How do you deal w/seeing your fish near death? Very sad

[martine&maribeth]

We've been fighting ich (or could've been fungal) for a couple of weeks. Thought the black kol was better but already lost a foxface. Now blackie is at the bottom of the tank breathing hard, fighting to not float on it's side, at the bottom of the tank. It hurts to see him in pain. The yellow tang had appeared to be unaffected but now he has a brown patch on each of his sides. He's not showing signs of acting weird but I'm not hopefull.

Just sad to see them suffering. I can't even look at the tank. Waiting for Maribeth to come home and she can watch them until it's over.

It makes me not want to get anymore fish when one dies for a long time.

Just sharing bc it's weird to feel so attached to fish but I really am.

 

[reefsane88]

bring them to me if there still breathing i can save them if thats something u wanna do i have a qt that is fish heaven here they eat 4times a day but ive done some miraculouse turn around with hippos and a koran i have now lmk u are far im in lowell but im willing to help josh

 

[stingythingy45]

It may be too late.But have you considered dropping the salinity of the tank if you have not corals or inverts?
Also a fresh water dip at the same temp.(look this up before attempting)could help free up the gills from the crypto parasite.

 

[reefsane88]

get ur self a 29 + gallon tank throw some water out your dt lower the salinty rite away to 10.10 the minimum (ive found this works good enough ) imiediatly transfer the fish from the dt no acclimation whatsoever ! throw on a hang on back filter n skimmer noskimmer no worries and water change daily ( no lights )over feed i guarantee a turn around make sure that when u water change u scrape the tank walls to rid it of parasites as the water comes out so will they
4 weeks in 10.10 then in another 4 wks rise salinity back to normal

 

[martine&maribeth]

Thank you so much!! You're very sweet. I'm so sorry to say that I just looked by accident while I was bringing up the hosp tank and he's upside down, white and hermits and I think cleaner shrimps are eating him. I ran out of the room and will have nightmares of that sight. Ugh- this sucks! Thank you again and next time I'll be prepared w/the tank ready and not screw around w/trying to let it run it's course

 

[martine&maribeth]

sorry- 1 more thing- now that 2 are dead but no one else is showing signs (other than yellow tang w/brown spots but i think it was bc i had just turned the lights on), should i catch all of them and put them in a QT w/hypo for 6wks? i have 2 clowns, yellow tang, a fire fish, a six striped wrasse (?) and a chromis. I have a 10gal ready to go and a 55 that I have to clean and get set up from scratch. Would they be ok all in a 10g? I should risk giving them stress by catching them eventho i was hoping to let it ride. in my dt, i have about 8 corals, cleaner shrimp, crabs, snails so I can't hypo the dt.

 

[Bobbofin]

I hate to say it, it bothers me but I don't get all wound up about. But this could be because I'm into the corals more than the fish. I have three blue eyed cardinals, two green chromis, two percula clowns, a fire fish and a yellow watchman goby with pistol shrimp; revatively inexpensive fish on purpose. I'm anal about good husbandary so when things go wrong I don't beat myself up.

 

[tommy6905]

i would qt them, even though your remaining fish are fairly inexpensive. they are still animals and pets and money down the drain if they die. keep your dt fishless for 6 weeks, and in the future you wont have to worry as long as you qt any new fish and observe how they do, youll be happy u did. keep the qt setup(even if you never use it, its good to have for any situation, sick fish, fish bullying, etc) good luck its not the end of the world, dont give up....everyone heres lost a fish some way some how,

 

[pallobi]

I recommend what reefsane is saying... learn about qt, amd how to PROPERLY qt... do it every time you have a new arrival... at this point i would really consider running a fallow tank for 6 weeks as well... of u follow these steps, its my belief you will have much more success... unfortunately, its the only real option imo... GL

However, when i have lost fish in the past, i realize its by my hand most likely, and i accept it and learn from it (hence my qt procedures and the fallow tank i did)... its really not worth beating urself up about it...