Today has been an interesting day, not particularly good, but this evening had to be one of the strangest evenings I have ever spent. It all started at about 6:45 p.m. when Merc called to say that he was going to be later than he thought. When I asked why he explained that one of the fish had gotten stuck in one of the fake pieces of driftwood that decorate the office fish tank.

I immediately started searching for any help I could find on the internet, which was very little. Basically, it said try taking the object out of the water so the fish would panic and possibly free itself. After about half an hour, I called back to see if there was any progress and he said that he had tried everything he could think of, including trying to pull it out himself, all to no avail. He was ready to give up and leave the little guy to work it out on his own. So I decided to go down and see if I had any brilliant ideas.

I packed up Scarlett and we headed out to the office. When I got there, Merc said that Manda was coming too. Good, three heads are better than 2. I tried everything I could think of: seeing if I could dislodge him with a thin stick, gently pulling on his tail, swaying the piece of driftwood in the water…nothing. Manda showed up and we all tried again…nothing. After nearly 2 and a half hours of trying to free Willy, we were about out of ideas.

Merc gave it one last effort and tried to break the driftwood. He was finally able to break off one of the legs. This gave us new hope, so Manda and I trekked down to the cars to get pliers. When we returned Merc carefully chipped away at the piece of aquarium decor until the little guy was able to wriggle free. Manda and I gasped. Yay! He was free! A little banged up, but we think he is going to make it.

What a strange evening. Go check out what Merc and Manders have to say about it.