bye ani

alex and ani
Originally uploaded by Julep67

so sadly, our sick little oranda, Ani, died today.

We are pretty sure she had dropsy. She puffed up like a pine cone and we just didn't get a chance to treat it in time. The puffiness eventually went down but by the time it did, she was really weak and had a tough time keeping herself upright.

Last night, she didn't eat much supper and I knew that the end was close. When Mark got home this afternoon, she'd gone. She was an awesome little fishie but she started to grow these strange bumps on her head about a year or so ago and once that happened, we noticed some changes in her behaviour. The bumps also affected her balance.

I'm just really glad that she's not suffering anymore because it was really shitty to see her so unhappy and have all of our efforts not make a difference.

spoke too soon

so Mark thinks that Butthead is actually sick.

On the weekend, I noticed that his lip was red. He'd been tossing gravel around like Roger used to and I spotted a little boo-boo on his mouth. Mark added extra salt to his water on Sunday during the tank cleaning. It's possible that he's just a little over salted.

Tonight he got some tank medicine stuff added to his water and he seems to have chilled a bit. Would you ever have thought that a little fish (well, not really so little) could cause such a ruckus!?

appropriate

Butthead is really living up to his name tonight. When I got home from work, he was sitting on the bottom of the tank, under the heater. I put some food in his tank (cuz it was fishie dinner time) and normally, he is all in that food like, well like a goldfish on the food. Tonight, Butthead didn't even look in the direction of the food. I left the room and fed the rest of the fish and changed my clothes. When I came back, he was still sitting under the heater and the food was on the gravel in the tank. If he was all clenched up, I'd have been really nervous but I think he's playing possum (if fish can play possum). I sat down at my desk and moved over toward his tank and watched him. Eventually, in a sort of f-you move, he dramatically turned around, disturbing some gravel and creating a wave which recirculated the food.

For a few minutes, I actually thought that maybe he was sick. I see now that he was just being sulky and weird. Sulky and weird is normal Butthead behaviour. We keep discussing getting him a little tank buddy but seriously, I don't want to put a little fish in there and find it dead the next day because Butthead has anger management issues.

Such a wiener is butthead.

my officemate

For no good reason, I took this little video the other evening of our fish, Butthead. He wasn't always a butthead but we started calling him that a couple of years ago. Originally, his name was Skid and he had a buddy named Mojo. Skid had a growth spurt and started picking on the other fish in the tank so we decided to isolate him. It was either that or let him beat the living crap out of the other fish. For a while he lived down in the basement, in Mark's office. When Chocolate died in December, we moved him upstairs, into the tank she'd been in.

He's got a bit of a 'tude at times but I think he likes being upstairs. He definitely gets more attention and he is fed on a more regular schedule. That has to be good because seriously, there is not much that goldfish like more than eating.

roger, the gold fish

roger, the gold fish
Originally uploaded by Julep67

When we moved into our house, the folks who we bought it from left behind a tank and five goldfish. The "leader of the pack" of these fish was a cool guy we named Roger.

The first summer we had the fish, two of the five died. Roger thrived though, him and Skid and Mojo (the other two) seemed to be doing really well.

As you may know, goldfish love to dig around in the gravel in the tank. They are looking for stray bits of food and they pick the rocks up with their mouth and spit them out again, with a fair bit of force at times. Roger loved to do this, he did it so much and with such vigor that he injured his mouth last year. Eventually it healed but he did it again earlier this summer. This time though, it never really healed properly.

While nursing the injured mouth, he developed a fungal infection. We isolated him from the other fish about 10 days ago. Mark started treating his fungal infection and while he still had his appetite, Roger was a really sick guy.

This morning when I went to feed him, I discovered that Roger had died through the night. We're both a little sad about this. I said to Mark that we could have taken him out of the big tank last summer and let him live in a gravel free zone. Now, that may have allowed him to live longer but would he have been happier? Without friends to play with and rocks to throw around, he might be healthy but he might also be miserable and lonely.

Anyway, I just felt like I should tell you all a little bit about Roger because he was a really cool fish and I know that we're gonna miss him.