How to avoid multi-tasking mishaps..

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
Discus addicts are usually serious multi-taskers. As you acquire more fish and tanks you need to be able to fit more things into a days schedule....inevitably you begin to dabble in multi-tasking..... after a few successes..you engage in every multi-tasking activity you can find... and then ..just when you think you can do 10 things at once it happens...

The dreaded Multi-tasking Mishap!! Sometimes these are minor...sometimes major and even fatal to your fish. To help you avoid these Mishaps I thought we could share ours with everyone here. heres some tips from me...

1. Do not attempt to log onto simplydiscus while eating soup..unless you have a keyboard cover...which is highly recommended if you like to dine infront of the monitor.

2. rushing QT.. The idea of multi-tasking in a QT program is a real bad one. Throwing 5 meds together in the tank may save you time, but unfortunately its also a waste of that time.

3. Burping your 4 month old while near your computer is not wise....keyboard covers and monitor shields may minimize the danger.

4. talking on the portable phone while working in the fish room is very possible to achieve, avoid wiping down the insides of the tank walls though,.... not all phones work after "swimming with da fishes" actually I have only found 1 out of 6 to work. :) headsets are probably easier and safer to use....but what fun is that?


5.Draining a tank by gravity while you eat dinner is not a good idea unless you have a low water alarm which can be had for about $20.00 Exposing discus to the air for too long can be hard on their gills and skin,. The good side here is Discus are easily trained to flop around when the water gets too low and as the hobbyist you will recognize the sound if close enough to the tank.


any one else?

-al

[Ryan]

Refilling tanks using a pond pump isn't a good idea if you leave them unattended while you go to cook a grilled cheese sandwich... unless of course you have a 15 year old cousin over to act as informer and let you know that 10 gallons of water have seeped into your bedroom carpet. ::) Thanks for watching that hose like I asked you to, Dwayne.

If you have cory cats, you may not want to drain your tanks unattended. Even after you spend 20 minutes trying to safely push them out of the 3/8" siphon hose, they usually don't make it anyway.

If you let your frozen bloodworms sit on the counter for about 5 minutes before feeding, it would be best to just wait on them rather than deciding to walk the dog while you're at it. Three hours after I realized I had taken the bloodworms out to feed my fish, I found a big, gushy, red mess all over the kitchen counter. It's disheartening to ruin a 1-lb bag of bloodworms.

Don't eat a brownie in one hand while trying to adjust a submersed heater with the other. My angelfish now have an acquired taste for Betty Crocker Moist Deluxe...

Ryan

[daninthesand]

NEVER EVER browse simply while filling your holding barrel (Unless of course you have a fill pro valve or high water alarm.

Albino plecos LOVE to hide inside things, pots, filter uptakes and are somehow attracted to the end of your siphon hose. Looks like a good hiding spot to them!! ::) Don't go anywhere near them while siphoning.

Never leave your house or go to bed without first doing a quick look over you fish room. That tank you forgot you were siphoning might be empty by now and the fish are breakdancing.

While cleaning your tank lids don't forget about the open bottle of PP you have sitting on top. Nobody wants purple discus, no matter how clean they are or how little slime they have....

If you must use the little boys room while filling you aquarium, always turn the pump off, or stop the flow, put the hose DOWN. No matter how quick you THINK you will be, there's always that neat article in Playboy beside the toilet you always wanted to read...... ;D

Daniel

[henryD]

Well I thought I was smart. I thought I got everything down to a science. I would time myself draining a tank. Ok tank 1 takes 4 minutes. tank 2 takes 6 minutes.

So my sister provided me with ones of those industrial timers that they use in the labs. I set the timer.

I also changed the hose size and did not think about it. So now the water is draining twice as fast. I always have 4 tanks draining at once. It is also inevitable that my wife needs something or wants to talk when I am doing my W/C. SO needless to say I had 4 tanks of no water.

