DaveFason Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Sorry for the loss but where in RDU will you be? Is this a traveling job and heading back and forth? I am about an hour away too. -Dave Link to comment
Mirya Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 Awwww, I'm so sorry to hear about Ophelia. Losing a member of the family like that is so hard I'm so sorry Karen. SO many losses of kitties that have lived a long time on this site. Glad you were able to be with her and that she was greeted by a familiar site. Bless her. Ophelia will be missed. I'm glad you were able to go home to be with her. O my, so much has happened since last I read your thread. I am really sorry about Ophelia. It is always hard to lose a beloved pet. so sad to hear about Ophelia... take care! Sorry for your loss I am so sorry about Ophelia but so glad you were there with her. They leave such a hole behind. Sad to hear about the kitty Even though I am a dog person I do have a cat that is around the same age. It adopted us 17 or 18 years ago when we moved into our house. He is a stinker at times but would not get rid of him as he has been the best cat we have ever had.... Sorry to hear about your loss. It is never easy. Oh no . I am so very sorry for your loss. That's wonderful that you were able to be with her at the end. I hope all is well otherwise . Sorry for the loss but where in RDU will you be? Is this a traveling job and heading back and forth? I am about an hour away too. Thanks for the condolences everyone. I honestly hadn't been able to open this thread since I last posted. After being in Columbus with Ophelia for the end, I flew back to Raleigh and had two busy weeks working. It kinda put a pause button on my grieving process. I was in a place that I didn't associate with her and the busy-ness was a welcome distraction. I flew back to Columbus last week Friday though. Walking into our apartment and not seeing her on the stairs waiting for me hit "resume play" on my grief. At least I am with my husband again now though and we can cry together when we need to. Ophelia was his constant companion as he works from home. OK, I'm not going to make this an all somber post. I have some fun things! First, Muraki, thanks for the welcome to Raleigh and the advice for LFS to check out. I haven't made it to the Reef Farm yet -- the day I drove out happened to be the Sunday they were closed. I'll get out there eventually though! Dave -- I'm living in Cary and working at NCSU in Raleigh. It's a temp position through the end of the year, but I am applying for a permanent position. Until I find out if I get the permanent position, I'm splitting my time between C'bus and Raleigh. If I get the permanent position, I'm totally planning on a trip to Greensboro. (Perfect time to get my fan upgrade on my Mini?!?) I mentioned I flew back to Columbus last week Friday. That was partly so I could be back in time to go to my local reef club's monthly meeting Saturday morning. It was a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium house at the Columbus Zoo! One of the club members is a keeper there. They had a great mangrove nursery tank behind the scenes that was all from propagules from their display mangroves around the manatee exhibit. They also had jars upon jars of bubbling phytoplankton and zooplankton that they were using as food for their various aquaculture projects. Currently they had a ton of French Grunts they are raising. We were shown the big egg skimmers they put in the displays at night to collect eggs. Of course when they get eggs, they don't know what spawned in the exhibit, so it can be a surprise what they end up raising. One of the coolest perspectives was getting to see the big display tank they have from above. Here is the normal view of the display tank that the public has: The tank is 12' deep and has 4 of those large panes looking into it. What you don't really appreciate looking into is is what the front to back depth is. It really is quite wide when you get to view it from above. Here is a shot of that: Look at all those Hippo Tangs! And they are huge, bigger than my hand. Apparently they are original to the aquarium when it was built in 1997. There is also a Napolean Wrasse in the tank: And a Tiger shark: Here's a short video my husband captured: Of course it was also crazy just seeing the scale of their equipment. UV sterilizers and protein skimmers taller than my husband (who is 6'2") for example! As for my tank, there isn't too much to report. Seems to have done OK in my absence. The bristleworm that shares the burrow with Yasha and Pistol has grown ridiculously huge. Big enough that at feeding time he sometimes blocks the entrance to the burrow with his body so that Yasha can't get out to eat. Normally I just let bristleworms be and appreciate them for the detrivores they are, but I've decided to try and remove him and drop him in my frag tank. I've been unsuccessful thus far. He never fully extends out of the burrow. I've tried grabbing him with tweezers when he does have his head out, but he has been too fast for me so far. I've been kinda gentle cause I don't want to squish him to death. I know most people would just light bristleworm on fire though... Link to comment
Nanofreak79 Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Sorry about your kitty kat, losing a pet is something I feel more than some of The funerals I've been to, weird but true. The aquarium pics are cool wish I was threre. Time heals all wounds. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Thanks for sharing those. I know the non-reefing public wouldn't understand just how much there is to monitor. And you think of what an incredible appreciation we have for the ocean just by having that 1-4 tanks in our homes. Link to comment
gena Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Nice! Loved watching the video too. And I want one of those mermaid costumes . Link to comment
Mirya Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 And I want one of those mermaid costumes . It was Trick or Treat Day at the zoo, so there were cute kids in costumes everywhere! Link to comment
metrokat Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Mirya, I'm so sorry for your loss. Ophelia had a loving family and the best care any cat could get. I'm sad for you but also glad that she is no longer suffering. These decisions are extremely hard and I commend you for your strength in doing right by her. Many hugs, Kat Link to comment
