Fishmamma!!

[treybom]

Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Hi again!!
I'm doing everything in the book to rid myself of the "green monster". I think that I'm slowly winning the battle, but VERY slowly...

My hubby and I are planning on taking a trip to Chicago to the Shedd Aquarium sometime, probably this spring (my Christmas gift), and I can't wait. I was there once many years ago, but I think I have a new appreciation for it. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them.
No much more. HB wants to go diving today, but my diving season is pretty much done...that's always a little sad to admit

Glad to "see" you again. I'll check in again later.
Lisa :happyfish
i live in chicago.. and the shedd is awesome!!!!

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by treybom
i live in chicago.. and the shedd is awesome!!!!

I agree. When I was there last...and like I said, that was many years ago...I can only remember how impressed I was then. Having a new appreciation with being in the hobby now, I can't wait to go!!!
Lisa :happyfish

 

[fishmamma]

Lisa- what a terrific gift, that does look like a great aquarium. Congrats on slowly winning the battle. Did your snails come in? Yeah, I would think those Wisconsin waters would be quite chilly this time of year. Have you had any snow fall yet?
I just purchased (won a bid) some red/pink zoos on line. It was quite naughty of me, but I can not wait to get them in my tank for a splash of color! I a m a little worried about fading though since they are currently housed under 400 watt halides and I have power compacts. :notsure:

 

[ant]

Lisa-good going with the green monster.

I've never heard about the Shedd aquarium but now my insterest is peaked. :thinking: Can't wait to see pics.
Fishmamma-I was a labor and delivery nurse before we moved here. I loved it and miss it, but I don't miss the crazy hours. I'm now in the PACU(aka-recovery room), in a small hospital and it's very nice. Not crazy at all. Thanks for the kind words about nursing. How cool about your pink zoos! They will do great. Wish I had the nerve.
Hey-you two didn't answer my question about a timer for my lights. Any suggestions? The one we bought stunk and so we sent it back but I want to order another. Please let me know what you have.
Ant. :joy:

 

[fishmamma]

Sorry Ant- I used a strip style timer made by Corallife ( I think...) on my 24 hour lighting system which I loved until the timers stopped working from salt splash. Now I am the timer. Not the best solution but until I have some money to spend it will work. Next time I will keep a ziplock bag over the timer to protect the dial mechanism from salt. That is great that you did L&D and now PP. I use Women&Infants Hospital in Rhode Island and love the surgical and delivery care I have gotten from their staff, nurses really are wonderful people! No wonder you are so sweet.

I had the scariest night - yesterday morning I did some tank maintanence- cleaned all the power heads etc but no water change.....then about midnight I noticed something was very wrong with the fish in the hallway tank. I then checked my son's tank and found the same thing. The fish were hovering still on the sand bed (upright) looking dazed and breathing less rapidly than normal. I could actually pick them up with my hands!! AAAGGGHHH!!!!!! Now the strange thing is that not all fish were affected, but most were and all of my inverts were normal (stars, shrimp, crabs, snails, coral). I did a small emergency water change on both tanks by microwaving water and mixing the salt then dumping and added some water conditioner/stress coat, and added an extra bag of carbon to the outflow of the filter boxes. They started to perc up with the water change and stress coat stuff. They all made it through the night and are breathing and swimming normally this morning. How crazy and scary is that? Not out of the woods but am totally stumped as to what happened. Seemed like some kind of poisoning? Either I had something on my skin that didn't come off when I scrubbed up or some of the gunk that was released in the power heads was really funky. Oh, and I tested the water pH and ammonia levels last night- zero ammonia and pH was 8.3.

:scared:
I just feel like it is always something............

 

[ant]

WOW!! THat would freek me aout too! :scared: I'm so glad you got things under control. I'm always worried something like that will happen to my tank. I hope that's the worst of it. I agree with you assessments. I bet it was something on your hands/arms or something you scrubbed off. Sounds like you cought it all just in time.
Thanks for the light info. I really need to get one because we're flying home for T-giving and I want my lights to work right before I leave. I have a feeder too and it feeds twice a day which I'm concerned about.
I'm so happy to hear you got great nursing care. I hate hearing bad stories about bad care. I think that's why I went back to work. I thought I could at least help my corner of the world and feel good about it.
Time for church. Hope you have a nice Sunday. Ant. ***)

