Hannah’s tank journal

[Poison Dart Frog]

May have missed it, do you still have the puffer?

[Hannahhhh]

10 minutes ago, Poison Dart Frog said:

May have missed it, do you still have the puffer?

I do still have him, but he’s never showed any interest in any shrimp or snail in my tank. The only thing I can get him to eat is flake food. 

[Hannahhhh]

I have a question for all you experienced fish keepers who read this. My puffer is not well. I thought at first that I had figured out how to help him when I found a food he liked, but he is obviously spiraling downhill. His skin is blotchy and he’s so skinny. He use to always come out for feeding time, but now he rarely does. I try feeding him where he lays, but he only likes eating from the surface, and so he won’t eat underwater. At the point he barely swims unless I nudge him. Is there any harm to my other fish in letting him finish out his days in my tank? I don’t have a second tank I can put him in. Obviously I should have QT’d him, but I trusted that the store I got him from had done that... Any advice would be welcome. 

[A.m.P]

It sounds like it may be too late, many (most* from my understanding) puffers come in with internal-parasites and would benefit from prophylactic-treatment with API-general-cure Food which has been bonded by Seachem Focus. You could try putting it in a breeder-net to bring it close enough to the surface it may be able to eat but no, if you can help it, I would not let it die in the tank myself, though it might be encouraged to eat by meaty foods like scallops or shrimp?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/api-general-cure-with-seachem-focus-anyone-tried.303243/

[Hannahhhh]

45 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

It sounds like it may be too late, many (most* from my understanding) puffers come in with internal-parasites and would benefit from prophylactic-treatment with API-general-cure Food which has been bonded by Seachem Focus. You could try putting it in a breeder-net to bring it close enough to the surface it may be able to eat but no, if you can help it, I would not let it die in the tank myself, though it might be encouraged to eat by meaty foods like scallops or shrimp?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/api-general-cure-with-seachem-focus-anyone-tried.303243/

I’ve tried so many types of food, all he wants to eat is flakes. 

He just made an appearance at the top of the tank but he looks really bad. He’s swimming poorly and his eyes are cloudy. 

Does anyone know a humane method of euthanasia for fish? I use to work for an aquarium vet and we used MS 222, but I don’t have access to that. At this point he seems to be suffering. 

[A.m.P]

Oof, a puffer that won't eat shrimp... That's awful, the only supposed-trick I know is the freezer, you could try clove-oil beforehand to put it to sleep first or even to euthanize-it entirely if you prefer...

[banasophia]

So sorry about your fish. 😞  Here’s some info:
 

https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanase-aquarium-fish/

[banasophia]

20 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Oof, a puffer that won't eat shrimp... That's awful, the only supposed-trick I know is the freezer, you could try clove-oil beforehand to put it to sleep first or even to euthanize-it entirely if you prefer...

I had read about the freezing method too, when I had to euthanize my beloved firefish, but according to some sources (including the article I just posted) it’s no longer thought to be a humane method. 😞

[Clown79]

puffers need hard shelled foods in their diet or their health suffers. They need to sharpen their teeth down or else they can't eat and slowly starve.

 

Live foods are the preferable foods for puffers.

 

The only humane way I have heard of euthanizing fish is clove oil and then freezing.

 

I can't imagine freezing a fish without putting it to sleep with clove oil, could be humane. 

[Hannahhhh]

50 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

puffers need hard shelled foods in their diet or their health suffers. They need to sharpen their teeth down or else they can't eat and slowly starve.

 

Live foods are the preferable foods for puffers.

 

The only humane way I have heard of euthanizing fish is clove oil and then freezing.

 

I can't imagine freezing a fish without putting it to sleep with clove oil, could be humane. 

I tried a variety of foods, he refused everything but flakes. He chewed on my live rock all the time though so I think that took care of his beak. 

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, Hannahhhh said:

I tried a variety of foods, he refused everything but flakes. He chewed on my live rock all the time though so I think that took care of his beak. 

All fish need a variety.

 

The fish eating only flake food makes me think possibly the lfs didn't feed it what it required(too costly and time consuming)  therefore it was accustomed to flake and therefore a possibility it was already in a unhealthy state.

[Ratvan]

4 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

I’ve tried so many types of food, all he wants to eat is flakes. 

He just made an appearance at the top of the tank but he looks really bad. He’s swimming poorly and his eyes are cloudy. 

Does anyone know a humane method of euthanasia for fish? I use to work for an aquarium vet and we used MS 222, but I don’t have access to that. At this point he seems to be suffering. 

 

1 hour ago, Hannahhhh said:

I tried a variety of foods, he refused everything but flakes. He chewed on my live rock all the time though so I think that took care of his beak. 

Did you mix the foods together? Or try separate? I would be mixing tiny bits of the flake with the other foods. 

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Clove Oil and pith the fish is my preferred method

[Hannahhhh]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

All fish need a variety.

 

The fish eating only flake food makes me think possibly the lfs didn't feed it what it required(too costly and time consuming)  therefore it was accustomed to flake and therefore a possibility it was already in a unhealthy state.

