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I walked back into my room this morning after breakfast, only to have my attention immediately caught by the antics of my newest cory. He was flying all over the tank as fast as I have ever seen a cory move. When I started moving over to the tank, he flew to the front left side and just sat there. Is it personifying him too much to say that he got my attention to show me the stiff, white corpse of one of my favorite fish? As soon as his actions caught my attention and brought me over to the tank, he was acting like his normal self again.

When I saw the pale body of my albino bristlenose plec, everything in me wanted to scream, "no, not Daffy... please, not Daffy." His beautiful golden yellow color is forever lost to the paleness of death, his small form stiff and unmoving.

I'll never again be fascinated by his skittering across the gravel or his adorable way of moving over his favorite algae-bedecked ornament. He'll never munch on fresh cucumber or his favorite - zucchini. And I'll never again stare for minutes on end as he sucks on the front glass, mouth moving and his little heart beating, visible through his nearly transparent skin. I'll never laugh again over his algae stuffed tummy - green through his golden skin - which would bulge out slightly, arching his body away from the glass.

He's one of the first fish I got when I first got my aquariums at the beginning of this year. He started out in his temporary home - my algae stocked ten gallon - but soon moved to my twenty gallon long. He was shy, but if I didn't move too fast when I caught him out in the open, he'd entertain me for ages just watching him. He's been with me through pH drops and many new, curious fish. He's suffered the attempts of danios trying to get him to play with them and the curiousity of betta girls. He's even been part of a cory pile.

He's the second death in this tank, the first being Seven, a poor black neon that died after a long battle with an injury he received at the LFS, that being a half missing face. I did everything to save Seven, but Daffy... he was FINE the other day. I just got back from vacation and he seemed fine when I got back. He must have died last night, or I would have noticed him yesterday when I went to feed everyone. I don't know what happened, I only know that Daffy Dilly, the silly BN is gone.

Everyone else in the tank seems fine. I checked my water levels and there seems to be a trace amount of ammonia, whether from Daffy's death or some of the plants that have a few dead leaves I was planning to pull out today. What really surprised me about my tests was the nitrates, which have never moved above 10 or 20... they're now up near 80. I don't know what would have caused this to happen, nor if that would have such a detrimental effect on my poor BN.

I don't understand this at all and I feel horrible. I didn't even know if the poor thing was male or female, though I always referred to him as male. At his death, he was perhaps two inches and never showed signs of the bristles that mark his species. I wish I had better pictures of him, but he was camera shy.

So, now I'm left without one of my favorite fish, without my algae eater and without any clue as to why this has happened. The last time I saw him, he was all golden and green-tummied... now he's on his way to fishy heaven, leaving behind a stiff, white body and a very sad Kitten. I'll miss you, Daffy!

Edit: found some pictures... the second one is right before he skittered away. Told you he was camera shy.

The Tummy: http://100megsfree4.com/ccatclaws/daffy1.jpg

The Daffy:http://100megsfree4.com/ccatclaws/daffy2.jpg

[span class="edited"][Edited by kitten 2004-07-10 13:31][/span]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Sorry to hear about your loss.. I'm just guessing the nitrate jump was because of your diseased fish. Happened to me when I lost an oto..

Good time for you to do a few 30% water changes this week..

The Amazon Nut...

Awww... poor Daffy! I remember hearing about him a lot...

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I'm thinking that it was just his time to go... his body was pristine when I found it, no one has ever picked on him and there was no sign of him being picked at after death. I just came back from the LFS where I bought him and talked to one of their knowledgeable staff. No one can figure out why he died or what from.

Waterchanges are definitely in order... how many would you suggest DaFishMan? Say if I did 30% today and then another 30% the day after tomorrow? Repeat until the nitrates are down, then?

superlion - Yeah, you probably read about him a bit. Daffy led me to say that BN's would definitely be part of any tank I have. Besides my betta girls, he was my favorite fish. It's hard to look at that tank and know I won't be playing hide and seek with him anymore. He was golden and the tank is all golds and tans, so he could easily hide in plain sight.

I know I'll have to replace him at some point, as his loss is already obvious in the tank... the algae is visible in places where he used to spend a lot of time cleaning. This leads me to think that the last few days, he really wasn't eating. I still wish I had known there was something wrong...

I know I won't get another albino, but I've seen some nice regular BN's at my LFS. Maybe ottos... I don't know, I don't really want to think I'm replacing him, just... advertising for his job. Heh. As adorable as the albino BN's are, it would be really hard to get another one at this point.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I am Sooooooo sorry to hear about your loss. I lost one of my albino bn juvies about a week ago. He had been beat up by the adult male and I moved him to the 10g where he lived for a few weeks...then finally died.

I think if you get another ABN, you would be happy. It would never take the place of D.D. but would soon grow on you. It is my understanding that the smaller bn's are not as resilient to chemical changes in the water as the adults are (lord knows my male "ABNer"had been on a water roller coaster in the begining and is still alive and kicking).

I don't know if your lfs might have some bigger abn's but if you happen to decide to get one, I was very happy about the one I had ordered on-line from John @ photoaquatics@aol.com Just e-mail the guy to see if he has anymore bigger juvies/adults. You can also visit his website at http://photosyntheticaquatics.com/default.php?cPath=48&osCsid=bcf5551d0b10b1c2b1286aa0159a40b6 Shipping was only like $10 and the female abn was $10 and arrived in good shape. I had ordered a female a couple months ago and she was about 2 - 2 1/2" and is now 3 1/2" long and her head is a lot wider than when I got her too. The adult I bought in the lfs was like $30 so I got the female on-line at a good price.

I hope you feel better...

[span class="edited"][Edited by Phone'sMate 2004-07-11 16:04][/span]

sorry to hear abouit your loss he sounded like a great fish!

The guy who orders the plecs for my LFS (they have a loooot of different plecs...) said he'd see if he could get in some of the long finned BN's. They did have an albino long fin... but, well, maybe in later tanks, but not this one. Besides... something as adorable as a BN deserves to stand out, not blend into the background. Daffy was just too cute... I couldn't resist getting him.

The longfinned BN's come in bigger than the regular ones (who are soooooooo tiny!) so would hopefully be rather resilient, as well as being able to handle the algae in my tank. (I have the lighting set up so that there's enough light to grow algae, but not enough so that the tank is overwhelmed.) And this way, I get the adorableness of a BN without being so close to having a Daffy replacement...

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

yep thats how i felt with my betta who lived 4 years didnt want to replacew it

Hi Kitten

sorry to hear about your loss. I've just lost 2 neons due to evil danios
I dont think i was quite as attached as you were but any loss is never a good one.

Hope what ever you get to replace him brings you as much joy