Oceanic Angles

[c est ma]

Sorry about the clam.

 

What do you think it was in the water that harmed it?

 

--Diane

[divecj5]

Sorry to hear about the bad water Bill and the loss of the clam. Sounds like you have a handle on it though and things are heading in the right direction again.

[varanus37]

I'm almost positive it was phosphates. Algae growth jumped after that batch of water and the red algae just exploded in the tank. I switched back to my normal water and cleaned up as best I could with the algae. I tested after the normal water had been put in with the WC and then 2 days of topping off with the good stuff. Phosphates were higher than normal even then. That's never been a problem with my normal LFS water. That was the only thing that was off balance on the readings. My calcium is good, it has to be for my SPS to be growing as they are. It was also extremely rapid in its decline. As I understand it a calcium depleted system will take a bit of time to kill off a clam. If the cal were the case though, I'd have seen responses in my SPS for sure. I think the clam was just used to good water and then got stuck in bad for a week and couldn't handle the switch. Seems strange that a healthy animal would succumb so quickly but I've never seen problems with it before this. Everyone else looks alright, just cleaning the last bits of algae off of them. Feather caulerpa on the birds nest frag still grows like a champ though.

 

Other than that, no issues. I'm keeping the shell to use as a huge frag plug for something.

 

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So I made some changes to the 'scape this afternoon. I'll get pics up tomorrow when the lights are on but I can give you a rundown now. The clam shell has been moved the valley under the candy can frag. My hope is that the monster mushroom back there, which is migrating, will migrate onto or into the shell. Should look neat. Some other changes were the placement of the duncans, green digi, and strawberry lemonade monit. The Duncans are now on the back side of the shelf rock on the far right of the tank. They're near the grandis palys. The green digi and the strawberry lemonade were simply swapped. The reason for this is simple really. The green digi is branching and the new spot it's in is more directly under the halide and slightly below the elkhorn. This way they can both grow up and spread and branch beneath the light. This will provide shading for the shrooms and possible rics at a later date as well as a nice visual in that portion of the tank. This strawberry lemonade was moved down to the rock with the elephant ear and the nuclear greens. This way it has more surface area in contact with the LR as it's an encrusting growth form. Instead of having to grow down the frag plug and then onto the rock it can now also spread horizontally onto the LR. I've seen better results from my encrusting SPS when they have multiple surfaces to spread to. I think the strawberry lemonade as a background and groung cover around the NG polyps will really look nice in a year or so. It's strange to think of things like that but that's really how you have to plan coral placement. They're going to spread and grow and I particularly enjoy envisioning that process and the results as I scape my tank.

 

Thanks for lookin'.

 

Bill

[divecj5]

Sounds awesome Bill. I can't wait to see pics of the new scape and of your beautiful corals. It sounds like you think like I do, I am really kind of picky about where I put my corals and I usually mull over the decision a long time before deciding to glue or epoxy anything in its "final" spot.

 

You should check out my thread when you get the chance. The green monti caps have pretty much formed a bowl again and the orange montis are putting out some nice growth. Thanks again for the healthy and colorful corals.

[varanus37]

Yeah, I'm super picky about the placement of things at first but once my stuff is in I just leave it be. I make no sense, haha. Glad the monti caps are doing so well for you. Just checked your thread and it looks great. Good mix you've got going. Keep up the good work.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Mini nem is in the 55! Got the package from greeneyes today and the rock with the single mini went in here. It nicely fills a hole in the rock that holds the NGs and the elephant ear. Very kewl critters. Really tiny but super bright colors. I'll get pics up when the camera charges.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

11000+ views! Not bad since 10000 was a month ago. Glad so many of you have read the posts and checked the pictures. More will be up tomorrow.

 

Bill

[greeneyes]

Tomorrow, but I am no here now.LOL

[varanus37]

So check it out, here's the mini nem. It's next to the NG polyps (which have 2 babies by the way).

 

 

And some close shots.

 

 

Teresa took all of those while I was at work. She used the magnifying lens that we just got. Turned out really nice.

 

And here's an update FTS for those that were wondering.

 

I was standing probably 6 ft. away on the other side of the dining table. Shows the huge lack of the clam in front and the movement of some things.

 

Bill

[greeneyes]

Bill those are great shot of the mini's. Looks good.

[Weetabix7]

HI BILL!!!!!!!

 

Tank looks good.

[varanus37]

greeneyes- Thank you but I didn't take them. I'll pass it along though.

 

Weet- You're still on here? Haha, just messin. Thanks for stoppin by.

 

Bill

[Weetabix7]

greeneyes- Thank you but I didn't take them. I'll pass it along though.

 

Weet- You're still on here? Haha, just messin. Thanks for stoppin by.

 

Bill

 

Yup, still here.

Been WAY burned out lately so took a little step back to recover, but I'm still quietly plugging away.

[varanus37]

Definitely know the feeling. This medical retirement thing is long and tedious. Doesn't help that I'm still working in the same place with the same people. Army Rangers don't look too highly on being hurt or the people who are hurting. Oh well. Teresa is due in the next few weeks! This past weekend was full term so anytime that she goes into labor now they won't stop her, they'll just let her progress.

 

Pics of some kewlness in the duck pond this afternoon are on the way.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So I went on a mini-safari in the backyard tonight. Walking the dogs and saw a snake cruise across the duck pond. Followed it and found it trying to get up a tree. Ran for the digi cam and by that time she was down in the mud by the bank. Got some good shots. A family of ducks came by to check the scene out so I got some of them too. Milana was helping. She stood up on the bank with Teresa and held a stick or sat and lay like I did when I went to get the pics.

