Nobody, darnit

Due to a little bump in my income, I'm letting myself get some small luxuries. I got a Sonicare toothbrush, because my dental hygienist sort of flipped out at me last week. After she scrubbed me down, she asked, "do you feel the clean difference?" And I ran my tongue over my teeth and said, "no." I guess this means my teeth are extra gritty. Because of this, I have to give extra care to my teeth. I've got mild peridontitis, which means the bones holding my teeth in are being nibbled away. Bleh.
In more entertaining news, my dentist said that my remaining baby tooth is the sort of thing a dentist is lucky to see once in a lifetime.

And, I got a new camera. My old one's ten years old, and though cutting edge for its time, is kind of clunky. My new one is relatively cheap (a hundred bucks) but I hear it's a good brand, and it's surely better than my old one.

So behind the cut, I give you my first pictures with the new camera.
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Dutifully, I did a 10% water change every day, but it turned out I didn't have to do it for a week, as the pH is already up to tap water level. And indeed, Lord Yeti the killifish has chilled, and the tetras are no longer scared shitless. (They were swimming tilted to side, every one of them. It freaked me out.) No more eyes have been lost.

I continue to love the female. She nibbles my finger when I stick it in. :-)

My frog likes to hover in the tank, going up and down, side to side along the glass. Today, for some reason, she has decided to do this in the same corner as the plecostemus' algae pellet. I don't know why she can't do it in another corner.

My new snail is also nibbling at the pellet. Satan the plecostemus has no problem shoving smail aside, but I think it's irritating him. Snail plus a frog that keeps ignorantly bouncing up and down on his head? He's one pissed pleco. He waits until the frog's in the corner, then charge out from his boglog lair and slam into the frog, pinning her in the corner. I don't imagine she'll be too badly hurt, but I'm sad she's too stupid to find a different corner.

I have a one-eyed shrimp!

My pufferfish died.
:-(
I'm not sure when it happened. Probably last night. I don't remember feeding the fish, but that doesn't mean anything. I might have missed him Sunday and/or Monday night because I've been getting home late, and if I do that, the fish are asleep for their feedings. I do remember not seeing him this morning. Did I feed him something bad? He was all swollen up.

So now I've got a five gallon tank full of snails.

I had a traumatic moment the other day when I discovered one of my tetras was swelling up and its eyes were popping out. I know dropsy when I see it, and I'd always heard it was a death sentence. But I went to the fish store, planning to get the supplies to set up a hospital tank where it could die without letting the other eat its bacteria-bloated body. Turns out, the clerk gave me some medicine, told me to treat the whole tank, and this morning, Sevastyan Dann the tetra is shrinking. :-D
This is the same fish I thought was pregnant. I don't think I was necessarily wrong, since it got sick because I unwittingly vacuumed away the good bacteria bed. Still, I'm traumatized by the thought I've made my fish suffer.

I spent much of today at work sticking paper in the machine every twenty minutes and waiting for the magenta toner to run out so I could go watch the Venture Brothers. Earlier this week I looked forward to it because I would be able to write without distraction. Well, because of a fire behind our work that literally melted our internet, I was completely without distraction, but I was too restless to write. (up until 3am two nights in a row.)

Other reasons for restlessness: maybe missed an interesting opportunity at the party last night because I was too slow and cold and nervous-- not to mention lacking a few social skills. Maybe I didn't miss anything, but I'll never know. Once I got over my "what if he gets attached to me in an annoying way?" fear, he was gone. I also got hit with a "don't I know you from somewhere?" pickup line. (not from Potentially Interesting Guy. He didn't have any stupid pickup lines.) Once we established that no, he didn't know me from the F+SF scene, he gave me some strange line about his memory not working right. Damn, I hate mating rituals.

In other news, I got a pufferfish! Thanks to hawkdancer's boyfriend, the puffer's name is Siddartha. Pics to come. I bought some bloodworms (mosquito midge larvae) to feed him, and to treat the tetras to. Let me just say, I never thought tetras were so bloodthirsty. When I dropped the bloodworms in the tank, those tiny fish turned into a swarm of blood-mad sharks.

Earlier this evening, as I was typing away on my WIP, I noticed a dark lump shuffling around the fishtank. The pleco was out! He meandered over to his algae wafer, but when I slowly stood, he vanished. I'd heard that you can watch them at night with a red light. Well, I don't have a red light bulb yet, but I have a blue one, and I've got it set up in the vain hope that my body's vibrations won't keep the pleco at bay.

Now it goes without saying that blue is not red. In my old room, where I never used only the blue bulb, I never appreciated how close it is to a blacklight. Now, it's turning everything in my room blue, except for the green and orange things. The orange price tag on top of a bottle of mineral water, the green stripes on my toy tarantula's knees, the single word, "Shannara" on my shelf of unread books. Everything else is monochromatic.

EDIT: oh, oh, it's out! Aw, Chelsea just slammed a door and now the dark lump is gone. :-(

I got more fish last night. Three albino glowlight tetras. I'm debating getting two more, since they're happier in big groups, and they are tiny. But I want to get three more different tetras and a pleco. Meh. I don't know. Anyway, pictures can't do them justice because of exactly how well they glow. Seriously, they look like they have Christmas lights in their heads. I've got two colors of gravel: black and -- little did I realize-- albino glowlight tetra-colored. They're pretty smart about staying on the pale gravel, though when they swim higher they stand out against the plants and bog log.
Maybe I will get more. They're getting along pretty well with my black neons, but one of the big ones is chasing them right now-- I think just from the spot of gravel he was nibbling. They get along fine with the subordinate big tetras. Overall, things look good. The black neons had been huddling at the top of the tank, and now they're back at other levels. I've been regulating their lighting too, that might have helped. It bugs the heck out of me, keeping the light on all day, but it's good for them.

I was going to get Glass Bloodfin Tetras but the awesome aquarium guy said they were delicate, and I should probably let my tank settle a couple months first. Reading up on them, they sound like they might be a little difficult. But, since I think I want to get more tanks eventually, and be like, a hobbyist, I should get used to taking care of fussy fish. Someday, I want one of the huge quarter-circle corner tanks. Not a salt-water tank-- I like mine dense with plants.

Since the little guys swim near the bottom, Teisel can see them really well, and he's going crazy. Fortunately, he's stopped whacking the tank, and is content just to sit and watch raptly.

EDIT: Okay, I've only got six tetras, and they're the most fascinating things ever. One of the glowlights keeps trying to swim next to a big black neon. It goes in little circles like the yappy dog around the big bulldog in old cartoons. Eventually the big one chases it off, but it comes back later.

EDIT EDIT: I got four more glowlights. Now, they're all swimming together in one happy school, blacks and glowlights together, no bossing or nipping. :-)