p u s i l l a n i m o u s

I finally got my hands on some metronidazole! They weren't the medicated foods, so it looks like I have to soak his food into the stuff first, and then treat the water itself (i.e. the parasites that come out through his feces into the water). So first aquarium salts, and then treat food, and then some time later, remove the carbon filters and add the tablet in. I'll probably have to put garlic on the food so its more appetizing, I guess. And apparently garlic is also good for the fish and slightly antibacterial (yay!)!

I feel awfully relieved having the medicine, but the battle's not over. I hope he still has his appetite, and I hope I won't make a mistake somewhere along the line. I do feel better now that I've found some. It has praziquantel, too! As an aside, THANK GOD FOR FISH FORUMS.

I went walking around my college campus (not my fall semester school), and it's so...posh. Apparently the engineering place isn't at all and is filled with smelly people. XDD Hahaha, I'll probably join them in that, LOOOLLL. SMELLY SLEEPLESS ENGINEERS PROGRAMMING LIFE AWAY (LITERALLY) AWWW YEAAAH. OMGGGGGIMMADIIEEE.

Off to dump some salt!

My pleco has an rectal prolapse, which iiiis not good, to be brief. I've been looking up cures and the like, but the medication we supposedly need (something with metronidazole and praziquantel) is something we don't have. It's not a direct cure, but preventing disease would be nice.

His poo has been pretty stringy though, which may be signs of infection already. But it HAS been like this for awhile now (try months), so he's pretty good at putting up against this stuff, I guess...? It's a biit difficult to figure this out because he's super strong. At the very least, there aren't any visible parasitic infections going on. So yeah, meds should be good.

Right now I'm using DOC WELLFISH (8D) aquarium salts, and it looks like he seems to be all right eating spinach (he's not a huge fan of peas), so I guess I'll try to feed him that...although making it sink is difficult. And pooing looks awfully painful for him, so it kinda makes me feel bad, but hopefully it'll be easier.

I'm no pro fish caretaker, but he HAS been with us for eleven years, which is really only half his supposed lifetime. Dying from not being able to poo doesn't sound pleasant at all, so hopefully he won't die from it. :( Here's to hoping his intestines get back in.

Note to self: buy metronidazole fish meds next time I am able.