# What do you do when a fish dies?



## JingleAllTheWay (Mar 21, 2009)

Weird question: What do you do when a fish dies? 
Do you bury it under a tree?
Flush it down the toilet?
Throw it in the trash?

And what do you do to the tank after a fish dies? Do you completely empty it and start over (which would seem extreme)? Or can you just add a new fish?


----------



## dukie1346 (Mar 22, 2009)

I usually flush the fishy down to the magical world of the sewer.....lol


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

They say not to flush them but I do, too. I wouldn't throw it in the trash and if I buried it in my yard (actually I don't own the area around my house), the cats would probably dig it up.


----------



## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

usually I flush them.

However cutting a long story short.....I took a dead male guppy the other day and put it in a small bowl with salt and it came back to life...
So after that experiment I will be placing all new guppies from Walmart in a high solution of salt water as soon as I get them home...then slowly acclimating them down to fresh clear water..


----------



## dukie1346 (Mar 22, 2009)

It actually came back to life? wow


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Dukie, I like your signature.


----------



## Twistersmom (Dec 9, 2008)

My fish never die. I am just that good. (I wish that was true!)
I cry, then throw it in the trash. I wanted dissect the last one because I have had 3 clown loaches to die from the samething, but I could not do it.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I had to throw a hamster in the trash when I was in college. I had no where to bury him. It broke my heart to do it but I had no other choice.


----------



## MarcMayhem (Mar 31, 2009)

I usually just throw them in the toilet..
Heart broken every time =(


----------



## Nataku (Feb 22, 2009)

If the fish was the only inhabitant of the tank, after it's death the tank usually gets a good scrubbing down unless I'm 100% sure that it simply died of old age and not some infection or disease. And since I'm a paranoid bat about that sort of thing, I pretty much always rule it as 'their immune system must have been weakened because of age, and that is how they caught something and it killed them' ...and so the tank gets cleaned. 

If the fish wasn't the only one in the tank, it's still a partial water change immediately after removing the dead fish (fish bodies decaying in the water raise ammonia levels!) and a thorough inspection of the other fish in the tank to make sure they aren't coming down with anything.

Then it's time for new fish. =D


----------



## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

If the fish was the only one in the tank, bowl, etc. I would wait two weeks for not many pathogens can survive without a host (fish) and then begin the tank as though it was new.
If other fish are in the tank, I usually go into panic mode out of fear of the unknown that may be present in the tank. I'ts why I'm near anal about water quality.


----------



## JingleAllTheWay (Mar 21, 2009)

I'm reminded of The Cosby Show and the funeral of Lemont.


----------



## Fishin Pole (Feb 17, 2009)

They become fertilizer in my garden................You know, ashes to ashes, dust to dust...........Even after they die, they can still contribute to life.........


It also made me think of the Cosby show and the episode with Lemont!


----------



## plessans (Mar 20, 2009)

In the past I flushed them down the toilet most of the time with a lack of emotion. I think I lacked emotion because my opinion was "Life goes on, and this is a chance for me to try a different variety of fish." If I have a fish die now, I would probably take it at least 20 yards from my house or dorm and then put it in the ground to decompose and give back to the earth not in the spiritual sense, but in the biological sense.


----------



## McGibs (Apr 2, 2009)

These fish blow me away with their hardiness! I had a beautiful red one named Sanchez and it lived for over 2 years! Such a beautiful fish with such low maintenance! 

When it died, I was sad, I've had it for so long and now all those days of watching it swim around and enjoying life in my fishbowl are over. I scooped him up and flushed him down the porcelain express. These are most likely going to be the only fish species I will ever own.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I had one for 3 and a half years.


----------



## McGibs (Apr 2, 2009)

dramaqueen said:


> I had one for 3 and a half years.



wow! It's so impressive how long these fish can live for, too bad the ones I pick up usually start their lives in a small dirty cup of water just praying to be bought by someone who will take care of them.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Actually, I don't know how he survived. He lived in a half gallon vase before I knew better.


----------



## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

My bettas get a burial because they're just too special.

