First Pet Named, Now Gone

Today was a very sad day for Michael and I because we have lost another pet. No it is not Lilly she is actually doing a lot better which we are both very thankful to see. Today we lost one of our goldfish, Fat Louie. He was a very special fish for us and he did out live his life time that goldfish normally have but it was still hard to see him go. I just wanted to share a little history about him and why he is so special to us.
.
We got Fat Louie a month after we had just gotten married with 20 other goldfish. You know the really tiny ones that are only like 7 cents. Since these were our first pets together as a married couple we had to get the entire set up of tank and things. We got it all set up and then later that night had gone to bed. In the morning Michael comes running into the bedroom to tell me that all of the fish are gone. At first I thought that maybe he was still asleep or something but I followed him into the kitchen (where the fish were being kept). I saw right away that there was no fish and then we realized that there was no water in the tank either. Then Michael saw where the fish were, they were still in the tank but they all lay so still on the bottom of it and we wouldn't have noticed them at all except for one fish that jumped a little to try and breath. We panicked and started to fill the tank with water. Yes, we knew the tank had a leak but we were trying to save our pets so that is why we did it. As soon as we put the water in all of the fish started slowly one by one to start to swim around again. As soon as we got a head count of who had actually made it we moved them all into a plastic container and quickly took that tank back to the store and got a better one. We did a night check on that tank just to make sure that it would not lose water like the last one. After the fish were back in the new tank we kept losing fish after fish in the next week. It was really hard to see them go and we just felt so bad for that happening. We lost all of the fish except one, Fat Louie (but he didn't have a name at the time), and we didn't want him to be alone so we went out and got another 20 more fish. Those fish for some reason had a hard time and we lost several of them. In the end we were left with only seven fish. When Michael and I moved to a different place we lost 2 of our fish in the move, I think that they just could not handle the shock. Finally since there were so few fish and I told Michael we were not going to be getting anymore because I could not handle losing so man;y we finally named the fish. They were all big enough to tell apart and since there was one fish that was bigger then the rest he got named Fat Louie (I named him). He was pretty much the king of the tank so the name did fit him great. Then one day during the summer it was very hot and the tank water was so hot that you could see them temperature on the thermometer at all. So we did what we could and tried putting a little bit colder water into it but that wasn't helping and so we put in a couple ice cubes. I know we were not the smartest pet owners but we were just trying to help our fish. We ended up losing 3 fish that day and night. So then the only fish left in the tank was Fat Louie, Tiny and Angel (who is already passed away). Since then they have all done really well and have traveled great. They have all lived in 3 different states and several different homes but have always done amazingly well for what they have had to put up with.
.
Fat Louie ended up getting the same thing that Angel died of several months ago and we tried all sorts of treatments to help her and nothing worked and since they shared a tank we knew nothing would work on him. We are very sad to see him go because he meant so much to us and was so important to us. The tank is just not going to be the same without him but we are grateful that we were able to have him for the time that we did.