Tank turned 49 this year

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I put my boat away yesterday which mad me a little sad but it is getting cold and windy here. My marina didn't have room so I drove it to another marina a few miles away. The water was very calm but it did rain a little. I winterized it and won't see it until the spring. I looked for but didn't see any frost bitten turtles on the way and I was the only boat out.

Today I will go to the tax department to file my new exemption for my new house. They give you an exemption if you are a Veteran and a bigger exemption if you served in a combat zone and a bigger exemption if you were in combat and another exemption if you have a combat related symptom or injury. If I get another exemption, they will owe me money. :rolleyes:

Actually all the exemptions come out to like 10 or 15% of your taxes and here on Long Island we pay some of the highest taxes in the country. I think it's because of the excellent amphipods we can collect here. :rolleyes: (The deduction comes out to about one dollar and eighty five cents. )

After fifty years the Veterans Administration tells me I have PTSD and a disability. (also hearing loss and tinnitus and probably Fishitis)
I don't know about the PTSD because I feel I am fine. I do run around in circles eating flies and I occasionally recite paragraphs from "Horton Hears a Who" in Arabic but only on Tuesdays, besides that, I am great. :cool:
 
Last edited:

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Insane the rating took this long. The good thing about the tinnitus rating is they will take care of hearing care when/if the time comes.

Currently i have what sounds like a jet engine spooling up in my background, so i keep a lot of background noise in my work/home life. Drives me crazy, but its been long enough that i feel like its just "normal."
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Wait, I can't hear you. I have this Jet engine noise spooling around in my workshop. :cool:
I have the same thing and do the same thing. I always need background noise and can't be in a room without some type of radio, TV, drill press, Oldsmobile or Supermodel. I need a slight noise or I go nuts. Loud noises and I have to leave.

I was in Field Artillery and we fired 6 guns continousely all day and night. I slept right under the barrel. I also got blown up and was out for 15 minutes. Not just me but everyone in the same battle.

The army takes many years for everything. I got some medals and it took 20 years to get them and put them on my DD214 form :confused:
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
I just took a video. The mandarin is only in the beginning for a few seconds and you can't see the bluestripe pipefish as they are giving birth and stay hidden when they do that. You also can't see the possum wrasse and two Gecko gobies that never come out. But they are there as well as a huge urchin, decorator crab, anemone crab and numerous other crabs.

 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
So I was looking in my tank and noticed all these tiny red things in the back at the bottom in the dark. I figured they were the fry of something and got a little excited. Then I remembered I only have a few paired fish and except for the fireclowns, none of them are red and clown fry don't lay around on the gravel waiting for the Good Humor man to come around, they kind of swim around trying to get eaten like most fry do.

I got my reading glasses and saw they were flatworms. Thousands of them just laying around thinking of what to do next.

I kind of like flatworms and think they are kind of cool. I also like their lifestyle just hanging out, checking things out and shooting the breeze.

In a few weeks they will be bored and disappear but if I was a Noob or if I was thinking inside the box or on LSD, Rogain or Rolaids, I would throw "Flatworm Exit" in there maybe with some Tree Stump Remover and insecticide to rush their exit.

I think of them as free invertebrates who can stay as long as they like as long as they don't cause havoc or start removing the paint on my Man Cave walls.
I put them under my microscope and they are certainly cool. I will ty to take a picture, but I am not sure I can get them to pose. :rolleyes:
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Looking forward to seeing the pics of them. I have actually never seen one outside of the google.

I was in that other branch that has the word chair in it. For me, it was being out on the flight line loading and launching planes. I still remember the day they came out with decibel readers and had us all wear them. They came back in a hurry with a new policy on wearing ear pro. Should have put 2 and 2 together, but after many long "days" on the ramp, the headaches from the foamies were worse than the noise.

Of course now i would have done a few things differently. Not as cool of a story as cannon fire, but thankfully my nights were spent in hotels or lodging versus under barrels!

Good job on the "bounce back." I have met several veterans who rocked their recovery on the explosion part, and unfortunately several who have not. Always sucks to see the ones struggle with their transition, but worth seeing them come out of it kicking and having a making the best of life.

