Bubbles (my gorgeous Oranda!) had been sick with swimbladder disease, for some months - but it got much worse over the last week. He was stuck, upside-down, at the top of the tank - he couldn't swim and he couldn't catch any food (although he tried). What's more, where his body was exposed to the air outside of the water, he was drying up and rotting away. It was awful to see him this way. So, Saturday evening I did a search for humane ways to euthanise goldfish and decided on the clove oil method. Just thinking about it made me cry - amazing that you can cry over a fish!
Yesterday morning, I took Bubbles out of the tank and put him in a small bowl. Then I added some clove oil, which I'd added to some of the tank water. He was gone in a few minutes... He's now buried in the garden, with a Euphorbia Robbiae planted above him.
We bought a new friend to keep Malcolm company, but it (Jack Sprat) sits at the bottom, under the plastic coral. I'm in the process of doing a water change - I hope that sorts him, or else he'll be no use whatsoever!
