and only some water conditioner…

Anyway…I hope she lives through tonight…but if not…I’m going to feel sad…but I’m not going to regret what I did…because honestly I tried my best…and I think it would be much better for her to pass away into a happier place than to continue to suffer in my little water bowl…

That’s it for now…O.O

Just some updated photos of the tank…

This has been the saddest day of my life…

 

My guppy’s tail fell off…and I watched it happen…

When I first saw it, it was BARELY sticking on…and then as she swam around in a circle, the tails just fell off…

I almost cried when I saw what was happening…

Now she’s tailess…

I really wonder if this is being caused by a parasite instead of the accident…

So…I’m going to the pet store soon…

I’m going to stop writing about her on this blog now, because it’s just way too depressing, and I’ll start crying if I keep writing about her…

I’ll pray that she doesn’t die, but I can’t help but wonder now that, maybe dying would be a better choice for her.

Ok. I’m through with writing about her.

That’s all I’m going to write about her now…

Pictures…

just some updates~

enjoy~=)

MY GUPPY ALMOST DIED!!!

 

Yesterday was a SAD SAD day for one of my guppies…and I literally had a heart attack!!

One of my guppies (whom I have sort of identified as a female) lost almost half of her tail!!!

It began about 2 or 3 days ago, when my mom was looking at the tank and told me that she could only find 3 guppies instead of the usual four. I thought she was kidding, because 10 minutes before that, there were still 4 of them there. As I walked over to the tank, I really did notice that one was missing, so I started to panic. On top of everything, my mom suggested that maybe the missing guppy was eaten by one of my goldies…which i thought was ridiculous, but also frightening. At last, we found her hiding in the little space behind the filter on the edge of the tank! I laughed it off and thought it was nothing.

The day after that, I kept on noticing that the same guppy was missing. But this time, I knew to look behind the filter and as expected, I would also find her hiding there. This went on for the rest of the day, and I didn’t really mind her after that. After I came home yesterday, I did some research. Most of the topics that I Googled up dealt with female pregnant guppies hiding until delivery. This was strange to me, because CLEARLY my guppy wasn’t pregnant or anything, but I couldn’t really eliminate this factor because I do have 2 males in the tank. So I just left her alone.

Shortly after 9pm, I was getting ready to go to bed, I came downstairs to get a drink of water. I was going to leave my fishies alone, but there was an urge for me to just check up on them, and so I did.

BOY!! WAS I EVER THANKFUL THAT I CHECKED UP ON THEM!!!!

I knew I was only going to find 3 guppies swimming around, so naturally I looked behind the filter, but only to find the little enclave to be EMPTY!! I didn’t know WHERE to look, but as my eyes moved downward…OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!! my guppy was SUCKED against the round tube thingy of my filter that drew water in, and SHE WAS NOT MOVING!!!!!!!!

I DON’T KNOW HOW IN THE WORLD SHE GOT THERE!! BUT I THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!!!

I grabbed my net and lightly tried to slide her off, and she moved!!!!! SHE FIDGITED!!!! I WAS NEVER SO HAPPY IN MY LIFE TO SEE A FISH FREAKING FIDGITING!!!

I quickly got her off of the pipe and she sort of swam a little into the water but looked SO weak. I immediately took her out of the tank, and into the bowl that I always put beside the tank!

She didn’t eat through the whole duration of the 3 days, so I gave her a little food, and she happily took it.

She didn’t lose any fins or anything, but the hind part of her body was severely hurt! Her scales were damaged and she lost about HALF of her tail!!!!

I was almost in tears!! THANK GOD that I was concerned and checked up on them JUST IN TIME to save her!! I was soo worried that she wasn’t going to live until today, but I woke up to find her still swimming and being a lot more active than she was in the past few days!!

If you look closely, or enlarge the photos, you can notice that her tail has been badly ripped! and the hind portion of her body looks very rough, that’s because the scales there have also been damaged. =(

Right now, I need to find out why she was hiding there, and if she’s going to be better now that I’ve isolated her. I don’t know as of right now if she’s going to need any medication, and I don’t know if I should keep another guppy in there with her because they’re very social fish.