SO my Number 1 thing is make sure your wife is done or at least have her agree not to speak to you during water changes.

Henry...

Ops I lied. Always double check your clamps that you use to hold down the hose that is refilling your tank. You know water pressure move hoses right? I found that out the hard way.

[paul_burney]

Well i dont know if call this muti-tasking mishap or not but dont set down when filling your tanks up if you have worked the grave yard shift and havent been to sleep ::) ::) ::).
I woke up to the sound of Niagra Falls on day this past summer. now i stand up all the time ;D ;D ;D ;D

Paul

[henryD]

Ah Paul,

I know that feeling too well...Been trying to train my body to sleep 3-4 hours a day instead of 5-6. Boy is it tough. I find myself snoozing before I know it.

[kjmillerfw]

I'm pretty new at this, but I've found a few things out so far...

Don't forget to check the intake hose on the water pump when refilling tank to make sure it's tight...second note to that...don't keep your holding tank next to your African Grey Parrot when this happens...he now LOVES to say "OH $HIT!" now, just like Mama did. :o

Don't leave your nitrite/nitrate testing tray on top of tank cover because it WILL go in the water...somehow.

Don't daydream while vaccuming the tank floor or get too focused on getting that last piece of poop sucked up without keeping an eye on the end of the siphon hose that's supposed to be in the bucket. Additional note on that...when pulling out the siphon hose from tank...be sure you have a grasp on the other end, it tends to get a life of it's own about that time.

I won't go into how many times I've let the aging tank overflow because I try to cram in that one other thing I can do in that couple minutes.

Last but not least, this isn't a multi-tasking mishap, yet could be helpful to know...don't refill your CBW's keeper with water that's really cold (from top shelf of frig) because they WILL climb out!

[April]

ok....well theres only one thing i can say to this whole mess!!! the fact is.......men DO NOT MULTITASK !!!!!!!!!!
leave it to us women..who can do it well and no mishaps!!
have you ever heard Pril say she has had a flood?????/not on your life!!
i do however have one piece of advice. Do NOt spill water on your keyboard....then try to give out your order via email to a breeder who is now bagging your fish. i had to copy and paste one letter at a time on the email with the mouse....as my keyboard went bolisitic!!
and only other one ..dont talk to Kerry on msn while draining tanks or filling with too hot of water from the tap!!
shes long winded. lol.

[yippy]

Well i agree with Brew on one of his mulit-tasks.

Dont talk to Pril on msn while draining tanks - fish finish up in 2 inches of water due to her yapping.

Also when cleaning my 120 gallon planted tank, I have to stand on the sofa in front of the tank to reach in and clean the back glass with one of those window cleaner things on a long pole.

I was trying to keep cool and clean the glass at the same time as it was very hot. Theres a ceiling fan over the top of the sofa and i had it turned up full blast. When i lifted the window cleaner out of the tank and it got stuck in th fan blade, nearly chopped it in half. Oops. ??? Now the pole has a few dents in it but still does hte job

So for safety reasons now, i leave the fan off - regardless of how hot it is for safety purposes.

Kerry :D

[Fish_Fin-atic]

One thing I've learned the hard way - learn to ignore the phone when you're doing your water changes ::)

Trust me your girlfriend (BF, wife, husband, etc) will not appreciate you suddenly yelling out "OH ****" and dropping the receiver on the floor as you rush to stop the flow of Niagara falls!! ;D Furthermore, they especially won't appreciate your forgetting that they're still on the line as you mop the floor, and continue on with your WC schedule, while muttering curses under your breath as the receiver swings from its cord two feet away. ::) ;D

I go so far as to turn the ringer off, and turn the radio on durring WCs!