I feel kinda bad, but my other ones go down the porcelain express :/


----------



## JingleAllTheWay (Mar 21, 2009)

Well bettas are just different than other fish. They are all very unique because of their coloring/marking and if you have a school of something else (like me...neon tetras) than you can't name them because they all look exactly the same.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

That's the nice thing about bettas. They are unique in coloring AND personality.


----------



## stlovefamily (Apr 12, 2009)

We bury ours :-(


----------



## Spoon (Feb 22, 2009)

dramaqueen said:


> Actually, I don't know how he survived. He lived in a half gallon vase before I knew better.


 
With or without flowers?


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Without flowers.


----------



## Campbell (Apr 12, 2009)

I like to bury them in the garden, great for the flowers.


----------



## LaniBaby (Apr 14, 2009)

Chicklet said:


> usually I flush them.
> 
> However cutting a long story short.....I took a dead male guppy the other day and put it in a small bowl with salt and it came back to life...
> So after that experiment I will be placing all new guppies from Walmart in a high solution of salt water as soon as I get them home...then slowly acclimating them down to fresh clear water..


OMG, that worked? a few years ago, my dad insisted i salt my betta that had died. It was quite traumatic for me. he was like "get him out and salt him!" and I was like "wut" on the other end of the phone. And he was yelling to salt him in a hurry and I was crying. In my case, my betta did not come back to life and I felt like a jerk for salting my dead buddy. I later had to return him to petco because they said i had to "produce the body" in order to get him replaced with one that was healthy (he died within 3 days of purchase.) I felt really weird returning a fish that was falling apart due to salt.....


----------



## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

Ya amazing stuff, But you gotta follow a ratio of no more then two tbsp per 10 gallons of water,

I put salt in everyone's water now, kinda like a ritual, Betta's guppies, cories, Salt is amazing stuff.
won't ever be without it in all my fishy tanks


----------



## anastasiavixen (Mar 30, 2009)

How much salt is too much salt? I have well water, and thus far, I have not been using it for Fighty's tank, because it has large amounts of salt in it. We can't drink it because it tastes like saltwater, like when you pour salt into the water for a sore throat. We even trying using a reverse osmosis system, and that couldn't get all the salt out of it. I suspect it has too much salt for Fighty, but how much is too much? Maybe I could throw some of it in (mixed with the bottled water that I usually use in his tank), just for the added salt benefit?

Oh and btw, in the past, I usually flush my fishies... Burial at sea, good men and women they were!


----------



## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

I'm shocked that so many people flush their fish here. That is absolutley terrible for local waters and can easily spread disease. That is the worst way to get rid of a fish, if they are alive or dead.

I throw away my fish. snails, crabs, etc in the trash. Always have, always will. Unless I get an Oscar in the future that lives for 15 years, and then I would bury it.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

What about all the soap and cleaning stuff that goes down the drain every day? Isn't that bad for our local water?


----------



## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

Let me put it this way...

Clean soap that waste facilities are made to remove, or a dead decaying fish that can possibly be a foreign object?


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

What about scraps of leftover food that goes down garbage disposals?


----------



## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

Again, it is disposed properly in something made to handle it. 

Also, one wouldn't flush a hamster or lizard, right? So what makes a fish so different?


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

My hamster would have been too big to flush.


----------



## Nataku (Feb 22, 2009)

Cody - waste water facilities are designed to deal with all manner of things that go down the drain. I'd say a dead fish is a hell of a lot cleaner and better than the other stuff we normally flush down the toilet. You don't throw your poo in the trash do you? A water plant deals with both in the same manner, there are grinders, skimmers, digesters and settling tanks for a reason. The bacteria that are cultured in the tanks of a waste water plant eat all forms of dissolved solids, poo or dead fish makes no difference to them. If anything the fish is probably easier for these bacteria to break down than some of the stuff you'll find nowadays in human fecal matter.
I'd be far more worried about the amount of drugs, prescription and illegal, that you will find in effluent than I would some dead fish. The fish aren't a problem to deal with, we already know how to do that. The easily measurable amounts of heroine, cocaine, meth and viagra should be far more concerning to you. The bacteria don't break those down, and they are often extremely difficult to filter back out of the water. It's not the dead fish that went down the toilet that are causing the frogs in your local waterways to grow extra legs, it's the meds that humans consume, and then pass back out of their system through urine and fecal matter.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I took a field trip to a water treatment plant years ago when I was in high school. I wish I would have paid more attention to what they said now. lol Good info, Nataku.


