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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

Honestly I’ve been wanting to try my hand at raising babies but they haven’t spawned yet... (all are eating) and I’m hatching the bbs anyways lol
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
What are you trying to raise? Seahorses are one of the easiest fish to raise. Most other fish we keep are very time consuming. I stopped doing that many years ago.
 
Seahorses... Paulie was gracious enough to give me 6 Ponies but no babies yet.
Have you tried playing some Marv
Today is my 47th wedding anniversary to my starter wife. :D

Happy anniversary Paul , that young lady deserves a statue for putting up with you for so many years,, 47 years wow I don’t think I’ll make it to that,, I got 26 years under my belt and shocked it lasted this long
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
As I am waiting to go out I started to look at my tank and I couldn't find my pair of Rainsford gobies that I thought were spawning. I grabbed a flashlight and snuck around behind my tank. It's a little dark there and as I was looking through the rocks, I noticed something on my gravel.
Thousands, or maybe millions (I didn't count all of them) of worms. I don't know what kind of worms but they are not bristle worms. I got thousands of them also and know very well what they look like.

These guys are smaller, grey and don't move much. It seems only the front half of them moves, or thats all that I see move and they don't move much.

They seem to be doing the Michael Jackson robot dance as they move in jerky "twitches". Looking at them with a jewelers loupe (yes I am weird) I didn't notice a feathery plume so I don't think they are tiny feather dusters and I have no idea what they are.

They seem to shun light as none of them are in the light and I assume they are filter feeders and they live all through my gravel over my reverse undergravel filter.
I also notice back there that my gravel is "awash" in copepods which is good.
I am going to research these things but I am all excited about them as I get excited whenever I find something new.
On a day that it is not my anniversary I am going to try to remove some to put under a microscope. For now I took some pictures which wasn't easy as I had to hold the camera and a flashlight and take the pictures from an inch away.
If anyone knows what they are, let me know.

PS I did see my Rainsford Gobies.
View attachment 1818276
View attachment 1818277
 
As I am waiting to go out I started to look at my tank and I couldn't find my pair of Rainsford gobies that I thought were spawning. I grabbed a flashlight and snuck around behind my tank. It's a little dark there and as I was looking through the rocks, I noticed something on my gravel.
Thousands, or maybe millions (I didn't count all of them) of worms. I don't know what kind of worms but they are not bristle worms. I got thousands of them also and know very well what they look like.

These guys are smaller, grey and don't move much. It seems only the front half of them moves, or thats all that I see move and they don't move much.

They seem to be doing the Michael Jackson robot dance as they move in jerky "twitches". Looking at them with a jewelers loupe (yes I am weird) I didn't notice a feathery plume so I don't think they are tiny feather dusters and I have no idea what they are.

They seem to shun light as none of them are in the light and I assume they are filter feeders and they live all through my gravel over my reverse undergravel filter.
I also notice back there that my gravel is "awash" in copepods which is good.
I am going to research these things but I am all excited about them as I get excited whenever I find something new.
On a day that it is not my anniversary I am going to try to remove some to put under a microscope. For now I took some pictures which wasn't easy as I had to hold the camera and a flashlight and take the pictures from an inch away.
If anyone knows what they are, let me know.

PS I did see my Rainsford Gobies.
View attachment 1818276
View attachment 1818277
Pics don’t show up when trying to view
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
file:///home/chronos/u-6f6a280b2daf1256d23d99508001ed3084785091/MyFiles/Downloads/A%20Military%20Cavalcade%20of%20Stars.pdf

These are all famous actors of the past who were in the service. Many of them were wounded in action but they were all Hero's.
Compare them to many of the Snowflake actors of today.
I guess you would have to paste those pictures to see them.
I recognize all of them, but I am old.
Many of them were on Sit coms or movies.
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
I have this Hair Drier from 1923. No! It was not mine but if I was alive then, I would probably have had hair.
It says the price was $12.50 which was a fortune then. It also still works.

The instruction reads:
Girls are no longer inviting colds and poor completions by sitting in front of open windows. That is the wrong way to try and dry your tresses.
thumbnail.jpg
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
This was 3 years ago.

Trip to Disney

This week we went to Disney World with our two Grand Kids, Daughter and Son N Law.

They actually took us. We haven't gone to Disney in about 30 years when we took our Daughter a few times. A lot is changed as now they added more princesses, Buzz Lightyear, some Johnny Depp stuff in Pirates of the Caribbean and fingerprint machines.

So we get to the magic Kingdom and see Mickey, Minnie, the Duck, Princess this and that and had a great, but tiring day. That night we had reservations to have dinner with Minnie at Hollywood Studios so we head to the Monorail. My wife has MS and is riding in a scooter.