Yeah I also think it wasn’t healthy when I got it. I really trust my LFS on all things coral, but I’m wondering if they’re less reliable in terms of fish. Either way, I only had him for 2-3 weeks and he’s been wasting away. He’s the first fish I’ve lost (or am about to loose). I’m hoping they may give me some credit back for him. I spend a lot of money with them, and I think they sold me a sick fish. 

 

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

 

Did you mix the foods together? Or try separate? I would be mixing tiny bits of the flake with the other foods. 

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Clove Oil and pith the fish is my preferred method

I tried mixing, but he only wanted the floating food. 

I don’t have clove oil right now and my car and my road is super snowed in. I know I should probably pith him but I feel weird doing it. I know I should get over myself and do it, I just finished applying to vet school and I’ll need to be tough on stuff like that, but I feel too sad doing it to my own fish. Even though I only had him for a bit, I really got to like him. 

[ef4life]

Sorry about your puffer. 

[Ratvan]

8 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

I don’t have clove oil right now and my car and my road is super snowed in. I know I should probably pith him but I feel weird doing it. I know I should get over myself and do it, I just finished applying to vet school and I’ll need to be tough on stuff like that, but I feel too sad doing it to my own fish. Even though I only had him for a bit, I really got to like him. 

If its any consolation I still cry when i have to do it nowadays, doesn't get easier

[Hannahhhh]

Ugh well the puffer died last night 😞 

And then today the harlequin shrimp I ordered from live aquaria arrived dead. UPS delivered it a day late. 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

Ugh well the puffer died last night 😞 

And then today the harlequin shrimp I ordered from live aquaria arrived dead. UPS delivered it a day late. 

So sorry you lost the puffer.

 

Ups did the same to me, containers cold and the corals were in horrible shape. 

[Hannahhhh]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

So sorry you lost the puffer.

 

Ups did the same to me, containers cold and the corals were in horrible shape. 

It was so frustrating. I also feel like live aquaria should have delayed shipping it for a day or two though considering the snow storm on the east coast. When I spoke to one of their representatives, she said they had over 500 delayed packages the day before. I got a full refund but I’m still bummed out. Feels like a preventable loss of life for the little shrimp.  

[Clown79]

19 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

It was so frustrating. I also feel like live aquaria should have delayed shipping it for a day or two though considering the snow storm on the east coast. When I spoke to one of their representatives, she said they had over 500 delayed packages the day before. I got a full refund but I’m still bummed out. Feels like a preventable loss of life for the little shrimp.  

You would think with shipping live products it would be better to wait till the weather clears. In the end it costs them more replacing livestock, re shipping, and it's so sad how much loss in animals there are for something completely preventable.

 

So silly. 

[A.m.P]

The bigger you get the less accountable you, as a business, and the other individuals working for you are without an equal growth in entities focused on ethics and oversight. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, it becomes exceedingly difficult for a larger-business or corporation to make even vaguely-intelligent decisions in a timely fashion, and essentially impossible to make quick ones lol.

It's tragic, but now that they're the size of a distributor, they're making the same mistakes, my 0.02 from more, not Chicago school of made-up-economics, reading than I'm proud or ready to admit to.

 

I really hope you start having better luck, it sounds like your lfs didn't know how to take care of that puffer and shipping errors/delays are just awful...

[Poison Dart Frog]

I can't believe they even ship in this weather. I've ordered dart frogs from Josh's Frogs and they won't even ship in certain temperatures, even though all their shipping is overnight as a requirement. Actually, they won't even ship feeder crickets (or won't guarantee live delivery) in certain temps even if you choose 1 day shipping. 

[Hannahhhh]

I went away for the weekend and expected to find the glass walls of my tank covered in algae when I got back. I was very pleasantly surprised to see minimal algae and much lsss cyano in my sand! Could the (mini) cycle be ending?? I hope so!

 

Also I’m sure some of you can relate to this, but I had a funny interaction with my boyfriend this weekend. I was trying to downplay how much money I spend on my tank and how often I buy new things. He was curious for a ballpark of what I had spent all together. I said something about how the new IM 30 gallon tank was the biggest purchase, about ~$500, and I expected him to take that in stride. Totally blew his mind, at which point I decided maybe not to mention that I’ve also spent lots on fish, coral, inverts, etc. Every time he points at something in my tank and says “that’s pretty, what did it cost?” I just say $10 😂😅

[Seadragon]

2 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

Every time he points at something in my tank and says “that’s pretty, what did it cost?” I just say $10 😂😅

Funny, I do the same thing with my wife, but I just say $30.  It’s weird how almost everything costs around $30 for the coral frags, cleaner shrimp, etc.

[A.m.P]

I'm a legitimate connoissuer of $5 frags XD My wife goes with me and helps pick stuff out, so I don't really get to down-play anything.

[Ratvan]

17 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

Every time he points at something in my tank and says “that’s pretty, what did it cost?” I just say $10 😂😅

You see when the Mrs asks me that I ask her about her newest Shoes, Handbag etc

We dont do that anymore lol