----------



## aquakid (Jun 22, 2008)

they become food for my bigger fish. If the fish died of a disease such as it it is incinerated


----------



## ellen (Apr 20, 2009)

*from the mouth of a child*

While watching my 3 year neice one morning, she came in and told me her goldfish was dead, and not yet having a cup of morning coffee I didn't respond to her, she left room and came back with the dead fish in her hand and waved it in front of my face and said see it is dead. I then told her ok flush it down the toilet - her response "YOU CAN'T GET TO HEAVEN BEING FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET". Well what could I say to that other then giving it a proper burial in the back yard.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Thats cute. Out of the mouths of babes. lol


----------



## ambria (Apr 28, 2009)

I wouldn't buy any fish from Walmart. I went in there last week and thought I would look at their fish. There were dead and dying fish in every aquarium. I wrote Walmart an email and actually got a call from the local store, the assistant manger. I had explained in my email that when fish dies and they are left in there, that gases built up in the water which kills the other fish or that there is a major problem with amonina, backteria, parasites, etc. She told me she had no clue and would assure me she would put it to the attention of the otehr managers..yeah right..sure...whatever...BUT, i was in there on Sunday and out of all the tanks, there were only a few dead ones. So I guess she listened. I bet those fish got dumped in the garbage...


----------



## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

Think I'm gonna down size my Betta's big time,
To bad some of you didn't live closer I'd give you all a bunch.
But I lived where it seems none of you all do,

So I guess I'll have to find other outlets, 

Nah, I don't think I'll flush them, someone will take em i'm sure.


Guess I'll Have to sell em to my usual fish store


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Too bad I don't live closer so I could take some.


----------



## MarieBettaMom (Apr 22, 2009)

I have no idea what I'd do and I don't even want to think about the fact that they'll die (since I've only had George for one week).



Chicklet said:


> I took a dead male guppy the other day and put it in a small bowl with salt and it came back to life...


Wow! I'll have to remember that trick. Did you use regular salt? Iodized salt? How much salt?

I didn't know we could put salt into the water for freshwater fish. I love it here, I'm always learning something now. :-D


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah, you can use aquarium salt in their water but be careful not to add too much. I forget how much per gallon.


----------



## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

> Wow! I'll have to remember that trick. Did you use regular salt? Iodized salt? How much salt?
> 
> I didn't know we could put salt into the water for freshwater fish.


Aquarium salt.
I use it in all my fresh water fish tanks now, 1 tbsp per 10 gallons water
or 1 tsp per gallon

The dead one went into a very small amount of water, guess about a cup of water, to probably close to a tbsp of aquarium salt, Something like that, anyways he's still alive today and feeling super fine,


----------



## MarieBettaMom (Apr 22, 2009)

I'll have to remember to look for Aquarium Salt next time I pop over to the pet store. I take it this salt is a good preventative measure.

Sholud I also pick up some medicines to have on hand? Or just wait until fish get sick?


----------



## Nataku (Feb 22, 2009)

I keep a standing stock of medicines for my fish (in addition to salt, I do believe salt does more in preventing disease (with the addition of clean water) more than anything else does). It's never a good idea to wait until a fish gets sick because you may not always be able to run to a store to get what you need. Or the store may be out (that's happened to me on more than one occasion). Or closed - are the fish stores in your area open around midnight? Because they aren't around here, and I spend as much time home around my fish in the middle of the night as I do any other time because of work. 