If anyone could provide my with information on any of these things, it’d be very much appreciated! ><

That’s it for now…

Haven't updated in a while...

I've been really kinda lazy about project ichthy lately...just because my fishies have been doing REALLY well... =)

The new tank has been making a lot of progress!

1) The problem with the cloudiness has gone away, and the water's been crystal clear for the past week and a half...I've done a 10% water change twice now, and the cloudiness never reappeared! =)

2) I've added a new plant to the aquarium! and the fish took a day or two to adapt to it, but they're doing fine now...I actually added a few too many plants for a day or two, and the fish started to show agressive behaviour towards each other fighting over space! >< so in the end, I took the others out and just left one in, and they're happy as ever now! =) 3) I've noticed.....Fish are really metally challenged animals!!! =.=!! when i first added the new plants...they would swim up to the plant....look at it...and swim back....even though there was sufficient space between the leaves of the plant to swim through!!!!!!! -.-wtf???.....so bascially they just ignore 1/3 of the volume of the tank because there's this thing that's blocking their DIRECT path....they won't even swim around it!!! =.=....which i thought was the most idiotic but hilarious thing in the world!!! lol~~ they're slowly learning now~~ they are now swimming through the leaves of the plants and occupying all the space that is available to them~~

4) My black moor actually LOST A SCALE!!!! O.O yea...i don't know how it happened...but that was about a week or so ago...when i woke up, I found that there was a bright spot on his body..at first i thought it was ICH!! (OMG OMG OMG~~~PANIC!!!) but then when i looked closely, it was actually a missing scale!! i guess it the other fishies trying to be "friendly" to him huh? -.-yea...he's losing a bit of his colour now, which is really frustrating because i don't know what i'm doing wrong!! last week...he won't really eat or swim with the others but instead..he kept hanging out at the surface of the water...eating bubbles and aire.....it's so WEIRD!!...because i have the air pump in there and everything...so it shouldn't be a lack of oxygen...0.o....and then later i found out that he WOULD eat...it's just that you have to throw the food DIRECTLY above his mouth for him to gulp it in.....i have no idea WHY this is happening...so..still keeping an eye out for this little guy...but hopefully he will be in better conditions!

5) I've stired up the gravel a couple times due to the new plants and everything, and i was taken by surprise as to exactly how much POOP there was in the gravel!! 0.O it was quite disgusting actually....=S....so i'm really in need of a gravel cleaner ATM....

6) Speaking of buying more supplies...there was a day or two last week where it was REALLY cold in the early morning and during the night...I was really afraid that my fish would be in shock because the water temperature dropped too much..>< so i'm going to SOON get a heater for the tank and hopefully a digital one with a thermometer on it to keep the water temperature stable....@.@ that's gonna be a WHOLE lotta money again... *sigh* and perhaps even a few more air stones...and some T connectors.....T.T...

My smaller guppies and comet have grown significantly and noticeably since when i got them!! which i'm SOO happy about!! ^^

Who said you can't keep fantails and comest in the same tanks~?! Including the guppies, they're doing really well together as a community~~ and i'm very thankful that i didnt have to give up my comet in order to keep my two fantails and that i had the courage to just leave all of them in the tank and let the process of adaptation take place...*phew~ that was a scare~*

anyway~ there's a post that i wanna do about food and feeding my fish...but that shall be left for another time~~

That's it for now~ =)

I noticed something new today!

I was really concerned that my comet is nibbling at my bigger goldfish...but i decided to keep them in the same tank to see if they could SOMEHOW become friends...then i noticed something interesting...

I was concerned a few days ago and took the comet and the guppies out of the tank because they showed nibbling behaviours.....i fed them separately and kept them away from my oranda and moor...

I fed them while they were in different bowls today...and then out of curiousty put them back into the tank.

