Throughout yesterday I had become pretty worried about the missing Cory. I wondered if the Fish Aliens might have him, and if they did, what kind of sick experiments were they doing to the poor guy? I had been racking my brain all day to try and figure out where he might have gone to. No answers were quick to formulate.
Work was pretty rough so I was looking forward to getting home and checking on the peaceful fish. But, how peaceful can they possibly be when one of their own has gone missing? I knew I was not feeling pacific at all and had a feeling that there was an undercurrent of anxiousness in the tank as well. All was not well in the recording studio, I felt.
Gabby and I sat and had our daily talk about what happened during our day (our secret to an awesome marriage!). She wanted to take a nap before the gym, so I told her I'd take care of the fish while she caught some z's. It was not time for the weekly
water change or nitrification testing yet (Tetra SafeStart, remember). But, they needed dinner...and I needed to find Jordan.
I took care of Mori first. He seems to get happier and happier everyday. His flaring has pretty much stopped unless the lighting conditions are just wrong. Everytime he sees Gabby or I at his tank, he swims forward and wiggles as though he is showing off. It really is quite cute. Bloodworms for the boy.
I figured if I was going to stick my hands into the Block (well, they are the New Kids on the
Block aren't they?), I'd rather do it
before they ate and I got food all over me. But, if I could do this without putting my hands in the water at all, even better!
The only instrument I had that I thought was long enough was a fish net... In retrospect, this was a really dumb idea, but at the time, it seemed stellar. Anyway, I tried using the net to move around some of the decor.
First of all, the net wasn't long enough to do much of anything except shake the top of the plants. Second, skittish fish become skittishier (that isn't a word, but just follow me here) when they see a net. Third, being that I don't have a prehensile net, how did I really think this was going to do me any good?
So, after throuroughly scaring the Kids out of their scales, I left the net and went in bare handed. I shook and moved all of the "toys" while wiggling all of the plants. Again, my thoughts here were that MAYBE Jordan was floating under something and his body hadn't floated anywhere yet. I had no delusions of his health status at this point.
As I was doing this, detrius and leftover fish food become stirred. While Delores (the Emerald Green "Cory") was scared as could possibly be, the one little Peppered Cory (the one NOT named Jordan and MIA) was loving it. He was getting free food while the Barbs and Swordtail huddled in whatever corner my heavy hand was not.
After everything, still no Jordan. No swimming little missing Cory and no floating, bloated, long dead body either. At this point, I just want closure... If Jordan has left us for another boy band, so be it. If he has left to join the heavenly chorus, I can take it. But not knowing is torture.
Friday is 1 week... I can do a water change, test the water, and really check everywhere in the tank for him. If the other guys in the band get stressed, so be it. It must be done. I leave no man behind and we all deserve to know what happened. There will be no Grave of the Unknown Fish in my home. Not if I can help it.
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