Am I suggesting you go to your LFS and go buy out their entire med-shelf right now? No, not at all xD It's one thing to be prepared, another to be ridiculously overstocked. A couple basics will cover the majority of what you will run into in the common household aquarium. 
*Aquarium Salt* - Salt. Yes, it works. I use it at 1 tsp per gallon after waterchanges (since salt does not evaporate out, you only add more after a waterchange). If you have nothing else, get this. It is a great preventative and while not as successful as a combination of Quick Cure and salt, the salt on its own can help treat a mild case of ich.
*Quick Cure* - contains formalin and malachite green. I use this stuff for ich and pretty much any parasite I can shake a magnifying glass at. WARNING: This stuff will stain like there is no tomorrow. Do not get it on your hands or your clothes, it does not come off. 
*Aquarisol *- has copper sulfate. Good for bacterial infections as well as ich (I prefer Quick Cure for ich outbreaks, but this stuff is a handy preventative). I add a drop a gallon at waterchanges as a preventative measure (in addition to salt) and so far it has treated me well in that the only ich outbreaks I've had have been on fish fresh from the store.
*Jungle Labs Fungus Elliminator* - For fungal infections. The bottle touts it can deal with parasites and bacteria too, but I'll say it's best success is with fungus. Contains, well, basically a bunch of salts xD (sodium chloride, nitrofurazone, furazolidone and potassium dichromate). The furazolidone and potassium dichromate's the handy stuff, but we're not getting into a chemistry lab here. 

Those basic fours things right there will prevent and treat pretty much anything you're going to run across unless you've got some really nasty special bug in your tank (at which point in time your fish is either already dead, or hey, we've got a help forum here, come ask us). There's some other handy things I keep around like tetracycline, metronidazole, pennicillin, and fluke tabs, but for the vast majority, you will never need to break out anything like this in the standard care of your fish.


----------



## MarieBettaMom (Apr 22, 2009)

Thank you so much for the Medicine Cabinet List. I'll start with the Aquarium Salt, and see whether my store caries the other 3 items.


----------



## studioskim3 (Dec 2, 2007)

I prefer not to bury in my area b/c there are stray cats... but I would like to... but b/c i can't... I let them go in the large white bowl that drains down to someplace I don't want to know... to think that my babies are floating down that filthy area makes me sad b/c they deserve better... but I rather that they float rather than be eaten by a cat ... never threw them in the trash... cuz they're NOT trash!  its so sad... my friends and family think I'm silly for liking a fish, but whats wrong w/ those slimy creatures? they have personalities too!


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Thats why I don't bury mine, besides the fact that I have no real yard. There are too many animals that can dig them up. I agree studioskim, they aren't trash! Thanks for the list of meds, Nataku!


----------



## Indefinitive (Apr 6, 2009)

Wilson died this morning. I just woke up, and he was on the bottom, on his side, not a breath of movement.

I think it might have been my fault. His water temperature was much too high, because I put a small heater in his tank. It was at 89 when I got home from work (!!!!), and so I decided to take out some tank water, mix in some cold, conditioned water, and pour it back in. Looks like it was too much for the little guy.

Edit: I was wrong. Cause of death is unknown. Apparently he made it through the night. My boyfriend checked on him this morning, and he was swimming happily when he left 5 hours ago.

Edit again: Is it weird that I cried over this, or is that just a result of PMS? My friend was like, "He's only a fish, don't cry!" and I realized that it sounded weird, me crying over a fish that I've owned for two days.


----------



## whitedevil (Apr 24, 2009)

I put em in a bag with a little tap water so it freezes solid, put em in the freezer till trash day then take em to the trash. Its a carcass thats all, nothing more after the personality dies.

I have buried fish before that were too big for the freezer.


----------



## whitedevil (Apr 24, 2009)

You arent supposed to flush them, water reclamation plants ring a bell? it comes back to you, and the toxins that they release are worse then a healthy human sit down.


----------



## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

> Is it weird that I cried over this, or is that just a result of PMS? My friend was like, "He's only a fish, don't cry!" and I realized that it sounded weird, me crying over a fish that I've owned for two days.


Not weird at all, least not to me, I cried when my tank full of guppies got fried, Had a hard time talking to the lady at the LFS about it without choking up....


----------



## whitedevil (Apr 24, 2009)

They are pets, its normal to do feel some sort of loss, however they are just fish and they are still food to humans. and cats and dogs and birds and reptiles,bears, ect. 

My wife however, she would break down and cry and mourn the loss for days, shes more sensitive then I am I guess.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

There is nothing wrong with mourning the death of a pet that you really loved. And to most of us, its not "just a fish". Its a living, breathing animal that we have interacted with, taken care of and loved.


----------

