plants-

I haven't time to take pictures- but some notes for myself. My big schefflera is in full bloom now, dropping tiny sticky bits all over the worm bin that sits below it. None of the african violet leaf cuttings have growth yet.

Some of my houseplants looked sickly- I think the same thing that plagues them every winter, tiny mites or aphids that come in with plants off the deck. Realized I should have cleaned out all the old bamboo mulch from summer, it was still in some pots. I cleaned it out, topped off some pots with new potting soil. Cleaned out pale leaves on the cuban oregano and cut it back. Cleaned off anemic leaves on the ice plant and dunked it (sideways to avoid soaking the dirt) in soapy water, then rinsed. Lost my salad burnet plant, also the variegated basil and sculpit (no surprise there) and the stevia is almost dead.

Pruned back the lemon-scented geranium and some other plants, they look like will be okay. Repotted the big jade into the ceramic pot my avocado was in, and moved that one into a bigger pot and a sunnier spot in the basement sliding-glass-door spot. It keeps shooting up new leaves on tall stems- very leggy. Not enough light? Looks pretty unhappy for a while now, so trying a new location and fresh soil. The sweet potato vines in the basement spot were looking poorly, I pulled them out and replaced with all the ones that have been on the window tank, which were also starting to look unwell. Give them another chance in a pot.

A long list of ills, but really most plants are doing well. Blooms on the goldfish plant, growth on the heartleaf philodendron, zebrina looks great since I pinched off all the pale leaves. Took cuttings of jade and started new plants. Remnants of the oldest creeping charlie are starting to look healthier, so soon I will replenish that pot with new starts from cuttings off the other plants.

In my angelfish tank, val rubin continues to thrive. Tetras look great, spunky and shine with health. Angelfish looks unhappy sometimes, sits and stares at the back wall or goes pale and hides behind plants. Twice again has fled in a panic when I approached with hand raised to feed them, and crashed into things again. I don't know why.

And I was wrong, wrong about my paradise fish. I think he's got camallanus worms. I see red narrow things sticking out of his anus, until he moves then they disappear. Maybe he didn't eat the missing white cloud after all, it could have died from the parasites and I never saw the body. He's probably swollen around the vent from the worms, ugh. The other fishes in there look fine, but I've read it's an infestation that often doesn't show signs until too late. Must have come in with the guppies, or the newer white clouds, or the plants I got from a goldfish pond at the nursery. Should have quarantined longer, or done a stronger dip on the plants. I looked closer and there's white pale debris on the floor of the guppy fry tank and some fish in the tenner have white stringy poo. I'm going to have to do huge water change and dose with levamisole- tomorrow- no time today and it will be a lot of work to nearly empty all those tanks while keeping careful to not cross-contaminate and sterilize my equipment and wash my hands between. I'm feeling glum about it, haven't paid enough attention to the tanks of late, that's for sure.