Fish Hospital

Things took a turn for the dramatic a few days ago. But before I go into those details, I'll have to provide a bit of back story. Many years ago, we had an outdoor pond teaming with life: plants and fish, and an occasional frog. Then the ducks moved in and now that "pond" is really just a large toilet. We managed to save one fish, a small Shubunkin named Wilber. We took Wilber in one winter and he never went back outside. At first he lived in Frederick's room but after the third event involving stuffed marine animals being submerged in the tank (and a live marine animal bouncing onto the floor), we decided to move Wilber into the sunroom where we could better police playtime. That was a few years ago and ever since Simon has bemoaned his existence, claiming that he is "lonely." Finally fed up with this whining, I went to Petco last week and not only bought another Shubunkin (Milton) but also a plecostomus (Finster). Wilber seemed excited (though shy) with his tank makes and I was more than a little excited to see Finster get to work on the algae that grew in Wilber's and Milton's house. All seemed well. Then, three days ago, I noticed that Wilber seemed a bit sluggish and spent most of his time hiding in the basement of his house. I didn't have time to really think about it much and attributed it to him having too much of a wild time the night before. Then, the next day, there he was on his side--glassy eyed--on the bottom of the tank. As I scooped him out, I noticed he didn't have any fins--not a good look for a fish. My first thought was Finster, who was clearly an eating machine. I googled to see if plecostomuses ate other fish and the opinion is divided; some insist that they will never eat living fish but will feed on a dead fish; some claim that they will--in desperation--start eating a living fish if they have nothing else to eat (This didn't seem to apply since I had NEVER cleaned the tank and there was ample algae to feed Finster for many, many weeks--he would indeed have to be VERY VERY piggish to need more food than was on offer.); the final view was that, though plecostomuses did not AS A RULE eat other fish, there are some "rogue" ones out there, who are bastards to the core and will eat living fish just because they can. I felt a sense of grim forboding ("Was Finster just such a rogue fish?" The advice was "Do not attempt to rehabilitate--rehoming is the only solution!") Milton, the remaining Shubunkin, seemed happy enough--and entirely uninjured--and Wilber WAS many years old....Then the next day I noticed that Milton was missing a substantial chunk of fin, had a plecostomus-sized and shaped scrape on his cheek, and was sinking to the bottom of the tank, floundering about, trying to stay upright. All right, I thought, that does it--the plecostomus goes back...or into the toilet. Whichever is easier. Then I saw that he was dead! Finster was covered with white slime, stuck between the glass and the filter. So this fish tank has transformed from Paradise on Earth to a Fishy House of Horrors. I pulled out Milton and threw everything away--including the tank. Milton is now staying in his Fish Hospital (a large jar I boiled and filled with filtered water) on the kitchen counter.

It's been two days and the white slime (which I believe was "fin rot" as some call it) is gone and his fins are almost entirely healed. The scrape patch on this face is still slightly visible.

He is starting to eat again (that first day he just spent his time on the bottom, staring moodily at me whenever I came into the kitchen, muttering, "Kill me. Kill me now") and has a bit of zing in his step. So, given that it looks like he is going to live, I am going to have to invest in a new abode for him. And then Simon will start up with the "You need to get him some friends! He looks LONELY!"