R. I. P. Tommy

Tommy passed away in the early afternoon of June 24th, 2013. I had noticed he was struggling a little to breath this morning and was a little worried but he'd acted that way before so I convinced myself that he would be fine. What worried me more was that, when I tried to feed him, he didn't want any food. Tommy loves food. I am convinced that he has lived the past year and eight months upside down simply because he loved it so much he wanted to keep on eating it no matter his condition. He was such a happy little fish and seeing him so docile and calm was a little unsettling. I figured he would be alright though. I put a small dose of medication in the tank and fed the rest of the fish before going out to do my work in the yard. A couple of hours later, I cam back in to find him completely still. I watched him for a long time, waiting for any signs of breathing, but it soon dawned on me that he had passed. I pulled him out of the tank and put him in a separate bucket of water, just in case, and gave it a couple of hours (always checking on him) before I would let myself announce his death to any of my friends and family. I just finished burying him a few minutes ago. I tried to make his little grave as nice as I could. I promised him that I would make sure to finish his children's books someday so that his memory could live on. He is in a better place now and part of me is relieved that he doesn't have to sit there and wait for me to drop food right in front of him or give him a whole frozen cube of shirmp. There is a hole in my heart where he belongs. I will miss him swimming under the filter and enjoying the current as it pushed him down into the tank so he could float back up and do it all over again. He was a lively, energetic, loving, and beautiful fish. I plan on getting one just like him and naming him after Tommy. He will, of course, go by Junior but he will be a living memory of one of the most interesting fish I have ever known. He was a fighter and I will miss him dearly. I love you Tommy.

Meet Tommy

Tommy is a fantail goldfish with a powerful love of food and a permanently damaged swim bladder. A year ago he developed a problem with his swim bladder that would have him floating up to the top of the tank on and off. He was fed fresh peas and blood worms and treated with medications to help heal him. It worked at first, but one day Tommy floated belly up and he has been upside down ever since. He is still treated with medications and fed fresh and frozen fish foods, but the damage to his swim bladder (the organ that regulates the depth and balance of a fish) is believed to be permanent. For over a year now he has seen his world in an entirely different way. He still loves food, he's still the lazy fat goldfish he always was, but now he lives upside down.

I am writing a children's book about Tommy. He's just too interesting and too fun not to write about. December was his year long anniversary of living life upside down. That fish just loves food too much to let a permanently damaged swim bladder get him down...pun intended...because his damaged swim bladder makes him float...so he can't get down...ahem, anyway. I am seriously so amazed by his resilience and his will to live. That little handicap fish is both the most pathetic and the most amazing thing I've witnessed in a goldfish. I hope he lives his upside down life for years to come because he has brought so much joy to my life and I am not sure what the other fish would do without him.

This is my most recent picture of Tommy taken with my Nikon D5100. It's hard to get pictures of him because he never sits still when I'm standing near the tank...he just wants me to put my camera down and feed him.

This is an older picture taken with my iPhone, the fish Below him is Meggie, she survived a Tumor that appeared a couple of years after she injured herself swimming by a tank decoration too quickly. She is a survivor too. :)

Another iPhone picture...he kind of looks like he's burping in this one...how appropriate.