 

[fishmamma]

How does the feeder work? Are you able to portion the feedings? Good luck with all of that, I am sure it is hard to feel good about leaving a tank. How many days will you be gone for? I know it is usually OK to go a couple of days without feeding.....or maybe you could set up the feeder for one meal only........just a couple of thoughts since you are worried about overfeeding. :thinking:
Yeah, totally freaked by what happened. And from what I have read toxicity in the water from cleaners or perfumes etc.. usually causes rapid breathing and rapid spinning and swimming in the fish, and should show some ammonia levels. Mine were exhibiting totally opposite behavior with zero ammonia. :scared: :notsure: :scared: I have been praying to the fish gods that everybody is A-OK and not permantly harmed by what ever happened.
I will test my nitrites this afternoon....have a great day Ant. :joy:

 

[fishmamma]

Just a quick update....went to trusted LFS tonight and she told me I panicked and thought something was wrong when in fact they were all just in a deep sleep state. She said it is not unusual to be able to handle a sleeping fish......and that if something was in the water to put them in that state in the first place they would have died soon following and I would have seen high ammonia and or nitrites in the water. :hilarious

 

[ant]

We're going to be gone for six days! I'm excited about going home and being with family but I'm worried about my fish, my horse, my dog and my hedge hog. I've got everyone taken care of, I think, but I still worry about it. Can't wait to retire and move back home for good. We have plenty of family and friends that are more than willing to help with animals and child. The feeder is a twice a day timer feeder. I can adjust the feed amnt but I can't reduce it to one feed. I have a neighbor who's going to check on them for me but I didn't want her to worry about that part of it. We're going to do a test run this week with light timer, feeder and water replacemt to make sure.
So, is everyone swimming around fine today? Maybe they did the crazy swimming and got drained by the time you cought it. Still the 0 amonia is weird. :thinking: Were your nitrites 0 too? Did you do another water change? I bet you got most of the bad stuff out.
Something weird happend today. My son went to the tank and said one of the red legged crabs fell out of his shell. So I went over and he was out and I thought dead. I was going to remove him but had to wait a while for other stuff going on at the time. We went back over and he was back in the shell. I've never seen that before. Guess he's fine. Sure looked dead when I saw him outside the shell. I always wondered what their bodies looked like.
Hope you've been able to relax today. Ant.

 

[ant]

Whew! THat's great news and good info to know. I don't think I've ever seen my fish like that but that's good to know for future reference. How are the pink zoos doing? Can't wait to see them.

 

[fishmamma]

I am not 100% convinced she is right, but since knock on wood everybody is doing well maybe I should just go with it.

6 dyas, yeah- I would be worried about and missing everyone too. Good that you have trusted people to keep an eye on everybody. Good luck with the dry run this week, I hope it all works very well for you and the fishies!! Where is home?
The zoos are being shipped out Monday or Tuesday so I should have them by Thursday. I switched my clowns out and moved the lizard goby (which I now regret since he hides constantly in the larger tank) and then had to go for a live rock run to do some remodeling. My angel was not to pleased about the new clown so I have created a new space for all to live in harmony. :happyfish Just wish I could easily catch the lizard in his fully awake status, I really loved seeing him display for me everytime I walked by.

 

[monalisa]

Mmmmm, six days away...that sure does sound nice. My family and I are going to Cozumel in March for a dive trip. You can be sure that we're counting the days, hours, minutes!!!
Fishmamma, I'm glad to hear that you got things under control in your tanks. That would scare me too. I can't wait to see your new zoos. My cluster of pinks are spreading all over surrounding rock. Kinda cool. My branching zoos are spreading too, but not as much. ***) <I love that smiley.
We had a very quiet weekend, which was most intended and very much needed. HB decided not to dive anyway and he got some things done around the house instead...yay!! Water temps in the Wisconsin lakes are dipping to the low 50s, high 40s at this time of year. I was diving about 2 weeks ago and the temp was already 54 degrees. I guess that's pretty much my limit. Gear is now stored.
Well, time to get ready for work. Have a great day!!
Lisa :happyfish

 

[fishmamma]

Cozumel will be here before you know it!! What a fun family vacation. :joy:
I know you are batteling algae, but I would love to see a picture of your pink zoos. I am so pum,ped to get mine this week. Did you notice a color fade under your lighting?
I am very confused about zoas, there seems to be conflicting information out there. Some say they need high intense light like MH to look their best, others say halides will burn them and they should be under power compacts (or in low light areas of a MH lit tank)....... :hilarious

Jury is still out I gues, just wondering what your experience and two cents are.
Have a great day at work.

