So I've been treating my tank for several days for suspected columnaris (2 of my zebra danios developed faded "saddle" areas and acting a bit off). Affected fish seem to be improving daily and eating well (my plants are less happy about lowered lights and Co2 while antibiotics help the fish).

Then last night I notice one of my little glowlight tetras looking paler than the rest. This AM he was hanging out in a corner near the surface. I ran to the health food store to have clove oil on-hand, figuring I'd need to put him out of his misery very shortly.

Now he's back to swimming with his little school of 9 and, while still a little pale, he's behaving normally and his color is much better than this AM.

Stupid "relaxing" pets are giving me regular stress in the past few days. Sheesh.

Hahaha.

My wife tells me all the time how relaxing it is to sit and watch the fish. This is often when I'm arm-deep in tank water, toting a python water change hose around stressing about some fish not acting the way I think he or she is supposed to.

Ha, my husband says pretty much the same thing. While I'm pulling my hair out and losing sleep.

The fish are healthy. I stress more about the algae and plants :-/

I used to twitch/worry and think something's wrong when unexpected behaviour occurs. I don't do that as much now, and prefer to wait a bit longer before acting.

Almost like having children, you're more relaxed after the first one

I tend to not worry too much about my fish. They have plenty of company in my tank and they shouldn't be able to complain about the scenery too much. I also haven't dosed my tank with anything, ever, aside from de-chlorinator, but I have had a few casualties. I've lost 3 or 4 otos and I chalked that up to them being otos. Do you lose a lot of fish? My tank is also low tech, I've noticed yours is much more intense!

+1 One of my roommates keeps telling me to leave it alone and let it grow for 2 weeks This tank is just starting to take off and I'm trying to propagate cuttings all of the time to fill the tank in

I lost 1 of the 30 fish I started out with a couple of months ago within a day of putting them in the tank. And all of my cherry shrimp in a matter of weeks -- without a trace. I think they were tasty little red snacks for someone. The fish all look so innocent, but also well-fed!

I am glad I am not the only one who does this.

Just when I got to the point where my freshwater tanks started to actually be relaxing, I started a reef tank. Stress doesn't even begin to cover it.

Uuugh.... I know exactly what you mean, it's lead to many a night of me standing in my fish room with my shirt off at three in the morning yelling "Tell me what you want!!" at a yellowing plant floating gently in the current.

Lol!

Try dealing with angelfish romance, and all that entails.

Haha innocent but well fed. Perfect description!

Hahah That's a big reason why I set up a refuge in my sump for my RCS colony. The fry would get eaten by even the smallest fish and the adults would eventually be found and eaten most of the time.