Phantom died yesterday evening.  On Monday night I'd noticed that she had 3 red spots on her side.  I wasn't sure what they were but I knew it was a bad thing.  I'd been treating the water with Cycle and Melafix to try to help poor Louis get over fin rot. 

Yesterday afternoon, I saw that there were more spots and they were brighter. 

Last night, she was belly up in the tank. 

I cried for a few hours and went to sleep.  This morning I did a partial water change.  Louis looks good.  The white edges to his fin damage seem to be gone.

Here's my pretty girl when she was healthier.

Craziness as usual with me.  I don't really remember the last time I made an update-type post. 

Monday night we went back to The Fish Place and had the water tested.  I know I made a post about that.  After that we went to dinner at the new Japanese restaurant in town whose name I cannot recall.  Tokyo something?  Anyway, Wayne and I had the Samurai Special-- shrimp, filet mignon and chicken breast done teppanyaki style with all of the theatrics one expects from a Japanese steakhouse.  It was excellent.  From there we went to see The Dark Knight-- and loved it.

Tuesday afternoon Steve brought the boys back and we all had a nice dinner.  I made these Tuscan marinade soaked beef tenderloins that I'd picked up at Costco. 

I don't remember what happened on Wednesday.  Not much, I guess.

Yesterday in an effort to save Louis, I sanded and painted Steve's tank stand, cleaned all the equipment and set up a second 10-gallon tank.  The filter he'd given me was leaking in a slow drip that I could hear plopping on the floor.  I also didn't have gravel or anything except two really ugly ceramic things to put in the new tank with Jesus (or Jerk Fish, as I've been calling him lately).   Still, it seemed like Phantom and Louis were relieved to be free from his harassment so I was glad to have done all that work.

Last night was Mom's Night Out at Red Lobster.  On my way there I had to stop at Petco for gravel, some tank decor and an airline splitter.  I also ended up buying a Shubunkin goldfish to keep Jesus company.  Since they have the same body style, I thought they'd get along better than Jesus and the fancies.  New shubunkin's name is Lazarus, as suggested by redqueenmeg, keeping with my naming structure of "people who've come back from the dead."  Perhaps that's why Valentine didn't make it? Anyway...

Off to Red Lobster, I parked on the shady side of the building and left windows and sunroof open for ventilation.  Red Lobster isn't my favorite chain restaurant in the universe but it was tasty and they are open late so the night was awesome anyway.  We had 12 moms show up and we were loud and raucous and a good time was had. I sort of forgot about the fish in my car until we were getting up to leave and I mentioned that I left a fish in my car and wondered aloud if he was going to be okay.  Stacy walked me to my car to check on the fish and he was fine.  His bag even still felt cold to the touch.  I didn't get home until 11.

Now my common goldfish, Jesus, is getting aggressive.  I caught him nipping at Louis, the black moor, on Tuesday.  I put him in quarantine for a few hours and then put him back in the tank and went about my evening.

Last night when I sat down to dinner, I noticed *significant* fin damage on Louis. 

I was crying.  Admittedly, Louis is my favorite.  I don't know what to do to help him.  So I tested my water and again the ammonia is high.  I can't help but do a small water change because I know high ammonia will exacerbate the problems with injured fins.  I added a little aquarium salt and another small dose of cycle to the filter. 


Jesus is also chasing after my fantail, Phantom, but she seems to be a faster swimmer and gets away from him. 

After conferring with the others over at the goldfish_bowl, my only real option is to separate Jesus out.  Someone there said that it's not likely for Louis to survive.  After losing Valentine, I don't want Louis to go too but I know it's my own stupid fault.

Steve gave me his old aquarium stand but it's rusty from being in the attic so I need to sand it and repaint it.  Luckily I have some Killz primer from the ladybug project and black spray paint.  I also have 2 additional tanks and a nice filter for one of them.  They're all just in used condition and need to be cleaned.  If I get my act together, I could get all of that done today.  

I'm thinking I can put Jesus by himself in the bottom tank and the fancies by themselves in a separate tank on the top.  Technically, you have to have two tanks on that stand for it to be stable.  I'm thinking that if I put half of the water from the current tank into a new tank and half fresh water, plus a heavy dose of cycle in each, then the tanks should be healthier, right? 

I am a dork. 

Anyway, took some of my fish water to the amazing fish place in Lancaster last night.  (That Fish Place-- no, really, that's the name of it)  My water baffled the on-staff marine biologist.  I have high ammonia but also a good level of nitrates, which is sort of contradictory.  She was asking me all sorts of questions about how long the tank has been set up, am I doing water changes, vacuuming, etc.  Apparently, all my water changes are not good.  I need to add this stuff called "Cycle" to the tank and leave it alone for a month. 

Cycle is basically bacteria in a bottle. I added it to the filter, rather than through the water, and we'll see how things go.  I'll probably test the water again at the end of the week and hopefully, the ammonia will have gone down. 

My attachment to these fish is crazy.

So while we were there, we were looking at larger tanks because I'd really like to have a couple more fish and I know I'm overcrowded already in my tank.  I'm looking at my little guys now and they look healthy.  They're all active and my water is clear.  Shrug.   As we were leaving the store, I looked at one of their fancy show tanks they have in a wall, examples of their custom services, and they have a gorgeous wave tank with like 8 or 9 LARGE goldfish in it that I could see.  It was totally contradictory to the inches per gallon rule that I see all over and that the marine biologist lady tried to explain to me. 

Arrgh.

I also have all the old aquarium equipment from Steve in my garage that I want to clean and prepare.  I have no idea where I'd put another 10 gallon tank but the stand is pretty and all the equipment is pretty icky so I want to clean it.  I have to sand and repaint  the iron stand because it is a little rusty from being up in the attic for years and years.