Tank birthday, 47+ years

[Paul B]

That's it, I recognize the name.
You can find it on this site where for some reason they made me a writer. I write all sorts of things, some of them true.
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/keeping-difficult-marine-fish-3898/

My Daughter even threw me a book release party where people from all over the world attended. OK, that is not exactly true, but hoards of people from my town came.
OK, people I know came.
(I am the chubbier, bald guy) When I am not screwing around with fish, I double for Captain Piccard of the Star Ship Enterprise.
The other good looking guy is my closest. lifelong friend Richie who took most of the underwater pictures. We dove together a couple of hundred times but he is a better photographer than I am. Better looking also. The beautiful Supermodel is of course, my Daughter who wrote the Foreword.

 

[New2dareef]

We're reading Paul. Your experience, wisdom and humor are refreshing.

 

[Paul B]

That's probably my Irish Spring soap.

 

[NanaReefer]

I read it all the time! [emoji12]

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I had to take my wife to the emergency room of a hospital. Here in New York we are with in walking distance of 3 of some of the best hospitals in the country and one five miles away, Saint Francis that is rated the best. So we went to the closest one because her doctor wanted her to get a Cat Scan and said the hospitals are not crowded this time of the day. 11:00 am. So we go to the emergency room and "13" hours later she has the 3 minute CAT scan. Now it's almost 1:00 am and we go home.
The hospital workers and doctors are working very hard and running all over the place on 12 hour shifts but there are just to many sick people. And al the hospitals around New York are like that. There was this poor WW2 Veteran that they brought in in an ambulance and the guy looked like he went through the windshield. He was bleeding all over his face and on the floor. He was there for 3 hours still on the ambulance gourney and was still in that spot when we left. It is horrible and will hopefully never go there again. If I was there any longer, I would have built my own CAT scan machine because God knows, there are enough stray cats around here.
PS, they couldn't find out what was wrong with my wife other than the fact that she has MS even though she has it for 18 years.

Video about fish for a change of topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisMeEfLTzI

 

[gettaReef]

Wow....13 hour wait with no diagnosis. That is frustrating for me to read; can't imagine what you guys felt.

 

[Paul B]

I felt that the food in the cafeteria needed a little help.

 

[TOPLIS]

Hi

Spent last few hours reading 67 pages...your life on R2R

Amazing

Blessings and God Care to your wife and family

You are a treasure to the hobby

 

[TOPLIS]

A MacGyver before he existed

An innovator with tricks beyond the trade

Fascinated by LED...be careful

I got clobbered moving from T-5

But now free on LED

 

[Paul B]

Thank you Toplis. I can't believe you read all 67 pages. I don't think I even read it and I wrote most of it.

Some of my inventions I am very proud of, some were a failure, some are just interesting, to me anyway, some of them saved my fishes life and at least one of them saved my life.

 

[TOPLIS]

UFrankly running 300 best I can with more money than sense

 

[Paul B]

Tank looks very healthy, especially the montipora.

 

[Paul B]

My largest montipora coral is bleaching. It is only that one and this is the third time this has happened. It seems after they grow huge, they get bored and start to bleach. I have no idea why and the rest of them seem fine. The last time this happened I had a piece that grew from fingernail size to about 10" round. Then in 2 days it turned white and croaked. It is happening again and I find it interesting. I wish I knew what was going through their head as to why they do this.
But it is what makes this hobby so much better than stamp collecting or trying to guess the phone numbers of Supermodels.

 

[Paul B]

My montipora actually looks a little better so maybe it is just teasing me. The fish are all great, but as I said to big and they seem to like being pregnant.

My arrow crab is still scary and I hope he also stops growing. Another molt and he may break the glass. I can't seem to find my clingfish but he shows up every few weeks and also gets bigger. Tomorrow I have to buy more chowder clams as that is my preferred food that they get almost every day along with the worms and new born brine. If it were not for the bluestripe pipes, mandarins and anthius I wouldn't have to hatch those little suckers every day. But if you want to keep such creatures you need to do that. No, you can't have long term, pregnant mandarins and pipefish by feeding pellets even if they will eat them. Your fish will hate you. I just read some older posts on this and other forums and it seems that a lot of people feel they can't use my methods to keep fish immune or pregnant. I am not sure why because for the first 40 years I had my tank I also had a regular job and still had time to properly feed my fish. Maybe like I keep hearing, I am just lucky.

Yesterday I tuned up my boat. I can't remember the last time I put spark plugs in it and I mentioned that to the mechanic at the marina. He told me that after a few years in salt water you can't get the plugs out any more and they have to pull the engines out for $4,500.00 He must have me mixed up with a Jiboni because if I spend $4,500.00 on anything it better involve Christie Brinkley or any one of the Victoria Secret Supermodels, Hawaii or Tahiti. The plugs came right out because the last time I changed them I put some anti seize compound on the threads. If you do your own work you know what you are getting and won't have any problems the next time. The job cost me $36.00 and took an hour. The actual work was probably 20 minutes and the rest of the time was spent trying to straighten myself up after cramming myself in between those engines.

 

[Paul B]

That montipora that was bleaching seems to be almost fully recovered. That is weird but I think I figured out what was making it fail to thrive. I tested my Alk, something I rarely do, and it was high. Higher than my test kit goes which was 13.
So I just dosed calcium maybe 6 or 7 times with no alk and the thing looks much better and almost back to normal. I didn't test the alk again but I assume it came down.
I once lost a very large monti by bleaching and was wondering what the alk was then. I think in a few days it will be as good as new.
My fish don't seem to care and continue to smile, and spawn.
The white parts were very white a week ago and I was sure it would croak.

 

[Paul B]

I found my clingfish today as I was cleaning the sponge that strains the water that goes to my reverse UG filter. He disappeared for a few weeks. He is happily grazing on the "mulm" that grows on the back of my tank. I knew I would find that little sucker.

 

[Paul B]

Here he is, I think he is much cooler than a clownfish

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Here he is, I think he is much cooler than a clownfish

I agree! How big is he Paul? Atlantic or pacific fish?

 

[Paul B]

He is about 2" or a little less. I don't know where he is from. I had him for a few months but I rarely see him and this is the first time I see the entire fish. I turned that picture on it's side and cropped it. He stays on the side glass behind a rock so it is very hard to get a picture of him. He is also not exactly colored like a peacock so he blends in. Eats everything and when he sees my acrylic feeder, he speeds up to it and sucks the food out of it before I have a chance to squirt it near him. I love the thing but I think that is because I only like odd fish and find the common fish boreing.

 

[edinphilly]

I fed live black worms today for the first time. It was fun and they dance when they hit the water exactly like you describe in your book.

I put the rest of them in a baggie and laid them flat in the freezer. Hopefully freshly frozen will maintain enough gut bacteria. I don't want to have the worms in the refrigerator argument with my wife. Especially since it kinda grosses me out too.