I have a euthanasia question.
I have a gold & white ryukin I call Orange Creamsicle who's a little over two years old, about the body size of a peach, who I'm afraid has a permanent disability with his swim bladder.
I've two ryukins, and Orange Creamsicle has much smaller pectoral & pelvic fins than his calico companion... so, he's always been a little tipsy on deep dives. However, several weeks ago, he seemed to be getting even more tipsy when he'd dive, and within about a day, he was just resting upside down at the bottom of the tank.
I immediately did a deep water change (something like 80%) and the next day isolated him to the food grade bucket I use for aquarium maintenance along with aeration and started three pure magnesium sulphate (epson salt) treatments per day at a concentration of 1 tbl/gal in about 3 gallons. I saw no signs of disease or infection at all, so I suspected constipation as opposed infection.
I fasted him for 3 days and then began feeding 4 parboiled shelled peas every other day. He didn't eat any the first time, but then did eat them in subsequent feedings. I continued this for 14 days, during which I never saw a bowl movement. I went through 4 lbs of magnesium sulphate with no result.
I was concerned about him being lonely and unstimulated during all of that time, so between baths I'd add his companion to the hospital bucket daily after the first several days.
After having no success with that treatment, I decided to add him back to the tank after another deep water change to see what happens. Within a couple of days I thought I saw artery stripes on his tail fins, which I've seen before with others as an indication of infection, so another deep water change and I started treating with Malafix (only antibacterial available locally) at the prescribed dosage for 7 days.
During this time I fed a frozen mix of spirulina, veggies, brine shrimp and bloodworms. I added the peas again every 3rd day.
Within 48 hrs of treatment, symptoms of possible infection vanished, and Orange Creamsicle shows no sign of any disease that I can see. He seems perfectly healthy, but disabled.
After introducing him back to the tank for a few days and through to today, I did observe some thin bowel movements. I was afraid that after 2 weeks of no bowel movements, suspecting constipation as the initial cause, and after having fed peas which weren't turning out to act as the goldfish laxative I'd hoped for, that a bacterial invention might develop, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
I'd add that several months ago, we had a very strong earthquake which tsunamied him right out of the tank onto the floor and he swam upside down for about 3 days after that but then started to swim normal again until these past few weeks. I'd also add that in the past few days, rather than being stuck upside down, now he's mostly laying on his side like a flounder.
I don't see any sign of disease. I am able to keep him fed with the frozen food mix I described, but he seems to be losing weight. His companion does hang out with him at the bottom a lot, so he's got moral support, but here's my concern:
He is clearly distressed. He really wants to swim, and if he really musters up, he can scoot along for a bit, but then as soon as he pauses, he starts losing buoyancy and just ends up laying on his side panting.
Birds who can't fly don't seem so distressed. Dogs & people can get along with prosthetics just fine, it seems. But I'm struggling with whether a fish who can't swim, and who just keeps trying to so hard, to the point of exhaustion all day, every day, is just disabled or is just really distressed & miserable.
I will also say that several times a day I will gently scoop him up and help him swim a bit for a moment and help him land on some leaves where he can stay upright for a bit. Might be my imagination, but he seems less stressed for a while when he can stay upright.
I welcome advice on what's the most compassionate way to proceed.
I have a gold & white ryukin I call Orange Creamsicle who's a little over two years old, about the body size of a peach, who I'm afraid has a permanent disability with his swim bladder.
I've two ryukins, and Orange Creamsicle has much smaller pectoral & pelvic fins than his calico companion... so, he's always been a little tipsy on deep dives. However, several weeks ago, he seemed to be getting even more tipsy when he'd dive, and within about a day, he was just resting upside down at the bottom of the tank.
I immediately did a deep water change (something like 80%) and the next day isolated him to the food grade bucket I use for aquarium maintenance along with aeration and started three pure magnesium sulphate (epson salt) treatments per day at a concentration of 1 tbl/gal in about 3 gallons. I saw no signs of disease or infection at all, so I suspected constipation as opposed infection.
I fasted him for 3 days and then began feeding 4 parboiled shelled peas every other day. He didn't eat any the first time, but then did eat them in subsequent feedings. I continued this for 14 days, during which I never saw a bowl movement. I went through 4 lbs of magnesium sulphate with no result.
I was concerned about him being lonely and unstimulated during all of that time, so between baths I'd add his companion to the hospital bucket daily after the first several days.
After having no success with that treatment, I decided to add him back to the tank after another deep water change to see what happens. Within a couple of days I thought I saw artery stripes on his tail fins, which I've seen before with others as an indication of infection, so another deep water change and I started treating with Malafix (only antibacterial available locally) at the prescribed dosage for 7 days.
During this time I fed a frozen mix of spirulina, veggies, brine shrimp and bloodworms. I added the peas again every 3rd day.
Within 48 hrs of treatment, symptoms of possible infection vanished, and Orange Creamsicle shows no sign of any disease that I can see. He seems perfectly healthy, but disabled.
After introducing him back to the tank for a few days and through to today, I did observe some thin bowel movements. I was afraid that after 2 weeks of no bowel movements, suspecting constipation as the initial cause, and after having fed peas which weren't turning out to act as the goldfish laxative I'd hoped for, that a bacterial invention might develop, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
I'd add that several months ago, we had a very strong earthquake which tsunamied him right out of the tank onto the floor and he swam upside down for about 3 days after that but then started to swim normal again until these past few weeks. I'd also add that in the past few days, rather than being stuck upside down, now he's mostly laying on his side like a flounder.
I don't see any sign of disease. I am able to keep him fed with the frozen food mix I described, but he seems to be losing weight. His companion does hang out with him at the bottom a lot, so he's got moral support, but here's my concern:
He is clearly distressed. He really wants to swim, and if he really musters up, he can scoot along for a bit, but then as soon as he pauses, he starts losing buoyancy and just ends up laying on his side panting.
Birds who can't fly don't seem so distressed. Dogs & people can get along with prosthetics just fine, it seems. But I'm struggling with whether a fish who can't swim, and who just keeps trying to so hard, to the point of exhaustion all day, every day, is just disabled or is just really distressed & miserable.
I will also say that several times a day I will gently scoop him up and help him swim a bit for a moment and help him land on some leaves where he can stay upright for a bit. Might be my imagination, but he seems less stressed for a while when he can stay upright.
I welcome advice on what's the most compassionate way to proceed.