With that said, time to hit the google again and read up on your take on flatworms. I was under the impression that they eat corals... Never having them, i have never done much research.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Some of them eat corals, some of them just lay in the light and some who like the dark. I assume some of them can sing so in short, there are all sorts of worms and some of them are flat. Hence the name.

The Army gave me a pair of those rubber ear plugs when I got to Nam and they assumed I would still have them a year later after living in the Jungle sleeping in the mud all of that time. I think I lost them in the first 15 minutes.
In rice paddies they tend to float out of your pockets. :rolleyes:

This thing makes a big boom and when you are sleeping under the barrel and it fires all night almost every day, it tends to wake you up and give you a little ringing in your ears.

But having busted ears is a pleasure compared to what too many guys got.

 
Last edited:

Paul B

Well-Known Member
If I had the time and ambition I would go and check out my tank now in the dark because it looked like my bluestripe pipefish should have given birth last night as he was really pregnant. They spawn all the time but I never caught sight of the fry which are born alive and must be about as big as
this --------> ' <--------

(an old picture and not from this pregnancy)
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Yesterday I went to Home Depot with my friend and as we drove there I had to suddenly stop the car. There was a cow in the middle of the street.
A big cow. Now me living most of my life closer to New York City the only cows I saw were in a bun covered in pickles and onions with a side of fries so I don't know much about cows except for the picture of them on the side of a milk carton.

We looked around and saw another cow in an enclosure and being I went to High School and everything we put two and two together and figured the thing ran away.
So we got out and went up to the house where the other cow was and knocked on the door. No one was home. Just then a lady comes up the driveway all frantic looking. She probably thought we were there to steal the other cow.

We told her about the cow in the street and she said that is her Daughter's cow and didn't know what to do. I told her we were professional cow rustlers and would help her catch the cow in the street.
Now she was older than me and I am almost 70 waiting to have a knee replacement and a bad back and my friend is just a year younger than me so the three of us didn't exactly look like The Lone Ranger and Tonto.

We "run" up to the cow waving our arms and yelling at "Buttercup" to turn around and come with us but she really liked the neighbors grass and wouldn't come.

Just then 3 Police cars pull up because someone called them about this run away cow. One Cop asked me if it was a girl cow or a boy cow. :rolleyes:
I said it's a cow and although I am not a Pulitzer Prize winner I know they are all girls. Besides that it's name is Buttercup.

I mean thats like asking what do they call Watchman gobi girls. I almost told the cop that if his Mother didn't have any children, he also probably wouldn't have any. :cool:
But I figured I shouldn't say that and the cops were real nice and helped us corral Buttercup.

So after 20 minutes we get Buttercup near the fence. My friend pulls out the pin in the fence to open that section, and about 50' of the fence falls flat on the ground.
Now the other cow (who was also a girl) starts t make a run for it. I get in front of her but didn't know her name so I said "Maam" please go back in the enclosure as I am too tired and old to chase you.
She didn't listen until I showed her a picture of a hamburger.

WE finally got Buttercup back where she belonged and went over to repair the fence which was falling apart. The woman thanked us and we continued on to Home Depot
That was my most exciting visit to that store. :D

Here is the broken fence where Buttercup got out of. I was to busy to get a picture of her.

 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Considering that your way out in the country, maybe you should consider keeping cows also. Then you granddaughter could be the dairy princess from your county. (grin)
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
OMG, my brand new yellow clown gobi is covered in parasites. :confused: I have to turn in my Aquarist card. :eek:

I think I should have dipped him in stump remover, then spray painted him with prizapro while electroplating him with copper. I am so scared and don't know what to do. :(
Should I go bungee jumping with a rubber band or stick my head in a bucket of tar and feathers!!! I am such a Noob. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :rolleyes:

I think I am going to catch all my fish by removing everything in my tank including the tag that says where it was made then I will let it go fallow for 7 or 8 months, yes thats what I will do. Then I will treat him for flukes and flounders. ;Wideyed

 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Looking forward to seeing the pics of them. I have actually never seen one outside of the google.

