My fish died today.

All of them.

All 8 of them.

They were healthy, happy, absolutely beautiful goldfish with long 4 inch tails. I rescued all the pretty ones from the Oscar when they were bought as feeder fish 7 years ago, and a couple that made it through the night in her tank. I put them all in our pond, and they survived floods, droughts, heat waves, and stray cats. Two of them even had a little kid.

He would have been 3 inches long this summer.

And my baby, the calico shubunkin, is no where to even be found. I can't even bury him with his family.

Apparently, the de-icer that's been keeping them alive for the last 7 winters, lost control of it's thermostat and heated the water up to over 130 degrees.

My fish literally cooked to death.

There was steam flowing off the water like a hot tub. Their shiny scales had fallen off their bodies and there were just little holes where their eyes had been. Needless to say, the smell was quite strong.

I only recovered four bodies. Three gold and the one white guy. I believe I found the spine of the tiny baby. But the other two gold ones and my shubunkin must have inevitably disintegrated in the bottom sludge.

Earl and I are heart broken. It's a terrible thing to see. Not only were they part of our family for so long, but they had their own family starting. Earl swears we'll never use a heater again.

And we had no idea that they were suffering such a painful death. I hope they just fell asleep after the water got to a certain temperature, and didn't feel anything, but how will we ever know.

RIP my little friends. I am so sorry the fate you all suffered.


















I know heaven has a big lake waiting for you.