Goodbye

I just feel sick. Sick. Sick.

I just killed 3 of the kids platys, including "Lucky", the spirited lone survivor that made it through all the previous temperature changes, that jumped out of his tank into our bag to come home with us.

When we first got the tank, we got a faulty heater. It worked, but only if the cord was positioned just so. I finally replaced it, with a new one purchased at the locally-owned pet shop. When I got it home and unpacked it, I noticed it had a manufacture date of 1999, but it seemed to work.

Over the last week it had been making some odd noises, and the last couple of days the water temperature dropped to room temperature. I put *both* heaters in the tank, hoping one would be a backup for the other, and fiddled until they came on. What I didn't realize is that both were also now set to their highest temperature rather than the 2/3 setting that was needed. Why they don't just put a temperature scale on the dial I don't know, except to presume that the quality control isn't there to support it.

The tank overheated.

The fish died.

Even Lucky.