Our little goldfish is still hanging in there, Hanging is an unfortunate word as he is actually hanging to the surface of the water to breathe.
First thing this morning Myself and Fintan (my Son) went to the aquarium to get professional advice. They really seem to know their stuff and were shocked that the pet shop I bought the fish from did not give us the proper instructions on how to care for them. It seems that what you are really caring for is the water quality and with a little food the fish will take care of themselves.
We had brought a water sample with us and the biologist ran some tests. It turns out that our water was too soft and also had some toxins like ammonia and chlorine that we needed to get a handle on. After forking out around €30 I had what we thought would help the little critters.
First, we mixed up a new batch of water adding some hardener and cleaning away all the chemicals that Irish Water adds to our taps. Like fluoride to control our minds and things to make the frogs homosexual ( Thanks to Alex Jones for this information)
I then used a syphoned to try and remove as much poo and crud from the bottom of the tank as possible, taking with it around 1/3 of the water. I cleaned the filter in the tank water and also cut back their plant which I think was getting a bit too big for the space.
Having finally topped up the water with the new stuff I added a detox to get rid of chlorine and ammonia.
Cheetah is a bit more active now and is going for a dive now and then which seems to be a good sign. I was also told that I should not feed them for a few days till things had time to readjust and now it is in the lap of the Gods what will happen. I'll get another water sample tested next week and hope that we are now on the road to recovery. These little fishies have become an important part of the family.
