I came home from my folks' house early last night to find one of my fishies had died. It was Ginger, the gold goldfish. It hadn't been going all that well for a while, and so I had been half-expecting him to not be surviving all that well after I got home; but not up and die on me while I was away.
But there was something about my place when I opened the door that didn't smell right. I had taken out the rubbish before I left - so I didn't have a roach problem when I returned - so it wasn't that. And so I inspected the fish tank and found Ginger floating on top of the water and immediately opened the top to pull her out... it's not good to leave a dead fish in a tank with another one. But the water didn't smell good, so Ginger had been dead for a couple of days; this wasn't good.
So, today, I added to my list of things to do to get myself to the pet store down the road and see what I could do about the tank and the lone fishie. But I didn't want Fred - the lone one - to have another fish added to the tank if the water or something in the tank was making them sick. So, I had to fix up whatever was going wrong first.
I told the people at the pet store what was happening and they asked me when I had changed the gravel last. I said my brother said I wouldn't have to; but then, I'm not a fish person, so I don't know much about fish... he's the fish person in our family. She could see I was concerned but also that I didn't have much of an idea about how to care for the tank that I had; so she was full of great advice about what to do with the gravel and how to fix the tank up so it was working.
There was a lot of cleaning I had to do today!
When I arrived home, after Geoff took off and left me at it at the pet store (because he was going to spend most of his day at Abby Museum near Stradbroke Island), I went to work on the fish tank. First though, I pulled out the furniture, put some of the water in the biggest pot I had and put the Fred in it and popped the lid on so he was comfortable. Then left him on the stove; out of the way. I had a lot of work to do; and needed the space to do it.
I emptied the tank completely, pulled out the old gravel and then got an old towel, soaked up the last little bit of water and gravel and wiped up the green stuff off the glass with toilet paper and pulled apart the pump and found it was full of crap... fish crap. After cleaning out as much of it as possible. I washed the new gravel completely, and then scooped it into the tank bottom and put it in there - cover it about a centimetre - and then scrubbed all of the furniture, rocks and other stuff I wanted to put back in it. Then, I place it all in and added the treated water back in - bowl by bowl - until it was full and turned on the cleaned out pump with the net over it to catch anything that might come out. I waited for about 5 minutes to see if anything would come out - and it did and I caught it - before putting Fred back in. He didn't seem too happy at first, but he started swimming around a bit. A little bit of yellow crap came through the pump and I picked it up with my hands and the net... otherwise, I'm sure I have cleaned the tank as well as I possibly can.
I just hope Fred survives. If he doesn't, well, he's had a good 5 years of life. The lady at the pet store told me that it was a miracle that the fish survived that long... so I should be happy that they were survivors and good fish. Well, I've had a busy day with fish, a fish tank and water... lots of water. Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.
But there was something about my place when I opened the door that didn't smell right. I had taken out the rubbish before I left - so I didn't have a roach problem when I returned - so it wasn't that. And so I inspected the fish tank and found Ginger floating on top of the water and immediately opened the top to pull her out... it's not good to leave a dead fish in a tank with another one. But the water didn't smell good, so Ginger had been dead for a couple of days; this wasn't good.
So, today, I added to my list of things to do to get myself to the pet store down the road and see what I could do about the tank and the lone fishie. But I didn't want Fred - the lone one - to have another fish added to the tank if the water or something in the tank was making them sick. So, I had to fix up whatever was going wrong first.
I told the people at the pet store what was happening and they asked me when I had changed the gravel last. I said my brother said I wouldn't have to; but then, I'm not a fish person, so I don't know much about fish... he's the fish person in our family. She could see I was concerned but also that I didn't have much of an idea about how to care for the tank that I had; so she was full of great advice about what to do with the gravel and how to fix the tank up so it was working.
There was a lot of cleaning I had to do today!
When I arrived home, after Geoff took off and left me at it at the pet store (because he was going to spend most of his day at Abby Museum near Stradbroke Island), I went to work on the fish tank. First though, I pulled out the furniture, put some of the water in the biggest pot I had and put the Fred in it and popped the lid on so he was comfortable. Then left him on the stove; out of the way. I had a lot of work to do; and needed the space to do it.
I emptied the tank completely, pulled out the old gravel and then got an old towel, soaked up the last little bit of water and gravel and wiped up the green stuff off the glass with toilet paper and pulled apart the pump and found it was full of crap... fish crap. After cleaning out as much of it as possible. I washed the new gravel completely, and then scooped it into the tank bottom and put it in there - cover it about a centimetre - and then scrubbed all of the furniture, rocks and other stuff I wanted to put back in it. Then, I place it all in and added the treated water back in - bowl by bowl - until it was full and turned on the cleaned out pump with the net over it to catch anything that might come out. I waited for about 5 minutes to see if anything would come out - and it did and I caught it - before putting Fred back in. He didn't seem too happy at first, but he started swimming around a bit. A little bit of yellow crap came through the pump and I picked it up with my hands and the net... otherwise, I'm sure I have cleaned the tank as well as I possibly can.
I just hope Fred survives. If he doesn't, well, he's had a good 5 years of life. The lady at the pet store told me that it was a miracle that the fish survived that long... so I should be happy that they were survivors and good fish. Well, I've had a busy day with fish, a fish tank and water... lots of water. Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.
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