The last original molly – the alpha male, Zeus, Mr Flex – has died. He got flex again, I think – if that’s what it was the first time; the same thing he had ages ago on his fin, anyway… except this time it was on his, ahem, gonopode. It looked awful; he looked awful. I caught him and put him in the isolation tank – the qt is off at the moment, because the algal bloom just wouldn’t go away – and the next day he was dead. Sigh.

So we have 7 Colombian tetras; 5 angels; 2 SAEs; 2 molly babies; Fido the catfish; one rasbora and one neon tetra. Next year, we will begin a restocking exercise… but we’re going to make some changes to the living room, so it might wait until after that. And we really need to get the qt up again; we might need to move it, I think – away from quite so much sunlight, evil stuff that it is.

I don’t imagine my Ajax committed suicide after going mad because he didn’t get Achilles’ armour, but the end result is the same.

Yes, She has died. It could have been old age… it could have been the yurk water she was swimming in the last couple of days – it’s been a fair while since we’d done a water change (we did one today, albeit belatedly). So that’s a bit sad – she’s been a standard for almost our entire tank career.

Is it callous, in this same post, to mention that I am looking forward to getting new fish? The tank has been clear for almost a fortnight now, and I feel that it would be ok to add more in a coupleof weeks, which is what it would be after a week or ten days of quarantine. I’m thinking more tetras, at the moment, like serpaes and so on. Have to see what Coburg has… it’s a bit sad the other aquariums are so far away, it would be nice to be able to compare both stock and price.

We’re happy little fishies again, and there will be no betta moving in for the foreseable (one e or 2?) future. After three doses with some green stuff, there are no more white bits hanging off my Colombians, and they are almost back to eating like piranhas. There is only one rasbora, of course, and no rainbows… guess they must not have been very strong. Fido the catfish is well (J – who says that I write more about the fish than I do about him, but really, what am I going to say here that he really wants the world to know? – thinks he is getting fat) (did you follow that parentheses-within-a-parentheses?), as are all the angels. And in other news – in the other tank – Ajax seems to be happier now than he ever has been; regularly cruising around with his second, enormous set of feelers out, galloping around the tank. I think the holes in his shell might still be getting worse, but I can’t be sure.

I no longer keep Madagascan Rainbow fish.

There are 2 rasboras – out of eight – still alive.

There is one rainbow – out of four – still alive.

All Colombians still alive and looking awful.

I am still considering one betta for the entire 4′ tank.

Said tank is green from medication added yesterday.

– We moved Ajax to the qt to prevent his shell from getting pecked any more.

– Three days ago we noticed some of the Colombian tetras had white bits on them. This has got worse – much worse. I think it’s parasites. It’s not ich or velvet… they stand out, and they spread, and they make the fish a bit berko: not eating, zipping around the tank every now and then… I bought some medication today, but I’m not convinced it will work. The guy at the aquarium said parasites on Colombians was really rare (yeh, great, thanks…).

– Yesterday noticed some of the rasboras weren’t looking that great – an issue with a tail looking a bit nipped. This morning noticed one with only half a tail. Tonight, there are two rasboras against one of the filter inlets (dead, of course).

– The angel with the swim bladder issue is dead. I fished half of him out this afternoon.

– I’m thinking of just getting a betta and having it. Alone, in the entire 4′ tank.

Few days ago, I had to move a certain black and white angel into the quarantine tank. He is still alive, but very, very unhappy… seems to have a serious problem with his swim bladder. Read: he is swimming on his side, rather than up the right way. So this is very sad, and I don’t think there is any way of curing him.

Additionally, I have noticed some holes on Ajax’s shell, which is hugely distressing. We checked the levels, and discovered that the water was at about 6 on the pH scale, which can’t have been good for anyone. As well, probably the stress of bring nipped at doesn’t help; nasty angel.

The dropsy Colombian finally died. I netted him on Thursday, from the main tank, because he was swimming on his side, and put him in the qt. He died Friday afternoon.

And, giving me quite a turn, I was looking at Ajax on the front glass on Thursday and there is a HOLE in his shell! Argh! Having done a frantic search on the web, it seems that this might be a result of water that is too soft and/or acidic, so we will have to do something about this. Apparently if you correct it in time the snail won’t die, although their shell won’t completely recover. Argh! again.

Oh no. It isn’t me. On the grounds that I would like to stay married, I shall forebear from mentioning any names… but a Certain Person had a dream the other night about Ajax.

In the dream, Ajax bit him on the hand.

Hard.