Dealing With Death: R.I.P Fishie

Yesterday something terrible happened. Something horribly terribly awful.
I, Fatima Berry... committed murder. OH YES. I AM A MONSTER!

I decided to clean my fish, Bill-shido Neil Diamonscales Gustav Hagen Kaulitz Rouge's tank. For funsies I put him in my bath tub. He zipped around, happy as a clam. He was a humble betta from Wal-Mart and had probably never seen so much water all to himself!

I cleaned his tank and played with him a bit, getting him to swim through a hoop.
I finally got him back into his own area with a bit of chasing. (He really liked the tub).

However, after a few minutes in his new water he began to look pale. I tapped the plastic bowl, worried. I figured he was just sleeping. Betta fish do need sleep you know, as well as fresh air. (Yes!  A fish that breathes air. How about that?)

I fretted and watched him for an hour but there was no change. He became lethargic and slow, floating around like a lump. I tried to feed him but he wouldn't eat.

At 11:27 pm I had to pronounce him dead.

Guilt washed over me like rain. Cold, painful, shameful rain. As I lay his tank in white, as is procedure for a proper Victorian funeral (for he was a true Victorian gentleman. He wouldn't even fight his own reflection!) I felt myself tear up. I had taken a life. A small harmless creature that looked to me to care for him and keep him safe and I had failed.

I forgot to set out his water for a night to let the chemicals in the tap water settle out. He had gotten toxic shock in addition to temperature shock from being in the tub. I can't help but think that if I had just put him in his usual hiatus cup for cleaning none of this would have happened. He would still be in his tank blowing bubbles and sleeping under his plastic plants.

This morning I took his tank out to our dock and held a small ceremony for him. My dog and a crowd of fiddler crabs were in attendance. I said a few kind words and tossed him into the water where he sort of stayed until the tide came in enough to wash him away.

I'd like to say I've learned from this mistake and will be ready for a new fish soon but I doubt it. Unless I gain the means to properly care for and house, a great white shark, I can say that I will never own another fish as long as I live. I know he was just a $5 fish from the back of Wal-Mart but in a way he was family. He will be missed dearly

R.I.P Bill-shido Neil Diamonscales Gustav Hagen Kaulitz Rouge