Mr. Limpet's Horror

Sigh..This week started out rather stressful. For one, Farley has a UTI, but that's another blog for another time. If you read my blogs, you'll know that last summer, my albino oscar died and that the other one had been sick. Well, Sunday I noticed that he was looking really really really rough, so I thought it might be time to put him out of his misery. I didn't see any other option since I've been treating him for Hole In the Head Disease for about 1.5 years. So, I took him out of the tank and left him in the sink to die...kinda like Terry Schiavo. Cruel, I know, but I couldn't bring myself to chop him in half. If you know me, you know I get upset if I accidentally squash a woolly worm.

I sent up a silent prayer for forgiveness and walked away. I returned almost 10 minutes later...and he was still trying to suck air. Oh God..the horror!! He jumped and his little fin raised up and then fell lifeless against his side. I started bawling and prayed for him to die, but then I just couldn't do it..so I put him back in the tank where he started swimming around. So basically, I caused him 10 minutes of solid unnecessary torture. I decided I was going to make one last stand as I was quite sure Mr. Limpet was looking down on me in shame and revulsion.

I set up a smaller quarantine tank which required the purchase of another filter and I bought medications, water conditioners and feeder fish as a treat. Upon setting up the 20 gal. tank, I failed to realize the water was too warm and when I placed the bags of feeder fish in the water to adjust the temperature before dumping them, I essentially cooked them. Only 10 out of 24 survived. What the hell, man? Maybe aquatics isn't my thing. Anyhow, I cleaned the big 75 gal. tank, replaced filters, adjusted my water quality, added medication and cleaned all the decorations only to have him die later the same day. Damn it all!

I might as well have flushed that $100 down the drain in place of my fish. He didn't get to ride the porcelain expressway to fishie nirvana. He also didn't get a coffin or proper burial, but was unceremoniously placed in the trashcan in a ziploc burial shroud. So sad. I couldn't bury him since my dogs would surely dig him up the next chance they got and I just couldn't let that happen. Should I ever be reincarnated, I'll come back as a pet fish as punishment for my deeds over the past week. If I could have flushed him, I would have, but that's just not possible with a 9 inch fish.

To my ill fated fishie, so long, and thanks for bein' a fish.