R.I.P. Sampson

(07/03/00-07/05/12)

About 3 weeks ago he stopped eating. My water chemistries were great; pH 7.6/ammonia 0/nitrite0/nitrate 20-40/temp 81. I started doing water changes every other day; then every day. He still wouldn't eat. The nitrates were down to 10-20. His LLE was the same; no worse and no better....he then started floating bottom heavy, but was still interactive....but still wouldn't eat....then he started floating on the bottom on his side. It had been almost 3wks since he ate.

SO...I bought clove oil & vodka. I took out the fluval as I didn't want to "contaminate" it and did a water change; but replaced the water with clove oil/vodka water. I know they say to move to a smaller bucket/container, but I didn't want to take him out of his "home".

I'm fairly sure it was old age....he was 12.

Thanks for listening. Please think of Sampson tonight. He was an amazing fish. He was a cool fish. He would swim by and liked for me to pretend to pet him; fed him with chop sticks. He would come close when I kissed the tank; as if he was kissing back.

He was a dear friend. He will be missed.
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I bought a 75 gallon tank and next weekend (not this one, gonna be out of town)...I plan to move him. I want the stand/tank to be in the same location. Any suggestions on how to do this? How much of his original tank water should go in the new tank?

How about the gravel? Should I use new? or re-use? or none at all?

I have a fluval 405; Emperor 300 & Penguin 170.

Excited and scared! Sampson is 11.5yrs old!
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He ate great Wednesday night when I got home from work. I had changed his water Sunday, so did it again Thursday morning. My daughter ran fast around the corner and freaked him out...he scraped himself pretty bad.

I did another water change today, but he's acting crazy, swimming all over, breathing hard, and his pooper is all raw....I tried to get good pics. He won't eat...

These are the best I can get
Temp 80; ph 7.4/ammonia0/nitrite0/nitrate10



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