Mirya Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 I built a bristle worm trap tonight out of a pill bottle and some pipette tips. Threw some frozen food in it and some rubble to weight it down. I plunked it in front of Yasha's and Pistol's burrow as lights were ramping down. Within 10 minutes, the beast of a bristle worm that lives in their burrow was investigating. Here is a picture -- the blues of the LEDs of course freaked out my iPhone: The bristle worm is stretching out of the burrow and has his head in the bottle. Since he didn't crawl all the way into the bottle he didn't get trapped. Instead of being patient, I decided to grab his body with my forceps and see if I could pull the rest of him out of the burrow. That was a fail. The bristle worm broke. I only succeeded in getting about a 2" section of the head end of the bristle worm. My understanding is that the butt end will regrow a new head. Oh well. :/ I'm going to leave the trap in overnight and see what I get. Right now 2 Nassarius snails are desperately trying to get inside. Overall, I appreciate bristle worms for the detrivores they are, I'd just like this jumbo one out since he is stealing food from Yasha and Pistol and blocking the entrance/exit of their burrow most of the time now. Link to comment
Mirya Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 Here is the trap with the 2 Nassarius snails investigating. I remembered to put an orange filter on my camera this time so the blue LEDs didn't blow out my camera. You can't quite see it in the photo, but the snails were able to extend their probosci about 2/3 up the length of the tubes! When I downloaded the picture from my phone, I also noticed that you can see Yasha in his burrow to the left, looking suspicious. This morning I removed the trap. No mega-bristle worm inside. There were two tiny -- or should I say, normal sized -- bristle worms inside. I tossed them in my frag tank. Unfortunately one landed on an Acan in there, and the Acan closed up over it before I could rescue the worm. I hope the bristles don't hurt the Acan! Link to comment
kimberbee Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 I wanted to stop by and say THANK YOU for those pipettes!! Soooo much easier to spot feed than with a huge turkey baster!! You are my favorite person right now!! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 You're just a genius making that trap. I wouldn't have thought to make something. Very awesome idea. Link to comment
Mirya Posted October 31, 2015 Author Share Posted October 31, 2015 You're just a genius making that trap. I wouldn't have thought to make something. Very awesome idea. Thanks Annette! Though, to be honest, I did a bit of Googling bristle worm traps, then got creative with what I had around the apartment. So I can't say this was totally my invention. Haven't seen Mega Bristle ever since I ripped off 2" of him. I also haven't seen much of Yasha or Pistol either. It has me slightly worried. I have heard Pistol though I wonder if Pistol is molting. Yasha and Pistol always hole up for a few days when he molts. In other news I bought a not very nano coral today... My LFS was having a Halloween sale. I picked up 2 Discosoma neglecta mushrooms for my Florida tank. I hardly ever see those for sale. But obviously those are nano reef friendly. The non-nano coral I picked up is an Indophyllia. I've never really seen the appeal of meat corals before, but this piece really grabbed my attention as soon as I saw it. I have it in my frag tank, where it should have plenty of space to inflate. I'll take some pictures of it when it stops being pissy and shriveled up. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 Wow, I had no idea that the yasha would sit up there clammed up w/ the pistol while it shed in its hole. I love this hobby, always something to learn. Link to comment
Mirya Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 Yesterday when I brought the Indophyllia home, it didn't inflate much for the rest of the day. Today my husband and I were out and about, leaving before the tank lights came on. When we came home in the later afternoon, the Indophyllia had inflated to its full glory. My husband's jaw dropped. It was awesome seeing his reaction. This is what he saw, it's roughly 6" across: Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Holy Crap Karen! It's like looking into a kaleidescope but better! 6", enormous beauty!!! So I know travel is a pain right now. What are the next steps w/ your job? Link to comment
Mirya Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 I never understood the appeal of Acanthophyllia. I guess I still don't. This Indophyllia on the other hand... I'm in love. As for the job front, I'm employed through the end of the year at NCSU as a locum tenens (a temporary doctor position). Exactly how much I will be working in Raleigh between now and Jan 1 depends on surgery. I've been in Columbus this week for doctor appointments. My sports physician rechecked me Tuesday and referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. I saw the surgeon on Friday. He wants me to get a new MRI (my last one was almost a year ago now and my last x-rays were 6 months ago) before deciding what type of surgery to perform on my leg. I need approval from my insurance company before I can schedule the MRI. While I'm waiting on that, I'll go back to Raleigh to continue working. Meanwhile, I have applied for a permanent position at NCSU. I'll probably hear about their decision regarding that in December. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Well, certainly hope all the doctors come up with the best plan for you for a speedy recovery! Onto new and exciting things. Winters are much better in NC! I don't miss the the needles in your face feeling of the midwest. It only snows like 2-4x where I am and if it snows an inch, it melts the same day. Then there's usually 1 snowfall between Feb-April that is 6" or more and that's usually when rain comes up from the south. Spring comes earlier and Fall comes later. Link to comment
Guits Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 The Indophyllia looks amazing! I hope they sort out your surgical workup and options soon. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Really is one of the prettiest different kind of lps I've ever seen. What a feast on the eyes! Link to comment
gena Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Yesterday when I brought the Indophyllia home, it didn't inflate much for the rest of the day. Today my husband and I were out and about, leaving before the tank lights came on. When we came home in the later afternoon, the Indophyllia had inflated to its full glory. My husband's jaw dropped. It was awesome seeing his reaction. This is what he saw, it's roughly 6" across: That is GORGEOUS! Some day I'd like to have a little collection of them . Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 It's rather mesmerizing. Can't wait to see it one day. I've never seen anything like it. Definitely sexy, you named it right! Link to comment
Mirya Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Played around with my Porthole a little: Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 It's like a peppermint candy, candy that has been pulled to have stripes!! That's exactly what that looks like to me, this time of year when they start showing how they make the striping in candy canes. Link to comment
Mirya Posted November 6, 2015 Author Share Posted November 6, 2015 Last night I had to turn the AC on in the apartment cause the tanks were up to 79. WTF. It's November. In Ohio. I even had the windows open and a fan on prior to switching on the AC. Link to comment
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