25 year old yellow tang dying :(

[highergroove]

So yesterday I noticed my FoxFace (many years old) acting funny (bumping against , raising fin, being a punk) with my orange shoulder tang (a few months) and my 25 year old partriarch yellow tang was staying away (they are a little gang). I thought maybe I needed to feed more as I added new fish a few months ago and am still playing with the amount to feed and what. This morning, the yellow tang was hiding out on the side of the tank and not wanting to eat - I even gave him his own cube of marine alage. As I was watching him, I thought he's at least 25 years old now, maybe he's slipping away. Sure neough, I just now found him in the back of the tank on his side on the bottom, breathing heavy but not moving much. I tried to net him but I am short and it's a 300 gallon wide tank and I can't reach.

I guess I am looking for a little reassurance and with the signs, maybe hoping to hear it's not long now so I don't feel so guilty I can't euthanize him. He's been with me a long time and deserves better but I also know we all die and sometimes that dying process is nature's way - and I know a little about DMT and hoping maybe he is slipping into hallucinations between this world and the ether. It would literally be me tearing my tank down to get him and not sure even then I can really reach because he's at the back - is it acceptable to not make heroic efforts at this point? Also, please send good energy and thoughts he goes quick....

 

[wvned]

I have watched a great many fish, dogs, cats and a few people pass. I do not believe fish suffer and have pain like the more complex beings.
I have also cried my eyes out with animals that passed completely peacefully at the vets office wishing I could do more.

You are grieving and it is normal. I do think any action you make would help the fish pass in a better way. Just one that is perhaps quicker and easier to see.
The tiny beings that are with us the years and decades of our lives that make it less empty.
May peace be with you.