12.28.2007

Buford "Mad Dog" Tannon Barton

July 21-Dec 26, 2007

Buford "Mad Dog" Tannon Barton died on December 26, 2007 after a short bout with Swim Bladder Disorder. Mad Dog managed to become the Barton's longest tenured fish at 5 months and 5 days, but was never quite the same after being implicated in the mysterious death of his brother Egon.

Although eventually acquitted on all charges, Mad Dog was hounded by ongoing accusations. He also failed to live up to his much ballyhooed promise of tracking down Egon's "real killers," instead living out the remainder of his life in solitude.

His family seemed to become disenchanted with the troubled fish after having to fund his ongoing legal proceedings. They would clean his tank only sporadically, and neglected to buy him a heater when the weather turned cold, which may or may not have contributed to his death.

Mad Dog is survived by his parents, Dave and Kristen, and his unborn human brother Smidgen.

5 comments:

Christie said...

It kills me that your deceased fish actually have diagnosed medical conditions... so sorry for the loss (although it seems that you're not that broken up about it).

ScottBoomer said...

How did your parents manage to keep gold fish alive for over a decade and you can't keep them alive for half a year? And who gets gold fish disorders diagnosed? Don't you just go to the pet store and fork over the 50 cents for a new one?

Dave said...

Well it is pretty easy thing to diagnose, thanks to the internet. If a fish starts swimming sideways, upside down, etc, that means it has swim bladder disorder.

And that also means the fish is probably going to die, unless you do something ridiculous like feeding it skinned peas. In which case, yes, it is much easier to just go buy a new fish.

But to answer your other question, I have no idea how my parents kept those goldfish alive for so long. Apparently that skill didn't get passed down to me.

Krissy said...

Besides, one of our previous fish had swim bladder, too... so by the time Mad Dog got it, we knew how to recognize it. Unfortunately, he died so quickly that we didn't have time to skin any peas. :)

robmba said...

You might be more specific with the peas for those that are interested in your fish medical conditions. The peas are to cure constipation, which can cause SBD. So basically, your fish died of constipation.