I think you should stop adding bacteria. I haven't added any in the past six years. It occurs naturally. You mention slugs so my guess is you are seeing the jelly that surrounds snail eggs. The eggs are very tiny and clear at the beginning and difficult to see. If the "white strings" appeared since you began medicating the fish it might be the result of the medication. Normal fecal matter often appears as strings of various colors that dangle from the bottom of the fish. There shouldn't be a lot of it unless you are really over feeding the fish but the meds could be giving the fishies insides a workout. It is hard to tell without more observation from you. Observation is good. The round pellets are likely from plants in the area or could be from insects. It could be what is called frass, or droppings from larva (caterpillars). It could even be from a soil additive in potted plants. Walnut trees could be responsible. It is not fish poo. More description(size, color, texture) is needed.

"IS THIS NORMAL FOR THEM TO STAY DORMENT FOR SO LONG?" Yes, a couple of years ago, I had a BST cat go into chrysalis late in the Fall. I left it in my cage outside all winter. As soon as it warmed up in the spring, I expected it to eclose like others I've over-wintered, but it didn't. I just left it in the cage since I wasn't using it. Then one day in JULY, I walked out the back door and there was the butterfly! I was amazed since I'd never had one stay in chrysalis that long. "MY HUSBAND BELIEVES THAT IT IS JUST IN HIDING AND WILL RETURN. I CERTAINLY HOPE HE IS RIGHT...." I bet your husband is right. I haven't raised any Queens yet, but I know that my Monarch cats disappear off the milkweed, I assume, to molt. It's kinda funny. One morning I'll look at the milkweed and everyone's munching away. Next morning, nobody's home. Next day or so, everyone's back to munching again. I hope your queen shows up soon. By the way, what kind of orchids do you grow? It's so nice you have a patio room to grow them in. I only have my window sills to grow my phals & paphs.

