Donorbox

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

R.I.P.

This afternoon we said goodbye to our beta fish, Prince. He'd been sick for at least 2 weeks, but probably more. We started noticing that he wasn't eating, or even swimming around anymore. He was alive, but just....laying or resting.

We bought some fishy antibiotics to treat him but they really seemed to have no affect on him whatsoever. I noticed yesterday that he'd turned colors. He was initially a dark blue, but yesterday he was looking pale--seriously. He'd taken on a whiteish tinge. By this afternoon he was dead.

I feel so bad that he got sick and that we didn't notice it sooner. However, I'm glad that he's out of his misery. It was clear that he was really sick. It got to the point yesterday that we were actually considering humane ways to end his life. My friend Jessica suggested putting him in the freezer and he'd just fall asleep over flushing him while he was techinically still alive. I'm glad it didn't come to that--I'd feel horrible if we placed him in the freezer, I think. Even if it's technically humane, I couldn't sit here and know that he was dying a room away from me.

I'm sad that we "lost" him so early; we'd only had him a year. We had Sharkbait around 3 years (well, Graham did) and we expected to have Prince just as long. Oh well. It's sad, but it's better than losing a pet that we could hold and pet and lay with, I think. It's a little easier to disconnect when it's a fish in a plastic tank rather than a dog or cat. Once we clean the tank and run it for a few days, we'll replace it with another fish, probably another beta. We can't stand to be "alone" for too long. We definitely enjoy having fish (Graham probably more than I do) and I enjoy learning more about them and caring for them with each fish we get.

Gosh...since we've been married we've gone through 4 fish. We've had a total of 10 if you count the ones in the big tank! My sister-in-law said to me last week, "Fish didn't seem to die so often until you came around!" Gee thanks, Mary. I guess that's partially true. However, I'm certainly not doing anything intentionally. I guess I'm just bad luck?

1 comment:

  1. So sorry about your fishie.

    Hubby and I had a beta fish before we got married and I killed it. Not really, but it died in my care, and I'm convinced it was my fault. Maybe it has something to do with exposure to Rutledge basement for long periods of time?

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