Had a scary morning...

I've recently been thinking of renaming this blog... "torment from the tank."

No, folks, I'm not referring to the tanks my plumber husband works on (thank God!)

I'm referring to the fish tanks, and the torment they put me through on a regular basis.

My daughter has a Betta fish. It has its own tank in her room, because, well, it likes to eat other fish. not a friendly critter. Daughter has very diligently set up the tank, and cares for her fish oh so carefully.

As with the other tank, Mama gets to clean the betta's tank as well.

Today I realized we'd been putting off the usual cleaning for too long. That tank was funky nasty, and I was somewhat amazed to see the fish still swimming in there.
Time to git-er-done.

So, I got my handy dandy fish net, asked Husband if he wanted to go fishin with me, haha which of course got him as excited as if I'd asked the kids if they wanted to go to disneyland. . . until he saw me with the net!
Awww, poor hubby...

Off to work. I scooped the fish out of the tank, and put him in the jar we use while cleaning the tank. Today for some reason he flipped a bit more than usual in the net.

When I put him into the jar, he just floated to the bottom, and, may I say, at an unusual twisted position. I looked very closely, and his gills were going, so he wasn't dead.

maybe just shocked a bit. ( hmm, maybe at the fact I finally remembered the tank was nasty!)

so I went ahead and cleaned the tank, and all its fun little accessories. filled it up with fresh water, checked the temperatures, started the filter up..and checked back on the fish.

the fish hadn't moved, but the gills were still going.

Oh NO!! she's had this fish almost 2 years, and I killed it by cleaning the tank. OOOOOHHHH nooo! Husband thinks I'm exaggerating. no, seriously, the thing hasn't moved... its 'breathing' though, oh my God, do you think I could have paralyzed it somehow with the net?? How on earth do I explain THIS? "honey I tried to clean the fish tank today, your betta did a little extra wiggling and got paralyzed?"

oh no... no no no ... this is bad.

Husband says " its shocked. leave it alone, it'll be fine"

but look at the weird bend in the middle of its body!! do you suppose I somehow broke its back?? If its not swimming before she gets home, .... holy cow, how do you euthanize a FISH? really!! it can't swim, it can't eat, if it can't eat- thats a slow painful death I don't want to be responsible for!!

Husband says "leave it alone, you spaz, just check it in an hour"

easy for you to say pal. I returned the fish to the tank, again an odd scenario- the fish did not swim hurredly out of the jar- it sort of, well, sank out of the jar. oh jeez, cmoon fishie, SWIM!!
It proceeded to sink to the bottom of its freshly cleaned tank.

When daughter returned home, I explained to her I wasn't sure what was wrong with her fish- either it was shocked silly, and would be ok, or it was somehow badly hurt and couldn't swim anymore- which was bad. Being 8 years old, and having been through several fish, and a very much-loved dog, this was not what she wanted to hear.

"if he can't swim, mama, he'll starve! can we take him to the pet store to get him fixed up? "

(oh breaking my heart here !) um, honey, it doesn't quite work that way with fish. if he can't eat, he'll die, but if he's just shocked, he'll wake up and be ok... (trying to keep the positives out there!)

"do we get him a shot, like we did with the dog, so he doesn't hurt so bad?"

weell... um... no. if he isn't swimming more by tomorrow, he's hurt badly- and we'll have to find a way to end his suffering.

(i did not want to tell her the only way I could think of was to remove it from the water!)

Daughter had a bit of a cry, and we talked about it, she's had the fish a long time, as far as fish go he's getting old, she's been asking for other fish anyway, we can go look this week and see what she likes.... besides, he may be ok after all, we'll watch him and see how he does.

ok.

WE all went to visit some friends for a few hours, the kids had a great time... On the way home Daughter reminds me about how when we had gone for a visit one day, returning home, her first golfish had died.
yea hon I remember..( oooh please, please don't let that fish still be comatose!)

When we got home, Daughter beat me to the tank.
"MOOOOMMMMYYYY mom!! mom!! hurry!!!! "

oh no...

"He's in his CAVE ,Mama!! he MOVED!"

when I approached the tank, the fish gave a little spurt of a swim, and.... much to my delight, hovered above the rocks, like he should!

I'll be.....
"he's gonna be OK mama!! he IS! I just KNOW it!!"

He does look a bit better hon, and look, he even ate his food! But, we'll keep an eye on him, and make sure he stays better ok?

WHEW!!!

Husband again , fought the urge, and lost- to say "I told you so"

we're still watching the fish.

***11/8/09 update : the betta is fine! can't tell you how happy i was to see him recuperate by the next morning! ***

Fishcorn and owl poop , oh my! !

My daughter(8) and I had some very interesting topics this evening.

