KerBear's fish died and she won't stop screaming

[waterfaller1]

Well,not completely true depending on the fish. There are rare, expensive tiny fish I keep, that must be kept in small tanks to do well. They would stay hidden, not eat, they need live food, and a large filter intake would swallow them up. That said, now that I see you are interested in a larger tank, the two sites I listed is a start. Particularly the loach fw forum. There are people from all over the world there, as they are here. They deal with large fw tanks often, as many of them keep loaches, a fish generally sold to unsuspecting people in an average two inch size. Then if they are the type to do any research, they soon learn that 2 inch fish will become a 12" fish, needs a huge tank with extreme filtration to live a long life. Do your research thoroughly before starting an 80 gal tank. The tank needs to be completely cycled, and no shelf product will do that for you immediately. It will take weeks. If you decide to go with a nice planted tank, it is a really big venture, quite complicated to get right, and again it takes time for the tank and for you to learn. Nothing good happens fast in the aquarium hobby. If I can be of more assistance, do not hesitate to ask. I keep both saltwater & freshwater tanks.

 

[TITANIS]

Well,not completely true depending on the fish. There are rare, expensive tiny fish I keep, that must be kept in small tanks to do well. They would stay hidden, not eat, they need live food, and a large filter intake would swallow them up.

I guess you're addressing my post. Yes, what you're saying is true which is why I mentioned generally. I kept FW fish for nearly a decade when I was younger. I remember that a few species will do better in smaller tanks, but these were very much the exception to the rule. A way out of that would be special tank setups with numerous or adequate hiding places, or particular attention paid to space management with the intent on demarcating zones. This is for the more advanced aquaculturist, though.

 

[waterfaller1]

True that, you won't find any of them in your average box store pet shop either. They generally deal with hardy, common fish.
I meant to add-Goldfish do need cold water as stated. And should never be kept in a bowl. The reason is they eat a lot, therefore there is a lot of waste produced. Ammonia builds up very fast in a small container, especially without any filtration. They just die after they cannot take the water parameters.
A betta is a hardy fish, that can be kept in small-ish tanks, but..it still should be of adequate size,{more than a few gal.} have proper filtration, and be cycled.

 

[Riley's mom]

Waterfaller is correct in all she has said. I do have a beta in a 2 gallon tank w/ filter and all that stuff. Have had it for almost 2 years. The birds love to watch it and the macaws and greys talk to it. If I had room, I'd love to have a 50 gallon tank and get an oscar. Good luck.

 

[Big.Green.Chicken]

I went to a different town to get new tires. There was actually someone that knew a lot about fish in the aquarium department of the store there. He gave me some cycle, but said not to add any more fish for 10 days. Told me to turn up the temperature of the tank to 80, and use 3 teaspoons of salt (that I disolved in some water in a cup before putting it in the aquarium) to kill the Ick on my fish. I guess Ick has to be in the water and the warmer the quicker the life cycle and the faster it is killed. He also said the medicine I put in the water to keep them healthy actually had chemicals that killed fish.

You were not wrong about having more fish. We inherited 3 goldfish from the neighbor their kids won in a fair in daycare. My hubby just plopped them in with the black moor. I assume they will be catching the ick too.

Where do you buy a hospital tank? Everyone says I need a special hospital tank for sick fish, but I don't see any? I see fish first aid medicine kits, and cleaning kits, but no hospital tanks?

 

[TITANIS]

Where do you buy a hospital tank? Everyone says I need a special hospital tank for sick fish, but I don't see any? I see fish first aid medicine kits, and cleaning kits, but no hospital tanks?

This is one of the big reasons I got out of the hobby decades ago. Thankfully these days there is tons of info available on the web. Here are a couple of links that might help you out:

How to Manage Your Hospital Tank
How To Set Up a Fish Quarantine Tank

 

[Big.Green.Chicken]

I am writing a letter to Birdtalk. Telling people to set up a small tank with a few goldfish is good company for their bird is very misleading. After reading all the information about fish on the goldfish forum I realize it is more complicated then that. A 2 year old 13 cent goldfish can be over a foot long! I never thought I would see the day when I said it was easier to take care of KerBear then KerBear's fish.

 

[TITANIS]

I am writing a letter to Birdtalk. Telling people to set up a small tank with a few goldfish is good company for their bird is very misleading. After reading all the information about fish on the goldfish forum I realize it is more complicated then that. A 2 year old 13 cent goldfish can be over a foot long! I never thought I would see the day when I said it was easier to take care of KerBear then KerBear's fish.

Depending on your setup and type of fish, aquaculture can be incredibly complicated and expensive as well. It's also horribly addictive. You see tons of people with MFS in the hobby, and I admittedly suffered from it when I was involved in the past. If you have questions, Carole can probably help you out better than most people here. She is very gifted in keeping all kinds of aquaria.

 

[Big.Green.Chicken]

Titanis, I already took away my hubby's spare closet. I filled it wish shelves and bins for bird toy parts and already made bird toys. If I start with fish, where will the poor man put his tools, and the lawn mower, and, and

 

[waterfaller1]

Did he sell you aquarium salt? {you do not use table salt, it's iodized} A hospital tank is just a small tank you set up, remove sick fish to, and treat them there. What was his reasoning behind selling you Cycle? It's garbage.{sorry} As I said, you cannot cycle a tank fast. Water changes and tests need to be run. Do you have a complete set of test kits? There is only one good product out there that will help cycle a tank. It's kept cold,and must be kept cold all the way home to be viable{Place in a freezer shopping bag or cooler}~it's called Dr. Tim's One and Only. Nitrifying bacteria must be kept alive, that is why no shelf product will do anything.The tank still has to be monitored and tested. You can also get an old pad or media from a healthy system to start a tank, this will speed up the process.

