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Paul B

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Today I went to physical therapy for my shoulder. The Supermodel who took care of me told me she never saw so much work done to one shoulder because she read the doctor's report of what he did which covers two pages. I explained to her that I am a real Man and not a Sissy, Girly Man so there was a lot of parts in there that I broke.
It was a pleasant experience but I am used to it after having five of these rotator cuff things. (and I like Supermodels)
To keep this about fish, they have a betta fish there.
The "exercises" she gave me to do seem to be geared to a 97 year old Lady so I should have no trouble doing them.
I am not allowed to lift anything but we are bringing a lot of food to my Daughters house in a few days so I needed to invent a way to carry stuff with one hand. My wife has MS and can't really carry stuff up stairs.
I built this (with one hand) to carry heavy pots using my good arm. I think it is very cool. What do you think.


 
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mfs1855

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Paul,

thought people might want to see how well your sponge is doing in my tank. It's grown to almost twice it's size in the past month!

mfs1855 said:
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Paul B

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I have an update on my mandarin feeder. A lot of people are having a problem finding an appropriate size mesh for the top of the think. I now use a piece from the inside of a reverse osmosis cartridge. If you cut off the ends of a used RO cartridge there is a large screen rolled up in there that has the perfect sized holes and it is enough to last you the rest of your life. It is also plastic so it lasts a long time and my urchin so far has not eaten through it.
 

Paul B

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Lets talk about detritus. If you feel detritus is bad, don't read this. You can still see re runs of The Brady Bunch which will be much more interesting, I think Mrs, Brady has bunions this week.
I like detritus. My tank runs on detritus (and worms) Of course I use a reverse undergravel filter. State of the art in my head. If you don't use a reverse undergravel filter your fish probably hate you, but they will get over it.
My UG filter stores a lot of detritus and that's what I want It to do. Yes, I realize much of the stuff I post is exactly opposite what everyone reads about but if you don't want to watch, or never heard of the Brady Bunch, you can still catch Kathy Lee with whomever she is hosting with today.
Detritus is organic left overs. It is composed of pod shells, bacteria, dust, and the shells of the Mysis you feed your fish. Of course it has other stuff in it like the end products of poop and whatever the Pilgrims tossed overboard.
If you feed mainly flakes and pellets your fish are most likely sick, or will be sick so you need not worry about this stuff.
I use detritus for a few things. It helps my UG filter reduce wastes by restricting the water flow through my gravel thus limiting oxygen flow and increasing anerobic bacteria. (I think anyway as I can't see the bacteria and they are not talking) but what else I use it for is to feed corals. I have a bunch of wrasses that quickly dig into my gravel. I also have mating fireclowns that constantly dig deep holes with their tails. These things create huge detritus storms that the pumps swirl around the tank. The corals were designed, probably by Briant Gumbal, to eat this stuff. It's organic and can be further broken down into it's basic chemicals by corals.
Almost every day (when I am not entertaining a Supermodel, in my head anyway) I take one of my many baster things and blow around the gravel especially in the corners producing huge "dust" clouds. I suck this up and distribute it over the corals and especially the gorgonians, some of which are very old.
Now that you have nothing else to do you can read all the threads about how bad detritus is and reverse undegravel filters. If you read about a tank that has no detritus and undergravel filter, and is older than mine, send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I will steam off the stamp so I can re use it and throw away the letter. :cool:
 

cono

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Now this might be a stupid repeated question .....from a thick head Italian. ....but I know you feed your fish blackworms and clam but do you culture your own blackworms and do you buy a few classes and freeze them ? Also what would you feed tangs ? Another stupid question that I keep kicking myself in the rear for is that I had an outbreak of ick over a year ago .... (I am like you I never qt. ) I learned my lesson. .....do you think after that time I could still have an outbreak? I know this is a stupid thick headed Italian that always second guesses himself lol ....

