jjohnwm
- #1
Well, I'm not really a beginner...but sometimes we all make beginner-class mistakes, and I just did exactly that.
I live about 100km (70miles) from town, so going to a LFS is a big deal for me. "Local", in my case, is a relative term. So when my wife mentioned that she had to go into the big bad city for a semi-emergency baby-sitting mission, I thought that I would take advantage of the opportunity to have her pick up some fish for me. I had been watching the website of a warehouse-type operation that does a lot of mail-order but also has a walk-in location; they had in stock a bunch of Poeciliopsis gracilis, an interesting little livebearer that I have always wanted to try. They've had them for weeks and I had watched the inventory dwindle from several dozen to only 4 fish, but here was my chance to snag those last four. I called the place and told them what I wanted and that my wife would be picking them up, and was informed that someone had just walked out with 2 of the 4. Drat!
The guy checked and said there were only 2 left, one male and a gravid female. I told him I'd take them. Fast forward a few hours to my wife waltzing back in through the front door. Yep, she had a bag of fish in her hand, and that's all it was: a bag (double bagged against leaks, actually), no outer bag, no insulation, nothing. Daytime temps up here yesterday when this occurred were -29C (about -20F), and unlike most shops in the north, this one didn't wrap the bag in newspaper to insulate, and then into an opaque bag. She had a bag of fish in a clear bag in sub-zero weather; temps aside, the glaring sunlight shining off the snow was blinding enough to demand sunglasses, so the stress on these bagged fish was obvious.
As I studied them through the bag, I wasn't impressed. There were so pale and washed out that I couldn't even be sure of their identity, but I dutifully floated and acclimated them to a quarantine tank, let them loose in low light, and only came back to inspect them later in the evening.
Wow...and not a good wow. My wife had been charged for 3 fish; the bag had actually contained 4 sub-adults and 2 very small fry. One male was near death, and subsequently died during the night. Another, also male, appeared more or less intact, but has a stomach so sunken as to appear hollowed out, although he swims fairly normally. A third...male again...actually looks okay. The fourth sub-adult is a female; she has a crooked spine that also appears to be affecting her swim-bladder, and has difficulty swimming straight. If she is gravid, it certainly isn't visible to the human eye. The three surviving sub-adults all fed quite hungrily this morning, and the two small fry (who appear as females, although I am not certain if analfin shape is diagnostic at this age for the species) look good and are eating well.
So...I suspect that at least one male will need euthanasia. Considering his good appetite, the sunken belly means some major problem. The twisted female is not a fish I want to breed, since her defects certainly appear to be congenital; not something you want to perpetuate. The last adult male seems to be a keeper, and the two fry show some promise. This quarantine tank will probably be housing these fish for months, and if I am lucky I will end up with one adult male and 2 females. No reason to suspect that these fish don't also carry the spinal defect in their genetic make-up, in fact it seems likely they do.
Moral of the story: a couple, probably. First off, a quarantine tank is absolutely essential for any aquarist. If I had not had one set up, or had been unable to quickly put one together, I would have examined these fish more closely and quite possibly have euthanized them within minutes of their arrival; they looked that bad. There is no way on God's green earth I would have introduced them to a healthy tank with other livestock.
Second: Don't ever let down your guard. I am compulsively obsessive about inspecting fish in stores before buying, looking at the ones I want, the others in the same tank, the other tanks and the store in general before cautiously making a purchase. Can't count the number of times I have seen fish that I wanted, but one thing or another spooked me and I walked away. Combine this with the fact that I always have a couple of quarantine tanks ready and you may have an explanation for the fact that I have very, very few disease problems. In this case, I let down my guard and grew careless, and this was the result.
Maybe a third lesson as well: If you are a relative beginner, or simply don't have the space and the extra tanks ready for this type of project...please, please don't bring home some poorly treated fish you find in a shop or a friend's home with the expectation that you will "rescue" it. This is analogous to bringing home a "rescue" dog from the pound, and then tying it to a tree in your yard while you wonder what to feed it and where it will sleep. You are not doing an animal any favours by treating it that way, and that's why a reputable dog rescue organization screens prospective adopters carefully.
Since fish stores don't practice such careful screening, it's up to you to screen yourself. If your inner rescue angel insists that you do something...then do it right. Prepare an isolated quarantine tank. I don't mean a plastic shoebox that you filled with tepid tap water and a few drops of de-chlorinator while the fish sits in its bag on the table. I mean a properly heated tank with a cycled filter and its own tools (nets, siphons, etc.). This should be sitting ready at home before you go out to save the world. Using an actual aquarium, rather than a Rubbermaid bin or trash can, lets you easily see the fish and monitor their condition and progress. If you are going to do it...do it right...or don't do it at all.
