I had an awesome weekend, marred only by a small death in the family. The Vet (relatively new girlfriend, for anyone who doesn't know) came up for the weekend, and we had a really great time. There was a lot of just hanging out, and we had a lovely holiday dinner and saw a play (Spinning into Butter) last night. The play, and our bistro dinner, was quite good. All this was on top of some great home cooking, on both our parts.
The downside to the weekend was that my clown loach got sick. He's a fish, so there's not much to do. I euthanized him today.
We've never been close, but I liked him. He had some personality, not something you can say about all fish. But this morning he was clearly sick and probably wouldn't last too long. I hated to see him suffer, so it was time to end that.
(Incidentally, you should never simply flush or toss a dying fish. They can live a while when they've been flushed, and it seems like it would be a most unpleasant death.)
So, the tank is empty. I'm not getting any more fish. Actually, I've thrown out all the fish equipment--tank and all. I'm just not ready for any more fish, largely because of all the tank upkeep one must do.
So, goodbye to the loach. We had about four good years, and he was a good fish.
He was a good fishie.
How do you euthanize a fish?
Well, basically you put it in a little bowl with its water and put it in the freezer for a bit. It works better with tropical fish, but eventually any fish will go.
Wow. I had no idea. That's pretty sad, but I guess it would be really hard to inject a fish with something.