Pica Fish @ 24 Oct 2006

This morning, some of us in the north met up for delicious fish soup breakfast and I thought that since we were nearby, let's do a jungle trek around the reservior nearby for some digestive exercise. We drove down the hilly road and parked our cars neatly by a little bridge. The last time I was here, it was quite interesting, even having a sign that said "Beware of Crocodiles". I wanted to demo a steve Irwin croc hunting, and led them down the long winding long kang leading the catchment area.

But halfway walking down the trail, I spied an arrowana struggling in the long kang. The water level was quite low and the poor fish was struggling to be able to swim. It was going to die for sure as it could neither move forward nor backwards. As luck won't have it, I had my fishing pail in my car, and mrs cat did a double run to get it. Our kumpong boy, 7 was all ready to rescue the poor fish. The walls by the drain was covered in thick wad of mosses and looked very slippery. But undaunted, 7 lived up to his kumpong namesake and managed to scoop the fish up and put in into my small pail. There wasn't quite enough space for the fish to stretch fully, but it would have to do.

We rushed back to my home (convoy style)...blaring my "get the hell out of way" horn and quickly bring it into my 2x2x2 ft tank. But the fish was not able to right itself, looking like it had some air in the stomach. 7 tried to do some massaging to get the fish to burp, but all our attempts failed. 7 even wanted to do a mouth to mouth resucitation, but I had to persuade him that it was a bad idea. *yucks*

As of now, the fish is still upside down....but it is still alive. If there are any arrowana experts out there, please let us know how to make the fish swim upright.

Call it fate or what...If we had not done the jungle trail thing, the fish would be dead. Hopefully, with a little care, we can nurse it back to health. Once that is done, he would make a nice story and be our little pica mascot.

I will update our new frnz health and would welcome any advice that anyone would have.