So, Fishblr friends, I have some happy news and some sad news. The happy news, first, you might have guessed - I welcomed a new friend into the tank! The little white telescope butterflytail is Snow Pea. I picked her up the same day I picked up my new tank stand; she was so active and friendly, and I couldn’t leave without her :) She’s been a great addition to the tank and everyone loves her!
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Now, for the sad news. I held off posting here for the past few days since I knew how this was going to end. This morning I said goodbye to my goofy little pom-pom Chai. She developed dropsy out of nowhere about a week and a half ago. Knowing that dropsy is not something fish generally rebound from, I was worried. I treated the tank immediately with my usual meds (these will not affect the bacteria in the filter btw) and kept a close eye on her. She didn’t seem to be getting worse and had only slightly pineconed up until yesterday. I did not remove her from the main tank, as dropsy is not usually contagious unless it’s the result of a bacterial outbreak and I did not suspect that here. Only Chai was being affected, and she was still very active, eating normally, etc. I didn’t think it would be right to isolate her when I knew she had basically no chance of recovery in the event this was renal failure (I highly suspected it was). She would have deteriorated quickly in isolation, and spent her last days alone. I didn’t want that for her. The other fish were not picking on her, and she was not struggling in the main tank. I wanted her to spend her remaining time with her friends in the place she has always known…since I didn’t exactly know how many days she would ultimately have left. My criteria for determining whether it was “time,” were: whether she was responsive, eating, active, moving without too much struggle, and no external sores or lacerations. Last night, she was hungry but couldn’t chew. She had trouble maintaining equilibrium. The other fish were very obviously giving her space and leaving her alone. I knew this morning was going to be her time…and I am glad I didn’t wait any longer. After she was gone it was apparent how much fluid was filling her abdomen. She would have been in a lot of pain soon. I think I made the right choice.
I will miss her. A lot. She was the last of my fish from Boston, and she made it through so many crazy times. She almost died in transit - twice! She came to me from Dandy Orandas…so I have no idea how old she really was. She spent 4 and a half years with me, and was from China before that. When I got her, she was only a little smaller than she was today. I estimate she was at least 6 years old, but she may have been as old as 8. I loved her so much and today has been sad missing her in the tank. But I also know she’s not in pain anymore, and somewhere out there she’s swimming around with Mr. B and having all the best fishy snacks she can dream up!
Thanks for reading <3 I have a few more photos of her from a recent shoot, before she got sick, that I’ll post in the coming weeks.
So - good and bad news. The bad news is that little Ruby passed away not long after my first photo post of her here. I woke up one morning and she was seemingly unable to swim but twitching all her fins as if having a seizure. She didn’t improve, and I elected euthanasia as the kindest approach. I’ll never be sure what happened, but I am confident I made the right decision and she is no longer in pain.
Mako and Chai were looking lonely, so I went to my new favorite local fish store up the street and got them a friend…hence the good news. Meet Opal (aka Opie) the calico ryukin! You’ll be seeing a lot of her in days to come, she’s a beauty and has fit right in with Mako & Chai! Enjoy this family photo :)
I’m gonna start out this post with a disclaimer that my coworker demanded to see my fish tumblr, so I promised her I’d post photos tonight before I shared the URL.
Also, here’s the new tank (acrylic)! And new place! And new bb fish! Chai’s hanging in there, too. I trimmed her pompoms the other day so she can eat better!
Hi, followers. I wanted to check in and let you guys know that I made it to California, and am in the process of setting up my new tank (a 55gal acrylic! should be a beauty) so pictures will resume soon! This will be a longer text post, so be warned…
It’s with a very heavy heart that I also must let you know on the trip from Colorado - where my fish were staying with my good friend Emily (philly_goldies) - to LA, I lost both Marshmallow and Mr. B. I was (and still am) pretty crushed by both losses. Thankfully, the friend I drove cross-country with is also a member of the goldfish community, so she was there to comfort me as I cried watching Mr. B take his last breaths. I lost Marshmallow first - she didn’t look right when I left Colorado, and I’m not sure when she passed as I discovered that she’d died only after we arrived at our stopping point that night in Utah. Mr. B was still doing ok, though a little stressed, so I pushed through and rebagged both him and Chai in clean water for the next leg of the trip (Salina –> Vegas). If anything, I expected that Chai might not make it since she was barely breathing and side-sitting.
Marshmallow was given a “burial at sea” - suggested by Dana - and we pushed on through Utah with little issue. We never left the car in the sun for too long, because my two cats were also in the car. We got to Vegas in good time, unloaded everything, and I go to check on the fish. Chai looks awful, like she’s not going to make it, so I immediately get her into clean water. I paid attention to her first since she’d been doing so badly the previous day. Mr. B looks ok from what I can see, but I quickly notice after I change his water that he’s not moving one side of his body (for reference - I packed the fish as if I were shipping them in Kordon bags, separated by layers of filter floss in a small cooler that sat on top of the center console in my car, bungeed to the seat backs so it wouldn’t move; at night I would put the fish in tupperware containers with new water, so they could have more space and air circulation). I try to add more prime, cool him down, nothing works. All I can really do is sit there and watch him die. Thankfully, he was almost gone, so I don’t think he suffered much. Of course I just sat there and kinda lost it, I started crying holding his little tupperware. I’ve had this fish for 5 years - he was older than my cats! More than anything I wanted him to make it and it seemed like he was going to…until he didn’t. I kept thinking I should have left him in Colorado - this was all my fault, the stress was too much, etc. - Dana was there to offer hugs (then we had to go to dinner…I felt bad because I made us a little late for the reservation) and make me feel better as best she could. She helped me realize that if two fish had died on the trip with me, where they weren’t being bounced around or anything, they would definitely have died in the mail. I chose the kindest option I could, to give them the best chance.
I found a portable air pump in my car that I hadn’t used for years, and got batteries so I could hook it up in Chai’s tupperware. There wasn’t much else I could do, but I felt like I had to fight for this one last fish to make it. I bagged up Mr. B and put him in the hotel freezer - he’s in my freezer now, at my new place, until I figure out what I’m doing with him. He was really special to me, so I was thinking maybe I would have him cremated. Oddly, the thing that most put me at ease after his death - made me feel less guilty, and better overall - was my friend back in Boston who said a prayer for him and Marshmallow to St. Francis - patron saint of animals - for safe guidance into the hereafter. I’m not religious (though I do have a theology master’s! lol) but for some reason that made me feel 100% better. Whatever works, right?
Anyway, there is a happy ending to all of this: Chai made it to Los Angeles with me! She was not doing great when I unloaded her here and to be honest, I didn’t have high hopes she was going to make it. But she rallied, and is doing just fine now. This fish has been through some shit lol…she arrived at Emily’s almost dead because the seam broke in her Kordon bag, and she had no water left to breathe in. SOMEHOW she lived through that, and a trip from Colorado to California where two of her tankmates died. Her pompoms are pretty big and I’ll need to trim them soon (they interfere with her eating), but I’m waiting to let her recover from moving stress first. One thing at a time.
Of course, the fucking snail made it from Boston to LA with ZERO ISSUES and no water changes. I feel like it survived out of spite but whatever, it’s going into the new tank, too.
And for a last little note…I went to a local fish store to buy some supplies the other day, and picked up my acrylic tank - the owner gave me a great deal on LED lights since I was buying a tank, too. I couldn’t help but take a look at the goldfish tanks…and my heart may have been stolen by two little babies who have yet to be named :) Pics to come soon! As always, thanks for your love and support, guys!
