RIP Black Moore

[Cichlid4life]

I had to go out of town Wednesday morning for the holidays, and my very old black moore (I had him for about 4.5 years) was barely alive and very lethargic and he was going to die from starvation while i was gone because he was not eating any of the pellets that i force fed him with since Sunday. I did not have any clove oil on hand, and there was no way for me to get any to ethanase him before i left. So i had to, unfortunately, freeze him alive. His quarantine tank was not heated as he was a goldfish, and the water from the tank was not warmer to the touch than the Ziploc bag that was almost completely full of filtered water that came from the fridge. I used fridge water because it does not have chlorine nor chloramine in it, and if i did it with tank water, he would be still rotting while frozen in the bag because the bacteria in the tank water was eating away at him already as he was alive. i feel extremely guilty about this and i don't recommend that anyone ever does this to their fish as a substitute to euthanasing a fish as it in very inhumane, and the guilt of having done this myself to my very own fish is extremely heavy to bear. I had to do it because it was my son's goldfish that he wanted and that he pick out at the LFS and it was one of his most favorite pet fish he has ever had. And the fact that the poor goldfish was going to die was heart breaking to him, so i told him that we were going to keep him and that he was not going to rot, but instead be preserved in his current state. My son is happier now that we have frozen the goldfish to perserve and to preserve his memory in honor of the goldfish until we can go and get a special chemical that preserves small marine animals to better preserve the moore.

 

[Cichlid4life]

RIP:

 

[Colin_T]

sorry for your loss

25% (or more) alcohol will pickle the fish. Make sure the container it is preserved in is sealed up tightly so the alcohol doesn't evaporate. The black part of the eyes will probably go white due to the alcohol but the rest of the fish will remain looking normal. Alcohol is safer than formaldehyde and doesn't destroy DNA like formaldehyde does.

Goldfish can live for 20+ years and they can go for weeks without food, especially in cool water. However, if it wasn't eating then there is usually something wrong.

When bacteria are frozen they stop reproducing and go dormant. So if you use aquarium water and freeze the fish in that, the bacteria freeze too and won't continue damaging the fish while frozen. However, once they are back up to room temperature they continue on their merry way.

 

[NickAu]

RIP poor fish.

my very old black moore (I had him for about 4.5 years)

Did you get it as a mature fish? You know Black moors can live for 10 to 15 years easily if cared for correctly.

 

[Cichlid4life]

sorry for your loss

25% (or more) alcohol will pickle the fish. Make sure the container it is preserved in is sealed up tightly so the alcohol doesn't evaporate. The black part of the eyes will probably go white due to the alcohol but the rest of the fish will remain looking normal. Alcohol is safer than formaldehyde and doesn't destroy DNA like formaldehyde does.

Goldfish can live for 20+ years and they can go for weeks without food, especially in cool water. However, if it wasn't eating then there is usually something wrong.

When bacteria are frozen they stop reproducing and go dormant. So if you use aquarium water and freeze the fish in that, the bacteria freeze too and won't continue damaging the fish while frozen. However, once they are back up to room temperature they continue on their merry way.

Koi can live for +20 years, fancy goldfish barely live up to 5 years with a lot of luck. I was talking about archaebacteria and those types of bacteria that live in the at and below freezing temperature ranges, they will continue to slowly do what those bacteria do to the frozen fish, just at a much slower rate. And you said they go dormant when frozen, but they can only be dormant for so long, that in a few years the bacteria will be mostly gone.

 

[FishGuest5123]

So sad. RIP

 

[Cichlid4life]

So sad. RIP

RIP is for Rest In Peace, but it is also for the RIP that is found left in many people's hearts after a loss. That is why it is always is so sad.