u/KlutzyShopping1802

I haven’t tried this before with my apples but I wanted them for some apple cinnamon bread mix I bought at Walmart this week… so I dared it. Half batch of lemon and half of these sugary babies.

Knew the second I put them on last night that I absolutely should have baked them. 😂

It actually wasn’t so bad. It looked terrible! A little vinegar spray (that I normally use for cleaning aquarium and pet items) worked wonders. Obviously, I knocked as much crystallized pieces out with paper towels before I sprayed it. Scrubbed it, sprayed it, dried it on repeat for about 15 minutes.

Definitely gonna buy some liners. Had been avoiding it till now. SO NECESSARY.

The smell though. Omg the smell was absolutely amazing. Definitely doing it again.

A friend asked me about sending her 40yo daughter into an adult program and I immediately said I didn't recommend it. Gave all the deets as to why etc.

However, I only have personal experience with my own Teen Challenge program of "Kansas City Girls Home". Which was hell on earth, and I am now considered legally disabled because of that plus the rest of my shitty childhood.

BUT. Idk anything about this specific program she is looking at, and I want to give her solid info. Will probably just share this post with her if it gets any traction.

TYIA 🫶

So, I thought it was the consistency of the bead size that was making my projects look "ehhh" when I decided to try these tiny shrimps.

But, when I tried a giant version with some consistently sized plastic pony beads... it just doesn't look much better. 😂

I gotta ask:

What am I missing?

Added at the end is a photo of the pattern I have been using that I purchased off etsy a few weeks ago. It looks so glorious! I have to know what I am doing wrong here lol

TYIA 💛

Bought an etsy pattern set this morning (~3 hrs ago) and this was my first go at the shrompy baby.

Hate the colors, but didn't want to use my best colors until I knew I could swing it. 🤣 Forgot I don't have black beads, too. Zoops.

I can definitely swing it! 🥰🥳 Especially, on days when I am stuck in bed as a chronically ill/disabled person. A day like today. 😔🥲

Made some pattern changes along the way. Planning to do a crayfish, bamboo shrimp, a prawn, and then a peacock mantis shrimp. When time allows for it.

Which colors should I choose for the next skrimp of the day?

So it begins...

Starting with tools first. This is probably 1/3 of my tools, but are my mains. At least this way, I can designate tools to tanks for a while after this. 😂

Went to three different stores looking for plain 1.5L Jarritos and someone literally wiped it all out just today. A friend of mine works at one of the stores and said a group came in and bought it out.

I wonder.... were they pulling the same thing I am?

Anywhoo. The homie at Albertsons made sure to call in and request extras to be brought on Thursday for me. I explained the situation. He was more than happy to help out.

If you don't know:

New Zealand Mud Snails. 😭😭😭

The plain carbonated water creates reverse respiration. According to Aquarium CoOp this effectively kills all pest adults in 30 minutes, and eggs in 12 hours. Safe for plants, hardware (filters/heaters), rocks.

I plan to break down my tank completely. Freeze the substrate for probably weeks bc I bet I forget it's in there lol. Trash it later. Boil my wood. Reset this tank with a capped soil for better plant growth this round.

Quarantine the homies in the tank, too. They will QT for probably 2 months or so. Just to be sure.

So, here it goes! Thought I could share the process as we go. And if I manage to somehow reinfect the tank (or others), I will absolutely update with that as well.

Idk if I dare to trust it. Wanted opinions.

Would you dare it?

I need a QT tank because I do, in fact, have a single tank that has NZMS that I need to handle asap. Reverse respiration is the plan. Miraculous that it's just the one right now. 🥳 But, I can buy a new tank, I just don't know where I would fit it at the moment.

About Me:
(Just so my level of XP is within this post.)

Ish 3.5 yrs in the hobby.

9 planted tanks tons of shrimp/snails, a few fish. 2 outdoor ponds. 2 terrariums: 1 leopard gecko, 1 praying mantis. (Crickets. Dubias. Flightless fruit flies.) 1 GCC parrot, 4 chickens, 2 dogs. Tons of terrestrial plants etc.

Sooo am about to dehydrate all my strawberries and found this homie. What do I do with em? Is it safe to release him/her into my garden? (New Mexico)

I do keep bugs, so I could probably make it a home if needed. But, would much rather release it outside if possible. My plate is .... Kinda full right now lol

2 kiddos, 1 elderly disabled family member, 11 planted aquariums, 3 terrariums, 1 GCC parrot, 5 chickens, 2 dogs.

Thank you in advance!

Tiny corner of my yard that I decided to work on as a first time garden. 🤣

All based around my tiny 20gal stock pond.

I am an avid aquarist, so I have tons of knowledge and experience with aquatic plants, but have a terrible time with terrestrial plants.

Figured, I would give it a go anyways. Worst that can happen is my yard stays deserty in this desert. Can't hurt to try.

So plz don't despise me for my "ehhh" plant care here. I am just learning. Most of the thriving plants are marigolds that chose their natural places. I just water them to help out.

My poor sad frog is hilarious here for obvious reasons 🫤🐸 but in all seriousness, are these ants a problem in my tiny garden? Or is this a "just leave it be and it sorts itself out" type of situation?

I would rather not harm the ants, but more deter them, IF they pose any kind of threat.

I do have children and dogs, so absolutely no poison is an option here. Coffee grounds? Cinnamon?

Whats our go to natural remedy? IF we need to.

TYIA 💛

Was boiling some teeny pieces tonight that were given to me with a free tank this week. (Plus, a few of my own to relocate after being in a QT tank.)

Started thinking about the superglue left behind on the pieces. These were obviously the box store cup plant/wood sets. Plants long gone.

A quick google search revealed that apparently it can release highly flammable vapors??

