Serial Guppy

I posted earlier this summer about my tendency to kill things as evidenced by my black thumb. It's happening again and it's manifesting itself inside and out. What kind of a person can't grow a geranium or a petunia? They're not difficult. Hell, my neighbors grow them like weeds. So far this summer I have lost 3 petunias and one and a half geraniums. The geraniums got all moldy looking. No I didn't water them too much. Maybe they're just defective. Their twisted yellow leaves mock me. The first two of the petunias withered and died almost immediately. The one that finally bit it turned all gnarled and brown very slowly. It was torturous to watch. I almost put it out of it's misery a couple of times, but the optimist in me couldn't go through with it. It might have come back afterall. The good news is that the weeds in my herb garden are flourishing.

#1 Son is convinced we have a guppy that moonlights as a serial killer. See we've been cycling a new tank for the past few weeks. After the second week, we added 6 feeder guppies. They're babies really, but they're cheap. 99 cents a dozen and hey, we saved their lives. Four days later we had one left. And the water wasn't bad either. We decided to go for the gusto and added 6 tetras. They're bigger so they'll cycle faster and they are super hardy. They should be able to survive even this family. Guess what? 8 days later and we only have one of those left. Using his crack powers of deduction, #1 Son thinks the guppy, who is 1/4 the size of the tetra, is in some sort of mob plot with the other fish. It's only a matter of time, says Son One, before the tetra angers the killer guppy enough to waste him.

I don't buy it. Not with what's going on around here. Plants mysteriously wasting away and now the death toll of fish up to 10. It certainly couldn't be me. Come to think of it, that guppy looks a little shifty.

Catt