Fish Pop-Eye

We're experiencing FISH 9-1-1 trauma. Yesterday morning Blair noticed that one of our Corey fish had a bulging eye and a bulbous blue growth around the mouth. A quick Google search gave us a diagnosis of pop-eye. Pop-eye is less of a disease and more a symptom that something else is wrong. Still, if not caught early enough, the fish can lose sight in the eye. 

We've set up an emergency trauma tank and isolated the Corey. Poor thing is in there all alone with just a cheap plastic plant for comfort. The frustrating part is that we can't add the medicinal treatment to the water for six days. Since we just set a new tank up, we have to allow the carbon filter to run for that long before adding anything to the water. I don't know if the little Corey will make it. He does not look like a happy fish.

My biggest concern is that he's in pain. None of the material we read mentioned anything about pain but common sense tells me that if my eye is bulging out of socket due to a build-up of fluid, I'm most likely in a fair amount of pain. 

Meanwhile, we're keeping a close watch on the other fish. After the horrific snail infestation we endured earlier this year, we're doing a better job of keeping on top of fish problems as they occur. 

We'll keep you posted. Get-well cards, flowers, and donations may be sent to our home address...

♫ Bow-Chicka-Bow-Wow... ♫

By contract, I am required to supply my publisher with a photo for the back-of-the-book author shot. No problem. I e-mail my editor the photo I had professionally taken a few years ago and that I will probably still be using when I'm 90. It's lovely, she says, but given that this is a cat book, might I have some pictures of myself with my cats we could use?

I do not. Not only do our cats not cooperate in the picture-taken process, they actively sabotage it. Plus...

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Perhaps Cashmere Would Help...

In an attempt to thaw out my permanently frozen fingers, I picked up a pair of fingerless gloves this week from Target. (NOTE: Gloves do not resemble chain mail as much as the accompanying photo may lead you to believe.) No go. The gloves, while warm, are too thick and bulky to allow for ease of typing and writing. A friend sent me a link to a site that sells fingerless cashmere gloves for $25, plus S&H. Since my $12.99 el-cheapo gloves were a bust, I may have to investigate. 

Meanwhile, I'll hang out with my fingerless Target gloves and hope 80's Madonna-inspired fashion cames roaring back into vogue.