About a year ago, I posted on here about a goldfish that was in a classroom I was doing a co-op placement in at an elementary school. Ripley, a common goldfish, was being kept in a 1 gallon tank without a filter, with enough gravel in the bottom that he had about 1/2gallon of swimming space. At 2" long, he had no space to move at all and was suffering fairly severe fin rot and was incredibly stressed. The teacher came to talk to me because she knew I kept fish at home and she had already had four fish die in her classroom within two weeks.
I took over Ripley's care for the 2 months I had left at the school, changing 75% of his water every other day, building him a DIY sponge filter, removing over half the gravel so there was just enough to keep the filter down, and treating his finrot.
This was Ripley after a month and a half of finrot treatment with his sponge filter:
His fins were well over half gone when treatment was started.
I adopted Ripley at the end of the year, taking him to my friend's mom's house. She had a 30 gallon tank that was housing two common plecos that she'd adopted. It was hardly ideal, but my tanks at home couldn't accomodate the goldfish. I monitored her tank for a while, testing the water, and when everything came up golden, she took Ripley. After what Ripley survived in the 1 gallon tank, I wasn't expecting him to live more than a few months.
This is a photo of Ripley taken a week ago. He's almost doubled in size and she's now looking for someone with a pond who could house him. He's chubbed right up, is highly interactive, and frequently teases her cats. I was shocked when I saw him.
Just goes to show what some TLC to an abused fish can do. If I hadn't stepped in, he wouldn't have lasted two months to the end of the school year, let alone a full year. The teacher was just going to 'flush him at the end of the year'.
I'm thinking this fish is more like a cat.... nine lives.!.
I took over Ripley's care for the 2 months I had left at the school, changing 75% of his water every other day, building him a DIY sponge filter, removing over half the gravel so there was just enough to keep the filter down, and treating his finrot.
This was Ripley after a month and a half of finrot treatment with his sponge filter:
His fins were well over half gone when treatment was started.
I adopted Ripley at the end of the year, taking him to my friend's mom's house. She had a 30 gallon tank that was housing two common plecos that she'd adopted. It was hardly ideal, but my tanks at home couldn't accomodate the goldfish. I monitored her tank for a while, testing the water, and when everything came up golden, she took Ripley. After what Ripley survived in the 1 gallon tank, I wasn't expecting him to live more than a few months.
This is a photo of Ripley taken a week ago. He's almost doubled in size and she's now looking for someone with a pond who could house him. He's chubbed right up, is highly interactive, and frequently teases her cats. I was shocked when I saw him.
Just goes to show what some TLC to an abused fish can do. If I hadn't stepped in, he wouldn't have lasted two months to the end of the school year, let alone a full year. The teacher was just going to 'flush him at the end of the year'.
I'm thinking this fish is more like a cat.... nine lives.!.
well done for rescuing him