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by fishmamma
Cozumel will be here before you know it!! What a fun family vacation. :joy:
I know you are batteling algae, but I would love to see a picture of your pink zoos. I am so pum,ped to get mine this week. Did you notice a color fade under your lighting?
I am very confused about zoas, there seems to be conflicting information out there. Some say they need high intense light like MH to look their best, others say halides will burn them and they should be under power compacts (or in low light areas of a MH lit tank)....... :hilarious

Jury is still out I gues, just wondering what your experience and two cents are.
Have a great day at work.

Hi again!! I thought I lost this thread...thank goodness for the search feature.
My algea battle is going really pretty nicely. I'm committed to doing 10% water changes every week, and after I did that yesterday, I went and bought 3 Mex. turbos and a fistful of chaeto algea...here's hoping. I'm definitely seeing progress though...
I've not had a single problem with my zoos being under simple pc lighting. As a matter of fact, even my devil's hand is growing bigger and more beautiful every day under the same (my clowns love it, and will hopefully breed there :jumping: ).
So, did you get your zoos? How are they doing? By the time I found this thread again, my daylights had gone out (algae, remember...). I will post pics of my zoos as soon as I can. I can't believe how my pinks are spreading. I also have some branching zoos that doing great.
Really good to talk with you again. I hope everything went well with your new purchase.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[ant]

Easy to go MIA when life is going at you at all directions.
Fishmamma, I hope your zoos are doing well. Can't wait for pics.
Monalisa, so glad you algae problem is getting better. I'll be looking for pictures soon.
We're getting on a plane tomorrow. I'm a little stressed about all the animals. I'm sure they will be fine. It's just me. We'll be gone for a week.
Happy Thanksgiving!! Ant.

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by Ant
Easy to go MIA when life is going at you at all directions.
Fishmamma, I hope your zoos are doing well. Can't wait for pics.
Monalisa, so glad you algae problem is getting better. I'll be looking for pictures soon.
We're getting on a plane tomorrow. I'm a little stressed about all the animals. I'm sure they will be fine. It's just me. We'll be gone for a week.
Happy Thanksgiving!! Ant.
Hi Ant,
Boy!!! Do I hear you there...that's the biggest thing that I have to think about for March!!! Makes me nervous. Let us know how things go though, 'kay?
Have a safe and happy holiday!!
Lisa :happyfish

 

[fishmamma]

HI girls!
I hope you are having a great trip Ant!
Lisa- Sounds like you are winning the war on algae, YAY!! Can't wait to see some pictures of those pink zoos.
I got my zoos, and they have added some color to the tank, though they don't look like they did under the original owners MH lighting. Will post some pics later today. I actually am trying to figure out if I can do halides with my current set-up. I did a couple threads with before and after photos of what used to be my green and blue zoas, and they have lost much of their color since going in my tank. This confuses me since I see plenty of gorgeous colors under PC lighting in other nano's so not so sure. :thinking: I have 5 watts per gallon.......
First pic is recent, the second was when they were new to the tank:

 

[fishmamma]

I did a little remodeling to get the zoas higher i the tank, here is a picture with the new pink zoas on the branching tonga rock, and a photo of Mr. Yasha:

 

[monalisa]

Wow, fishmamma!! Your tank is really looking great! Give the zoas a week or so to get comfy, I'm sure they'll be fine. It took my devil's hand a LONG time to finally stretch out and show his beautiful yellow color on a consistent basis. Is that a toadstool? I would like to get one of those and some candy cane corals next...when I have a nice, healthy system to put them in. Algea is almost all gone...
Lisa :happyfish

 

[fishmamma]

Hi! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, not sure if you are back home yet Ant but I am anxious to hear how all the pets did while you were away.
Not much new here, lizard goby beat Mr. Yasha up pretty badly the other day and I have not seen him yet today which has me slightly worried.......hope he is just hiding out and resting. :scared:
Wanted to check in and see if Lisa had posted her pink zoos.