They were breathing very quickly and barely moving; one was next to the fliter intake, the other was at the front of the tank. They certainly hadn’t been like that the night before. When I got home from watching the tennis, James had removed the one next to the filter; it was dead. This morning, another was dead. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with that one; the one James fished out apparently had a red face, and not-smooth-looking skin. Actually, now I think about it. the one I got out also had a sort of velvety-llok; whether that was a disease, or if it was a post mortem thing, I don’t know. Tonight, one of the of the black widows tetras looks very unhappy; he almost looks bent, isn’t swimming well, and has tattered fins – I haven’t noticed that before. Baby cloach is the one that’s left, so it could be that the other two were old + bad summer experience + bad time when we first got them (way too early, we found out way too late…), and it all finally got too much. Poor things.

Many of the plants are currently growing very well – new shoots on bare stalks.

This is rather odd, considering how obvious it appeared the other day. Still doesn’t look overly happy: tail is a bit shredded (although I haven’t seen anyone picking on him), and also seems almost bent in the middle – maybe that’s just how he’s swimming. The canisters with the media etc in them are currntly sitting in the tank, in the hope that some of the bacteria will survive to be moved to the new filter.

|[Later note: I have now discovered that this is a bad idea, and a fan is a far better idea.] I got up this morning to discover the water level in the tank down by quite a bit… and then found it was all on the carpet. Thankfully it’s not a very large area – under the tank and a bit to one side. Lounge room is a shambles, as a result, because the stereo has been moved so we can reach said carpet; good thing it was resting on phone books. Lots of fun… towels all wet (and clothes dryer not working)… and a not-hot day, so no help there. No more dead fish, but I’m guessing the dropsy molly won’t last too long.

We’re going to get an Eheim filter, which I think we should have got in the first place rather than the Fluval. Given we will be moving soon, I think the procedure will be something like: new filter; cycle tank – possibly moving the fish to the qt while that happens, I think, either that or move them jsut before the move… drain the main tank and move it, fill it etc at the new place and then move the qt after transferring fish. Oh goody. This is one thing I really haven’t been looking forward to.

He looks like a pine cone. His tail is also a bit shredded, which I think had started just before we went to Tasmania. One of the black widow tetras is definitely on his way out; he’s spending all of his time at the top looking frenetic. I just caught him in the net, and he too is looking mildly pine cone-ish.

We bought some more hornwort (I think that’s what it is) about six or eight weeks ago. It hasn’t done very well this time. Not sure whether it’s being eaten, which is possible, or whether it’s just not very happy. There’s still some left – just bits and pieces – maybe it will regrow from this point.

I have been very slack and not motivated lately. I write now to record a very sad happening, and because I figure I should get back to this. All of our gouramis died in December – two got sick, separately, then the last remaining one just died overnight, I think from grief. The platies are also dead; one jumped out (accident with the lid…) and the other just died.

In December, we went to Tasmania for ten days. On getting home, we discovered most of the plants eaten away – serves us right for not setting up the feeder, I guess – and one molly, the not-quite-alpha male, disappeared. Then, a week later, we went away for Christmas. We got home today. The light was off (the timer often gets stuck); the water was about 34C (the room gets hot, there were a lot of very hot days while we were away and no way to cool down), and the pump wasn’t working (no idea why; James put a lot of effort in and it is now working again). As a consequence, I have thee SAEs, three cloaches, two black widow tetras and four mollies left. I am very, very sad.

The qt is fine. The last batch of babies died over a month or so; there are five in there now. As well, there should be a snail. I have absolutely no idea how he got there; I just discovered him there after doing a water change one day! Very strange. At first I was very annoyed, because he was there without my permission, but now I think he’s fine. It still freaks me out about how he could have got there though.

This seems like not much of a story for four months, but it’s all I can think of.

13-15 live molly fry in the main tank.

Don’t know what killed the molly; all readings are fine – nitrite 0, and nitrates about 5 or so.

The main male molly has rediscovered his interest in the female, now that she’s hatched her latest brood. It’s interesting – his head has gone very yellow, all of a sudden. Maybe it’s an indication of his sexual activity; who knows.

We played with the airstones and under gravel filter today. One side has basically stopped blowing bubbles. James thinks the airstones got a bit stuffed. He also took the motor apart and decided it was getting pretty worn out. He’s changed it so that both chambers of the airpump are being used. As a result, it’s now blowing an amazing amount of bubbles, which I guess is a good thing; get the UGF going, anyway.

He was just lying on the bottom, not really moving very much. He did move when I tried (gently) to catch him in the net, to see if I could see anything physically wrong… and then he went back to being listless.

He died this afternoon.

I wonder if it was thanks to whatever killed the tetra? He certainly didn’t look the same as the tetra had. His belly may have been distended – although it wasn’t dropsy – and there may have been something wrong with an eye… although this could also just me being paranoid.

I’m very sad. Ammonia and pH are fine.

I noticed the neon in the qt wasn’t looking very well yesterday: his fins have been looking ragged for a few days, and today I saw along the length of him (looking from the tail) for the first time: and he was covered in somethingNo idea what it could be; I looked on TTT and it could be velvet, but I don’t know. So this was a bit of a problem. Then, after coming home from a meeting, I looked in the qt and couldn’t see the neon – but could see a white thing on the floor of the tank, with something that looked blue attached to it. I figured it was the tetra – that Hektor had finally caught him (he’s been trying for a while), and had eaten him very quickly. I was a bit surprised, but didn’t think too much of it.

When I looked in the qt this morning, there was the neon! Still looking not very healthy, but certainly alive. So what I thought was the neon’s spine must have been plant material or something, and the light fooled me as to colours. I have no real explanation, actually. So anyway, the tetra was alive. I came home tonight, though, and there he was – dead; floating on top of the water. I looked at the body but couldn’t see anything wrong with it; he also hadn’t been nibbled at. So – he died anyway – jsut a day after he had. Poor fellow.

The rest of the qt, bar another molly babe, is fine. I wonder if Hektor will eventually kill all the babes? I do feed him, so he doesn’t have a huge incentive… I doubt if he will get the biggest one: she is the only one left from the Christmas batch, and is about half-grown I guess. I’ve been wondering whether She in the main tank will be having babies again, but she’s not looking enormous at the moment and she also doesn’t seem to be getting harassed by the males nearly so often. I still try to catch her now and then, but to no avail.

On closer inspection, it turned out to be the mostly-eaten carcass of a neon tetra! I have no idea how that can have happened. So much for my fail-safe method of always checking the filter intake, assuming bodies will always end up there. The neons are very hard to keep up with and keep track of…

He was on his way out – barely breathing, floating vertically – so I figured it was for the best.

Now I know I intended for Hektor to eat the molly babes… I just never expected that I would watch it happen… but that’s exactly what happened two days ago. It was quite weird – and a little gross, when he actually started to eat it. James keeps telling me I am not allowed to complain at all. Hektor is a beautiful fish!

The harlequins have grown stacks. They are the same length as the neons, although they have much larger stomachs.