Death of Mr. Zippy

[colesea]

Well, it has finally come to this, the obituary of one of My Fish Tank's most famous soap stars. Mr. Zippy the Zebra Pleco will no longer be returning to us for another season.

I went on vacation for three days. During that time, as happens all the time, there was a power surge and my filter on the tank that was Zippy's home cut. The tank was really nasty, I cleaned as best I could, worked on the filter, but it was not soon enough for Zippy. He must've died last night for today when I came home from school he was pretty stiff.

So now my six gallon tank has become nothing but an oversized betta bowl. The filter still does not work. Mr. Purple betta is going into a realistically sized betta bowl and the tank is going in the closet. I don't have the money or time right now to be stocking and keeping four tanks.

I'm completely bummed.
~~Colesea

 

[Vyache]

Noooo! Don't closet your tank! Thats heresy! get the iron pokers! Think of all the poor homeless fish out there. An empty tank smells like oportunity to me. A chance to try something new. How about a self sustaining population of killies for example? Come on you know you want to try that fish you never had room for in a community tank. Heh heh I guess I'm getting carried away.

 

[luvfishies]

Cole, I'm so sorry about Mr Zippy. Isn't it always the way, though, that things will go wrong when you're not around to do anything about it?

I'm sorry. I concur with closeting the tank....if the filter doesn't work, what good is it anyways?

I do hope though that when you have more time and space, you will give another Zebra Plec a nice place to live like you did for Mr. Zippy.

**hugs** Cole...I know how you're feeling  :'(

 

[AquariumBoiler]

I'm kinda worried about what could happen to my fishies over x-mas break when I fly home for a month.  Any ideas on what to do with my tank over that time?  No ones gonna be around to feed them and the power will be off so no filtration.

 

[Volitan]

ahhhh.. a Month.. no filteration.. no heating.. no food? your fish are as good as dead sorry to say..

 

[confusedfishy]

Did I miss something?  Does 3 days=a month?  I'm really sad to hear this cole.  I enjoyed the updates on mr zippy.  We will miss him. :'(

 

[Vyache]

confussedfishy: Yep, you missed something. AquariumBoiler asked about being away for a month.

AquaruimBoiler: If you are going to be away for a month and can't find someone in the area (Purdue University right?). Then I suggest you find a fish store explain your situation and sell your fish to him for credit. Then buy some more when you get back, heck you might even get some of the same ones.

I stocked my families 240 gallon tank. It was going for about two years and the fish were getting huge. (Clown loaches, syn cats, tiger loach, rubber eel, and many others) I went into the Navy and left the tank in the care of my family. It lasted another two years but then my dad went on a buisness trip to Arizona. He had unplugged the heater that summer because the tank was getting too hot. There was a cold snap while he was gone, and with no heater and no fire burning in the wood stove, all the fish froze to death (exept one albino channel cat, who cleaned up).

 

[Troy-N-Eli]

Cole,

Really sorry to hear that the curtain was pulled on Mr Zippy's act.  That had to be a devastating loss for you since you spent so much time and devotion on him.  As far as closeting a tank, you should know what you can and can't handle.  I would agree that if you don't feel you can adequately take care of your animals, you probably shouldn't increase the livestock.  Will hold out hope that you will eventually find someone as entertaining as Mr Zippy, despite knowing that there will never be a real replacement.  Either way, best wishes for things to get better.