We were in the car, headed for an after school activity. I've found these little drives with only one of the children can be very enlightening, as to what goes on in their worlds.

" Mommy? Can we grow corn from fish like the indians did? Like, in our own garden?"

Corn from fish? HUH?

She explains that in her social studies class they talked about how the indians taught the pilgrims to grow corn with fish.
"they planted the raw fish, and had big corn fields mama."

um.

"hon, the only thing I can think that means is that the indians showed the pilgrims how to make the soil better putting fish into it- making compost soil. kind of like the manure mix we use for our gardens. it gives the plants more nutrients. "

" the corn grew though mama."

"well, yea- the corn grew after they planted the seeds- the corn didn't grow out of the fish. they had to plant seeds."

hmmm. oooh ok.

fish corn.... she caught me off guard with that one.

but. now, thinking back on it, she may have simply been preparing me for the doozy up her sleeve.

We drive quietly a bit, and the next thing she says is " my teacher said we'd going to do a really gross experiment mom." (this came complete with grossed-out-girly-squirm)

oh yea?

"yea, we have to touch OWL poop!"

oh gross., thats nasty.

"she said we'd have to bring gloves to touch it, but we'd have to find stuff in it!"

This is where the science concept hit me. . .

"oh hey! you know what, that could be cool, because owls don't reallt digest food."

"what's that mean?"

"well- what they eat they poop. you find little bones, stuff they've eaten."

"ooh. can I have some gloves mama? oh but that GROSS, I have to touch owl poop! ""why do I have to wear gloves though?"

oh dear.
"because its still poop! You don't just sit around and play in poop- its nasty and ..and... germy! you'll get sick..."

and the sillies hit her. I was openly discussing poop with an 8 year old.

"You play in poop mama"

:no I don't- thats nasty!"

"you changed alot of diapers, yea you did!"

"oh YUK. Thats different from looking for bones in owl poop hon! And i really wan't having fun!"

desperate to redirect her sillies, I tell her I'd love to know when they'll be doing this project, because it would be fun to watch.

"oh mama you wouldn't touch owl poop?"

um. Maybe with the gloves.

"I double dare you mama. you have to do it if I do it. "
(and what if Mama decides not to go to the school at all that day? I have that choice!HAHA)

"ok girl. you're on. I'll ask her about it ."

and she explains how the teacher is still looking for someone to let her have owl poop.

Some days, you just have to smile, shake your head, and giggle, just a little.

**UPDATE : two weeks later I picked up a very excited child from school. they had indeed, done a science project which consisted of searching for recognizable bits and peices of small critters in owl vomit. . My daughter said they had found a tiny little beak, bones, and some fur which belonged to a vole. I am personally torn between disappointed and glad that i missed this event.**

my apologies.

What am I apologizing for?

Well, remember back when I said I'd try to trim down the fish tales?
I tried folks...honestly I did.
But this is just another example of how the Asylum works against me in the silliest ways.

My husband thinks I'm crazy.
Last night we are watching a movie, the house is nice and quiet, besides the tv. I hear a noise, like a squeak, comparable to a cricket (?). I've heard this before. It keeps me awake on the couch nights hubby snores me out of the bedroom.
It is the sound of the frogs calling to each other.

I ask him" do you hear that? "
"hear wha?"
The funny thing to even begin with is that I'm asking 'he who does not hear at normal decibels'.
of course he didn't hear it, but he grins, mutes the tv, and cocks his head.

And, of course, they were quiet. . .

Until he turned the volume back on.
*sigh*
never fails.

So we had a debate about my sanity, and if in fact the frogs were able to make noise.
I swear they are.
I picked up a hair clip, and squeezed it- it made almost the same sound.
He declares "that must be it then"

And yet the frogs continues their game throughout this debate- myself stopping mid sentence several time to say "did ya hear it THAT time?!"
"no , you were talking"

He never did claim to hear it. He may have simply not told me if he did, he seemed to be enjoying watching the animals of the house have yet another giggle on my behalf.

************

again, my apologies for staying in the fish tank.

the frogs don't call constantly. it's about every two or three weeks, at night they'll call back and forth for about a week.

makes sense that this could be a mating thing- they are FROGS.

I find the funniest part about thier little vocal seesions, is that during the day they are more active. Well- kind of. they mostly sit around the bottom of the tank anyway- but when they are vocal it looks like they are wrestling .

Every time I walk by its another weird pose. and one always seems to be choking the hell out of the other.

makes me want to tap the glass and yell " TAP OUT already!!! "

Again, of course, my husband thinks I'm nuts. My theory is that we watch so much UFC, and practice karate as well- that the frogs have picked it up.

hey why not, this IS the asylum right?