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Paul B

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Cono, don't be so hard on yourself. I am a thick headed Sicilian. :biggrin:
I feed my fish live worms but for the last couple of weeks I can't get them because of the drought in California. They have no water and the worms are thirsty. I still have a few left and am rationing them to the fish with the best behavior. I do not culture them but they do reproduce, mush to slow for how many I need. I hope to get more soon or I will have to order them online and I have never ordered anything live on line in my life except a mail order bride.
I don't have any tange because I don't like them and find them boring but I kept them for many years and this is the first time I don't have any. They eat what all my other fish eat but I like to give them some nori also.
If you don't feed live foods or something like clams, your fish will probably get ich and all sorts of other things.

These guys eat suspended detritus. The larger one just shed last week.

 

cono

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So you think if I start feeding them blood worms and clam that they will grow strong like Arnold Schwarzenegger and beef up ? The fish that I have left is a pair of gold stripe maroon clowns a yellow belly hippo and some kind of wrasse that I forgot the name of ....my memory is starting to go

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Paul B

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Today I tried to move stuff around in my tank to fit the gorgonians in better and of course I broke some stuff and had to re glue it. I am working with one arm (due to shoulder operation) and I have to put on two gloves to prevent the male fireclown from biting my hand off. The two gloves is the secret and he doesn't hurt much through those gloves. If I put my bare hand in there near his stomping grounds I would have to tie a tourniquet around my elbow so I don't bleed to death.
He thinks he is a barracuda.


I moved some stuff from the right side to the left side and vise versa, but I am having trouble with some SPS that I can't get where I want so I will have to wait until I can put both arms in the tank.


I am totally embarrassed this year because I am a big Christmas guy (my birthday is on Christmas day and I have been playing Santa for over 40 years)
We bought a small "fake" Christmas tree. I "hate" artificial trees, I mean, I really hate them. But this year I can't carry a real tree or put it up so we got this thing really cheap so we can throw it out next year.
I also noticed it was made in China so I am having a hard time looking at it and I can't wait until the Holiday is over so I can throw it out.
This is the first time in my life I put something like this up and I would never buy something from China.
Our Grand Kids are coming over and I really needed a tree. I just hope they forget this is a fake tree and next year I will go overboard with decorating.


Even outside my house I couldn't put out my home made, really cool, very big train, plane and Jack in the Box that I always display.
This is very embarrassing and I have to go and hide my head in mud.


 

Paul B

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I just looked under my tank and see that I have to add two more leg supports as two legs are badly rusted. It will have to wait a while because of the shoulder surgery.

This material I used to construct this stand about 40 years ago is called "Kindorf". It is a structural support we use for virtually everything in construction indoors and out. It can also be used to support street signs so it is very corrosion resistant and galvanized. For anyone using regular iron or painted steel, get ready for the rust as steel has no sense of humor around salt water. It started rusting after about 15 years.


 

Paul B

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I already posted this someplace and I figured I would also put it here where no one will see it so I won't get yelled at because I am to old and just wouldn't care.


