Today, I went for the first time to the 6th Ave. Aquarium & Flowers. Odd name for a fish seller -- or for a flower shop -- but I had known of this place since shortly after setting up my first tank.

Imagine my awe when I walked through a vestibule filled with flowers and then into an emporium packed tightly with the most wondrous array of tanks. In the front of the store, just inches from the floor, were massive cubes filled with all kinds of goldfish. If you look up, you'll notice that a balcony runs the perimeter of the store: on the second floor are more tanks. Long before you get upstairs, there's the back of the store. It's like magic. Sharks as long as your arm, neon blue sea slugs, manta rays, lobsters, tropical oddities shaped like sci-fi submarines, charcoal black jellyfish, creatures that actually frightened me so alien were their countenances. All of these strange critters were in a network of fully transparent tanks, like a glass ice tray with 10-gallon cubes.

After all of this (my eyes were medallions, my mouth a little "o"), I found the plant tanks. I blinked a few times because I couldn't recall a shop I've been to in which the plant tanks were so pristine. I mean so clean I thought the plants were fake.

I don't need any plants. Not really. But my eyes fell on the red and green Myriophyllum I describe below and I was sold.

What's funny...I didn't even make it upstairs. Wanted to save something cool for the next visit.

I was surprised when I checked the time and saw that I had been tinkering in Asgard for almost two hours. In addition to a massive water change, I pruned 6 of the 7 plant types in the tank. I added two stalks of Myriophyllum tuberculatum and 2 stalks of Myriophyllum aquaticum. Their common names are milfoil and red mysiophyllum. They are identical except in color. Milfoil is bright light green; the other is equally bright but red. They're quite gorgeous in large groups.

Now that I've planted them, I'm not sure they're ultimately going to work. They're quite different from the other, bolder plants, and whether they'll get enough light is tricky since I planted them in the wide-open space behind the driftwood.

I couldn't control myself. Today, I upgraded Vishnu's habitat.

From Nippon, I bought a 1-gallon acrylic tank. From Ocean Aquarium, I bought another Anubias barteri and a clump of young Java fern (Microsorum pteropus), each tied to small pieces of lava rock. I installed the heater I'd originally bought for the old 2G hospital tank, and added a thermometer.

From Justin, I also bought an 11W CF overhead lamp, but I think its AC adapter is faulty: it hums loudly and the bulb emits lots of heat, which it should not. I'll return the lamp tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm using the 7W incandescent lamp from the 0.5G tank, which actually gives a nice effect. I could keep using it since the Java fern and Anubias are both low-light plants, but I'd love to have something a little stronger (though not nearly as blinding as the 11W CF). I may go with a household fixture instead of a lamp designed for the aquarium.

All hail the arrival of three new algae eating shrimp. These are of the variety Caridina/Neocaridina "tiger", so named because of their black tiger-like bands. They more closely resemble Amano shrimp than the Zeylanica I've had to date. They're cool, faster movers and more curious than the Zeylanica.

Their names are Urd, Skuld, and Verdandi, the Norns -- or fates. They tend to the Yggdrasil, the world tree whose roots run through all worlds.

Looking over the past few posts, you'd think my fish are sick or dropping dead on a regular basis.

One of my SAEs -- Loki -- bit it about three nights ago. I found him so soon after he had died that he looked still alive...just, um, crooked. His nose had tipped to the substrate while his tail fin continued to float. It was quite disappointing, as the SAEs struck me as pretty hardy, although annoyingly shy.

So, Asgard, which only recently had three shrimp and two SAEs now has just one shrimp and one SAE. I take such meticulous care of that tank, I'm not sure what's going on. My Tetras are so hardy and hale that I forget not all aquatic life is.

And then there's the law of proportion. I now have 11 Tetras. Originally, I had 14. The loss of those 3 doesn't seem so bad because so many are left and thriving.

But when half your SAE population and two thirds of your shrimp population bite it, it feels catastrophic. But it isn't. I'll just have to start again. Two or three more shrimp and perhaps two or three Otocinclus. First the shrimp. I want to see how Thor does before I bring in more vertebrate fish.

Well, the Maracyn worked. The protrusion on Vishnu's eye went away and the coloration around his gills and lower jaw is now consistent with his radiant blue color.

An interesting note. Yesterday, I did a 100% water change, rinsed the Anubias, heavily rinsed the gravel, returned gravel, stones, and plant to tank, with new water (which contained Fe, K, and Micronutrient plant fertilizers), and put Vishnu back in. This morning, I noticed that Vishnu had super-fine threads trailing from his fins...all of them. He otherwise looked energetic and happy, but those threads worried me. So, I dosed with Maracyn again. Within an hour, the threads were gone.

I wonder if they were a result of one or more of the fertilizers. The conditioned water assists with a fish's protective slime coat. I don't see how brand new water could yield such threads in just 24 hours.

Oh, well, better safe than sorry. I may severely cut back the fertilizers, continue dosing for a few days, and then use warmer water when I do a change. Betta's just don't like water under about 74 F, which is hard to maintain in a 0.5G unheated tank in an apartment that's never above 68 F. The little 7W bulb helps, but not enough.

I noticed this morning that Vishnu has a small round protrusion above one of his eyes. I'm not sure what it is. He may have irritated himself during one of his love fests with the rock to which the Anubias is attached. Or he may have an opportunistic infection related to some tank condition. The water quality is good; I'm changing it with conditioned water every three days, including a gravel vacuuming of waste and food. So, I'm not sure what's up.

I dosed the tank lightly with Maracyn Plus, which proved to be life saving for Honegger back in early fall when he was a fin short of death. Since Vishnu is so much larger and slower, it's easier to observe his body for signs of illness. Glad I caught whatever it is early. We'll see if the Maracyn works.

Well, Balder never showed his face after disappearing a few weeks ago. And this morning, I found the carcass of one of the females, Tiny Clanger. It looked like one of those pink baby shrimp you find at salad bars. Strangely, parts of her body were missing, which means either that Sif was feasting on her dead sister, or the usually shy Thor and Loki decided that chowing down on a tank mate was more lalicious than eating algae. Sigh.

In a few weeks, I'll probably add a couple of new shrimpies. Something different from the Zeylanica, I think. But not sure which type to go with.