The guppies didnt nibble at all after putting them back!! 0.o

The comet was still chasing after the oranda...but then I started to feed the bigger goldfish, and the comet also got some food along with them...and miraculously....
IT STOPPED BITTING AFTER IT GOT FOOD!!! 0.o.....

My theory is...that the bright colour of the oranda makes it seem like it's food and not another fish...especially the crown which appears to be extra attractive....but once they're fed, they're not hungry till the point that they're hunting after food...and the nibbling behaviour stops...0.o

Hey, i could still be wrong...but this is my theory,..and my fish seems to acting this way......

So happy to see them getting along temporarily~~ =)

that's it for now....

ps.....i'm SUCH a noob when it comes to fish....just googled the question: "how do goldfish sleep?"...>.> fail~

Quickie~

YAY~~

water cleared up today!!

that was fast~~ lol~~

took the guppies out yesterday cuz they looked very dead in the milky water~~

i think i might put them back tmr...xD

haha~ that's it for now...=)

THE PROBLEMS JUST NEVER GO AWAY!!

I was soo happy yesterday because of my two new goldfish...until i woke up this morning and found my aquarium MILKY CLOUDY!!!

I did some research, and found that it was normal for a new tank under 8 weeks to go through the whole cycle of establishing bacterial colonies and all that, but i just can't seem to stop WORRING!!

Coal and Tobiko seemed to be FINE when i left the house this morning, but i was worried enough and did just a 5-10% water change and added a couple drops of water conditioner. The guppies were also swimming around nicely too, so there shouldn't really be anything majorly wrong with them....at the moment.

My problem is not with the health conditions of the fish at the moment but rather the long term affects of the water condition on their weel-being.

Some people say that water clarifying treatments only have temporary afects on the water, and shouldn't really be used because they will disturbe the establishment of the bateria. I'm very undecided about whether to get carifying agents, because I would like to leave the water as it is and allow the water to cycle, but I'm also very worried about the conditions of the water and what it will do to the fish in the next couple of days.

...This is another one of those eeny meeny miney mow situations...
*sigh*

anyway..that's all for now.=(

More Fish To Come!!

Today was definitely a very exciting day for me, because I went out and bought the black moor and oranda goldfish that i've been DYING to have~!!

They are ADORABLE little creatures that are just FASCINATING to watch!!

Even since I've gotten my fish, I've developed a habit of just sitting in front of the tank and just watching them....i don't know if this is a good habit or a bad habit, but it's definitely a better habit than sitting in front of the computer all day..><

So let me show you the new additions to my Ichthy family!!

Meet TOBIKO

She (as dubbed by me,) is a red and white oranda goldfish. I got her at the aquarium at P-mall for $4.99...she's medium sized and VERY beautiful. Her body is purely white with no orange spots or colouration, and her "crown" is a very sexy shade of blood red. She's very bulky and when she swims, she wiggles her whole body, which i find to be extremely funny, yet lovable. Her crown looked so much like the tobiko sauce from Japanese cuisine, that i actually thought about naming her that…and thus the origin of her name!=D

and then…there’s COAL

Coal is a black moor that i bought at the same store as Tobiko for $5.99. He is a little bit bigger than Tobiko, and very active! Coal is a very deep shade of black (unlike some of the fish that were sold there, were different shades of dark grey instead of black,) and appears to be VERY healthy, with no split fins or spots on the body~ He often head buds tobiko’s …..butt…>.> i have no idea whether this is because he’s playing with her or is there something else wrong with these two…but for now they look like they’re developing a very good relationship….xD

(you see…..he’s snuggling with tobiko!!!) lol~

I’ve also decided to take Pearly out of the tank by herself into her old bowl. I thought the guppies would have a problem with nibbling at the goldfish tails, but apparently it was actually the comet that had this problem, and not the guppies.

I also bought one more oranda goldfish. It’s not as pure in colour as tobiko, but its patterns were also very neat.

