Author: Sherry

Sick Fish

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It goes without saying that you get the most amazing feeling inside when you’re able to help your pet feel better and get over being sick. :)

Doug noticed that one of my female Congo Tetra was getting a huge belly, and I knew she couldn’t be pregnant because she wasn’t housed with any males at the pet store where we bought her, and the male Congo that we just purchased went right into the QT when we brought them home. I also knew that chances were extremely low that she had any type of internal parasite because just like the males, the females were all tossed in the QT and treated with fungus and parasite medicines. Nothing new has been introduced to the main tank, so we figured it was probably a bad case of bloat (constipation).

Did some research online and discovered that cooked mashed peas (squeezed out of the shells) or Brine Shrimp would help a sick fish go potty. So I get some peas and cook them in the microwave in some water, squeeze the insides out and toss the shells away, and mix them up with a small amount of Bloodworms (I had no idea if they would actually eat the peas, so I figured the Bloodworms would entice them to eat it). Sure enough they (including the Panda Garra and Serpae Tetra) gobbled it all up like little piggies. Unfortunately the one female who needed to eat it didn’t get any. I couldn’t move her over to the QT, so I had to move her over to another 10 gallon tank that’s already cycled and ready for some other fish that we were going to purchase.

Since Doug had purchased some frozen Brine Shrimp for his new baby Maroon Clown fish, I went ahead and snagged some of those (the shrimp, not the Clown fish haha), thawed them out, and tossed them in the tank with her. I also added some Kordon Fish Protector since she was stressed from the tank move, and also very stressed from an upset tummy. She gobbled the Brine Shrimp right up! Repeated this twice a day for two days, and when I woke up this morning she was her normal slender self again. She is now happily back with her other tank mates in the main tank, and I am one happy momma. :)

I think I will begin feeding all of my aqua babies Brine Shrimp once a week to prevent this from ever happening again. Nothing like good roughage to keep you regular! LOL

People Are So Annoying

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I honestly don’t understand people sometimes. The majority (not all) of the aquarists that I’ve come across firmly believe that you shouldn’t medicate your fish when they’re sick. They want to use natural remedies which is fine if the fish are responsive to it.

I keep seeing people hesitate when the natural remedies aren’t working out so great. You would not hesitate if it were a child suffering from an illness, so why hesitate when your pets are sick?

How many of us keep medications on hand (Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin, cold, cough, and flu medicines)? Why would you not do the same and keep medication on hand for your fish?

/end rant

On a lighter note; we bought 4 male Congo Tetra last night (the female Congo in the 30G should be happy!) and put them in the quarantine tank. Their fins are tattered and look bad, and considering where I rescued them from I went ahead and medicated the tank with fungus and parasite treatments. All 4 of them ate today, so this is a great sign. The Kordon Fish Protector that I put in there should help with the tattered fins and also help promote healing. It also has electrolytes, echinacea and vitamin B12 (think of it like Gatorade for fish), and will help aid in the application of medications to their skin. Fingers crossed that they make it through the next few weeks!! You should see these guys… they are absolutely beautiful compared to the females.

Goodies On The Way

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Just ordered some new yummies for my aqua babies. New Life Spectrum Freshwater Flakes with Garlic. It has tons of nutritious goodies for them; premium grade natural spirulina, spinach, red and green cabbage, peas, broccoli, red pepper, zucchini, tomato, kiwi, apricot, pear, mango, apple, papaya, peach, South Antarctic Krill, herring, seaweed, kelp, and some natural color enhancing ingredients. It also contains a healthy amount of garlic (totally awesome for fish) and Thera A formula that has a mega dose of a natural anti-parasitic ingredient.

Also finally ordered a bottle of Kordon Fish Protector to use when I do their water changes. This helps calm them and eases stress. There’s also Echinacia and vitamin B12, and it’s supposed to help minimize infections. From what I’ve been reading, a lot of the online order only fish sites ship their fish with this stuff added to the bag of water.

I’m really excited about the new fish food though as I’ve read some amazing reviews about it. I’ll post back in a few weeks about this again and let you know if I’m able to see any noticeable differences in my aqua babies.

And… I started another tank. *giggle*