Another Reason to Quarantine...

I almost ALWAYS quarantine new fish that I get for an aquarium, but recently, I got a small school of glowlight tetras (5 to be exact) and decided that it was a lot of bother to quarantine them. I decided to add them (after acclimation of course!) directly to the tank with no care taken to make sure they were indeed healthy and disease free. Well, all looked good for about a day and then I lost one of them and then another within a day. I attributed this to stress (not ALL the fish you get will always survive) and didn't think much of it. Then I lost one of my cardinal tetras (one I've had for a good long time) and another glowlight. I decided that medicating the tank with a mild anti-bacterial medication (MelaFix) would be a good idea so I added the correct dose to the tank. The next day things were still not looking good and I had lost one of my black-skirt tetras (I've had them a long time too!) so I decided that moving ALL the remaining fish to a hospital tank for treatment would be the best solution. The remaining fish consisted of 2 cardinal tetras, 2 glowlight tetras, 2 zebra danios, 2 black-skirt tetras, and a platy. Well, now (after a week of being medicated in the new hospital tank) I have lost both glowlight tetras and both cardinal tetras. I was looking last night to try to see WHAT disease this was (because it didn't look parasitic but the bacterial medication clearly wasn't working) and discovered, to my horror, that it was likely the dreaded "neon tetra disease", which does NOT only affect neon tetras but any species of tetra. It doesn't affect other fish quite as much, but it can still cause disease in them too. The worst part is... it is not curable and fish become infected by eating on another dead fish (something that is very hard to prevent in aquariums). So, only time will tell if the black-skirt tetras will be OK or not (they're the only remaining tetras and one can only hope that the other fish will NOT be affected). What is the lesson in this??? ALWAYS quarantine your new aquarium fish!

Food issues...

Well, a few weeks ago I switched my cats back to "Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul" and since that time, my cats have been getting sick more (every few days). I don't know why this is but I'm probably going to switch back to Purina One Beyond. Does anyone have any insight as to why my kitties (in particular Sunny but both have been sick) are getting sick on this food when they've had it in the past???

Food Issues...

Well, a few weeks ago I switched my cats back to "Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul" and since that time, my cats have been getting sick more (every few days). I don't know why this is but I'm probably going to switch back to Purina One Beyond. Does anyone have any insight as to why my kitties (in particular Sunny but both have been sick) are getting sick on this food when they've had it in the past???

Terrific Thursday (blog update)!

Hello all! I have been very busy lately (the reason I haven't updated this blog in a while) but figured I'd give an update on a few things. Smokey and Sunny are still eating Purina ONE Beyond because I haven't been able to stop by the store that sells Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul (I don't even know if they have it right now, I may have to ask them to order it for me). I'm probably going to go by today and see if they have it/can get it for me. Sunny still hasn't lost much weight but I'm still NOT giving up on that. I think several people in the house feel sorry for her and feed her when she begs for more! They are also getting Fancy Feast canned (Chicken, Turkey & Giblets, Salmon, and Ocean Whitefish and Tuna, all in the "Classic" variety) and lately, I've been adding some Fancy Feast Appetizers to their dry food in the morning. This food is pretty awesome, although it is not a complete diet. It is just chicken/beef/fish in a broth with no by-products or fillers. They're kinda expensive so I use one tray for 3 days (between 2 cats too). Lilly is doing good. I still am trying to tame her though... Seze is doing good and is a much better weight now that I'm feeding her meal-worms AND crickets. She is also looking stronger since I've been dusting her insects with calcium (she was malnourished when I got her and has been attempting to recover ever since). My reef tank has been up and down in terms of doing well. I have one unhappy coral that I've been trying to make happy and MAYBE have started making progress on. I've been doing very large water changes lately (25% a week when I usually only do 10% a week). The freshwater tank is doing fine and doesn't require a whole lot of maintenance. The seahorses are doing well but the tank doesn't LOOK good right now. I'm going to work on it ASAP. I hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Update on Sunny's weight problem.

Well, Sunny has been on a diet (as you all probably know) to get her to drop some weight. She hasn't lost a lot of weight yet but hopefully, she'll start losing more soon (I know she needs to drop weight slowly). Sunny had a birthday on the 1st (Sunday)! She is 3 years old now! Unfortunately, I lost Gex on the 21st of June... She was pretty old and just died of old age.

Wonderful Wednesday!

If you read my post a few days ago, you know that I'm trying to get my cat Sunny to lose weight. I'm feeding her less, and exercising her more. Surprisingly Sunny is NOT complaining about getting less food. She's getting 1/2 cup of dry (Purina ONE Beyond) food a day. If I feed canned (Fancy Feast), she is getting 1/3 cup dry and 1/2 can (3oz can) wet. This seems to work well so far (she's not wanting more food) but it's too early to see if she'll lose weight on this diet. I'm still planning on taking her to the vet to be weighed but I'm going to be getting her to lose weight in the meantime (since she IS overweight). Lilly is doing good. I need to clean her cage and work on litter box training (she doesn't like the box I chose so she is now going in another corner but ONLY in that corner!) her though. Her favorite foods are carrots, apples, lettuce, and bell pepper. She is OK with cucumber, grapes, and a few other foods but they're not her favorites. She knows her name and will squeal if you say it! Gex and Seze are doing great! Seze had been underweight (she's been underweight since I got her) but after a few days of feeding LOTS of crickets, she is gaining weight. The reef tank is finally doing well. I have added a power-head to the tank to increase the water flow and so far, the corals seem to like it. The fish have to swim against the current (a natural thing!)! I ordered seahorses which should be shipped soon and will be here in a few days (baring no trouble)! I ordered six and I'm really excited about them! The tank looks AWESOME (the old tank for seahorses was NOT as cool looking or as well designed as this one!)! I'm working on a DIY fan to cool the tank (using a computer fan) and will (hopefully) post directions on how to make one once I get it done. I got a pleco (plecostomus) today and will be quarantining it for a couple of days before adding it to the freshwater community. These fish (in my opinion) are awesome fish (while not pretty, they look cool!) and definitely earn their keep (they eat algae)!

Sunny Saturday!

The title of my blog post has a double meaning. Where I am, it is sunny outside, but I was actually talking about my sweet little kitty named Sunny! Sunny needs to lose weight. Smokey is a good weight (very lean and trim) but Sunny is overweight (fairly significant too). I don't know how much she weighs right now but will be taking her to the vet soon to be weighed hopefully and get some tips on getting her to lose weight. She is an indoor only cat so outdoor exercise is NOT an option. I figure feeding her less and feeding her more canned food will help (along with play) but I'm going to talk to our vet about it first. The cats are currently eating "Purina ONE Beyond" and "Fancy Feast" wet/canned foods (Classic Chicken Feast, Classic Turkey & Giblets Feast, Classic Savory Salmon Feast, and Classic Ocean Whitefish & Tuna Feast). Their feeding schedule includes half a can of wet food each (they split a can) day and I'll be honest, I feed dry food a little bit at a time but don't really measure it. I'm going to stop that and measure the food daily. I'll write a new blog post once I find out how much Sunny weighs and what the vet thinks I should do about it.