Snow's Mantis Menagerie - Losing everyone.

[FlowerMama]

 

I know that feeling. I have a drawer full of pants - 15 pairs. And I can only fit into 2 pairs.

 

I need to cut out so much bad stuff. But sugar is what I crave.

 

The struggle is real! And it sucks. But next week, eating better and 30 mins on the treadmill. I'm gonna use nano-reef as a motivator. I like coming here but there's no reason why I can't spend 30 mins on the treadmill first. No treadmill, no NR. I need some kind of reward, though blah blah I know that feeling better should be enough, but it's not. SO I have to be creative.

Hey, and nice job on those grades! I wouldn't be able to do as well if I was being side tracked so much by illness and stress. I think that's excellent.

[Snow_Phoenix]

 

I know that feeling. I have a drawer full of pants - 15 pairs. And I can only fit into 2 pairs.

 

I need to cut out so much bad stuff. But sugar is what I crave.

 

I have six pairs of jeans and can now only squeeze into one. Pretty embarrassing, actually. Really need to cut down on those calories. Ack.

[FlowerMama]

I empathize with ya all.

[Snow_Phoenix]

 

The struggle is real! And it sucks. But next week, eating better and 30 mins on the treadmill. I'm gonna use nano-reef as a motivator. I like coming here but there's no reason why I can't spend 30 mins on the treadmill first. No treadmill, no NR. I need some kind of reward, though blah blah I know that feeling better should be enough, but it's not. SO I have to be creative.

Hey, and nice job on those grades! I wouldn't be able to do as well if I was being side tracked so much by illness and stress. I think that's excellent.

 

I used to run six laps around the housing block (approx. 2km), hula hoop using a wooden hoop for 30 mins non-stop and walk my dog for 20 mins. I had a two-pack and weighed 41kg for my 5' 3 height. The moment my dog died, I pretty much stopped working out because my routine was never the same without her. But about two years later and now easily 30kg overweight, I can see why leading a sedentary lifestyle was probably one of the worst choices I've ever made since it directly impacted my health, hormones and mobility. So now I'm slowly shedding off the mass and shrinking down but it'll probably take a full year before I'm back to my original size. We don't have a treadmill though since my dad is too worried it'll be a white elephant in the house. I did tell him I'd use it, but I don't think he believed me.

 

Thank you - I was astonished by the results, truth be told. I have absolutely zero basics in business since I'm primarily a science/medical-based student. Still, I'm thankful for every little thing.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Well, I did a thorough clean-up of the tank. I removed everything except for the sandbed, removed 90% of the water, siphoned out all the cyano and excess debri, and slowly put everyone back. I isolated Freya throughout the process because I was worried I might crush her by accident whilst moving the rocks around in the pail.

 

Managed to get some good shots of her - my goodness! She's huge at 3.5" now. One of her smashers has yet to regrow fully but the other one is back to regular size. Here are some close-ups of her in her holding cup:

 

 

 

 

And this was her, when she was placed back in the tank:

 

 

And my corals were way happier once I did a nice scrub down and pulled over with the 90% WC. Loads of nice PE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I went for a job interview yesterday. As a writer in the R&D of robotics/app development in conjunction with various unis around the globe. Half the team are Professors, one quarter of them have PhDs and everyone else is either a PhD student or pretty much an insane genius software engineer/hacker/programmer. I admit I was a bit skittish and overwhelmed when one of the top researchers interviewed me personally - he's a CEO of a company of his own - and he said he would give me a strong recommendation to the Msian-based Director of the company. Really hoping I would get in, because the academic accreditation is high, the workspace looked nice and I actually liked what I was required to do (they had me do a test run of writing in the office). Also, they seemed happy that I am about to pursue a PhD of my own - and best part is the main campus that I picked out to do my PhD in is in collaboration with this company and its research, so I can actually do a thesis based on my work (if I get the position).

 

Hope I'll be called back soon for the second interview round.

 

 

[metrokat]

Freya looks great - good luck with the interview.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Freya looks great - good luck with the interview.

 

Thanks Kat.

[FlowerMama]

She looks so cool. I love all mantis. SO she's like as long a finger. Mine is still small but I think as of late she's grown a little. She may be getting closer to 1 3/4" or 2", hard to know, hard to measure.