Once ich is in a tank, it never leaves. Ich has a cycle, getting on the fish, dropping off{this is where people think it's gone} then it stays in the substrate and on tank surfaces. It reproduces, and sometimes can come back worse than before, depending on whether the fish are stressed.{due to improper parameters,handling, wrong temp,etc.} Ich does not really want to kill the fish, it needs them to survive. It can often go unnoticed, jumping on and off the fish in the cycle that I mentioned. It's only when fish get stressed that ich reproduces too much on the fish, and causes problems, mostly by being in it's gills, and boring into the fish, sometimes causing a secondary bacterial infection. The only way to rid the tank of ich is to leave it fishless for 6-8 weeks. Treating the fish for ich in the hospital tank, and only putting fish back into the main tank, that do not have ich. Even then, it often is still there, living with the fish, in a normal process. This is why people will say.."my fish have ich and I haven't added any new fish!" The tank water must be maintained properly through filtration, and water changes. Water changes need to be performed with water at or near what the proper parameters are for the fish you are keeping. Healthy fish have a protective slime coat. Stressed fish drop this slime, which makes them even more susceptible to ich. The aquarium salt can help to replace this. Removing ich and keeping goldfish alive is very difficult, as they cannot handle the high temperatures. Some fish can be treated with copper for ich, but again, this needs to be dosed properly,and should only be done in the hospital tank,not the main tank.
Here are some good articles on diseases of fish~
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/
specific treatment of ich, and understanding it's life cycle
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/ich.php

some articles on the Nitrogen process & cycling a tank properly
http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ciclo.php
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

 

[waterfaller1]

Ever since I was little we have flushed fish, I thought it was a proper burial to something that lives in water

If you could see what happens to the water that is flushed down your toilet, it might change your mind on this.

 

[Love My Zons]

I have kept fish for years, mainly now African Cichlids and a puffer tank too. Easy to care for they are. As long as your water quality is good, your filters are biologically set you can go years with the same fish.


I am now entering into my 5th yr of babies that started in 2005 from the original babies. I am I believe on the 3rd generation of hybrid babies that are now a pure strain. I say this because they reproduce and look exact.


Anyway, aside from fish..........the BEST friend you can get a Mealy is another Amazon. Mealy's are said to be good with other birds and it's 100% true. My birds don't pay any mention to the fish, they like each other. My Amazon's both have a good time playing on my Parrotlets cage and the little guy loves the company.

Birds flock together, so I'd opt for getting your bird a buddy.

 

[norwegian_blue]

I am trying to picture the event from her POV.

I am not sure she reacted specifically to the fish.
She witnessed the death of an animal. The "concept" of death is part of her cognitive repertoire, the act of "burial" is not. So you and your toilet and the business with the flushing might have been seen as part of the death witnessed and made a new referential imprint for it. (In nature "death" is often followed by the devouring of the carcass. This could have looked like predatory behavior.) Yes, they "learn" fast. Now she needs to "un-learn" a little.
I would forget about the fish, but would eliminate the toilet or anything resembling to it from her environment. (BTW, I am puzzled, how could she have had visual access to the toilet at that moment in the first place?)

This is only my humble opinion, of course.

 

[robin's my baby]

If you could see what happens to the water that is flushed down your toilet, it might change your mind on this.

what i think xatly its hoorible first it sits in wast then after like 5 years or somthing it gets taken to the sewige plant ware "solids" are sent throw so many chickals it braks down...ect

 

[TITANIS]

what i think xatly its hoorible first it sits in wast then after like 5 years or somthing it gets taken to the sewige plant ware "solids" are sent throw so many chickals it braks down...ect

Trying to understand what you're saying but unless the water is very cold, as in ice cold, I'd be very surprised if something as small as a goldfish will not decompose after a few months. Considering all the toxins and pollutants from unnatural sources floating around these days, I would not be concerned about the occasional small fish that ends its days in the sewage system. I think there are far worse things that can actually cause harm being disposed to be troubled about.

 

[_Haley_]

LOL! I mean, the fish is dead, it doesn't really matter...I mean, is being burnt up and put in a little pot on the mantlepiece or buried in the ground so much better?

Little fish like guppies are really pretty and easy to care for...if you get an all-male or all-female tank.

 

[Eliza]

I'm just reading this now... Is KerBear the big green chicken in your userpic? She's lovely! I call Pickle my little green chicken...

Anyhoo, I'm sorry that she was so upset by the funeral proceedings. I wonder if she'd like to help pick out her own fish? I can't recall which forum it was but someone there had a parrot (a macaw, I think) that LOVED fish and picked out his own betta!

Or maybe you could get Ker one of those infant aquarium toys -- they usually attach to a crib but you could probably prop it up near her cage. I've even seen "fake" aquariums with faux fish, fake water, etc. in gift shops. Maybe something like that would be fun to have for Ker?

 

[Big.Green.Chicken]

Is KerBear the big green chicken in your userpic? She's lovely! I call Pickle my little green chicken...

Actually, we didn't have KerBear when I joined the site. My screen name came from what we called our previous bird. We call her our Green Bear..lol.
That picture is of KerBear though, yes.

We currently have an empty 50 gallon aquarium.

KerBear has shown no further interest in fish.

 

[Flahmingo]

what i think xatly its hoorible first it sits in wast then after like 5 years or somthing it gets taken to the sewige plant ware "solids" are sent throw so many chickals it braks down...ect

Good grief!