Oh, what an exhausting two days we've had. It all began with this white slimy, kind of like snot all over the rocks in the ten gallon tropical tank. I tell ya, Mom wasn't very happy when she saw that again. This is the third time it has happened in the past year. Mom replaced the tank, gravel and the decorations the first time. She thought that would make a difference. It actually did for about six months then it struck again. This time she took the tank down, washed everything with bleach and then air dried it outside in the sunlight. The tropical fish were not happy to be shuffled into a hospital tank sitting on the kitchen table especially with Yeats leering at them.

 

As you can see he was as close as he could get with that metal cover. I didn't climb up on the table or make any attempt to get to the fish. Really, that is so beneath me.

 

It looked like Mom had everything cleaned off, she reset the tank up and put the fish back in their tank. By that time, Mom had an annoying headache and went to bed. However, when she got up and came down the stairs she paused to look at the tank. I heard her scream, NOOOOO!!

Her neon fish were all stuck to the filter tube. She opened the lid and the zebra striped fish were floating on their sides. Mom started crying. Then she saw her skirt fish swimming and quickly filled the hospital tank back up with water and Quick Start. It is supposed to help make the water safe for the fish immediately. Mom quickly scooped her three skirt fish and the one surviving corey cat and put them back into the hospital tank.

She called Aunt Marcia and asked what she did wrong? How did the fish die that quickly? Aunt Marcia said the ammonia level must have spiked really crazy or the white fungus made them sick. She was surprised how quickly they died, too. They didn't show any signs of trauma. They talked about adding another filter to help keep the bacteria level balanced and since Mom had to take the tank back down and clean it so whatever was in there was definitely gone.

Mom wiped the tank down this time with bleach and rinsed it a lot. She then let it air dry and went to lie down again.

Her headaches are really bad right now she is taking her Compazine suppositories daily just to cope with the pain. I'm going to go check on her again. I'll finish telling you about the rest of the story, tomorrow.