I bought 12 rosy reds for my 3 year old daughter to see if she was serious about fish. (she loves all sea life). In less than a week, I am down to 7 fish. And my question is, one of them has like hazy fuzz around it's tail and it's swimming in a drunken fashion. I have no clue what this is, but I'll be surprized if it is alive in the morning. Any ideas?

I assume that you bought "feeder fish." If so, they are often in very poor health and need to be treated for bacteria, parasites, and in this case apparently, fungus. The fuzz on the tail is fungus. Add aquarium salt to the tank at a tablespoon per 3 gallons or so to deter fungus. You can then buy a fungicide fish medication, either the strong ones or the natural one called PimaFix by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals which is new.

My rosy red page is at
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/rosies.htm

From two spots on my web site:

"The only downside to these fish is that, since they are sold as "feeder fish" or "bait," they usually have parasites and other health problems due to overcrowding and poor care. Medications and good care can reverse this. Pick apparently healthy fish with which to begin. To treat a newly bought batch of rosy reds, I used Aquari-Sol by Aquarium Products, Inc. at half dose (I have soft water) for four or five days in a 5 gallon quarantine tank where they remained for two weeks. I vacuumed water off the bare bottom daily and used a corner filter. Salt levels of about 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons were used initially but diluted with the daily water changes. Extend the quarantine if any fish die."

"In the morning, I bought 15 rosy red minnows for $1. The minnows were sold as feeders and in bad, bad shape. Some were hemorrhaging (bloody) from the employees bashing them into the nets and glass. All were underfed. I'm trying to rehabilitate them in my 20 gallon basement tub pond which already had about a dozen feeder guppies I got back in November for Snappy (he didn't want them). Whenever you get new fish, never add the store water to your tanks or ponds. I pour the store water through a net into a bucket and put the fish into their quarantine. I then bleach soak the bucket and net for a day followed by a soak in fresh water with dechlorinator for a day. I have added aquarium salt, MelaFix by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Maracyn by Mardel (erythromycin), and Aquari-Sol by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (for ick, contains copper but has not killed off my snails) to try to make the tortured feeder fish recover and be healthy. I'm not adding stronger parasite medications due to the snails and the high toxicity of such "medications" but may have to if something becomes evident. All the rosy reds in my 1800 gallon pond have reverted to fatheads (as some were mixed in, and fathead is dominant and less likely to be eaten by predators). So, I'm missing the healthy rosy reds. There are only a few native fish left in my 153 gallon pond so I'll probably put the rosy reds in there to liven it up and to avoid adding possible new nasties to the 1800 gallon pond. It will also keep them from breeding with the fatheads and all reverting to fatheads again. The first meal for the rosy reds was Tetra flakes and frozen brine shrimp. I could almost imagine them crying with happiness. I feel so bad for the millions of fish I left at the store never to know clean water, good food, and peace."

That last entry was from 2/11/03. Those rosy red minnows have now been in my 153 gallon pond for almost four years and are very healthy and have had many generations of babies.