Andrea, do you remember the song that went like this "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly?" LOL

Yes. LOL Are you saying he is going to die? Or I am?

He looks better today. Go figure. Ammonia is lower so he seems calm and is breathing right.

Gimme more than a nursery rhyme! LOL

-There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly, I guess she'll die...
-There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
who wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swalled the spider to catch the fly, I dunno why she swallowed the fly, I guess she's die...
-There was an old woman who swallowed a bird, Oh my word, she swallowed a bird! She swallowed a bird to catch the spider - who wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I dunno why she swallowed the fly I guess she'll die...
-There was an old woman who swallowed a cat, imagine that, she swallowed a cat! She swallowed the cat to catch the bird, she swallowed the bird to catch the spider - who wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! She swallowed ths spider to catch the fly, I dunno why she swallowed the fly, I guess she'll die...
-There was an old woman who swallowed a dog, what a hog! She swallowed a dog! She swallowed the dog to catch the cat, she swallowed the cat to catch the bird, she swallowed the bird to catch the spider - who wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! She swallowed ths spider to catch the fly, I dunno why she swallowed the fly, I guess she'll die...
-There was an old woman who swallowed a goat, just opened her throat and swallowed a goat! She swallowed the goat to catch the dog, she swallowed the dog to catch the cat, she swallowed the cat to catch the bird, she swallowed the bird to catch the spider - who wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! She swallowed ths spider to catch the fly, I dunno why she swallowed the fly, I guess she'll die...
-There was an old woman who swallowed a horse... She died of course!

Andrea, sorry you're having so much trouble with your guy! My best suggestion is to put him in a bigger holding pen. That means a bigger aquarium, I suppose. You could keep him in a drum of some sort, but then you couldn't see him from the sides.
Is my conversion correct that a 20L tank is only five gallons?

Your blueggill is big and messy, and with his sensitivities, it would be very difficult to maintain consistant and healthy water perameters in such a small space. Especially in a tank that is not established. I seem to remember that your blugill is six or sevn inches long?
I'm sorry to say this, but a 5 gallon tank is pretty much a death sentence for any fish smaller than an inch, and any tank that small and unestablished (good bacteria cultures in the filther) is a death sentence for a fish of any size, let alone a sick one!

I'd get a 20g (app. 75L) tank. Really. You could maybe get by on a 10g, but I still think that's too small for a fish of that size to get well in. Get some bacterial culture from your fish place and load it into the filter.

No amount of medicines or curealls will do your guy any good if he's suffering from burning ammonia.

Good luck, I hope he pulls through!

Good morning destany! No, a 20L is not 5 gallons. It's a 20 gallon "long" aquarium. In other words, it is longer than it is tall. Sometimes 20 gallons are more upright...this one is long. Does that make sense? lol

Andrea, a few years backI found a goldfish that was covered in that cotton fungus in the pond. She had been really harrassed by the male fish and had missing scales and was in really bad shape.

I figured she would be dead in a few days but at least the males wouldn't continue to harrass her. So I took her out and put her over in a half barrel that I used for a small water garden.

I forgot about her for about a week and decided that I had better get that dead fish out. However, she was swimming around great and the cotton fungus was all gone.

I left her in there for about a month and then put her back in the pond with the other fish.

So you can never tell about fish?

Maybe you will be able to save that fish or maybe not?

But I admire you for trying.

Thanks catfishsam. :) He is definitely looking better today. I think I'm going to do the 50% quick cure treatment again tonight. I am bringing in pond water and getting it to room temp for another 20% water change tonight. Since using the pond water, my ammonia is at 1.0 instead of 2.0 so that's good!

When this guy was little - like the size of a half dollar - he had fin rot and got injured and had a chunk out of his head. There was no way we could catch him in the pond that large and I figured he was a goner. It wasn't until I netted him for the cleaning that I realized that this was HIM...scarred chunk still out of his head...LOL..and that he is alive.

I think he's a fighter!

I am out of town Fri-Sun...this is my main stressor now. I hope that I can get him on the road to recovery and the ammonia levels stable before I leave. I have no "fish friends" who could deal w/ an emergency if I am not here.

If the cottony caca is gone by then, I think I'm just going to acclimate him and put him back in the pond!

destany, I think you missed the cow. LOL

There Was An Old Woman

There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,
How absurd! to swallow a bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cat,
Imagine that! to swallow a cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a dog,
What a hog! to swallow a dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a goat,
Just opened her throat! to swallow a goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cow,
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a horse,
She's deadÂof course!

Was it Burl Ives that made that song popular?

Cool, I never knew there was a cow! Thanks!

Andrea, sorry for the confusion. :D The aquarium forums I often visit speak in different terms, I was assuming it was standard technical speak. lol. 10 gallons is 10g, but over in Europe or other countries, they refer to volume in Liters, so say 10L. It didn't occur to me you meant a 20g long, lol. I gotta admit, I was puzzling, trying to picture a seven inch fish crammed into a 5 gallon tank!

I really hope you can get the little guy better, it sounds like he's making a good improvement already so you're doing the right thing.

Andrea, how is your bluegill doing?

Thanks for asking catfish! He got worse and worse until I finally put him back in the pond as a last resort. He ended up dying 3 days later.

Since then, about 10 more small bluegill died of the same thing and now I have another big one that is dying. The koi are fine, thank goodness!

I think b/c the bluegill were caught last, they were in the really nasty water at the bottom of the pond and the guys who were netting them were NOT careful. They were getting scraped on rocks, etc. I'm guessing that was their demise. Very sad. :(

I AM glad the koi are okay though!

My goldfish, now named "Long Shot" had cottany stuff all over him, with raw flesh and looked like someone had pulled his skin off. After treating him with Tricide Neo dip, He has recovered completely and is Beautiful You would never Know he had been so sick. Glenda

Andrea, sorry about your bluegill. You really tried to save that one.

Maybe you can catch some more at a local lake to put in your pond.

Normally bluegills are pretty healthy and easy to take care of.

I lost a couple of bluegills when the ice lay on the pond too long this past winter. However, I have lots of them so losing a few didn't affect my ponds much.

I think bluegills need higher water quality than goldfish and koi.