Fish / Cat / Lab problems

I have been having many problems lately. Things are not going according to plan in lab. They never do. No surprise there. I had a slight success today, though, so that is good.

I am going to Europe on vacation, so of course, some of my pets get sick/ injured. They love this kind of timing. Georgie has somehow injured her achilles tendon and is now walking around with one flat foot. Pretty weird. If she's not better by Monday, going to take her back to the vet and get her a cool splint to immobilize it. She should be fine with a gimp leg splint while I"m on vacation, right?

My biggest headache has been my fish. Estefan/Fifi has developed fin rot to a small extent. He previously had a cloudy eye and septicema in his fins, but that had been ongoing for months with no alteration of behavior. His life is not in danger, so I set about cycling the hospital tank before putting him in. It was taking longer than planned with gravel from the established tank and a sponge, added fish food and poop so the bac would have something to eat. Ammonia was 0 and nitrites were like 5 and wouldnt go down. Got a MIRACLE PRODUCT from the fish store (Safe Start). Tank was cycled overnight. I love that stuff. Put Estefan in last night, dosed with Ampicillin, he is already looking a little better I think, the edges of his fins are not "fuzzy" anymore. BUT there was a slight amount of ammonia build up in the night.

My main problem is now trying to get rid of this ammonia so it won't stress Estefan out further. I am unsure whether the ammonia detoxifying products would react with amp. Amp has amino groups, so... maybe? Also, there is this nitra-zorb matrix which absorbs and detoxifies ammonia and the NOs. It says not to use it with medication, but ALL medication? Also, I am trying to decide whether to listen to the fish store guy and dose Amp every other day, or every day like it says on the box... Amp doesnt last very long at higher temps in solution, but maybe a full dose is not necessary since the fin rot is quite minor.

Ancient Sea grasses!

Cool sea grass!!! 100,000 years old and 6000 metric tons! In the Mediterranean sea!!

I know a lot of people have blogged about the ancient sea grass Posidonia oceanica, but it really is so cool. Maybe I can go see it someday! It is also disappearing at a rate of 5% per year, so that is the sad thing about it. Climate change is implicated.

On a funny note, Clay is scared to go visit the grasses because there may be sea velociraptors hiding in there!

Kanye and Jay and Elsevier

OBSESSED with this song! Gonna be in Paris in less than a month. "I'm in France, I'm just sayin"

Reading this article about the future of academic journals. Knowledge should be freely accessible. How do we move forward as a society otherwise? I get miffed when I run into an article I can't read in entirety because the University's subscriptions don't cover it. Just try and stop progress, b**ches! That sh*t cray. Elsevier, show me why you deserve it all!

BTW that panther at the end with the statue in the background, that imagery is EPIC. Like, wolf t-shirt epic.