I was just perusing this forum and the amount of "sick" fish threads is mind boggling. I really hate to see so many beautiful fish that we take from the sea and allow them to die. It should not happen.
Of course if you read any of these many pages of this thread I feel it is "all" because we are failing to get our fish immune from even the simplest diseases.
Of course I am going to try to propose a plan. My entire thing is about fish health and I have been a sponge sucking up information about this while I am looking at my fish, and they are looking back. The reason I want to get into this a little now is because in a couple of days I had some shoulder surgery (for the fifth time) and I have to type with my feet so I want to start this. The other reason is that I have been sitting here looking at my fish and noticing that virtually all of them just look extremely healthy as they always do. On a very healthy fish you can clearly see a fluorescent looking sheen on every scale. Each spine on every fin should also be perfect and most fish have vibrant, shimmering colors on their fins. We all know there should be no torn fins, spots, Tattoos or bar codes. Healthy fish sometimes do hide but that is a species thing and all fish should be eating and eating with gusto like I do when I am eating linguini and clams like I had last night.
Also, very important if you have any paired damsels, wrasses, pipefish, gobies, cardinals, dragonettes and a few others, they should be pregnant or they just laid eggs and your fish should "never" get sick. So, those things, to me are the criteria of a healthy fish.
Now I am going to hear, "Yeah, but we can't do that because it is to hard". Yes you can as it is very easy and probably cheaper than what you are now doing. (I am sure you are also losing fish before their normal lifespan)
I think that unless you are a Noob you can easily do this so Noobs go and watch Kelly Ripa. Maybe she put on a couple of ounces. It will also be much easier if you have a running, tank. I didn't say cycled because that is a silly thing. There is no such thing as a just cycled tank. We hear all the time things like "my tank finished cycling last night at 2:15 so I added 17 pieces of SPS, a dogfaced puffer, ribbon eel and a Moorish Idol because he was eating brine shrimp and they are all laying on the bottom, texting and breathing hard while the SPS looks like Emu poop".
The truth is if you cycled your tank with a dead or bowlegged shrimp, then your ammonia readings went to zero, that means your tank has enough bacteria in it to process one bowlegged shrimp and nothing more.
A tank continues to "cycle" through out it's entire lifespan as bacteria grow and die according to the load. I added an orange spotter filefish to my tank 3 weeks ago so the tank had to grow enough bacteria to process the wastes from that one fish.
Anyway. If I had a "cycled" natural tank with a little age on it, (and hopefully a little algae) I would buy a couple of fish. Not the most expensive fish I could afford to impress the Supermodel who just moved in next door, but something fairly hardy like clownfish, wrasses, bleenies etc. I would add those fish "without quarantining them". Remember this is my plan, Humble has his. Right after the fish hit the water I would feed them the proper foods. Not flakes, not pellets and God Forbid, no freeze dried anything. The absolute best first foods are live blackworms or white worms. "Live" is the key if you can get it. If you can't get it, it will still work but live is best. Along with the live food you need something that was fresh not very long ago like clams. I buy live clams, freeze them and shave off pieces. If you live in Nevada, Arizona or Tunisia, I don't know what to tell you because you need to get live bacteria into those fish and get it in there at "every meal". I am sure you can get some type of fresh (kind of ) clams in the mid west even if it is frozen. You don't want something that was frozen during the last ice age as the least time the thing was frozen, the better as we are looking for live bacteria. In Lieu of clams you can use (and I do) LRS foods which move quickly off the shelves and have bacteria in them. Never use foods that say "Irradiated to kill harmful pathogens". Leave the harmful pathogens in there. We are trying to keep our fish immune from harmful pathogens and if their immune system doesn't know what a harmful pathogen is, it won't work and your fish will die the first time they are subjected to harmful pathogens, or Rap music.
I realize the things I am saying go against everything we know about fish so if you find someone who has been doing this longer than me, listen to them. And so will I. But they may drool on you or cough up some funky looking green stuff because I "cycled" my tank with trilobites. I also realize I am not the God of fish tanks unless they have reverse undergravel filters which are state of the art.
I am trying to "teach" this stuff the best way I can while trying not to sound like a know it all, (Although I feel I know it all
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If you think I am nuts, senile, amnesiatic, or a "know it all", go with the Noobs and watch Kelly Ripa as I think she is still on. (I actually like her but I like all pretty girls, I mean fish, I like all pretty fish)
The other reason I am trying to convey this information (and I say this a lot) is because for some reason my fish "never" get sick. My 25 year old fireclowns, mandarins, pipefish, hippo tang, copperband etc all live in my tank up to their apparent lifespan and never get sick. Why is that? IT IS BECAUSE OF THE LIVE BACTERIA IN THEIR GUT THAT THEY GET EVERY DAY. How hard is that?
OK, it is also because they have not been quarantined and are continually exposed to those harmful pathogens that are removed from all dry foods and a lot of frozen foods.
I sincerely do not want to see fish dying in anyone's tank. Mine never do and I am not that smart, just good looking.
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I "think" it is due to the fact that my fish are full of live gut bacteria and are exposed to those pathogens on a regular basis. Remember the rest of the fish you are putting in this make believe tank also come with their own pathogens. We want these pathogens and the fish need them as their immune system evolved right along side them.
A fishes immune system is a huge part of a fishes biology and uses an enormous amount of it's calories. Remember the slime is a major part of it's immune system and that slime is water soluble so it constantly washes away. The fish has to constantly replace that slime because that's where most of it's antibodies are. Re-read my first post here so I don't have to type it again.
You can't turn off that immune system but you can turn off it's ability to repel parasites. A fish is well equipped to repel parasites, but only if it is exposed to them so we need a thriving parasite family living in the tank.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Don't faint, it is true. Don't you get flu, measles and tetanus shots? Why do you do that? You do that so your immune system recognizes those diseases and you don't get them.
OK I am done for now.
This is my only medication. It was made in Brooklyn and I probably got it in the 70s. It is copper and formalin, I use it if I get a fish for free from a LFS that is getting last rites and I doubt it will live ten minutes.
I can cure parasites in a day with this and quinicrine hydrochloride (I think that's how to spell that) but that is the only time I would need a medication. I also think hypo is silly as that takes a few weeks to work and a parasite can kill the fish in hours. But that's just me.
 

