The Cutter Rambles

The Curious Case of the Zombie Fish

Yes, I’m back yet again. 

The 31 Days of Blogging refuses to die.  Instead, it continues to live on well past its expected expiration date like sort of zombie.

And so, I figured this would be as good a time as any to discuss the zombie fish.

Mrs. Cutter and I have a fish tank in our condo.  For the past few months, we have had a thriving community of eleven fish.  They all seemed healthy and happy enough.  Or at least as happy as fish can be.

The community includes three “Mickey Mouse” tetras.  They are so named due to a black pattern on their sides that resembles Mickey Mouse’s head. 

About a month or so ago, one of the Mickey Mouses seemed to fall ill.  It would lie on the bottom of the tank and barely move.  This is generally not considered to be healthy behavior for a fish.

On at least a couple of occasions, Mrs. Cutter and I thought the fish was dead.  It didn’t seem to be moving at all, and appeared to be missing portions of its tail fin.

Thinking that it had expired, I attempted to scoop him out with a net.  Only to my surprise, before I could snatch him, he swam away.  But he then returned to his prone state at the bottom of the tank.

Was the fish still alive?  Or was it deceased and continuing on as an undead zombie?

Even if the fish was still alive, surely it couldn’t last for too much longer, right?

Well, to our surprise, a few days later, the fish vanished.

We searched the tank, but couldn’t find any sign of it.  We thought that it might have been hiding inside the decorative castle.  I tried looking in there, but I couldn’t see any sign of it.

So what happened to our fish?  Did it spontaneously combust?  Did it die and then get consumed by the others?  Did it find a way to escape and is now living on the lam somewhere in Mexico?

Unfortunately it seems that we may never know the answer.