Our little backyard fish pond was so full of algae that you could hardly see the fish anymore. So, Tom spent the afternoon, cleaning it out, which is quite the task. After Tom caught all of the fish and put them into the bucket to wait while he cleaned, we were amazed at how many more we had than we started with. Roman and I really wanted to inventory the fish, so he took pictures and I wrote down the descriptions and names of each fish. We noticed very soon after that they looked really stressed out and thought it might have been from them being moved and handled or maybe because the new water was colder than the old water. Then, as they started floating on their sides, Tom realized that he needed to add de-chlorinator to the water (it was a different process when we set up the pond because the water had been sitting there for so long before we added fish). Long story short, we lost about half of the fish…including our three big beautiful koi (Oreo…black and white dappled / Rusty…black with a reddish/burnt orange tail / Cookie Dough…black with a white tail), two goldfish (Fanta…white with an orange tail / Bolt…all orange…he was Xander’s), and the Three Goldies (golden colored baby goldfish). It was so heartbreaking…especially for Xander, as he lost his fish…his favorite fish. He cried all night and the next morning. We decided to bury them in the garden. So, Tom dug a hole in between the yarrow and the Black-Eyed Susan’s and laid them all together in the ground. Xander called them each by name and bent over in half with grief. He has the most precious heart for creatures and always has. I told him that maybe he could make a cross to mark their grave and put their names on it. So, he did. A little while later, I was cutting zinnias for a little vase in my bathroom. Xander said, “Are those for the fish, Mom?” with his big, teary, blue eyes. I said, “Sure, buddy. Do you want a flower for each fish?” He said, “Yeah” and started crying again. He picked out an orange zinnia in honor of Bolt. It was a sad day.
But we are so thankful for the fish who survived…two goldfish (Tropical…white with an orange head…he’s Roman’s / Pervi…not short for “pervert” but short for “pervi” which is Latin for “see through” or something like that, according to Jonas…white…he’s Jonas’), one koi (Ruston…black with a twinge of burnt orange), and three baby koi (The Kellys…black and golden).
We’re looking forward to adding more fish to the pond soon…