An Unfortunate Loss....

Have you ever saved a most beloved friend from the death grasp of a water filter? I have. More than once. First, it was Doj (dodge) the frog. I think she was dead before being sucked up because her little hind flapper feet were a little bloody. Next, was Turd Fergeson. He loved to lounge to close to the indescribable sucking machine and he was just too tired. So his eye got vacuumed in. Thankfully, after unplugging the filter, Turd swam away.

I wonder if that caused him to go blind? Maybe because he was blind, he couldn't see the flakes of fishy goodness that I was feeding him. And probably because he wasn't eating, he lost all strength and passed away peacefully in the night.

After arriving home last Sunday night, I followed my usual routine of running straight up the stairs to check on the fish. This was a particularly fast run because I had left them over night. To my own horror I saw Turd again sucked into the filter by his eye. All I remember was yelling (maybe screaming) and fighting to get the cord unplugged. All the while in my mind, I'm quietly laughing at my oddly frantic behavior. After all, Turd isn't even my favorite fish. Well....I unplugged the filter and Turd slowly sunk to the bottom of the tank.

It was a short funeral and an even shorter grieving process...but I'm still a little shaken up.

Now...Buddy (my favorite fish) has been a most loyal companion these last 6 months. I just can't motivate him to swim around like a normal fish or to quit hanging out upside-down all the time. I'm afraid the veil of his mortal fish life is thin.

life lesson learned - goldfish are not disposable pets....I have an unhealthy emotional attachment to them