2nd: Alas. I am sad to report the male in question died in his
hospital / hospice tank Tuesday at my place. He did recover much of
his color and his desire to swim about (with changes in H2O and a
"trial & error" battery of over-the-counter meds), but he never
recovered his appetite.
3rd: My thots.
- a) Prognosis: I am left wondering if he ingested some kind of
stomach disease agent (like a bacteria / virus, microsporidian
parasite, etc.) or tape worm. And, my original question remains..."Is
[this] common?"
- b) I think that I have learned a lot, but still wish there was
better diagnostics as well as information available within the hobby
about over-the-counter medications. ...more photos, charts, etc..
- c) I am even wondering whether UV purifiers may not be a bad idea
even though I've heard they wreak havoc on / eliminate the ability to
have bio-filtration.
I have a different friend (from work) who is originally from Hong
Kong. He keeps all his fish in sterile, plant-free, substrate-free
tanks and says he was taught to keep fish that way back in HK. Tanks
then seem to me to be prisons or cages (or hospital rooms).
Maybe even brining to question (for me) the ethics of the very hobby
since it brings to mind the Japanese story I read years ago when I
lived there. It is a story about a crown prince / soon to be emperor
who asked his Buddhist monk mentor to let him keep song birds in cages
like many in his realm. The monk (knowing the young man's soul)
relented, provided he would stay 1 month in his room. The prince
agreed, but it soon became cherry blossom time and he was sad he'd so
agreed. At the end of the month, the monk gave the prince a caged
song bird, and the prince immediately fed it and let it go. The bird
remained loyal to the prince the rest of his life, singing often when
he saw the man and making his nest in many of the trees of the
courtyard ... or something along that lines (it has been so many years
ago and I was translating the story as part of my
acculturation/learning nihon-go).
Well, let's not get off onto a disucussion on ethics. HOWEVER, if
anyone has thoughts as to 3 a), 3 b) or 3 c), I'd love to hear from you.
Again, as always, TIA.
--TommyBoy