 

That's exciting having a potential job! That sounds impressive and nerve wracking at the same time. But you can do this, you know you can.

[Snow_Phoenix]

She looks so cool. I love all mantis. SO she's like as long a finger. Mine is still small but I think as of late she's grown a little. She may be getting closer to 1 3/4" or 2", hard to know, hard to measure.

 

That's exciting having a potential job! That sounds impressive and nerve wracking at the same time. But you can do this, you know you can.

 

Yep, I love all mantises too! Ever since getting Freya, I've pretty much grown to appreciate all stomatopods. Do you have any recent pics or vids of Gertie?

 

Thank you - and I'm excited as well. Truly hope I'll get it.

[FlowerMama]

No recent pics. Maybe the next couple of days.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I only found out yesterday morning that my neurologist has finally passed away on Tuesday, two days after Valentine's day. The whole state is now without a private Neurologist - and the government Neurologist is overloaded with an influx of patients. I now need to seek treatment out of state every month/bi-monthly.

 

Also, my second specialist told me today that the UK has tightened its policy against epileptic patients and I need a specific letter from a neurologist stating I'm fit to travel for my little sis's graduation in July. This means I cannot afford to have any seizures, blackouts, memory loss, ataxia or anything brain-related for the next few months. There's a probability I won't be able to see my sis who I haven't seen in over a year face-to-face, simply because some stupid law says I'm a liability on a plane.

 

Third thing - my beautiful orange plate that was doing perfectly fine yesterday RTNed overnight for no reason. There's only half a plate left and an ugly patch of cyano next to it. I'm genuinely frustrated.

 

Definitely not a good day to start off, but life's always full of ups and downs, so that's what keeps it balanced. I'm just going to try and write something down as outlet or even sketch for a while, and take a deep breath. Then fix my tank, find a new neurologist with the help of my dad and get an appointment out-of-state.

[TFish77]

I only found out yesterday morning that my neurologist has finally passed away on Tuesday, two days after Valentine's day. The whole state is now without a private Neurologist - and the government Neurologist is overloaded with an influx of patients. I now need to seek treatment out of state every month/bi-monthly.

 

Also, my second specialist told me today that the UK has tightened its policy against epileptic patients and I need a specific letter from a neurologist stating I'm fit to travel for my little sis's graduation in July. This means I cannot afford to have any seizures, blackouts, memory loss, ataxia or anything brain-related for the next few months. There's a probability I won't be able to see my sis who I haven't seen in over a year face-to-face, simply because some stupid law says I'm a liability on a plane.

 

Third thing - my beautiful orange plate that was doing perfectly fine yesterday RTNed overnight for no reason. There's only half a plate left and an ugly patch of cyano next to it. I'm genuinely frustrated.

 

Definitely not a good day to start off, but life's always full of ups and downs, so that's what keeps it balanced. I'm just going to try and write something down as outlet or even sketch for a while, and take a deep breath. Then fix my tank, find a new neurologist with the help of my dad and get an appointment out-of-state.

 

There is no dislike post button but I wish you the best of luck. Bad stuff happens to good people and unfortunately all you can do is persevere.

[FlowerMama]

Sorry to hear about your neurologist just for them and their family. And for you more changes having to find someone else. I had no luck w/ plates. I tried 1 and never could find where it liked it the best and then getting it to feed was hard, such a tiny mouth, I prefer RFAs.

[vlangel]

I am sorry Snow, that is sad about your neurologist. I feel bad for your loss of someone you trusted and who you felt cared about your condition. I know how my husband and I would feel if our surgeon oncologist would die as he has become someone we trust.

 

I am sorry about your plate too. Like FlowerMama, I didn't have any luck with them either. Still its always sad and frustrating when a coral RTNs and there is no clear reason. Try to enjoy the animals that are thriving and concentrate on keeping up with your maintenance through all this.

[Snow_Phoenix]

 

There is no dislike post button but I wish you the best of luck. Bad stuff happens to good people and unfortunately all you can do is persevere.

 

 

Sorry to hear about your neurologist just for them and their family. And for you more changes having to find someone else. I had no luck w/ plates. I tried 1 and never could find where it liked it the best and then getting it to feed was hard, such a tiny mouth, I prefer RFAs.

