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My boy got beaten up.


Bender

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My poor copper boy Bright copped an absolute beating the other day. His nest was pretty pathetic, and I was about to remove the girl when I noticed her nudging up to him suggestively so, as there was no damage yet and they seemed ok, I left them together for one more day. The following afternoon there was still no sign of eggs, and the nest was gone but I was hoping to have fry to show my step daughter this weekend, so left them alone. Big mistake.

Shiny must have got sick of his rejection. I knew something was wrong when I looked in and he didn't swim up for a feed. He was floating among the plants with little left of his fins, one eye destroyed and the other damaged. I thought he was dead. When I scooped him up he moved, so I put him in a container floated in a warm tank with salt in the water and had a good cry while I decided what to do with him. Poor little fellow, I haven't felt so bad for a fish before. I was going to euthanise him but when I went to check on him he managed to come beg for food! I gave him a bw, which he ate eagerly, so I knew he could see out of one eye still.

I followed the same procedure I'd used on Sebastion my CT girl when she was in a similar state. I mixed up a bottle of water with the salt and melafix in it and floated it in the tank so it was the right temp too. Several times a day I've siphoned some water and cleaned the bottom of the container with a baster replacing it with more from the bottle. Each morning I have expected him to be dead, but today is day 3, and I can see even the really bad eye is healing. I am relieved, he has a lovely personality, but I think I will always feel guilty when I look at him. He was so beautiful before!

Assuming he continues to heal, (please send good thoughts our way), would you attempt to mate this pair again? Or should I retire him and find a new male for her?

In the last hour it has been raining, and guess what the little fellow has done. That's right, now he has built a decent bubble nest!

Edit: I just went to have a look at my fish, and now Shiny, the copper girl has died. I can't see anything wrong with her, the water was fine when I checked it yesterday, and no other fish look sick. She was looking a little bloated, but it looked like she was full of eggs, not so full at the front as you get with an infection, and she was acting normally (she was a slightly psycho girl, never stopped moving). Can an internal injury take this long to show? I'm a bit devastated. Bright is healing really well and I was looking forward to seeing what could be done with a line of non-red coppers.

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That really sucks. :alright: I really hope Bright makes it, he sounds like a real sweetheart!

It definately must be that time of the year, one of my females died a few days ago and there was nothing wrong with her, only 15 mins before I'd checked on her she was swimming happily then she was dead. :( Sending big hugs your way :cheer:

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I just had a couple of mysterious deaths as well. One was a male that was perfectly healthy, eating and blowing bubbles (despite the moving water). Fine one day, dead the next. I was quite stunned. The other was a male that was in a spawning tank. The spawn had failed like yours but they seemed to get along so I thought they could just stay together until they were ready to have another go. Fed them in the evening as usual and the next morning he was floating.

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No way you're a bad fish keeper! It's just hard to explain the inexpelicable really. I had a murder the other day (male killed his female which can be explained) but then found two young previously healthy 3½ month old fish floating in their jars for no good reason. Must be the season for it with so many fish lost to everyone. :) :(

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