Can't find many real sources for the info! (If you know any please share them with me. Closest I found was an msn article.)

Either way, it makes sense not to boil superglue.

But, damn! At three years in the planted tank hobby with 16 tanks going now, this had literally NEVER occurred to me.

Worth asking about and worth starting a new conversation about it, that other folks will potentially see before releasing gorram vapors into their homes.

⚠️ I did not know this & I MUST KNOW IF IT IS TRUE!

Last photo: the free tank for funsies. Been dreaming of a hexagon build for a while. Am super excited and now sad I gotta seek out a mfkn stand for this thing. 🤣 No, I don't build.

This is my husband's green cheek conure. He thinks shes around 15-17 years old now. Ish?

She was a rescue, around 3-5yo when she was basically forced onto him.

Her "partner" was ripping her feathers out. The neighbor kept saying he was gonna move and was about to just abandon her at the property. So, my husband jumped to it and made space for her here. Despite another family member here having a ton of dogs.

He made his bedroom a safe space for her. Dog free. So, her cage was always open. No fans in the room etc.

Obviously, we absolutely adore her. She is in no short supply of love here, but how she came to him feels important to mention, as I do intend to ask about her health.

I have been with my husband for ten years now, both as gf --> to wife & us becoming parents. So, she was here before I was.

We all joke that I stole her man. 🤣 I kinda did.

Am just very curious about her health, as I have never taken her to a vet. Never saw a reason to. My husband did once for her beak overgrowth, which hasn't happened again.

From what I heard from my husband, she gets compliments from every "bird person" who has ever seen her. Her colors are still stunning to this day.

I started working with her these last few years because he started working a lot more, and had less time, not only at home in general, but even less for attention to her.

So, I jumped in and picked up what slack I could. Despite my initial fear of her. We have definitely moved far past that by now. 🥰

She won't take fruits or veggies at all. 🫣 I know! Terrible for her. (Any advice on that is VERY welcomed.)

I tried everything I could a few years back to give both our birds a more rounded diet, but neither took to it. They went weeks trying to avoid fresh food! 😭 And, I was terrified of them starving because of it. (Other bird was a male budgie my mom found in her front yard 4 ish years ago. We tried everything to find his owner on fb pages and whatnot. So, he just became part of the family. He has since passed, unfortunately. Which, I now realize, is probably due to being housed alone? Those two were neighbors, but never shared a cage or anything.)

I wanna know what more I can do with/for her to keep her healthy as long as possible, as both me and our kids have become massively attached to her.

I was debating on building a full on aviary in a corner of my house, but... she's currently in a central area where everyone interacts with her in passing. So, I am not too sure if that change would be a good one. Maybe, just a larger cage in the same spot. But, then, it would be harder to relocate her to my bedroom each morning, like I currently do.

She probably gets 2-4hrs out of her cage in the mornings with me (hence the bed sheets in the short video), and I chat with her, encourage her, give her new things to explore. Etc.

She definitely hates hands, so I always hide mine when she's courageous and wanders onto my bed. (Thats a new one for her.)

Today she was preening my elbow lol 😂 so that was definitely a step in the right direction. It was the cutest ever!

She interacts with my face when I get close to her. In cage and outside of it. Kisses, face cuddles, "nosing" her like I am preening her. All that I just love for her.

Sorry this was SUPER long. I just wanna make sure I give her the best I can, given the circumstances. Especially, as much as I can as she gets older.

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who reads all this! 💛

I dunno what I thought I was doing reading these comments, but is this for real??? 😧

Gross! 😭😭😭

Update:

Y'all... I am so hurt for the shrimp! 🦐☹️

I will start off with that these 2 were my aunties "horse trough goldfish", and when her horse passed away last year, I started slowly making changes to the "care" of the water trough. Specifically in the aim to make it better for the feeder goldies she had in here. (It is a "heated" brute 100g stock tank. Winter it automatically keeps water from freezing.)

Added an actual filter 100g filter, plants, two trapdoor snails. The pieces of wood were to block some sunlight because the algae was outta control. Added barley straw last month & have been doing more frequent water changes to help combat the algae.

-----
About me:

3-4yrs XP.

I do keep 11 planted aquariums inside and they do pretty well for me. Have had fish losses in the past, but I am mostly a neocaridina shrimp keeper. I give away/sell plants and shrimp as they growout to be overpopulated in my tanks. (See some of my tanks in the last two photos, tank rack lights haven't kicked on yet today.)

I feel like I am an intermediate level fish keeper. But, I question that now.
-----

So... this is hella confusing to me.

The fish physically don't look damaged or attacked. No visible parasites. Not super skinny. No pineconing. (Sorry if the photos are gross. But, they are pertinent.)

The many different water tests I did, do show a higher ph, which is about average for my water here. I don't chase ph. I buy locally bred or fish who do well in higher ph. Learned that lesson with caridina shrimp.

Gh & kh is also really high. We have "liquid rock" here in new mexico. Also, something I don't chase. But, am curious about because it makes that higher ph wayyy harder to alter if I did try anything. (Even if I added the rodi system inside that I am debating on.)

What did I do wrong? Or what happened? I am at a loss and am super disappointed because these guys were like an inch when my auntie got them, and had been thriving since I added in plants for them. I would get to see them most mornings when I open up my barn for the chickens.

This is such a bummer. And, I do not wanna do this again. I cannot put more fish in here until I figure out exactly what happened and how to avoid it happening again.

Thanks for reading this. I know it's a lot of info, but I appreciate any advice on how to figure this out. 💛

This bloody mary shrimp somehow made it from my 55 to my 29??

Tank in question is a skittles tank that has no reds in it.

🤣

I mean... I have seen people find shrimp on the other side of their house... so it's not THAT crazy. I guess?