Body shots

 

 

 

Head up and out of the water here.

 

Nice close shot of the head. I zoomed this later in the camera but I was close enough for it to count when I took it, haha.

 

Good stretch in the water to show pattern.

 

Closer shots of the pattern on the lower spine and neck areas.

 

 

These 4 came with 2 mamas to check us out.

 

Mom keeping watch.

 

Laid on the ground and got within a foot for these.

 

 

You want some?

 

She's the only mad one.

 

Not a bad walk by the pond.

 

Bill

[divecj5]

Awesome....looks like it was a nice outing in the woods. Nice capture of the snake. Any idea of what kind it was?

 

Do the ducks live in the same pond as the snake?

[varanus37]

Yeah, it was a bull snake. I'm guessing female because of the size. Fairly calm and let me get good and close. The ducks migrate from pond to pond around here but there's always at least one family behind me. They all stay there plus loads of turtles and several kinds of fish. They didn't stock this pond but people have released here and some have moved down from a larger pond on high ground. Nice backyard for an apartment complex.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Check out the 1/2 10 thread for some Sexy Shrimp!!

 

Bill

[BibleSue]

What great pictures! So far the only snake I have seen around our pond was one that was squished by the Kabota tractor when hubby was mowing.

 

I did spend a highly entertaining few minutes one day last year watching a mouse try to get away from a cat. It had been hunting in the cattails. The mouse eventually decided to take to the water. I thought I was going to have company in the paddle boat. It changed directions & took off across the 1 acre pond. He disappeared into the cattails on the other side. The cat was sure it was still around on my side. I wish I had a video camea or at least my digital camera. Pus N Boots!

[varanus37]

She's the only snake I've seen around the house in recent times. Lots of anoles and whatnot being in the south. I did see a BIG kingsnake while I was on a land nav course awhile back though. Really pretty.

 

Thanks for stopping in.

 

Bill

[BibleSue]

I am a bit behind so I am checking up on my Buds! It's been busy here with web orders for graduation Bibles as well as working on my prop tank upgrade & spring yard work.

[varanus37]

Yeah, the warmer it gets the more busy it seems to get as well. Just more going on with the nice weather and school ending. I'm in the same boat dealing with this medical retirement stuff. Tons of meetings and whatnot and piles of paperwork. Just had an EMG on BOTH of my arms today. The guy was top notch though so it wasn't even really that painful. The one I had on my leg and back sucked. That guy hit a motor cortex near my knee AND a vein in my back. This guy was much better. For those interested, the EMGs were clean and so were the MRIs and X-rays of my neck. They thought I did the same thing to my neck that I did to my back. It was between that and head trauma. Well the neck got cleared, which is kewl, so that leaves head trauma, which is not kewl. I'll know more after I get my cat scanned.

 

Bill

[c est ma]

Whew, lots to catch up on.

 

First of all, great pics of a great little mini carpet, and I really like the new FTS!

 

And what cool pics of what cool critters in what a cool pond! Gee, those ducks must be pretty tame! And those are wonderful snake shots to get in situ like that!

 

Bill, did you ever tell us what led to your possible medical discharge in the first place? Sorry you're undergoing all that pokin' & proddin' and picture-takin', but glad at least some of them have come out well. Still, head trauma doesn't sound like all that great a diagnosis to end up with!

 

Best to you & Teresa--must be getting pretty hard to keep waiting at this point!

 

--Diane

[varanus37]

So here's my Army injury story. About a year ago I was doing a training event at an air strip. It was a night combat equipment jump. The pilot lost his nav computer and dropped us in the wrong spot. It was decently windy anyway and the misdirection didn't help. I missed some powerlines and a road and was hoping to land in a clearing. Parachute gets caught in a tree leading to the clearing, pendulum swings me up and I go straight to the ground, 60ft or so, onto my back and left side. Knocked me cold but they got me out of my gear and we completed the event. Did the rest of the 6 month training cycle hurt. Didn't know I was hurt that bad so I continued jumping, fast roping and all that nonsense. Did another jump in August of last year, the first injury was in May, and had worse symptoms. Couldn't sit up on my own so they checked me out. Said I blew a disc and we'd get it checked out when we got home. Well we got home and I went to another training event instead of the doctor. Started to lose feeling in extremities there so finally went to the doctor. I've got sacralization of my L5-S1 vertebra (they're growing together) and I blew the disc between them back into the nervous column of my spine. Had that sucked out last Oct. and continue to have all of the symptoms of nerve damage below my waist. I've got similar symptoms in my arms and a few other things that they though might be attributed to the same condition in my neck. If it's not my neck, most likely it's head trauma causing it. Well, my neck is good so now it's on to the CT scan. So that's my big spiel. Once all of the medical paperwork on my symptoms in my upper body is together they'll make a final decision on separation, retirement pay, and all that stuff. Just lots of meetings and doctors appointments for right now. It sucks but I've done a whole training cycle hurt so I can deal with it. I plan to go back to school when I get out, I've got my degree in Biology already, and either do PA or OB. If I do PA, I'd like to go anesthesia track and work with babies and OB anyway. Teresa thinks I should just skip PA and be a full OB. Time will tell. What do you all think of a 6'2" 225lb. OB who used to be an Army ranger? I'm always worried about my looks throwing people off if I'm a doctor. Never really had to worry about it when I was on the research end of science or in the military. OB is a sensitive job though. So, that's where I'm at.

 

Bill