I live about 100km (70miles) from town, so going to a LFS is a big deal for me. "Local", in my case, is a relative term. So when my wife mentioned that she had to go into the big bad city for a semi-emergency baby-sitting mission, I thought that I would take advantage of the opportunity to have her pick up some fish for me. I had been watching the website of a warehouse-type operation that does a lot of mail-order but also has a walk-in location; they had in stock a bunch of Poeciliopsis gracilis, an interesting little livebearer that I have always wanted to try. They've had them for weeks and I had watched the inventory dwindle from several dozen to only 4 fish, but here was my chance to snag those last four. I called the place and told them what I wanted and that my wife would be picking them up, and was informed that someone had just walked out with 2 of the 4. Drat!
The guy checked and said there were only 2 left, one male and a gravid female. I told him I'd take them. Fast forward a few hours to my wife waltzing back in through the front door. Yep, she had a bag of fish in her hand, and that's all it was: a bag (double bagged against leaks, actually), no outer bag, no insulation, nothing. Daytime temps up here yesterday when this occurred were -29C (about -20F), and unlike most shops in the north, this one didn't wrap the bag in newspaper to insulate, and then into an opaque bag. She had a bag of fish in a clear bag in sub-zero weather; temps aside, the glaring sunlight shining off the snow was blinding enough to demand sunglasses, so the stress on these bagged fish was obvious.
As I studied them through the bag, I wasn't impressed. There were so pale and washed out that I couldn't even be sure of their identity, but I dutifully floated and acclimated them to a quarantine tank, let them loose in low light, and only came back to inspect them later in the evening.
Wow...and not a good wow. My wife had been charged for 3 fish; the bag had actually contained 4 sub-adults and 2 very small fry. One male was near death, and subsequently died during the night. Another, also male, appeared more or less intact, but has a stomach so sunken as to appear hollowed out, although he swims fairly normally. A third...male again...actually looks okay. The fourth sub-adult is a female; she has a crooked spine that also appears to be affecting her swim-bladder, and has difficulty swimming straight. If she is gravid, it certainly isn't visible to the human eye. The three surviving sub-adults all fed quite hungrily this morning, and the two small fry (who appear as females, although I am not certain if analfin shape is diagnostic at this age for the species) look good and are eating well.
So...I suspect that at least one male will need euthanasia. Considering his good appetite, the sunken belly means some major problem. The twisted female is not a fish I want to breed, since her defects certainly appear to be congenital; not something you want to perpetuate. The last adult male seems to be a keeper, and the two fry show some promise. This quarantine tank will probably be housing these fish for months, and if I am lucky I will end up with one adult male and 2 females. No reason to suspect that these fish don't also carry the spinal defect in their genetic make-up, in fact it seems likely they do.
Moral of the story: a couple, probably. First off, a quarantine tank is absolutely essential for any aquarist. If I had not had one set up, or had been unable to quickly put one together, I would have examined these fish more closely and quite possibly have euthanized them within minutes of their arrival; they looked that bad. There is no way on God's green earth I would have introduced them to a healthy tank with other livestock.
Second: Don't ever let down your guard. I am compulsively obsessive about inspecting fish in stores before buying, looking at the ones I want, the others in the same tank, the other tanks and the store in general before cautiously making a purchase. Can't count the number of times I have seen fish that I wanted, but one thing or another spooked me and I walked away. Combine this with the fact that I always have a couple of quarantine tanks ready and you may have an explanation for the fact that I have very, very few disease problems. In this case, I let down my guard and grew careless, and this was the result.
Maybe a third lesson as well: If you are a relative beginner, or simply don't have the space and the extra tanks ready for this type of project...please, please don't bring home some poorly treated fish you find in a shop or a friend's home with the expectation that you will "rescue" it. This is analogous to bringing home a "rescue" dog from the pound, and then tying it to a tree in your yard while you wonder what to feed it and where it will sleep. You are not doing an animal any favours by treating it that way, and that's why a reputable dog rescue organization screens prospective adopters carefully.
Since fish stores don't practice such careful screening, it's up to you to screen yourself. If your inner rescue angel insists that you do something...then do it right. Prepare an isolated quarantine tank. I don't mean a plastic shoebox that you filled with tepid tap water and a few drops of de-chlorinator while the fish sits in its bag on the table. I mean a properly heated tank with a cycled filter and its own tools (nets, siphons, etc.). This should be sitting ready at home before you go out to save the world. Using an actual aquarium, rather than a Rubbermaid bin or trash can, lets you easily see the fish and monitor their condition and progress. If you are going to do it...do it right...or don't do it at all.