I killed my fish yesterday.  I didn’t mean to!  It was an accident!  Actually I don’t really know why he died but he is dead none the less and I miss him.

I had a beautiful red and blue Beta that once swam happily in a clear glass block.  (You know the kind, they’re used in walls when you want to let light in but you don’t want anyone to be able to see in.)  He had lots of colorful marbles for his floor, a broken Blue Willow cup to hide in and 3 blown glass companions; a blue scuba diver, a red fish, and a green turtle with a red hat.  The friends hung from fish line attached to glass bubbles that floated freely on top of the water.

His name was Freddie the Freeloader and I have enjoyed him since October of last year.  When I first got him, he didn’t seem to want to swim around much.  I was worried so I googled Beta fish online and realized that he was probably cold.  Being a tropical fish, he didn’t like being cold.  I didn’t like the idea of him being cold either so I went out and got a small heater for him.  That worked very well until the ice storm hit Tulsa.

Oh boy, it was hard enough to keep me warm – how was I going to keep my fish warm?  I happened to have lots of candles so I positioned one a few inches beneath the edge of his block-tank and that worked very well.  He stayed in the warm water area for the next four days until we had electricity again.  As the house warmed, so did his home and he ventured away from his cup and played with his friends.

Freddie and I have made several trips together.  He wasn’t too fond of the Mason jar with a lid but it was a convenient way to transport him to Arkansas for a week, to Florida for a month and to Branson.  In Branson, Missouri, I took him to meet the clerk that checked me into the motel so that she’d know that YES I had a pet with me but NO there was no way my pet could tear up the room or leave a nasty doodle on the floor.  Freddie got to meet several of the other employees working nearby as well.  I enjoyed showing him off.

We have been happy together, Freddie and me, until yesterday.  His tank was turning green it was so dirty so I got out the necessary equipment, caught Freddie in my little fish net, put him safely into a clear plastic container of water (treated of course) and set about washing the glass block he calls home.  I washed it as usual with hot water and dish detergent and carefully rinsed it several times.  I also washed the marbles, the cup and the companions.  I filled the tank again with clean water, put in 2 drops of anti-chlorine treatment and put the marbles back in.  I set the cup on its side in the corner and dumped Freddie back in.  As I started putting the friends back in I noticed that Freddie was swimming in a very odd pattern.  Up and around very fast he would go, then straight down bumping his nose into the marbles.  Then up and around again, then down again.  I watched in horror as he repeated this pattern about 5 times until he couldn’t rise anymore. 

I don’t know what I could have done wrong.  I washed and rinsed everything carefully.  I treated the water as directed.  I did everything the same way I’ve always done it.  So what happened?  Why did my pretty Freddie have to die?  I don’t know the answer.  All I do know is that his tank will sit empty for awhile.  Eventually, in a few days or maybe a week, I’ll rewash everything then go and get a new Beta, new food and new treatment (just in case it was too old to work correctly anymore) and I’ll have a pretty fish to watch again.

Now, what should I name this one?