Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: Fiona on April 21, 2016, 09:20:23 AM
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One of the barbs we inherited with a tank is starting to look very sorry for itself. Its a male and I think the woman we got it from said its 5 years old.
It seems to be slowly wasting away, it's abdomen is now concave and it looks like a fishy boomerang. I've seen it happen to CPDs before they disappear in the tank. He's also clamping his fins a lot. He's eating but doesnt seem to be gaining any benefit from it and his breathing is a bit laboured. I think it's just old age. A similar thing happens to really old people, they get very scrawny.
My son wants to put it in the QT and I've said no because in the first place it's not cycled and secondly I think it would seriously stress the poor old thing unnecessarily.
I suggested euthanising it, my son wants me to heal it but you can't cure old age.
So what to do? :-\
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The same as I'd do to either of my cats or dog if they were very old and suffering. It's a final act of kindness.
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I would euthanase it as well. The last thing you want is for other fish to start picking on it as it gets slower and slower.
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Through previous experience involving my goldfish, I tend to be in the "where there's life, there's hope" camp. Is there any possibility of setting up a comfortable little home in the QT for the little barb to see out its last few days? A small amount of filter media from the main tank might be sufficient for the filter to deal with the issues. [Having said all that, I transferred my final 3 cories last Sept into a QT as I was concerned about them being picked on and they died within hours, presumably due to the stress of having been caught.]
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Golden barbs seem to like being in a shoal, we inherited 2 and they were both very shy until we added more barbs. I think he'd be very distressed by being on his own. Time to give the son a stern talking to tonight I think.