I was gifted with the responsibility of watching our neighbor's goldfish, Oliver, while they went on vacation for 10 days....and yesterday....the day before they were scheduled to get back, the poor thing kicked the bucket.

Needless to say I felt awful & guilty that it happened under my watch,a lthough I fed it religously and that is all that they wanted me to do. They changed half of the water in the bowl the day that they left, which left the water pretty murky....and after 9 days the murkiness had turned into something of a stagnant swamp. The water stunk, the fish seemed to just stay at the bottom of the bowl, pretty listless.....and then it died.

I feel like a fish killer. Here I was entrusted to care for this little life and it just goes and expires on me! I know it is because the water was too dirty....but they told me only to feed it, didn't leave me any furthur instructions or anything. When I called the day before it died to ask if they wanted me to change the cesspool water, nobody answered the cell phone and I never got called back......

I did end up cleaning out the bowl the day it died, it perked up a bit and then gave up the ghost. I tried. But I still feel awful! My husband and I replaced Oliver with another goldfish....the neighbors came by and picked it up today, seemed totally fine with it. I know it's just a fish, but they have a 4 year old, and I know how kids get attached to their pets.....maybe he won't notice and his parents won't tell him that Oliver isn't really Oliver anymore......