i have been trying to figure out what is wrong with our fish nemo for three days now. he has some red streaks on his head, a fuzzy white spot on his tail and redness at the base of one of his fins. of course, it's been so crazy around here that i didn't notice any of it until i realized he was swimming upside down. even that was more of a casual 'hey, look. nemo's swimming upside down' rather than a 'omigod! this fish is swimming upside down! what do i do? what do i do?'
the background on this fish is this (and pardon the repitition if you've heard the story before): in august of 2003, my daughter won a fish at the new jersey state fair. she didn't get the ping pong ball in the little fish bowl but the kind carnies that were working the booth said "oh, she wins whether she gets the ball in or not." i hate those carnies.
so, i spent $2 to play the game, $5 on a bowl kit that came with a 30 day supply of food (which only lasted two weeks). he survived a car trip to pennsylvania from the fair and then traveled to brooklyn in an inch of water the next day. i thought that would surely kill him. it didn't.
we continued feeding him, changing his water every other day, convinced that his days were numbered. he continued living. a month later, we bought him the fish equivilent of a one bedroom apartment: a one gallon tank with aeration and an under gravel filter. add another $20 to the list of expenses. he continued living. and growing. last year, we moved him to a two bedroom: a 2.5 gallon tank. for $30. we are now out a minimum of $57 for a fish my daughter really didn't win, plus food and aquarium supply expenses which is probably pushing our totaly monetary layout to over $150.
nemo is now about 5 inches long and until recently a healthy, beautiful brightly-colored orange goldfish with a fan tail. not the typical fish you win at a state fair.
after reluctantly caring for this fish it now kills me that he is sick. i have it narrowed down to one of three things: a fungal or a bacterial infection or swim bladder problems (or all three with my luck). apparently, dry floating food is great for keeping a tank crystal clear but terrible for their digestive system so today i need to peel peas and feed them to nemo in an effort to clear his digestive tract and help his swim bladder, plus i need to hit the aquarium store for medicine to treat his skin ailments.
have i mentioned how much i hate those carnies?
the background on this fish is this (and pardon the repitition if you've heard the story before): in august of 2003, my daughter won a fish at the new jersey state fair. she didn't get the ping pong ball in the little fish bowl but the kind carnies that were working the booth said "oh, she wins whether she gets the ball in or not." i hate those carnies.
so, i spent $2 to play the game, $5 on a bowl kit that came with a 30 day supply of food (which only lasted two weeks). he survived a car trip to pennsylvania from the fair and then traveled to brooklyn in an inch of water the next day. i thought that would surely kill him. it didn't.
we continued feeding him, changing his water every other day, convinced that his days were numbered. he continued living. a month later, we bought him the fish equivilent of a one bedroom apartment: a one gallon tank with aeration and an under gravel filter. add another $20 to the list of expenses. he continued living. and growing. last year, we moved him to a two bedroom: a 2.5 gallon tank. for $30. we are now out a minimum of $57 for a fish my daughter really didn't win, plus food and aquarium supply expenses which is probably pushing our totaly monetary layout to over $150.
nemo is now about 5 inches long and until recently a healthy, beautiful brightly-colored orange goldfish with a fan tail. not the typical fish you win at a state fair.
after reluctantly caring for this fish it now kills me that he is sick. i have it narrowed down to one of three things: a fungal or a bacterial infection or swim bladder problems (or all three with my luck). apparently, dry floating food is great for keeping a tank crystal clear but terrible for their digestive system so today i need to peel peas and feed them to nemo in an effort to clear his digestive tract and help his swim bladder, plus i need to hit the aquarium store for medicine to treat his skin ailments.
have i mentioned how much i hate those carnies?
1 Comments:
LMAO. I think that is hysterical...My poor fish has been floating weirdly too for about 2 months, I dropped him on the counter when I was cleaning his 1 room apartment...
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