Death by evaporation

When we got Corrie her Betta fish, we didn't expect it to live long. I assumed it would die of starvation or poor sanitation, but death by evaporation? Didn't see that one coming.

I am usually not motivated enough to clean the tanks until they smell so bad I cannot stand it, or until the water is so dirty we can't see the fish. Several months ago, the pet shop lady gave Mac and Corrie each their own snail to go in their fish tanks. Who would have thought such a tiny little thing could keep a tank so clean? (See that tiny little dot in the upper right-hand corner? That's the snail).

The other day I looked at Dori swimming around and realized just how long it had been since the last tank cleaning. Half of the water had evaporated. My first thought? "Oh the water can go a lot lower than that!"

Poor fish.