I gave this fish to my friend who just had a kidney surgery in hopes that the goldfish would bring her better health and good luck ~~=D

This Oranda has almost a zebra strip pattern on her body which i thought was also very pretty…=) Despite that…this is one stubborn fish!! 0.o…..she kept on trying to head bud the bag to get out…she’d fail and stop, but in 30 sec she would go back to doing the same thing…-.-

anyway~Here are some videos of my tank now…

(these were taken before the comet came outta the tank…)

Anyway~ that’s all for now~ =)

They’re FINALLY in the tank!!

 

I’ve FINALLY put the fish in the tank, and I must say: space makes the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE!!

I’ve NEVER seen Pearly this active before, and I need to admit that i was stubborn about keeping her in a small bowl for such a long time, and that I’ve deprived her needs of room to swim around~~

They’re still adapting to the new tank and water, and the tank is still at earlier stages of setup~The wires and position of all the equipments still need to be adjusted, but for now, it’ll do.

I still have concerns about the whole dye issue from the air stone, and the gravel. (the gravel in the water is NOT the same batch)

I’m SO VERY EXCITED about adding more fish to the tank!! I have in mind the two i mentioned last time, but on top of that..I also am DYING to buy some smaller fish…

I’m have a LOT of fun raising these guppies and i think that they’re GREAT to have around considering they’re very easy to keep~><

I’ve learned from having this bigger tank, that with the amount of room they have, some of their typical behaviours and characteristics, which didn’t show before, were already starting to appear, and thus makes keeping them MUCH easier!

Enough blabbing…I’d like to share a video and some pictures…these were taken just a couple hours after they were in the tank =)

ENJOY!

 

I’m a very superstitious person, and I believe in a lot of old Chinese sayings…I’d have to say, after i got the fish, the Feng Shui and luck in the family got a little better..=) and I hope i won’t jinx anything by saying this~ ^^

If you are like me, you should definitely consider keeping some fish!! =D

Anyway, That’s all for now…=)

will the problems ever end~?!

So I tried washing out my new gravel again…after the millionth time that i’ve done so after buying it about a week ago.

There’s no sign of the dye washing away at all!!! if not, actually getting worse!! I still have a LOT of dye and residue on the rubber gloves that i wear to wash and scrub the gravel, and it just doesn’t seem to be fading at ALL…

I’m getting really frustrated about this whole “dye incident” because it’s not only my gravel, it’s also my bubble stone!!

I have a Top Fin 7” bubble stone that’s dyed blue on the out side. I put it in the tank about 2 days ago to filter out with the water so to prepare for the fish addition. However, when I looked at the water today i noticed a VERY obvious blue colour in the water…and now, I’m even more skeptical about the quality of the things at Petsmart and whether it’d be safe to put my fish in there!

Right now, I just have the filter going at it in the tank, and I left the bubble stone in there to see if maybe the carbon in the filter would take the colour out (as i read on a certain website that it might have such an effect)…but either way…I’m going back to Petsmart soon…>.<, maybe I’ll end up buying stones or just natural gravel, and let this be a BIG lesson learned!!

Really hope that the problems would end SOON! so that i can move my fish into the tank!

Anyway…that’s all for now..=(

oh and ps. my problematic gravel is also manufactured by Top Fin….that shows something doesn’t it~?! …-.-....let this be a note to self to always leave Top Fin as last resort!….

(good thing i bought the smaller 5lb bags instead of this stupid thing..)

Quickie update...

Oh yea!

Finally got my power filter to work!!

Lol~ the power chord isn't underwater!!

so happy!!
finally~~
something is turning out RIGHT~~

=)

UGHHH!!!! MORE PROBLEMS!!!

 

Problems
pro/BLE/m/s
"pertaining to throwing before…”

and that is EXACTLY what’s happening with my tank issues! They just keep coming!!

My power filter is not working when i put it on the tank!!

either i installed it wrong, or it’s malfunctioning…

I really don’t wanna go back to the store again…

*sigh*

i think it’s going to be a LOOOONG wait for my fishies to move into their new tank…

anyway…will try to make it work tmr…

that’s it for now.

