Dori, the Tough Little Goldfish

Oh my!  I let time slip away.... again...  sigh!  Well, what good is time, though, if we don't spend it?

I've been spending my time lately on several projects.  I have been trying to finish designing a book, I've been creating a magazine, I have been rearranging the living room, I've been making a few beads here and there, and I have been trying to learn how to build a website using Dreamweaver.

Oh yeah, and I have been trying to help save an injured goldfish.

Dori, the goldfish, managed to somehow squeeze through a tiny hole in a colorful ceramic rock I have in the fish tank.  We noticed she was stuck inside the rock and could not get out.  My hubby stuck the net into the water and sort of nudged her backward and up to the largest of the three small holes in the rock.  Finally she popped out, but not without injuring herself in the process.  Poor baby!  She was pretty banged up; several scales had fallen off and her fins and tail were a bit ragged.

Then, with each passing day - although she continued to survive - her tail looked worse and worse, and now there is little more than a mere stump at the end of her body.  We finally realized if we didn't "do something" we might wind up losing her in the long run.  I felt bad.  How do you treat a fish?  It's not like I can take her to the local vet, right?  I googled fish injuries and learned that I should treat her with Melafix and isolate her in a seperate tank.  Yesterday, I got the Melafix (I was SHOCKED to find it at the local Walmart!) and a small plastic one gallon tank.  I got her transferred to the tank and treated the water, only to discover the water was turning too cool.  We've never used a heater, but Google had suggested I keep the water close to 80 degrees, to aid with healing.  Well, that wasn't happening on it's own, so I went and got a heating pad and tucked it under the tank and against one wall.  That worked real well. 

But, I want my heating pad back!  I usually sleep with it warming my cold feet.

Today, I got a little heater for the tank.  So far so good.  Dori is swimming around more, but she has a tough road to recovery ahead of her.  She's a tough little cookie.  Maybe she'll make it.

Keep your fingers crossed OK?

Debby