At least I don’t think so… The filter on the fish tank died at 11 o’clock tonight. No way to replace it at this hour. Hundreds of dollars worth of fish with lives in the balance. I have time to go get a filter tomorrow morning assuming there are fish to save, but I don’t have time to set it up. I will have to be very very late. Then there is the cycling of a filter. If I can’t reuse enough of the components with good bacteria living on them the tank good essentially become a deathtrap as the biological filtration chemistry starts over. The last time we got a new filter I think we did 50 percent water changes (40 gallons) every hour for a full day to keep the water livable… It was awful and so many fish died. The water becomes poisonous and they suffocate. They try to jump out before they die.

And I get to deal with potentially any combination of the above possibilities tomorrow before work. Joy.

UPDATE: No one died, the new filter is bought and up and running. I’ll test the water in a bit to see if there is any bad stuff happening.... so far so good!

tagged: pets fish tank filter disasters

daniel · late at night · say it · ping it

An Engineer’s Guide to Cats (via).
YouTubery after the jump…

tagged: links funny you tube cats pets engineers guide

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it

I was working on the fish tank when I heard something fall. I stopped what I was doing. One of the cats, Chanel, looked startled. I thought in that second that maybe the cats were playing. They do that. But the sound continued and Chanel was in front of me. I went up the stairs. What could they have knocked down? I turned the corner and there was Coco. I thought he was dying. He was at the foot of the stairs. His legs were all akimbo. He was rolling his head oddly and kept pressing his forehead into the bottom step. I was freaking out. I spoke his name calmly and put my hand out. He let me pet him and slowly steadied himself.

He wasn’t dying. He was dizzy. He had fallen down the stairs.

Now that I know he’s alright, nothing broken or anything, it’s kinda funny. What the hell? How did a cat fall down the stairs??? Should I worry? He is getting older…

tagged: cats pets stairs chanel coco dizzy

daniel · at some point · 1 comment · ping it

Celebrate! There were no further casualties. A miracle I tell you! But I still went to the pet store and stocked up on the chemicals. And to be safe poured a half a bottle in the tank. Just in case my bacteria levels were still off. I’d like everyone living in there to stay alive thanks.

tagged: update drama fish pets fish tank   relieved

daniel · early evening · 2 comments · ping it

Big drama here kids. Drama with the fish tank. None of it is anyone’s fault.

Richard decided to do a big water change. Great! Except that he also decided that the filter had to be done immediately as well. Now normally we space those two chores out. Not because they both suck, which they do. We space then out for the safety of the fish. A big water change can stir up a lot of dormant pollutants. The filter has bacteria in it to deal with said pollutants. If you clean the filter you weaken the bacteria inside, so doing both on the same day can potentially harm your fish if the tank is dirty. Ours apparently was, and worse than we thought. We are on schedule with the chores, as both get done once per month. However, a fair amount of plants died while we were on vacation. Since we weren’t home picking out the leaves and such the filter was filthy and a bit clogged. This made the tank extra filthy. We hadn’t noticed. You see, the water chemistry had balanced out to the dirty conditions, and sustained life (although we have lost two fish since we’ve been back). We just destroyed that balance and now the water chemistry is out of control. Sort of like a brand new tank that you aren’t supposed to put live fish in. Richard has now done two consecutive 25% water changes. That amounts to roughly 50 gallons emptied and then replaced 5 gallons at a time. Yikes! That’s a workout! But the hope is to dilute the bad bacteria while the good bacteria re-establishes itself.

To make it all worse, there are two chemical products on the market to save you in just such an emergency that will rapidly eliminate the bad stuff in your water. We always have these on hand. Always. Except for right now. We have neither. I really wish we hadn’t put off that trip to the pet store. There really should be a 24 hour pet supply. I am surprised that there isn’t actually.

Anyway, even if this all makes no sense to you, please cross your fingers that the fish are alive when we wake up in the morning. 

tagged: fish pets emergency aquarium ph water chemistry ammonia spike

daniel · the wee hours · 3 comments · ping it

I could see our cat doing this. Well, not Chanel, he’s to skittish. Coco definitely.
Mystery cat takes bus via Freakgirl. 

tagged: links cat pets chanel coco bus cat takes bus

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it

So since Richard had decided that his cat was not going to wear one of those lampshade thingies Chanel has been not only in danger of picking his stitches, but he has been running around totally nude. Yes, nude. Like some feral animal. We are not running some gay kitty whorehouse over here! (Side note, there has been a very large ‘bear’ cat prowling around the back yard and even howling at the window.) Tonight I decided it was time for Chanel to get back into his everyday silver glimmer pleather rhinestone collar with the heart shaped sterling rhinestone encrusted ID tag. I mean really. For decency’s sake…

tagged: cats pets chanel bear collar nudity

daniel · the wee hours · 2 comments · ping it

Erm. Yeah. They say one shouldn’t blog about one’s cats. I have broken that rule numerous times. In fact I am about to right now. You see, the cat (yes Chanel again) had to go to the doctor. It was almost another emergency room visit. He had a little bump that would bleed sometimes on his paw. We had it looked at a few months ago. It turned out to be like a vein coming through the skin or something. We were given some medicine to shrink it. Well that didn’t work out and yesterday his paw started bleeding and pretty much wouldn’t stop. Yup, just like you are thinking. Little red paw prints all over the house. Plus we were a bit concerned that he may eventually run out of blood! Kidding… It stopped and started kinda. It wasn’t like a constant fount of blood.

Anyway, so when one cat goes to the doctor the other goes. Richard packed them up early this morning and off they went. Chanel ended up having surgery! Poor guy! So now he is very grouchy from having been ‘put under’. Plus while he was out they cleaned his teeth. So while the 2 cats remember each other, Chanel is not feeling social. Thus the title. Hiss!

Oh, and he has to wear one of those lamp shade thingies. Humiliating. 

tagged: richard sick cats pets chanel lampshade collar surgery

daniel · early evening · 3 comments · ping it

Well, the trip to the ER was exactly what I had thought. Re-hydrate, and clean him out. He had a kitty enema! Ew! Richard didn’t get home till around 4:30 and then stayed up to monitor the cat. Chanel has been eating canned pumpkin. He’s not in pain but hasn’t meowed or visited the box. Richard will be on cat box vigil all day.

At least the 2 cats are getting along. That trick of bringing them both is amazing! The doctor visits used to be worse because when Chanel got home all the new smells on him terrified Coco, who’d attack and hiss. Oi. It was bad!

Anyway. I need to start getting ready for work. I am closing again. Yay me!

tagged: pets chanel constipation sick cat vet

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it