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hey guuys.long story short,ive torn a ligament in my right arm,and elbow!
the docs says REST,REST,REST!
anyway my arm is in a sling,and its very painfull,anway my qestion is,do you think my fish will be ok to miss some water changes and genral tank cleaning,vacume ect,ect.
i ask beuase even if i went against the docs advice,i couldnt handel the pain.
i can barelt lift a cup of drink,so even smaller water changes will be a mega painfull mission.
any ideas.
sorry abouy the messy typing,im using my left hand,and im right handed,so this is a real mission.

Hi,
I'm sorry to read of your accident and wish you a speedy
recovery. As far as the water changes and gravel vacuuming
is concerned, it should, as you know, be done regularly.
If you have a friend or neighbor that is capable, you
should enlist their aid. You can supervise, and perhaps
offer an appropriate "bribe" such as beer & pizza, milk &
cookies, or a dinner over one evening.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Try feeding less, 3-4 times a week.

Ouch lets not discuss right arms, your's sounds tons worse than mine though!

I'd go with frank on this one, see if you can enlist help.

If you've been keeping up on the maintenance it can slide a bit, but we all know water quality = happy fish, don't mean to preach to the choir. Fewer feedings may help as well like steven mentioned.

Can you use the left arm at all? Not knowing your tank sizes off the top of my head, if you can use the left arm, you may still be able to do water changes even if gravel vacs end up too difficult. Use a length of airline tubing and let it run into a bucket. This will take time, and from personal experience I can say don't wander off on it. The reason I suggest airline is that it's easier to manage getting the flow started one handed. Do smaller water changes more frequently so as not to go and do anything with the left.

I hope they gave you some pills for the pain . My doc gave me something for my shoulder (bursitis) but the pills just make me so sick that I gave up on it. Course I didn't want to pay for the cortisone injection either so I guess my pain is my own fault.


^_^

Hookse

I have told you many times don't put water with your drinks.

How long will you be out of action?
I am sure you daughter could help you or could you enlist help.
What I have done while away for several weeks fishing. I put some prepared water into a large plastic bucket and the wife took out 1lt every day from the 5ft tank and topped up with the prepared water and not a problem at all.

Surly your daughter could do that with out a problem. As for general cleaning dont worry just cut down on the feeding a litle.
Its a bit too far for me to run over and do it for you. If you must have a gravel Vac some one from your LFS could help out.
Put your suburb in the reply there might be a FP member closer than you think.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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hey guys im back again,thanx for all your concern.i had to get a big needle in my but,then the doc gave my some pills,that made me so sicki too have stopped taking them!i just spent the last day over a bucket,and trying to sleep on a busted arm..not real good i tell ya..ive gotta go back and see the doc on monday!
well the 55gallon,mixed cichlid tank,that has awsome filtration,and is still crystel clear,it was more the 89 gall,im woried about,witch is already getting plenty of poo on the bottom.
in this tank i have a 1 foot pleco who is a eating/pooing machine,plus a huge robust featherfin catfish that is a garbage compactor,plus a clown loach thats hoover vacume,so just them fish you can imagine what the bottom can get like,and thats not all the fish on that tank ether!
ive got my daughter coming ove today,i think i mite try my left arm and net some of the yuckies(as my daughter calls it),then ill get her to hold the drainage hose over the bucket,while i hold the other end!plus ive already cut back on foods,that was the first thing i done(i lost a batch of blue acara fry too)mum and dad dinned on them..
ill just use a small bucket instead of the massive 1 normally use.as im using the smaller bucket,i mite go the air line,as my drainage hose is pretty thick,and really get flowing.....
thanx guys,ill keep yas posted...

Sorry to hear of your troubles Hokese. I hope you have a speedy recovery. Any chance you could buy a long bit of siphon tubing, I am talking quite a few metres and either run the old water outside or into a sink. You can use a tank lid or something to hold the tube in the tank and suck on the other end to get it started, with something to holdit down in the sink, then go and directly siphon the mess out of the tank.

Putting water back is another thing tho. A stored aged water supply would be great otherwise its lots and lots of trip backwards and forwards with a 2ltr dipper to fill.
Hey, at least you get good exercise.

im just waiting for my daughter to arrive,but as you said bren,its putting the water back in that im worried about.
me thinks this mite perswade the mrs,to finally let me get a python water changer....
1 of them would really come in handy atm..

well guys,we didnt get the wc done,as daugthers math homework ran way overtime,and i had to take her home.
however we did figure out what we are going to do when she comes back 2morro for the weekend.
vacume will have to be skipped thoo,the tank is just to tall,i can still net,while she drains.
now the filling up part,im going to sit my large waterchange bucket on the floor next to my tank,drop in my powerfull powerhead,attach my waterchange hose to the powerhead(nice snug fit,already checked)and to keep the waterchange bucket full of water,i can run some more hose from the kitchen tap down into the bucket..i can just adjust the tap to match the flowrate of the powerhead,and thats adjustable too.
so apart from a deap gravel vac,i think this should be ok.
does this sound like a plan.
i just hope my arm dosent start hurting again.
oh and to the sevral people who dropped me private pms offering help..
THNANX HEAPS.yous know who you are..

well,we done a small vac,and a 30% waterchange,the tank is still a bit yellow coloured,but my arm is getting better,im starting to get movement back,without heaps of pain.
teaching my daughter everthing i can from keeping ,to breeding to cleaning,paid off bigtime,you guys should have seen her in action,she was buzzing around the tank like a worker bee.she got everthing needed for the wc,all by herself.she never faulted once,from the correct amount of buffer,to wipeing the tank glass down when were done.
im very proud of her,not bad for a 7 year old....
now im thinking of getting my fluval fx5 out of the storage shed,i normally use this as a back up for ether my 150gall or my 208gall.
so im thinking the fx5 on the 89gall,should keep that nice and clean.
that way if something happens again,like my arm,i can get a bit longer b4 the tank fouls up.
the 55gall in the spare room,the water is still pristine.
ive havent even done a waterchange on that yet..

future reference canister filters make this type of thing very easy with the right connections. with quick (un)locks on the ends for the filter intake and spraybar you simply need to shut the filter off and pull the end you need. remove the inlet/outlet piece.

Say you need to take water out for a water change you remove the spraybar end, remove the spraybar, stick it in a hose and run it out the door. turn the filter on and sit back and watch till 25% it out.

Now you gotta get the water back in so you put the spray bar back on and stick it back in the tank and pull the prefilter end out. stick that in a large 55g tote from walmart full of water you have let sit over night to dechlorinate. turn the canister on and it refills the tank.

A cheaper sollution to use is a RIO pump. these things are useless in the tank the quality is garbage they shut off when they feel like it and i woudl NEVER trust it as a main filter. BUT i do use one for water changes and makes my life a whole lot easier. I leave it in my 55g tote and flip a power strip on to refill my 75g tank. shut it off and move the hose to my 10g tank and turn it on. I use a garden hose to get rid of water inside the tank connected to a gravel vac.

Anyway this is a 1 arm ordeal if you can get someone to roll the hose out the door for ya. if its one of those no kink hoses you might be able to put it on a spool and just pull it out the door.