I was in that other branch that has the word chair in it. For me, it was being out on the flight line loading and launching planes. I still remember the day they came out with decibel readers and had us all wear them. They came back in a hurry with a new policy on wearing ear pro. Should have put 2 and 2 together, but after many long "days" on the ramp, the headaches from the foamies were worse than the noise.

Of course now i would have done a few things differently. Not as cool of a story as cannon fire, but thankfully my nights were spent in hotels or lodging versus under barrels!

Good job on the "bounce back." I have met several veterans who rocked their recovery on the explosion part, and unfortunately several who have not. Always sucks to see the ones struggle with their transition, but worth seeing them come out of it kicking and having a making the best of life.

With that said, time to hit the google again and read up on your take on flatworms. I was under the impression that they eat corals... Never having them, i have never done much research.
As they say, Marines sleep under stars, the Navy navigate by the stars, and the air force rate their hotels by stars !
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
OMG, my brand new yellow clown gobi is covered in parasites. :confused: I have to turn in my Aquarist card. :eek:

I think I should have dipped him in stump remover, then spray painted him with prizapro while electroplating him with copper. I am so scared and don't know what to do. :(
Should I go bungee jumping with a rubber band or stick my head in a bucket of tar and feathers!!! I am such a Noob. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :rolleyes:

I think I am going to catch all my fish by removing everything in my tank including the tag that says where it was made then I will let it go fallow for 7 or 8 months, yes thats what I will do. Then I will treat him for flukes and flounders. ;Wideyed

Ha, ha, I know the feeling. I'm an experienced scuba diver, with probably over a thousand dives, and one thing that stands out in the wild is the visibility. It's quite important when you dive. I know many water keepers like to have that 'gin clear' look about their tanks, but in my experience I have never ever once encountered that in the wild. There is always 'stuff' floating about. My tank has 'stuff' floating about. I do have bits of floss here and there, but I'm not worried about it.
Now and again I think I see a fish or three covered in whitish spots. However, I don't sit in my rocking chair and start to cry, as usually it's just some of the 'stuff' sticking to the fish.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Nobbygas, I also know the feeling but this fish is really covered in parasites. Probably some of the stuff floating around also.
I am also an experienced diver but you have more dives than I do. I stopped logging at about 200 so I think I have about 300 and 3/4s of them were here in NY where the viability is measured in inches and sometimes quarter inches. :confused:
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
And here I thought i was an experienced diver... I havent even gotten to the naked dive yet! O well... I have dove in some of the most amazing water where i could see the prop sitting idle while at 108ft deep (okay maybe thats a drinking water from a hoof print story), but seriously awesome vis water. I have also dove in water where my hand disappeared if i stuck my arm out. I would like my tank to have the visibility of the first scenario, but i can truly appreciate how much more i enjoy it now that i dont chase crystal conditions. And my wallet is much happier now too :D

That said, its hard to rate hotels with stars when they are always 5 hahahaha.
 

Paul B

Well-Known Member
Here in the western Sound where I used to lobster dive, if you wanted to see your watch, you had to put it in your mask. :eek:
The best visibility there is about 4'.
But in Bora Bora the vis was better than the air here in NY is. :D
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Nobbygas, I also know the feeling but this fish is really covered in parasites. Probably some of the stuff floating around also.
I am also an experienced diver but you have more dives than I do. I stopped logging at about 200 so I think I have about 300 and 3/4s of them were here in NY where the viability is measured in inches and sometimes quarter inches. :confused:
Ha, ha. I think I logged my first fifty dives, and then gave up on that :) All the dives nowadays are stored on the dive computer anyway!
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
And here I thought i was an experienced diver... I havent even gotten to the naked dive yet! O well... I have dove in some of the most amazing water where i could see the prop sitting idle while at 108ft deep (okay maybe thats a drinking water from a hoof print story), but seriously awesome vis water. I have also dove in water where my hand disappeared if i stuck my arm out. I would like my tank to have the visibility of the first scenario, but i can truly appreciate how much more i enjoy it now that i dont chase crystal conditions. And my wallet is much happier now too :D

That said, its hard to rate hotels with stars when they are always 5 hahahaha.
What did the Airman do when told he had a tent to sleep in? He rang the Concierge to demand that the tent be removed from his room !
 
Top