 

 

I am sorry Snow, that is sad about your neurologist. I feel bad for your loss of someone you trusted and who you felt cared about your condition. I know how my husband and I would feel if our surgeon oncologist would die as he has become someone we trust.

 

I am sorry about your plate too. Like FlowerMama, I didn't have any luck with them either. Still its always sad and frustrating when a coral RTNs and there is no clear reason. Try to enjoy the animals that are thriving and concentrate on keeping up with your maintenance through all this.

 

My deepest regret is not being able to send her a Thank You card before she moved on. Since I'm a patient, the only way I can contact her is via the hospital, but she was clearly too ill to come in and chose to be with her family. I respected her privacy, so I didn't bug the nurses for her home address. I truly hope her soul rests in peace - she was a wonderful and skilled doctor. I wouldn't be here, leading a higher quality of life than I was going through previously, if it weren't for her and her diagnosis and continuous encouragement.

 

If by some luck that my lesion heals (10% or less patients have experienced this, although there is still cell loss, the brain can function almost normally), I'll pursue a MD after my PhD and work on specializing in neurosurgery. I used to dream of being a Gynecologist, but after this, I just feel like helping other people who've been through what I've gone through, you know? That way I won't be a stranger to them.

 

On a sidenote, I am sorry that I couldn't respond earlier. My tank took a turn for the worse two days ago. I woke to find cyano covering everything - I lost my GSP, my whole plate, one zoa colony and a few other minor coral pieces. My Quad-colored mushrooms were on their way out and my wrasse was stressed. I noticed there were grayish clumps on the sandbed mixed with the cyano - I couldn't capture it on my phone's camera for some reason. So I took out all the corals and dumped them into my 3-week-old 16G long (just covered with fresh diatoms and with minimal CUC), did a major blackout and didn't feed the fish for a day. The cyano diminished by 50% as soon as the light was off, but it's still existing.

 

I bought some fresh live sand from the LFS on Sunday - so tomorrow I'll be taking down the tank (both fish and the mantis and two snails will be transferred to a holding pail), getting rid of the old sand, scrubbing down the tank, putting in the fresh sand, adding back the cycled LR and everyone, and hope there'll be a minimal cycle. I'm worried about the wrasse because he stresses easily compared to my clown, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

 

Looks like Freya's system might be the one that ends up being the FOWLR instead of the 16G. I didn't anticipate algae of all things to semi-wipeout a tank over a day. I'm not sure if my DI water source is the cause, since I switched DI brands this month. I might revert back to the original brand and see if there's any difference.

[FlowerMama]

Yeah, definitely check the water source. Cyano can happen fast. Seems like you can be going along, think you've found a balance and then bam, it change quickly.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Well, I half-won the battle against Cyano by doing a major blackout. No light for the past week and it pretty much withered except for one irritating spot at the front of my tank. Freya's molting, in the meantime, and the tank is mostly bare. I have shifted over my corals to a larger tank, and even pulled over the lights due to the cyano in this one.

 

What was supposed to be a temporary transfer pretty much stuck on as a permanent one.

 

So here goes only one question...:

 

Shall I...post a new tank thread for the 16G?

[Sk8n Reefer]

Nice, full transfer.......new thread time for sure ?

[FlowerMama]

Yes you should!

[Snow_Phoenix]

If anyone is still reading, this was my 16G tank transfer. It was a beautiful tank, that I had to tear down within a month because of the pressure my family put on me to sell off all my beloved animals one by one.

 

 

It had various corals and four fish - a ruby-headed wrasse, an aquacultured hybrid Occy-Perc clown, a wild Occy clown and a Rainford's goby. It also had various types of thriving macro and inverts.

 

This is my cinnamon hedgehog, Gucci, which I was also forced to giveaway because my mother thought she was hideous (jijik) due to the spikes.

 

 

This is my licensed exotic - a 3-week-old Asian palm civet cat baby (also known as a Toddy cat) named Chewy. I had her for less than six hours before my father threatened to literally kill her. She is currently with a friend of mine who specializes in exotics for safekeeping. I'll probably never be able to see her again, watch her grow up or hold her again. I saved up for months to get her, the license and all the necessary equipment.

