Mailed stuff today. Whew! Turns out the Felton post office is open on Saturdays!
Went to a little rummage sale in Felton. Haven’t done that in a while. I restrained myself and only bought a lamp for John, some toy dinosaurs, and a shelf/coat rack for the house. Go me.
Zoot is…. still alive. Considering the damage, he seems to be in pretty good spirits. Except when Alladin leaps at his tank, of course. Alladin is no longer allowed in my office when I’m not present.
For those wondering: I am using Melafix and Stress Coat to help him recover. Melafix is a tea tree solution that promotes fin regrowth. Stress Coat is a slime rebuilder to help prevent secondary infections due to stress. I need to give a second dose of Melafix, but I’m not sure if I should change out the water beforehand– too much Melafix can burn, as it’s mildly astringent.
Still left on my to-do list for today: Go to Ann’s party and clean the kitchen. I did, however, get a head start on tomorrow’s tasks by doing the accounting. Perhaps I will clean the bathrooms before the kitchen today.
Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)
So, a while ago, I made a short movie of my cat Alladin (the grey stripey “kitten”) watching my betta fish Zoot with great intent.
Zoot is over a year old– I kept him at work until a few weeks ago, when I brought him home in anticipation of various vacations. Normally my attitude towards fish is very blase– until Zoot, I’d never owned a fish for more than 3 weeks before it died. And Zoot has real personality, when he’s not sick or hurt. He’s only been sick once since I got him– a small bout of fungus that he mysteriously developed almost immediately after another office fishkeeper set her betta next to him so they could “flare” at each other.
Well, last night… it was like Jaws: the Revenge. I came home to…. well, you’ll see.
It was like walking in on a scene from a horror movie.
Warning: if you are a fish lover or betta keeper, some images in this film may be very disturbing.
I left this morning with Zoot the Fish sitting on the bathroom counter. I should have tested this location before, but I didn’t really have time and, well, shit.
Shit shit shit.
Alladin got him but good. Zoot is, amazingly, still alive. The cover of his tank was knocked off, his plant and some rocks were on the ground, and the food canisters were everywhere else.
His tail and fins are shredded. I mean, SHREDDED. Normally, he’s a standard veil tail, with actual membrane between each “spine” in his fins (see userpic). Now, he is a fish body with a lot of fish-colored strings hanging off of it.
I can only imagine that he’s in pain. However, the part that’s been shredded does grow back, so I’ll be picking up a solution tonight to help with that.
I can see that having a cat and a fish are incompatible in my house, and I already know that Alladin will do what he must to get to the fish. If I am to keep the fish, I must find a safer container for him.
Right now, he is in my bathroom in his tiny water-change bowl until I can get the medicine to put in his bowl.
Alladin, meanwhile, is just bouncing around the house. Clearly, he has enjoyed working out his prey drive. Bastard. 