We get to the monorail and the thing isn't running so the guy says to take the boat. We get on this boat for the 20 minute ride then get on this line to get into Hollywood Studios. As you know, everything in Disney is fake except the lines. Now you have to go through security and get fingerprinted. I am not sure what the fingerprinting does or why they really need the fingerprints from three year old Teddy unless they feel he is a threat to Pluto or maybe will pull Minnie's tail. But we finally get to the front and find out we can't get in. It seems you can only go to one theme park on the same day unless you pay more. A lot more. The guard tells us to go to customer service to see what we can do.

After waiting on the line at customer service we are told we need to pay about $500.00 more plus the $300+ that we already paid for the dinner with Minnie. (that was for all 6 of us) We didn’t think it was prudent to pay $800.00+ to eat frankfurters with a Rat so we told them to forget it. Now we “only” have to pay $60.00 for not showing up. Like, is it me!

So we ask some guy sweeping the floor where we can eat because these kids, besides being disappointed at not seeing the mouse, are hungry. He tells us to go to France. He says, there is a lot of food in France. I am thinking the France in Europe but he means the France in Disney.

I worked with a guy who thought he was all over the world because he went to Disney every year, and even bought a brick on the sidewalk with his name on it. It’s not like he doesn’t have a life or anything.

So we get back on the boat to France for another 20 minute ride. In “France” we head to the first restaurant where we are told, “You can’t even scrape chewing gum off the sidewalk to eat without a reservation”. She also said, there is absolutely no place in France where we can eat. I don’t know how many people live in the “real” France, but I think most of them were there in Disney last night.

So we ask how to get back to the Hotel. We are on the other side of Disney so it is a very long walk. On the way we stop at popcorn stands, hot dog stands, French Fry stands, all with the same outcome. We couldn’t get a bite to eat as the lines were so long that the park would close before you got anything. So we are working our way back when my wife’s electric scooter croaks. It would go ten feet and stop, then go ten feet and stop. I started pushing the thing, which is not very easy. There is a big phone number on the front that I call figuring they would send a tow truck or something. Of course no one answers the phone; after all I am in France.

We finally are getting near the monorail and I see one coming so we start to run. We run and run, up the ramp, right up to the gate and the monorail pulls in and we wait. We wait some more, then we are waiting. Then nothing. The doors don’t open. The announcement comes on: THIS MONORAIL NEEDS TO GO INTO THE SHOP FOR REPAIRS. Of course it does, why wouldn’t it! So after about 30 minutes and two sleeping kids another one pulls up and we get on.

We eventually make it back to our hotel about 9:00PM where the only thing open is the ice cream parlor. We go up to the counter and are told: We are closing in 10 minutes. Great, just enough time to get an ice cream to take out.



The rest of the trip went well and I hope I am now finished with Disney. But the Kids had a ball.
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
I am going to try to re-Invigorate this thread because I am so tired of reading about sick fish and the medications that supposedly make them better but I know, they kill more fish than help and I am going to try to explain why I am so against quarantine and especially medication.

If I didn't post the beginning of this article on here someplace, let me know because i don't remember what I had for breakfast this morning.

The following texts "in Italics" are references I found by researching and they are not copywrited and are allowed to be reprinted:


CC BY ND
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Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Take a closer look. Shutterstock
We are covered in microbes and our human cells are outnumbered by bacterial cells eight to one. In fact, we are more microbe than human. This microbiome has been shown to regulate, not just the digestion and breakdown of food, but many different processes, too. Alterations to the gut microbiome can lead to susceptibility to conditions such as diabetes, neurological conditions, cancer and asthma.


Parasites inside your body could be protecting you from disease


Of course this reference is about people. But parasites, bacteria and viruses are essential for our health and fishes health. When we use copper or (God Forbid) antibiotics, we totally upset the vital systems of fish. That is also why we feel horrible if we are on antibiotics. But we are not taking baths in the stuff or breathing it in with every breath as we subject our fish to:

August 31, 2017 11.35am EDT
Author
Ben Ashby
Research fellow, University of Bath

Disclosure statement
Ben Ashby receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). He is affiliated with Sense About Science.

Partners
University of Bath


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It’s fair to say parasites are generally bad for their hosts. Many cause disease and death so, like most species, we humans usually try to avoid infection at all costs. But it turns out that some parasites, although potentially harmful in isolation, can in fact help hosts to cope with more deadly infections.

Understanding when parasitism is beneficial has important implications for how we manage infectious diseases, but we currently know very little about this phenomenon. Our new study, published in Evolution Letters, tells us that parasites can readily evolve different mechanisms to defend their hosts from other infections, which suggests that host protection should be common in nature.

The idea that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” has been around in human society for a long time but it is far from unique to human conflict. The natural world is full of examples where parasites are harmful under some conditions and helpful under others.
 

Paul B

NJRC Member
I personally would never try to kill parasites or bacteria unless i get a fish that is obviously dying and I want to experiment.

