G.D.

Name: Grover Diego

Age: 18 months

Sex: Male

Color: Shimmery Red

Grover Diego, my beautiful Beta fish, has been sick. He was overdue for a water change, but has been living swimmingly... until last Sunday. As Sunday night's church group was leaving, one of the ladies alerted me that Gover Diego was floating on his side and appeared dead. Dad tapped and shook the bowl. He eventually started moving...but he was so weak. I rushed to change his water and fed him a small amount of food. I monitored his progress throught the night and continued into the next day. He was having trouble swimming normally. He could only sink, float, or rely on his little plastic tree for support. My poor baby. Part of his little aquatic body kept skimming the surface of the water, like he couldn't really submerge himself. His swimming was laborious; he would flap his little fins so hard and couldn't get where he wanted to go... :-(

I played him his favorite song, Private Dancer by Tina Turner, and sang him the song I wrote and sang for him everyday when I got out of class and both lived in my dorm room. He liked that. He swam at little better. I think he's ready to move out of the kitchen area. Maybe he's tired of his new location. Grover Diego and I so similar. He has simple joys, likes good music, enjoys company, and likes change. Grover Diego entered my life a month after I returned from Scotland. He's charming and adorable, the best listener ever, and so brilliant both mentally and in color. He's the perfect Beta. I was so worried about his survival.

Thankfully after a few nights of rehabiliation, close monitoring, and intensive care, I'm proud to say that he has finally fully recovered. I was worried about losing a best friend but crisis averted. Sic 'em Grover Diego.