mineralsolutions
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Photo: Tim Roske/AP
Dick, a 17-year-old goldfish, rests in a sling in his aquarium at the Sky Port Restaurant in Scotia, N.Y., on April 23.
Scotia, N.Y. — Dick, the fish, has died.
The 17-year-old goldfish, whose illness prompted letters of sympathy worldwide, died Tuesday following the morning rush at his home, Sky Port Restaurant near Schenectady.
The 20-centimetre goldfish fell ill in November and could no longer swim, prompting diner customers to invent a fish sling — made of fishing bobbers, drinking straws, gauze and string — to keep him swimming.
The three sisters who own the diner had been hand-feeding Dick a diet of cooked peas three times a day. A customer’s daughter, a veterinarian student, prescribed the diet after determining that Dick most likely had a swim-bladder disease, said Patty Sherman, one of the sisters. She received the fish as a Christmas gift 16 years ago.
Published reports last month of Dick’s ailments prompted telephone calls and postcards of encouragement from around the world, said Mary Ann Parker, another owner.
It is unclear what Dick died of. Ms. Parker believes it was a bacterial infection. Dick had many health problems over the years, including cloudy eye, septicemia and fin rot. When he died, he had only one eye.
The sisters shrouded Dick’s aquarium with a beach towel. They plan to cremate Dick and place his ashes in a miniature goldfish bowl, to be displayed at the diner.
“We’re not ’flush’ people,” Ms. Parker told the Albany Times Union. “Even at home, I don’t flush any of my fish. I have a place I call ’Golden Gills.’ It’s part of the flower garden.”
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he seemed like such a nice fish 