IMO, the vast amount of fish diseases and deaths we now read about is caused entirely by us. Those fish were all healthy in the sea and only exhibit diseases after we get them. All fish are infected with everything as they should be.

As I said in my first post if we try to kill certain, what we feel are disease organism, the others will take over and cause more, different conditions. Those new conditions were a direct effect of us killing off one of more disease or beneficial organisms.
Now we upset the entire biome of the fish and the more we medicate, the more symptoms will appear forcing us to use more or different medications which will further help deteriorate the patient.

Friends, for now. U.S. Signal Corps
Bacteria that live in our gut can occasionally cause problems, but they also prevent colonisation by more harmful microbes such as Salmonella enterica, which causes food poisoning. Similarly, bacteria that commonly infect insects are usually costly but can provide protection against more deadly infections.

These examples reveal that being infected is not necessarily a bad thing and in fact can sometimes be beneficial. But what they don’t tell us is how and when parasites evolve to be useful to their hosts.

Recent lab experiments have shown that mildly harmful bacteria living inside microscopic worms can evolve in just a few days to protect their hosts from a lethal infection. This striking result indicates that bacteria can rapidly evolve host protection against other infectious diseases.

Still, very little is known about how and when such evolution occurs in nature. And if a parasite evolves to protect its host from a more deadly infection, has the enemy now become a friend?


How many times do we read that "My fish is in quarantine or in copper and it doesn't eat"
It won't eat because it can't. The food in a fish or us can't be digested without bacteria, good and bad. If that bacteria is killed which it will with any aquarium drug including copper, the fish can't digest food so it will refuse to eat. If we are on antibiotics our food can taste lousy. I assume fish can also taste food or at least feel sick.

Fish don't have facial expressions like Angelina Jolie so it is difficult to know how they are feeling but I can guarantee if they are not eating, they don't feel good.


From foe to friend
Using mathematical modelling, we explored the evolution of two forms of host protection: resistance and tolerance. Parasites that protect by conferring resistance to their hosts reduce the likelihood that a second species will be able to infect them, such as when bacteria in the gut prevent colonisation by other microbes. In contrast, parasites that confer tolerance to their hosts reduce the harm caused by another species after it infects them, as appears to be the case with the protozoa that protect monarch butterfly larvae from parasitic flies.

We discovered that both forms of host protection evolve under a wide range of conditions even though the protective parasite may have to divert resources from its own growth or reproduction to defend the host. Protection still evolves because this cost is more than offset by the increased survival of the host (and hence the protective parasite).
We can now combine mathematical modelling with lab experiments of evolving microbes to answer intriguing questions about how other species evolve in response to host protection. Does the host evolve to harbour the protective parasite, and is this how we developed a symbiotic relationship with some of our gut bacteria? Can more harmful parasites evolve to overcome host protection? Answering questions like these can help us find new ways to treat infectious diseases.

The results of our research shed light on a fascinating biological phenomenon about which we still know very little. Yet taken together with the growing number of examples of host protection, it is clear – at least if you’re hosting a parasite – that the enemy of your enemy can indeed be your friend.


I realize many, OK most people on these forums don't believe me. That is fine. Just go on any disease forum and read all the problems with fish after being medicated or overly quarantined which would also irrevocably damage gut microbes causing fish to lose their immunity.
As I keep saying, show me a long running tank where the fish never get sick, are spawning and only dying of old age.

Different article.
Intestinal Bacteria, Yeast / Candida, and Parasites
Home » Understanding IBS » Intestinal Bacteria, Yeast / Candida, and Parasites

Published date: April 17, 2019 | Modified date: September 25, 2019
Intestinal Bacteria, Yeast / Candida, and Parasites
Home » Understanding IBS » Intestinal Bacteria, Yeast / Candida, and Parasites

Published date: April 17, 2019 | Modified date: September 25, 2019
Bacteria in Your Gut Is Usually a Good Thing
Inside of your digestive tract an enormous number of bacteria live. These single-celled organisms have colonized all surfaces and cavities of your body and exist there happily. Because we have been trained to view bacteria as the enemy, the fact that 100 trillion bacteria live in your gut may alarm you. However, our internal bacteria are critical to our health. So critical, in fact, that we cannot be healthy or even survive without them.

There is an Ecosystem in Your Gut
"Internal bacteria are fundamental to the development of our immune system". They also help break down our food and create nutrients that we need for good health.

The massive surface of our intestines provides everything bacteria need for life including a warm space, moisture, and nutrients. The bacteria inside us form a teeming, busy ecosystem. This ecosystem functions like any other ecosystem, and changing or harming one species will have repercussions on the other species and on the host itself.

While we are used to thinking of the earth’s ecosystems in this way, it may seem strange that these same principles govern our digestive environment. This environment is all too easily altered, especially in our world of antibiotics, acid blockers, and any other foreign substance that is ingested. And many people suffer from IBS due to a microbial imbalance in their digestive tract.
 
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