=(

p.s.

i have an Aqueon Aquarium Power Filter 10

which supposedly was quite an expensive filter..?? 0.o

HELP!!!

In my desperate attempt to create a nice environment for my new fish tank, i neglected on doing research and went out and bought a 5 lb bag of gavel........in blue.....

When i came home and followed the instruction to "rinse" the gravel "thoroughly"...as indicated on the back of the bag....it came to my attention that the dye on the gravel turned my hand BLUE....

I've since...continuously washed the gravel and have been soaking them for 2 days as of now.

The blue dye is still there...and it comes off and shows up on the rubber gloves that i wear, when i scrub them.

I really don't want to waste away 7 dollars worth of gravel, but i also don't want the colour to leach out and kill my fish!

There's one post that i read that says the carbon in your power filter will take away the leached out dye on the gravel...but i continue to be very concern about this issue.

WHAT SHOULD I DO!?

there are a couple of sources that say boiling the gravel will work...0.o but others say to NEVER use hot water for you gravel.....@.@

WILL IT WORK~?:! SHOULD I TRY IT~?! HELLLLP~~~ T.T

Project Ichthy underway~~~

Greetings~

Here to share my new found hobby - fish raising...

(SCROLL DOWN FOR A VIDEO!!)

Sam and jeff are the only people that would have recognized my title and smacked me for using it...xD i think...lol~

Ichthy is fish in greek...ancient greek to be exact...

ANYWAY~~ moving on...

so since my win over the bet with jeff that my fish are going to live longer than a week....=D....i've really gotten serious about keeping them alive and also increasing the stock of fish in my pocession as a totally serious hobby.

I've recently purchase a 10 gallon tank...completed with power filters, air pumps, bubble stones, termometers, heaters, gravel, and everything and anything that a fish would need to stay alive....

There's going to be a complete series of journals that i'm going to keep on the process of me and the fish..

so...this is going to be the first one...

guys...

meet...PEARLIE!

=D

she's a white comet goldfish~ the one that i won at the night market at the stupid goldfish catching game...but i LOVE her as hell!!

^^

she (or at least i dubbed it to be,) is very lively~ the first couple of days that i had her, i was very worried that she was going to die...because she was not acting normal, and was very weak. But ever since i moved her into the bowl by herself and stopped feeding her so much, she's gotten SO MUCH BETTER! today was the first day that i've seen her do so well on her own, and for the first time in a week, I relaxed, and unstressed.

and then...there are the annoying little guppies...

i used to have 6 of them....all of which i bought at the night market in hopes that they would be of good company to Pearlie.....but as i learned later...that was a stupid idea. Guppies are very agressive fish, and obviously does not do well with the calmness of the goldfish. They used to nibble at Pearlie all the time in the bowl (partly due to the limited amount of space for SEVEN fish!><) and Pearlie would always hide on the edge of the bowl by herself, which made me SO extremely worried and annoyed at the guppies.

Since moving Pearlie out of the bowl from the guppies, the guppies have done better themselves too. They've been much more active, but also more agressive towards each other (also because of the limited amount of space provided.)

From the time of my purchase till now, 2 guppies have sadly died. =( and it was unfortunate, because i think they died because i stuffed them to death...literally. Yes, again...the fish were overfed. Luckily i realized this before the habbit was able to wreck more havok in my small fish population.

For the time being, I'm preparing to and setting up my 10 gallon tank. It's quite a bit of work, but hopefully i'll be able to complete before the end of the week. (a bit hard considering midterm and fundaraising this week..><)

Here are some preparation pictures:

trying to soak the gravel...these damn things have so much dye on them!! they'll poison my fish!!...T.T

the assembly process...

and an additional video to show you guys how well the guppies and Pearly are doing~

Very thankful that Pearlie and the guppies are doing well~

My next step is to get

1) a red and white Oranda Goldfish

2) a black moor~

and perhaps a KOI

….yep…..

that’s it for now~ =)