missed tuesday?
yah, I never got to this yesterday. We spent the morning rescuing our fish. They were seriously ill. In the last three days we lost three fish, one of them the large older koi. Then my favorite was the next most ill. She didn't have hours left to live! So right after feeding ourselves Dan and I set to work. I'd tried adding salt a couple times in the last few days so it was time for a water change. I could have tested, but every single test that comes out "problem" indicates, every time, change out 25% of the water. 20% if the problem isn't bad. So why quibble and mess with testing when you know you're going to change out those buckets of water? I think there must have been 5 buckets. Well, 100gal tank, 5gal buckets, 25% is 5 buckets. Dan hauled the horrible things around. The siphoned water got tossed out the door and the buckets were filled in the basement where the cold water pressure is good, then he hauled them upstairs. We have to use dechlorinator and Dan was good enough to calculate the dose per bucket. I was so impressed with how intently he worked. He really likes those fish! He worried all day and all night and every hour their condition improved and he noticed. So yesterday I got my morning crap and some painting done and then hauled ass to the pet store for medicine and while I"m out, the grocery store for food.
I didn't use the medicine, I used the pricey UV Lamp filter I'd found. The fish were looking so improved already I decided to put in the lamp and wait on the antibiotics. There are so many good reasons to skip the medicine if you can!
I will, I will list them because these reasons apply to every species, even human:
1: antibiotics kill everything, including the bacteria you need
2: antibiotics are expensive
3: antibiotics don't affect virii so if you've got that, it's useless.
4: antibiotics require patient and intensive labour over time to administer, monitor, and do correctly, and if you fail, will cause the target bacteria to evolve into something that isn't killed by that medicine.
5: if your immune system, with TLC and good nutrition and good hygiene, can conquer the illness, it will never bother you as much again, if at all.
So there you go, we never needed the medicine, that's $90 I can have back. The $140 gadget has made the water crystal clear as promised and will definitely reduce filter cleaning and glass scraping. I'm even inspired to clear the front off so we can admire the fish again. The fish like eating it so the algae only has to come off for aesthetics. when the fish are sick it looks better on than off.
Yes, I feel ashamed that all this is caused by my reluctance to clean fish filters. Yes, I know I still need to do the guppy filter. Poor guppies. They're just so. Oh god they're dull little minnows. Sometimes I want to just pour them in the koi tank and let my babies have at it and end the guppy school. But then one of them has babies or one of them grows a pretty tail, and I just can't.
I tried releasing one into the koi tank over summer once but the current was so strong she just couldn't swim enough and kept getting shoved around in there and eventually, right up at the intake. I had to fetch her out. They must be pond critters.
I'm finally making a Yule themed box. They're present boxes and the original 3d artist who created the shape named them for Christmas, but I've been painting them as stash and treasure boxes that should sell well at christmas. This one, however, and a few to come I think, will be directly tied to the season. I've been avoiding doing things like themes, focusing instead on bringing out the beauty of the material on it's own right. But I guess now I've done a half dozen it's feeling more okay to pay a nod to different seasons, or at least the winter ones. If they sell well and may sell after the season, I'll consider things like Valentines, or Easter, etc. If the holiday can be captured elegantly enough. I have no intention of painting black cats and witch hats on an orange and black box, or little leprechauns and clovers on a tritone green box. But to make a spiderweb marble pattern on a box, yeah, I could do that. I also love hearts and flowers and chocolate and lace enough to come up with some groovy things.
Oh that reminds me! Last night I thought of a great idea for imprinting lace in glitter patterns on a box! I should do that instead of the holly and snowflakes I had planned. I think I can totally make it work.
So hard to wait, so I won't, I'm going to do that instead of this.
Oh, last note, this afternoon I think I'll bike with the dog trailer (and dogs) back out to the pet store to return the meds.
I didn't use the medicine, I used the pricey UV Lamp filter I'd found. The fish were looking so improved already I decided to put in the lamp and wait on the antibiotics. There are so many good reasons to skip the medicine if you can!
I will, I will list them because these reasons apply to every species, even human:
1: antibiotics kill everything, including the bacteria you need
2: antibiotics are expensive
3: antibiotics don't affect virii so if you've got that, it's useless.
4: antibiotics require patient and intensive labour over time to administer, monitor, and do correctly, and if you fail, will cause the target bacteria to evolve into something that isn't killed by that medicine.
5: if your immune system, with TLC and good nutrition and good hygiene, can conquer the illness, it will never bother you as much again, if at all.
So there you go, we never needed the medicine, that's $90 I can have back. The $140 gadget has made the water crystal clear as promised and will definitely reduce filter cleaning and glass scraping. I'm even inspired to clear the front off so we can admire the fish again. The fish like eating it so the algae only has to come off for aesthetics. when the fish are sick it looks better on than off.
Yes, I feel ashamed that all this is caused by my reluctance to clean fish filters. Yes, I know I still need to do the guppy filter. Poor guppies. They're just so. Oh god they're dull little minnows. Sometimes I want to just pour them in the koi tank and let my babies have at it and end the guppy school. But then one of them has babies or one of them grows a pretty tail, and I just can't.
I tried releasing one into the koi tank over summer once but the current was so strong she just couldn't swim enough and kept getting shoved around in there and eventually, right up at the intake. I had to fetch her out. They must be pond critters.
I'm finally making a Yule themed box. They're present boxes and the original 3d artist who created the shape named them for Christmas, but I've been painting them as stash and treasure boxes that should sell well at christmas. This one, however, and a few to come I think, will be directly tied to the season. I've been avoiding doing things like themes, focusing instead on bringing out the beauty of the material on it's own right. But I guess now I've done a half dozen it's feeling more okay to pay a nod to different seasons, or at least the winter ones. If they sell well and may sell after the season, I'll consider things like Valentines, or Easter, etc. If the holiday can be captured elegantly enough. I have no intention of painting black cats and witch hats on an orange and black box, or little leprechauns and clovers on a tritone green box. But to make a spiderweb marble pattern on a box, yeah, I could do that. I also love hearts and flowers and chocolate and lace enough to come up with some groovy things.
Oh that reminds me! Last night I thought of a great idea for imprinting lace in glitter patterns on a box! I should do that instead of the holly and snowflakes I had planned. I think I can totally make it work.
So hard to wait, so I won't, I'm going to do that instead of this.
Oh, last note, this afternoon I think I'll bike with the dog trailer (and dogs) back out to the pet store to return the meds.