The platies got their own home. And, the goldfishes did not have to share their home with anyone else! That very fact was a source of happiness for the goldfishes and the fishes that did not have to share their space with the goldfishes! The new fishbowl looked really good with so many beautiful and playful fishes in it. I kept spending a long time everyday watching the platies in their new home. The 15-Litre fishbowl was in no way big enough for 10 platies. Water in that bowl became dirty sooner than later. That required me to change the water once in every two days. To do absolute justice to the water quality in my platy-bowl, I continued to change about 90% of the water during each round of water change. My intention was to keep the bowl absolutely clean. My idea was simple. I thought, if the water looked really clean, the bowl was truly clean and comfortable for its inhabitants. And, it was not easy on my part to change the water so frequently. In an ideal case, an aquarist spends more time watching and enjoying its aquarium and fishes than cleaning the aquarium and changing the water. Despite the discomfort resulting from that routine, I continued changing the water that frequently. After the death of all of my mollies, I did not want to take any chance and leave any room for error. I was absolutely determined to provide the best possible environment to my fishes.
However, unfortunately, I was continuing to commit multiple serious mistakes. First, I had overstocked the fishbowl. 10 platies are a way bigger population than what was ideal for a fishbowl of that size. 4 could have been a good number. Well, I was the author of the problem! Second, I used untreated tap water in my fishbowl. That was very dangerous for the fishes. Most municipalities or local water companies add chemicals to the water to make it safe to drink (e.g., chlorine or chloramine to kill bacteria)! Chlorine and chloramine are two dangerous substances for fishes. Third, changing water too frequently was really very stressful for the fishes. Stressed fishes fall sick very easily. Fourth, during a water change, ideally not more than 30% of water is changed. And, I was doing 90% for the sake of cleanliness! On top of all these flaws, there was another serious mistake. The fishbowl was not “cycled” before the platies got it as their new home. Let me tell you what is “cycling” in this context.
Fishes, like all living creatures, produce waste products (pee and poo). These nitrogenous waste products break down into Ammonia (NH3). Ammonia is highly toxic to most fishes. In nature, the volume of water per fish is extremely high and waste products, and the resultant Ammonia, become diluted to low concentrations. In aquariums and fishbowls, that is not the case. It can take as little as a few hours for ammonia concentrations to reach toxic levels enough to kill fishes. The nitrification 'cycle' is the biological process that converts ammonia into other relatively harmless nitrogen compounds. Fortunately, several species of bacteria do this conversion for us. Some species convert ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (NO2-), while others convert nitrite to nitrate (NO3-). Thus, cycling the tank refers to the process of establishing bacterial colonies in the aquarium or fishbowl that convert ammonia into nitrite, and nitrite into nitrate. The fish waste contains the ammonia on which the bacteria live. Usually a couple of hardy fishes are used to cycle a tank or fishbowl. A 100% (well, close to 100%) change of water, in case of a fishbowl without a filter and decorations, takes the helpful bacteria out the bowl in question. Without the bacteria, the automatic (natural) water treatment (purification) stops. That big a water change also leads to a great variation in the water temperature. And, that is not good for the fishes.
Eventually, the combined result of all these above mentioned mistakes took its toll on the fishes. My fishbowl got infested with a highly contagious parasitic infestation caused by the protozoan Ichthyophthirius Multifillis (Fish louse with many children). This is popularly known as the White Spot Disease | Ich | Ick. Although the disease is the equivalent of a skin infection, Ich can easily be fatal to a fish stressed by poor diet or habitat. And, it was! I tried to treat my fishes with Methylene Blue and Aquarium Salt. But, I was not so skilled and effective in executing the treatment. The treatment failed. The platies started falling flat one after another. One of the female Micky Mouse platies was pregnant. Before leaving for ever, it gave birth to a few babies that were not yet ready to come to this world. Those did not survive, either. The dark veil of death covered the fishbowl. It was really so painful a scene to witness. I was too powerless to take control of what was happening. Within a span of 36 hours, 9 out of 10 fishes died. The only one that remained was a relatively young Red Wagtail platy. It was the one least affected in the pack. I tried treating that one with Aquarium Salt, before transferring it to the quarantine tank. I was not sure whether the dose was wrong or the procedure was wrong. When I initiated the treatment it reacted as if it came in contact with high-voltage electricity. In less than 3 seconds, I could take it to a container filled with plain water. It just fell into the water like a stone. There were no signs of life in its body. After a few seconds, it woke up to swim a bit for a second in a strange fashion and fell to the bottom of the container. I was surprised and thought that was the end of it. It woke up again to swim a bit in that strange fashion. I was hopeful this time. Finally, it really recovered and started swimming normally. I thought, at last, at least one of them survived the death storm. I was wrong, unfortunately. I found that platy dead after a couple of hours. I still feel guilty. I think, probably, my wrong treatment killed that poor fish. That’s how I lost all my platies. However, there was something really interesting that was going to happen NEXT!
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