Today I came back from class and went to check in on my fish tank. Brains was happily swimming around, but the Maid was not. Last night Kelly had pointed out that the Maid was laying oddly in the corner, not cleaning, but I had just laughed because I thought he was just taking a little break. I mean, he started swimming around a little bit after a while and I thought he was just fine.
It always takes a while to find the Maid, but this time, when I found him... it was a pretty devastating sight.
He had his tail wrapped around the filter and the rest of his body was hanging free... upside down. His sucker was pointing straight up in the water and the motion from the filter was making him move a little bit.
I yelled for Kelly, but it was too late.
He was dead.
I had to flush him.
I was really sad.
After mourning, we decided we needed to go to Pet's Mart to have the water tested to see why the Maid might have perished. So Kelly and I took a cup of the tank water and headed for the store. When we arrived, no one was around the water testing station. Kelly and I walked around for a few seconds before we saw an employee approaching from down the aisle.
Suddenly, I realized it wasn't just a regular employee like Crazy Ray... it was the man who hates Nick.
I asked him to test the water anyway, as I thought he may not remember me. He did though. He asked me how Brains was and asked if he was enjoying his new, big tank. I told him he was fine, but his maid wasn't so lucky.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that my ammonia is too high, but I can't do anything about it because I've already done everything I can.
I'm sad that the Maid died. He gave three weeks of great cleaning service and I'm very thankful for that. I'm sorry Paul and Theresa! I didn't know he needed to eat Algae Discs! I'm sorry!
...we will miss you, Maid. :(