RIP Pico....

I am beginning to think that maybe I need to tie a rope to my belt and attach the other end to Abel. He is ALWAYS into something - good, bad, or otherwise. Eric and I have nicknamed him "Wild Card" - because we never know what he's going to do....here's an example.

Dane was at preschool this morning, and Abel and I were doing some chores around the house. He was in the laundry room with me, and all of a sudden I see him darting out of there. I caught a glimpse of a green spray bottle, which I thought was the water bottle I use when I'm ironing. The boys love spraying each other, so I thought that is what he had. Boy, was I wrong.

Not more than a minute later, I walked into the next room (the office), and he had pulled a chair over to the fish tank and was spraying Spray 'N Wash in the fish tank - which happened to be in a green bottle! There were bubbles on the top of the water, and I thought "oh, this is not good!". I emptied about a third of the water, and put some fresh water back in. About this time, two of our three fish were acting weird. Our Jack Dempsey - aka Barney - was floating near the top, and our catfish - aka Pico - was at the bottom doing barrell rolls. I didn't know what else to do. I thought that maybe this was the end of them, but I couldn't just stand there and watch them like that.

I filled a bucket with fresh water, and scooped up all the fish and put them in the bucket. I NEVER do this, but I had no choice. Eric always scoops them out when we are cleaning, when one has died, etc. So, it was quite a sight when I was trying to do it. Luckily, they were kind of lethargic from Abe's poison, so I could get them easily. Abel was so interested, but I kept telling him to back up and not touch the fish - why? He's a boy and that's what they do....but mom thinks it's gross!

I then emptied 3/4 of the tank and refilled it. By the time I was done, Pico had passed. Even though it was a little fish and I don't like them, I was sad. Off into a Meijer's bag he went...too big to flush.

As of right now, the other two are back in the tank and trying to survive. Our sucker fish has seemed fine all along, and Barney is still near the top - but swimming around a little bit more.

When Eric called this evening, he asked to talk to Abel. I put him on the phone, and Eric asked him if he killed Pico today. He said "yep".

I hope they can survive the Wild Card's chemical warfare.