Yesterday, while the kids were at school and the wife at jury duty, I performed the euthanasia on the fish. It was a terribly painful experience that I don’t want to go through again. I’ve euthanized a single dying fish before, but never anything on this massive a scale.
I’m angry at the big box store that sold me the fish infested with camallanus worms. I’m frustrated that the medication designed to eliminate the worms is not available in the U.S. I’m sickened that I had to euthanize apparently healthy young fish that were born in my tank, and I’m devastated that I had to destroy two fish that I had kept for over 6 years. I never want to have to do that again.
At this point, we are down to 2 fish. That’s the lowest total in the house since we first set up the display tank back when my 8th-grader was in first grade. Remaining is one molly, a hybrid strain of marbled and lyre-tailed orange that my daughter pleaded with me not to destroy. This fish will be kept in isolation for the rest of its life.
The other remaining fish is my son’s betta and the Amano shrimp in the same small tank. They are currently undergoing preemptive treatment for the worms. I doubt the fish is infested, but I have reason to suspect there may be microscopic young worms in the water.
Next task is to find a small home for the molly, who is still in the large display tank, then to sterilize all the hardware so I can start over.
I intend to restock the house with pure-blooded Endler’s Livebearers–a species nearly extinct in the wild, and almost always found in the stores crossbred with guppies to some extent. To me, keeping pure Endlers is the only way to go, to help keep the animal around.