Paul B

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Now I am cured enough that I think I can clean my algae scrubber. I can just about raise my left arm high enough to dis connect the thing and take it off.. It is really clogged and needs attention because if I don't do it soon,it will start to squirt water on the walls.
I just want to make sure I can put the thing back together because that is what feeds my Reverse UG filter.
It's a busy part of the year now for me and every one else with all the parties and such, but some things we need to do eventually. I don't test, change much water or have controllers or dosers to deal with so I will find the time.
I have not changed any water for quite a while but that will have to wait until after New Years day.
I am also feeding the corals yeast. I don't know if it will do anything but maybe they will rise.
 

Paul B

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I went to the guy who operated on my shoulder this morning. I went into the small room they put you in before they see you and the physicians helper Supermodel checked out my shoulder. Then the Dr. came in and everything is great. I can even go swimming, as long as I don't do the crawl stroke. I can do that side thing where I will look like I can swim like an algae bleenie.
In a few months, I will be as good as new.
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Today I am working on my new Steampunk Lamp. This one has a gate valve that turns it on and off, very cool if I ever finish it.


I went to an LFS after the doctor to see if they had any more porcelain crabs but they didn't get them in yet. I love those things and want a bunch more. I couldn't buy any crabs so I got some food.
I didn't change water since before Thanksgiving and it will take a few more weeks before I do. I am not allowed to lift heavy stuff yet. My fish don't care because even if I didn't have shoulder surgery, I probably would not have changed water yet.
Everything in my tank is looking good and they are all still pregnant. Those Bluestripe pipefish seem to just constantly spawn which is OK with me.
One of my Bangai's died a while ago from old age (their lifespan is only about 3 years) and I thought the other one would go soon, but he must have found some vitamins because he looks better than ever. When he goes I want to get another pair of something but I can't decide what that will be. I don't do tangs and angels because I want something interesting, odd, unusual, rare and cool. I also want something that can spawn in a tank.
If you have any ideas, let me know.
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Paul B

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New<article>
Today I changed 20 gallons of water as it was due. I filled my 20 gallon pail with water, added salt and went out for a few hours. When I came back, I had water all over the place. Luckily it was in my workshop so no harm was done except to my feelings. Years ago in that pail I added a water tap near the bottom. I would put the pail on a stand and mix up the water then I could use the valve to let the water out into smaller buckets that I could carry to the tank. That ended up being to slow so I never use the valve. But after a long time, the large iron washer I had on the outside of the bucket rotted. It almost completely disappeared and started to leak.
I need to get a couple of big stainless steel washers and put a gasket in between them so the thing won't leak. That can be tomorrow's project.​
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