 

 

(That's not my hand btw).

 

 

 

It's been very rough at home. I can't even begin to say what's going on, which was why I abstained from NR for a while. I admit I'm more hurt at my parents right now than ever. I only have both my parrots and dogs left, and I'm hoping they won't ask me to give up my birds next. I tried to move out but my resourced were limited and my uncle told me to stay put. My family and I fought and argued a lot over the last few weeks, and I had to give up tank after tank, animal after animal, even though I'm ghost writing and occasionally taking up art commissions as a source of income. Giving up Chewy was the worst. I doubled up on my sedatives and still slept only four to five hours per day for a week. Only last night I got a good round of sleep in the whole week.

 

Freya is alive but she's heading back to the store tomorrow.

 

She's almost maxed out at 4" now, but one of her smashers is still underdeveloped.

 

 

However, I just noticed I have two small sand hermits that survived my decommed 16G for these past two weeks without any aeration. So I'm planning to sneak back a bit of macro/seaweed pieces from the store tomorrow and hide it in the tiny 8G (Freya's original tank). I have a strip light that's barely working but it'll do.

 

Sorry for not updating in a while.

 

Also, my health deteriorated at times, so I was mostly skimming through some selected posts. Sorry about not commenting or leaving any likes.

 

[FlowerMama]

That's the hardest thing to do, to give up your pets. I'm sure they gave their reasoning but it hurts for sure. It'll pass, I say don't give up hope. They maybe don't realize just what a good influence they have on you, taking responsibility of something and helping to ease your mind of other pains. I'm sorry to hear that. And may be they want you to go away for school and maybe they don't want to be stuck with them, but you in your own time would've wanted to be able to take those actions yourself, when you want to and after you've found good homes, not being forced to. So hard.

[Snow_Phoenix]

That's the hardest thing to do, to give up your pets. I'm sure they gave their reasoning but it hurts for sure. It'll pass, I say don't give up hope. They maybe don't realize just what a good influence they have on you, taking responsibility of something and helping to ease your mind of other pains. I'm sorry to hear that. And may be they want you to go away for school and maybe they don't want to be stuck with them, but you in your own time would've wanted to be able to take those actions yourself, when you want to and after you've found good homes, not being forced to. So hard.

 

Unfortunately their reasoning was this: my mother has apparently suddenly become phobiatic of my animals. A hedgehog is also considered an exotic over here, and she claimed the tiny spikes on its back scared her. Then she alleged that my 3-week-old civet-fox who can barely crawl and did not even know how to walk yet is 'terrifying', 'ugly' and 'horrible'. As for the tanks, both of them said they were a waste of space, time and money. This whole month has been a trainwreck for me emotionally.

 

I was thinking of contacting my friend so that I can see Chewy one more time. If I'm even lucky enough to get a PhD placement, my new semester will only begin in September, which is months away. I honestly saw no reason as to why I had to rehome everyone immediately and now, of all timings.

 

It definitely was the hardest thing I've ever done, besides putting Snow to sleep in 2013. That was quite bad as well.

 

Your tank looks wonderful btw, Flower. Glad to see it coming together again. Those small nems look cute.

[FlowerMama]

Geez. How far away would school be?

[Snow_Phoenix]

Geez. How far away would school be?

 

School's in the opposite end of the country - a solid 11-hour drive from my present home. I told my mother I could bring my civet-fox with me as a companion, but she digressed since dorm laws forbids any critters. I told her I am old enough to find an off-campus accommodation that allows pets, but she put her foot down on that one too. I'm pretty much suffocating under all the restrictions. Which is why once my PhD is done, I'll most likely move to a different state and rent out my own place. That way it will technically be my home, and I can finally keep a small tank again, and hopefully get a civet-fox again.

 

I brought back a few macro pieces for the sand crabs, but the Ulva and Octhodes didn't make it. Still have my old clump of Galaxaura though. My LFS manager popped two hermits into a bag in secret and told me to keep them. Thankfully the hermits's presence isn't as obvious as a fish, so they went unnoticed by my folks. I hope Freya's doing ok though.

[FlowerMama]

Yeh, keep going, & do the best you can you know? In the middle of a water change.