By the way, for those of you who have spilled soup/baby goop, water etc into your keyboards, they are still fixable. Just scrub the buttons out with a brush, some dish washing soap and lots of hot water (not while connected to computer of course) and rinse with lots of warm water, then let the keyboard dry out for as long as it takes for it to be BONE DRY before plugging it back in. It should be as good as new. You can dry it faster by taking out the screws in the back and using a hairdryer on the insides. Remember you can wet down/ wash ANY electrical item AS LONG AS IT'S ABSOLUTELY BONE DRY BEFORE YOU PLUG IT BACK IN.

[Debbie]

I agree with April, leave the multi-tasking to the ones who do it best, women ;). But we all have mishaps. Don't take the dog who tracked mud all over the carpet outside to hose off while filling a tank. This is a sure fire way to get water all over the carpet that the dog just tracked the mud on and will take forever to clean.

[Nightowl]

Niagara falls seems to be a theme here. So here is my advice: Don't fill the reservoir tank and then go out to talk to the neighbors.
Don't fill the reservoir tank and then go out to split some firewood for half an hour... wondering why the oil burner keeps kicking on even though no one's using water.
And lastly, don't fill the reservoir tank, go put in a movie and fall asleep on the couch! :P :P

These have been words of wisdom from J.T., king of the indoor tsunami.

[Paulio]

Al,

Great thread! I haver some personal experience with 1,3, and 4.

Henry,

Let me know how that "getting the wife to agree to leave you be durring W/C" thing goes. LOL! My spouse knows she has a captive audience when I am arm pit deep in a tank.

Ryan,

Been there. Living in a condo with a couple home tanks I had to replace the kitchen cieling for the lady downstairs from me. I was filling a tank and got caught up on the phone.

One for everyone

Dont eat snack foods while feeding pellets to your fish. You just might toss the wrong food to both yourself and the fish. :P Tetra Bits are nasty.


Paul

[kjmillerfw]

Well, I'm a woman and I had mishaps so sorry girls...I let us down but I am a newbie if that counts...Sorry April...I'm still learning!

If we can't laugh at ourselves...who can we laugh at?

[Miles]

Oh yea,
1. Do not talk to Jeff Young while filling tanks, they over flow every time.
2. Do not shine flashlight down holding barrel, it will always fall in.
3. Do not talk to Cary while draining tanks, unless you like to hear flop.
4.Do not ask your wife to watch the tank fill in the living room, it over flows all the time and it is my fault. HUM??

8)

[Discus_KC]

Don't go to Iraq and leave the wife with the checkbook !!!!!!!
Don't let Brew talk to you about talking !!!!!!!! LMAO
Don't go to look at fish !!!!! Then do have ways of coming home with you !!!!!!

Wc's ?????? No comments

[heavyp83]

Just last week my dish washer was broken, I made the mistake of fixing it while i was filling my storage bin.

Well lets just say that before too long I had 2 floods on my hands, and the kitchen was full of suds!

[korbi_doc]

:bounce2: :bounce2: Gosh, everything happens when you're busy gettin' somthin' done!! Concentration on one thing at a time seems to have gone by the board, hahaha!
Flooding the LR is becoming the usual!!
I never can seem to get enough water, so I run the water with booster pump into the 32g RMs. I use a flood alert, & its great when I hear it, but of course, I go out to the hospital, get busy, forget its running & come into a flood on the carpet. So, I got a baby monitor, & that works, when I remember to hook up both ends to hear the alarm. Seems at least once a week I have a flood, & so far nothing has changed that one.
I'm terrified that I'll drop the TDS meter in the water as I did with the ph meter. Then I turned on the heater & powerhead to one tub & found it 2 hrs later laying on the carpet not in the water, one small burned spot, ruined heater but lucky & relieved I didn't cause a fire.
No matter how hard we try, S#*$$ happens, there is no end to the boo-boos we make, but we just keep at it, lol, Dottie ;D ;D

[brewmaster15]

Its also probably best to avoid feeding frozen foods and multi-tasking. I just found a 16 oz pack of blood worms I left out 2 days ago.. not a pretty sight! :puke:

-al