This winds up being a no-win situation in a lot of ways. I see people complaining about "all the fillers" in powders and "all the water" in liquids. The mfgrs cut the fillers and cut the water, tell you to use half as much, still does the same number of loads and people go "look, it's only half as much and it's the same price!!!". LOL I don't get it. The concentrating started a long time ago with dish soap and people complained. Yes, a lot of people squirted in the same amount they used before, but face it, that's their problem. Just like the people who constantly complain that a particular brand is oversudsing when they're way overdosing. Again they blame the detergent. I guess the detergent sneaks out of the box/bottle and crawls into the machine at night. I think the compaction (as they call it) is a good thing. I don't like lugging an extra amount of water in liquids or fillers in powders. AFAIC, cut out all the water in the liquid and use an eyedropper to measure or throw in the few flakes needed of the powder. Think for a second about how much less plastic is required from just this one step. Think how much less FUEL is required to transport something that weighs 1/2 as much. Think about the increased shelf space available to the stores to either have more of the same product so they don't run out, or different varieties available to the customers. Think about how much easier it is for those stocking the shelves and yes, even us grunting these things home and into the laundry room, and even off the shelf each time it's being used. Then think about how much less plastic is going into the landfills because lazy people won't recycle. Now, back to the other issues. If it's low-sudsing, it'll work just fine in your front load or other HE machine. Suds are the biggest issue. In theory, SOME of the HE detergents are formulated to perform differently, but not all. I'm so tired of people screaming different hyperbole about soap. There's many low sudsing detergents out there that will do just fine. And guess what? You can get too many suds from HE detergents too! I see people on here all the time overdosing and blaming the detergent. I still laugh when I (so often) see someone saying they now have a front loader using 1/6-1/8 the water of the top loader and they use 1/2 the detergent they used in the toploader and can't figure out why there's so many suds, so much soap buildup, etc.... and it must be the detergent! Hellooooooooooooooooo! Oh yes, some of the syntax. "2x", "3x", etc are given when the old formula is more concentrated. Essentially taking out fillers to downsize the packaging and still give the same number of loads. "Ultra" is sometimes a brand name, sometimes a descriptor. "HE" can mean it was specially formulated to work better in HE machines, or it can mean it's COMPATIBLE with HE machines, ie it's low sudsing. There's several name brands that do not say "HE" on them that are just fine for HE machines. Mara, don't feel bad, it gets confusing. And with your new machine I'm sure you want to be sure not to mess it up. It's good to ask questions and educate yourself. Again, it looks like it needs to be emphasised, while yes, the bottles are smaller, and yes, you're getting less fillers, you're getting the SAME amount of active ingredients and the same amount of loads from the container. It's like buying a water-injected ham. You get the same amount of meat but you get more weight from the water added which evaporates out when cooked. Do you feel cheated? Most of the "old" formula "1x", sometimes called "classic" are now sold in dollar stores. People there tend to look at the size of the box/bottle and not the number of loads. Many don't even say how many loads they use. I looked at one and it said to use 2 CUPS of powder per load! That makes for expensive detergent. Personally, I think it's a myth that liquids "gunk" up a machine. OVERDOSING, liquid OR powder will "gunk" up a machine. One thing I've found is that it's easier to measure the correct amount with powder using the scoop. Using the cap on the liquids is clumsy, at best. If people would use a measuring scoop, I'm sure that virtually all the problems would disappear. Again, you can't blame the detergent for pilot error. Oh, one other thing. Technically the formulas are not the same on all items. I was reading about P&G's concentrating and the article said the formulas are different. (No idea about the other mfgrs.) They said Tide has different enzymes that are supposed to clean better, Gain has been changed to keep the smell longer, Cheer is different, supposed to keep colors better, etc. I've been using Tide Free/Sensitive for about a year now and I can only speak from experience. I used the "old" type (1x) and have used the 2x also. To me I see that they clean better than any other detergent I've used and I can't tell a difference between them. I use about 1/2 of the amount to "line 1" on the cap. So a bottle lasts me a LONG time. I used to itch from Tide so I avoided it for years. I was given some samples and there's no problem for me anymore. I'm very pleased with it. I bought some on a bargain price and am stocked up for a long time now. I don't use borax, Oxy and the other additives. Occasionally I pretreat a stain but that's not too often. And occasionally I switch off with either the Walmart powder (made by Huish) or Sun, but with Sun, I need the additives. I've been very pleased with my results and of course YMMV. And I had my machine apart about a year ago. After 20 years of strictly liquid use (in proper dosages) I have no "gunk" buildup.

I have been at this FlyLady stuff for a little over one year. And lately, I just find my hands moving to declutter something without any conscious decision beforehand. It's kinda weird to realize that what once was a seemingly insurmountable chore has started to become somewhat automatic. Somewhat. I sometimes still need to talk myself into the daily zone challenge. Sometimes, I don't even get to it. But that's OK. The general trend is toward improvement. I have finally gotten to the point where I truly believe, all the way down to the bone, that I deserve to live in a clean, harmonious house. The motivational reading helps with cultivating that "I deserve a nice place" attitude. At least it helped me. So don't stop reading, just try to put a bit of it into practice as soon as you can bear to make yourself get up and get started. Momentum. That's a good description. I think it's also the contrast of seeing how nice one area looks, and the desire to see the rest of the house looking that nice. I wouldn't say I'm FLYing yet, but I am definitely aware that I have wings, and am starting to flap them a bit. I have learned that procrastination takes a whole lot longer (and a lot more bad feelings because I haven't done "X" yet) than if I just make some time to do even a little bit of the job. I hate to pass by the same mess over and over, and feel bad each time I see it. There is still so much I'd like to do to make our home look nicer; I think I need to prioritize. I ask myself, "What will make the biggest improvement?" If I chose a 15-minute job that shows big results, the feeling of accomplishment boosts me along. Maybe that's the momentum of which you speak.