Random crap with Uno.

[Unorthodox]

Ordered a replacement bulb for the UV filter, just in case.  I haven't used/needed the UV filtration in a good 7-8 years, but it'll kill any untoward biology going on, should there be any.  When it gets here, if he's not showing any better, we'll even break out some chemical filtration, to pull any problematic chemistry from the water.   

I prefer pure biological/mechanical filtration for sustainment reasons, but it's time to consider there's some other stuff maybe going on.  A week of UV/Chemical/Mechanical/biological combo sure isn't going to HURT anything, and will leave my conscious clear I tried everything I could. 

To be clear, Joe is a big damn fish, healthy going into the move.  It would take something pretty out of whack to take him down water wise.  I find that hard to believe since the goldfish would have acted as a canary in the coal mine, and didn't die to bad tank setup.  I don't think there's any problems in there other than Joe's stress presently. 

[Unorthodox]

Temp at 75, which is where I had it set to initially. 

[DrazharLn]

The water treatment comment was just in response to BUncle's question about ice cubes. I'm sure you know a lot more about fish and aquariums than I, Uno.

[Unorthodox]

It kinda depends on a lot of factors.  I know situations you would need to treat, especially with small tanks.  I just specifically build my tanks with buffers to minimize my work.


Started a salt treatment (about the only economical means of medicating a tank this big, and works as a panacea).  A lot of people actually salt their fresh water regularly, but it's the change that proves beneficial to killing any fungus or bacteria.  When the light gets here on the weekend, we'll vacuum and hit all the filtration media to scrub the salt and anything else back out. 

[Unorthodox]

 

[Unorthodox]

 

[Unorthodox]

  Joe not looking good AT ALL last night.   

[Unorthodox]

In other news, Alec says random people stopped for selfies with Mother/Father.  I wish more people would forward that kind of stuff to me. 

I've had more than a dozen people EACH YEAR promise to get me the pictures they take in our yard, and the only ones that ever followed through were the missionaries. 

[Buster's Uncle]

That's vexing - all of it.

[Unorthodox]

So, to further expand on the event.

The monkeys bought themselves a new tree to climb on.  When it arrived and was too big and heavy to fit in their cage, they were directed to me, as I'd helped with the previous two items groups had purchased and not measured for, building stands for them to work. 

However, the tree was SO heavy, I couldn't suitably modify anything to support it in their cage, since the cage itself wasn't rated for it and we were going to have to move it to the larger cage.  I sat down with the clowns and drew up a step by step how to do this with our equipment that was borderline inadequate for the task.  However, the clowns were booked, the monkeys were anxious, and the tree was insecure where it was, so the monkeys were going to provide labor. 

I ran over the 10 step plan with them, and it went fine for 9 steps.  At step 9, I had to go get an additional tool, to return to find 4 monkeys had decided to attempt to secure the tree without the tool.  The result was a dangerous situation with feet and toes especially in danger, arms and fingers only a little less.  More problematic, the tool would no longer work because of what they tried. 

I came up with a 2 step plan on the fly, and everyone agreed.  Step one accomplished and temporary blocking to secure the danger was put in place while we evaluated step 2, when one of the monkeys decided 'we just need to' and started yanking, causing the temporary blocking to collapse and the tree to fall towards me.  This frightened the other monkeys who quickly abandoned posts before returning to finish the job. 

Thus, wrist pain at the time, shoulder pain now. 

The monkeys now want the tree somewhere else.   

[Buster's Uncle]

Siiigh.

That's a useful smilie when you need it - draw your own conclusion about why I thought of it.  It's just that kind of world, sometimes.

[Unorthodox]

Well, the monkeys were now afraid of the thing, so I got a couple clowns, and it went without a hitch. 

[DrazharLn]

Who are the monkeys and clowns in this scenario? Other government workers?

Sorry about Joe.

[Unorthodox]

Who are the monkeys and clowns in this scenario? Other government workers?

Sorry about Joe.

Since work is the circus, I'm associating groups with different acts.  I actually have a lot of respect for circus acts, mind you. 

For the record, I would be counted among the freaks.  Working act freaks.  Sword swallowing and fire breathing, not the conjoined twins type.  Do it by the book and you'll be fine, make a mistake and someone's getting hurt.  Shock and amaze is the gig.  At the end of the day, we're the side show, though, if people even bother to look over this way, and no one will stay too long.  The fact I'm a freak with an act easily adapted to multiple situations and am a capable barker has put me in with other groups.     

The clowns, while they outwardly appear silly and clumsy, it takes a great amount of skill to do what they do at a high level without causing harm.  Turning routine things into something amazing, yet also able to blend into the background as support of the bigger acts, or able to buy time for the bigger act to set up.  Occasionally clowns can even headline, but more often they work as transitory pieces. 

Monkeys, I could have chosen any of the animal acts.  But, our monkeys don't pose the danger of tigers, the awe of elephants, or the precision of horses.  They are semi-trained, and can be quite skilled when doing the specific task they've trained for.  Let loose of the trainer to wreak havoc outside their specific tasks, they become cumbersome, bordering on dangerous.  Thus, earned the name over this last situation.

There are a few groups I've yet to work with enough to name as well. 

[Unorthodox]

So, Joe was sulking most the night.  Cleaned out the rotting food again, and he laid down to play dead when I tried to feed him.  2 shrimp still kicking, goldfish doing well.  No canary signs the water is bad. 

It's not looking good, but if there was an intestinal block, it's now cleared.  This was a good sign last time, so we'll see.