I had my first fish loss today and it was entirely my fault.
I have only been in the fishkeeping hobby for a few months now, I added my fish to my fully scaped, planted, and cycled tanks 3-4 weeks ago.
Yesterday I injured this poor little kubotai while I was siphoning, (he swam into the suction and got wounded) I immediately stopped the suction and tried everything I could do in the moment to help (turned off tank lights, isolated in a breeder box, and added IAL and Stresscoat) but I think the shock was too much for such a tiny fish and eventually he just seemed to be suffering too much and had to be euthanised.
I feel like a horrible person, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and I don’t know how to accept that the only reason he was injured and is now no longer with us is because of me.
Swim In Peace.
ETA: I will try my best to respond to everyone, but in case I can’t thank you all so much for your kind words and stories, it’s really helpful and I’m so glad to have this community who understands the feeling. ♥️
Posted by Indikaah
21 Comments
You’re going to lose fish in this hobby. Best thing is to learn from it and move on.
Commit to learning from your mistakes and strive to do better. That’s really all you can do. The fact that you’re here is evidence you’re already on that road.
Accidents happen. I just try to keep in mind that fish are fragile and die by the bazillion all day, every day, all over the world. Do your best but don’t beat yourself up to bad. As long as you’re actually trying to do better, you have nothing to feel bad about in the long run.
I have a mesh bag, that was a carbon filter, that I just rubber band to the end of my siphon for water changes, hopefully this helps in the future
You’re already better than most people for feeling guilty. Just learn the lesson and keep giving your fish the best life they can have.
The other week I was scooping out excess duckweed and accidentally caught one of the fish in the net without noticing. I only noticed like 3 hours later, when I looked at the bowl that I’ve been throwing all the duckwheat in and his little dried out body was in there.
It sucks, but it’s the reality of this hobby. Fish die, and sometimes we are the cause of it – either due to poor husbandry, accident like in your case and mine, or something else entirely.
You just learn from the mistake and do better. No reason to self-flagellate over it. In most cases, even the most gruesome death we can accidentally inflict on a fish in our care is nowhere near as horrific as the death that fish would have experienced had someone bought it, thrown it into fishbowl without a filter and heater, and left it to slowly die like so many do.
It lived a better life than most, and you learned from it. As far as I can tell, that’s about the best case scenario possible.
Honestly I’m learning from your mistake I never thought about doing this and now people are helping me. I’m sorry this happened but thank you for the knowledge
My dad told me of a goldfish he accidentally gravel vacced the eyeball off of when he was younger.
I had a minnow get trapped in my filter and I found his corpse 3 days later when cleaning it out.
Things happen.
The only thing that confuses me is the decision to euthanize, I never personally understand why people do that, except with an obvious guaranteed death for a fish.
If there’s a chance my friends can live a healthy life later, even if slim, I am going to take that chance. I don’t think you necessarily did anything wrong, I just might be way too hopeful for this hobby lol.
We’re all fish and we all glub until we gloo it ez what it ez circle of life save another feesh make another weesh
Yeah, losing a fish, especially a pretty or expensive one, because of some silly mistake, is really hard. I know. I’ve siphoned fish before, but its really hard when the fish burrows and you dont know where it is!!!🤣🤣😭
The way I cope, is to remember that fish (even the family fish) are going to die, sometime. That time is dictated by a higher power, and we are helpless to prevent it. As was said, before: it happened. It’ll be okay. Move on. Thats all we can do.
Im glad you learned from your mistake, and are taking measures to prevent future happenings. Good luck, in the future, and may the odds be ever in your favor!🤣🤣🤣
Happened to me once when trying to net a fish and he must’ve hit something and I had to put him down with a quick hit and I felt really bad and cried. Point is you didn’t mean it and it happens to almost everyone and it ok, accidents happen. I would keep clove oil on hand in case you have to put down a fish, I really wish I did.
I think of the 3-4 weeks you had him and how happy he was and well cared for in a fully scaped tank. The ending is always sad but he had a better life than most pet store fish.
Caring that you lose a fish is an important quality – it will make you a better fish-keeper in the long run.
Death is a part of life. The fish had a good life in your aquarium, and sadly died. But it’s how it is. In the wild, it might have been eaten. Almost no animals in the wild die of old age. They usually die horrible deaths. So yea, you might have caused this, but all in all, when you put things into perspective, the fishy had a good life.
It happens. Everyone here has lost fish either directly or just lack of knowledge. Sounds like you’ve already committed to fixing the cause which is all you can really do.
I bought a set of panyhose and put it over the end of my siphon hose to prevent anyone from getting sucked up.
I also use panyhose over my filter. I lost a couple shrimp to the filter and learned the hard way. It was my fault for not protecting them but at the time the filter seemed safe. I learned a lesson and now my tank is safer for everyone else. And thats all you can do.
Hands up who ever has never lost a fish…. It’s likely there isn’t anyone.
We do our best but accidents happen, whether it’s an ammonia spike, a faulty heater or a cat knocking in a whole tub of food. Be kind to yourself.
Don’t dwell on it, it was a freak accident, you analyze what went wrong and how to prevent the same thing from happening again. You apologize, bury the critter and include the little one in a prayer (last part is optional).
You’re inexperienced and loosing a fish to inexperience is something a lot of new fishkeepers go through, it doesn’t make you a bad person as long as you take steps to prevent the same mistake from happening again.
What suction do you use, any way to fix a mesh or sponge over the opening without compromising it’s ability to clean?
You did a really kind thing by not letting him suffer, so I hope you can focus on that.
I think we’ve all had a fish loss that was our fault. It happens. It doesn’t make you a bad person. Hang in there.
Honestly? It’s pretty impressive that it’s taken this long for you to kill your first fish.
A lot of the process of getting into this hobby is running a fishy death camp until you get the hang of things. And even after you learn how to take good care of them, you still make mistakes, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do.
This looks like a situation where it was a genuine accident and you couldn’t really have done anything different. Don’t beat yourself up about it too much
Things happen sometimes. I killed one of my corydoras once. My filter was making a grinding noise and I thought it was another trumpet snail that got caught in the impeller so I lifted the tube up and down a few times to try to clear it but something wasn’t right so I looked and my filter tube on the inside had fallen off and it was one of my corydoras that got sucked up. I smooshed him with the tube while lifting the intake tube up and down to try to unclog the impeller.
He passed a couple days later and I still feel awful. Dont beat yourself up too badly. You didnt do it on purpose.
Please don’t take this the wrong way because I mean this very kindly. We don’t keep fish we keep water and if we are lucky an ecosystem. Fish die for a lot of reasons whether it’s illness, getting eaten, or getting culled because of genetics.
I have killed fish by accident and also culled for various reasons to keep my ecosystem thriving. If you are good at fish keeping fish death is not frequent but it’s just apart of the hobby. 🤷🏻♀️