Poor, sick, fish

Do you have pets in your classroom?

I do. We have bunnies and we have fish.

We used to have rats, finches, hermit crabs and lizards, but they all died.
And I think the fish are next.

The fish have been around for a long time. We first got the original two goldfish when my daughter Bailey was in third grade. I can remember this because the fish is named after her third grade teacher, Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith is now 4 years old.

I was up on a ladder yesterday, putting up my writing posters. I happened to look down, and my eyes landed on the tank. I noticed that Mrs. Smith (and Mr. Benhke, my Lulu's second grade teacher) lying on the bottom of the tank. I went over to have a look and not only were those two lying on the bottom, so was Bubbles!

I was sad. I love my fish, even though they do nothing but swim around and poop.

I got online and googled "bloody fish on bottom" and I got a great hit on the first link. It turns out the ammonia level was too high in the tank.

Guess what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing?

No, not bandaging fish, or giving them cold-packs. I cleaned out the entire tank, which you are never supposed to do, but I was so worried about Mrs. Smith. I hope she recovers.

I hope that someday a student thinks I'm such a great teacher that they name a fish after me.

Update: Every single last one died! Even Mrs. Smith.

I am so sad. And they were just fish.