I've had it up for months now... how long does it take to cycle??---- A generic answer would be 6-8 weeks. This is not always true, especially when cycling with fish. Everybodies tap water is different, too many variables to predict. Read the FAQ article I gave a link to.---Neither one of the fish had any outward signs that I could see. The guppy had some sort of spinal issue where it looked pretty contorted sometimes, but the otto just stopped eating and sat on the bottom. If it had been a land critter, I would say it had labored breathing, but I don't know if that's the right term for aquatics. Last night I nudged it a little and it went up and tried to swim but it looked like it just took too much effort so he spiral-swam for a few seconds then fell back to the bottom---- This is most likely stress from poor water parameters nitrite/ammonia poisoning. These are symtoms. The fish should be active, of good color, no bent spines (also sign of TB), always seemingly hungary, no bloating (unless its pregnant), no growths or fin deterioration.---- . I noticed that the temp had fallen to 72 (from the norm of about 75)---- well thats a little low but if you have detectable ammonia in your water lower temps make ammonia less toxic. A fully submersible 25 watt heater would be a good purchase. Avoid the preset "mini heaters" that are for fish bowls ( AKA fish boilers). Place the heater under, or near the filter return or intake. Fluctuating and low water temps is a stressor.---I guess I need to get a test kit. Obviously this is a low budget tank, so what is the most necessary test(s)? --- I would say that ammonia and pH are good to have. Get a 2-part reagent kit for ammonia, they are more accurate and not easily skewed as other single reagent test kits and test strips. Some LFS will test your water for you, it depends on there reputation for accuracy. Individual test kits can be more expensive then a master set. So know your prices, for example the pH and Ammonia individually may cost the same as a master set with nitrite, nitrate, GH and KH tests. Or the master set could only be about $2-3 more. The laborett deluxe master test set by Tetra is any where from $12-18 and is the least expensive, well for your case. If you where to be setting up more tanks down the road the API master set is more, but has almost twice the ammonut of tests.----Thank you both so much for your help. I really want to fix any problems I have, aside from a tiny tank, before I try to get another otto.--- No problem, If you deside not to get a heater, go with the white clouds I suggested. They are really colorful and don't need heat, also they are small fish. Oto's are only hardy with good water conditions. The problem is with smaller tanks is that when something goes wrong, it happens fast. The more water you have the longer the water takes to become as toxic because of dilution.

Hi Brandy! Turning colors is what rugosas do best in the fall up here in the north. Most of mine develop into a yellow of some shade or other, some are bronze, a few are definitely orange. So yours are right in step with the season. I'd say you're in a warmer, more protected area there in the city, so your rugosas aren't as far along as mine are yet in the fall color department....but eventually yours could look like this: If some of your hybrid rugosas have a bit of blackspot at this time of year, don't worry. This late into the season diseases are not going to affect them going into winter. I commonly see some on the less rugose rugosa hybrids and other OGR's like the gallicas. And BTW, I've got lots of old apple trees here - no problems transferred to the roses that I've ever witnessed. I think you're doing fine. :-)

You should set up your bin at least a week before the worms arrive. Mix in a little food, don't get carried away a cup is enough. You need to get your micro heard growing so there is something for the worms to eat when they arrive. If there is food in the bin the worms are more likely to stay inside. You can mix the food into the bedding before the worms are added without any problems. Having a larger number of trays will enable you to have easier harvests. If you can wait long enough to allow the compost to finish up (that's the hard part). If you do wait there should be fewer worms in the bottom tray when you do harvest. You will be able to allow the bottom trays to process to finer vermicompost. When the worms migrate to the upper level they don't all go in mass. A large amount stays behind for a long time eating the food that is too small for us to see. In some WF they never all go up. In any case the lower trays will have a lot of eggs in them. You will be able to wait until they hatch out and move up before harvesting. The more trays you have the more eggs are able to hatch out and the faster you population will grow. When your worm population gets larger they will take up more trays. That is you will have the working tray. More than one tray with half finished compost in it. One tray with hatching eggs and another that is finished. Or that is how it is supposed to go. I cant help with the outside critters. Perhaps someone else can.

Trilostane is very recently available in the US for treatment of Cushings with less side effects than lysodren. Well, except for the very low risk of sudden death. But other than that, it is a reversible non-cytotoxic drug that doesn't carry the risk of making your dog Addisonian like lysodren can. Some vets use trilostane in conjunction with ketoconazole (an anti-fungal drug) to increase the bioavailability of the trilostane and reduce the dose. As far as behavior changes, most dogs don't have that many except the already mentioned increased hunger, thirst, and perhaps panting and lethargy. I've heard a few people say that their dog got aggressive or had other odd personality changes with Cushings in the untreated stage, but that seems rare. Once treated and stable, it seems all those signs go away. As far as pain and quality of life go, I think it depends on how well the disease is being managed. Most seem like happy dogs, unless they go into a Addisonian crisis. Then they are pretty darn miserable until their cortisol levels are fixed. But that is pretty easy to do. If they are accidently made permanently Addisonian, that is treatable too. I guess it would be a big problem if your dog was hard to medicate for some reason, because treating either Cushings or Addisons is usually a lifelong ordeal. Another issue would be if your dog get stressed at the vets or resented frequent blood draws. I think the biggest issue in treating Cushings is the expense and inconvenience to the owner, because the dog must be pilled, monitored at home carefully, and the drug dose must be monitored closely requiring many blood draws and trips to the vet. This isn't a type of disease where you just give some pills for a couple of weeks and it goes away. It's generally life long. So it requires a lot of committment from the owner. But dogs are well worth the effort IMHO. Their quality of life is much improved with treatment.