Poor Barney

At 1.30pm, I opened the glass door to my balcony to find our fish, Barney, turned over. Someone from one of the apartment units above had thrown a piece of paper down which dropped into Barney's pond, causing the water filter to get stuffed up. I thought Barney had died from lack of oxygen. We cleared the filter, PT picked Barney up and we saw that his mouth was moving. PT massaged his body while holding him close to the filter so he can get air through his gills. He was then transfered onto the children's bath tub. He was almost the length of the bath tub! We knew he'd grown really big but didn't realise he was that big! Barney is about 20 inches now. When we first got him, he was less than 5 inches long.

Barney was breathing, so PT held him under water, concentrated on getting air through his gills. After a while, Barney started to move a little but stopped again. As time went by, he moved a little bit more. From time to time, PT checked if he could stay upright. He couldn't so he had to be held. After 1 1/2 hours of holding the fish, PT had to go for a meeting so I took over.

These photos were taken at 4.00pm. There was some progress. He started wriggling weakly and his front fins were moving more. Unfortunately, he still couldn't stay upright. At 5.00pm, my hands were getting numb and wrinkly from being underwater for so long. Had to think of a way to keep Barney upright without holding on to him.

Finally figured out to use glass jars with a flat surface. Smooth enough not to hurt him and flat enough to keep him upright.

It's almost 6.00pm now. He's still the same. Wriggling weakly and front fins move from time to time. I really hope Barney gets well. We've had him for 4 1/2 years now. We've almost lost him twice and both times he survived. I hope he survives this time.