I believe I can see the future…
Ryan called me around 6pm and said he had an extra ticket for the Nine Inch Nails concert tonight at the Delta Plex as Daintry wasn’t feeling well. I really like the new album and it’s hard to turn down a free ticket so I took him up on the offer. The show was starting just as we were entering the floor. At first I didn’t even recognize Trent. He chopped off all of his hair and he’s not the skinny guy he used to be. Matter of fact he’s quite built now. This was my fourth time seeing the band and Trent and company sounded the same as they always have.
I’m not sure exactly what happened, but while Trent was playing Hurt, about half way into the song he pushed over his keyboard and then walked off stage. Shortly after that, the house lights came on and the show was done. I’m not sure if someone threw something on stage or what but somebody must have pissed him off.
Wee!
I picked up a 512MB memory card for my digital camera recently from NewEgg for $40 shipped. Now I can shoot up to 26 minutes of video with it at 30 frames per second. To try it out, I shot a video of Ethan on his tot wheels (complete with me dropping the camera). If you look closely, you can see his second tooth coming in.
Click the image above to watch the video
Ethan’s first tooth
Last week Sunday we got a small glimpse of Ethan’s first tooth - a bottom front tooth. After just a week, you can really see it now. He’s been fussy on and off for the past week and I’m sure it’s because he’s teething. He’s been taking naps during the day which I know Marie really appreciates. It’s hard to get things done when he demands your constant attention and you only have the use of one arm. I watched Ethan most of the day while Marie went out with her friend Rachael and I had to really rush to get my things done during his short naps. We are feeding him rice twice a day now. He eats a whole bowl each time like nobody’s business AND then downs a bottle after it. All that calcium explains why I have cut his nails every 5 days. If his nails get too long he ends up scratching the heck out of his face.
I’ve had two of my bleeding heart tetra’s die since the Ich epidemic. This afternoon I did another 25% water change and added more Aquari-Sol. So far my two barbs and the catfish seem unaffected. After posting to rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc, I was recommended to pickup some Quick Cure as it is supposed to work much better than the Aquari-Sol. I see that Petco carries it locally so I’ll have to pickup some tomorrow and give it a try. I’d really hate to lose another tetra.
Ich
A week ago I picked up 6 bleeding heart tetra’s and 3 juli catfish for my 29g tank. I probably added a few more fish at once than I should have but I’ve been doing water changes and monitoring my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels and everything looks great. The next day, one of the catfish wasn’t looking too good. When I got home from work, he was dead. Then two days later, another one dies and the third one is MIA. I moved all the decorations around to see if he was hiding but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I thought perhaps he jumped out the back of the tank where the filter is and one of the cats got him. Then the next morning, I see him floating at the top of the tank, missing an eyeball and most of his tail. VI Pets has a 5 day replacement guarantee on their fish so I was able to get 2 new catfish. All they had were full size juli’s so I got two of those. So far they seem to be doing fine. They are a cool looking fish and unfortunately are most active when the lights are out. I have been feeding them sinking wafers but I have yet to see them actually eat one. The tiger barbs on the other hand peck at the wafers like crazy. Speaking of tiger barbs, I was nervous they were going to pick on the newcomers but everybody is getting along great.
So tonight when I got home from work, I notice my bleeding heart tetra’s have white spots all over their body and fins. Then I look a little closer and see that the tiger barbs are starting to get a few white spots also. Argh - looks like a case of Ich! So I went down to VI Pets and they recommended I crank up my tank temperature to 86 degrees and use Aquari-Sol to get rid of the Ich. I’m suppsoed to add this daily, doing a 25% water change every other day before adding more Aquari-Sol. This will probably have to go on for about 12-16 days. Since my filters all have carbon, I had to pick up some filter media and cut a piece to fit in my media tray.
The tank is also a little cloudy which is probably due to a bacteria bloom with all the new fish added. My levels still look good so I’m sure this will go away in time. I’ve been doing everything by the book but for some reason this tank has been giving me so many problems. I’m to the point now where I’m thinking about not even trying to grow plants in my tank. I thought this was supposed to be a relaxing hobby!?!?