Chick-In-Of-TheSea

Thanks. No fish were added recently. @Colu any idea of success rate? I read dropsy is hard to cure? Also I do not see any pineconing

I prepared a quarantine tank with salt. I was going to try that? Could this be something like dropsy? https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/bloated-fish

This weekend I participated in Epcot’s DiveQuest, and I’m excited to tell you all about it! I parked in Crush and boarded the tram for a 1:45 meetup and 2:00 tour. We signed waivers and were asked for our shoe size. Then we took turns saying our name, where we are from, and our favorite sea creature (mine is the sea turtle). Then the guides asked which animal we wanted to see on today’s dive. Many said sharks, and one or two said the bowmouth guitarfish. I wanted to see the hammerhead most of all. The tour started outside where we saw the filtration units/tanks, but we were not shown any mechanisms. The tanks looks like horizontal cylinders, similar to the oil trucks you’d see on the highway, only these were made of plastic. The aquarium is 5.7 million gallons and the filter processes 30,000 gallons per minute. Next we went into a building and passed by a series of labs. We passed by those fairly quickly but I was reading some of the signs, notably, the husbandry lab and the water chemistry lab. We proceeded to the food kitchen which was about the size of a bathroom, equipped with restaurant-kitchen sinks, coolers, and freezers. A member of the kitchen staff met with us. Kitchen staff arrives at work at 5am. Each animal gets a high quality, specific, restaurant quality diet based on their nutritional needs. Some of the foods they eat were shown to us, such as fish and blue crab, bok choy, and romaine. The (frozen) blue crabs they showed us were in pristine condition; very healthy. Each (large) animal is tong fed to ensure other animals don’t steal their food, and the animal’s name is written on a small, portable whiteboard. The type and weight (in grams) of each food is written on the whiteboard in one column, and the amount the animal did NOT consume is written in the other column. This data is tracked and recorded for every feeding. For example, each manatee eats 17 heads of lettuce daily, but animals are also fed a Disney proprietary recipe gel food which is packed with nutrients. Uneaten food is placed on a compost pile, except crab shells etc which are placed in the trash. The kitchen is a 97% zero waste facility, and all of the seafood they procure for feeding is sustainably sourced. We were taken to a room just outside the locker room where they issued gear by calling each person’s name. Each of us was given a shorty and a pair of booties, and we went into the locker room to change. Each person locked their locker with a provided key, then all keys were collected and locked in a different lockbox. We were only allowed to bring our own dive computer and mask; nothing further. Women were given “Mickey friendly” hair ties that were safe for the animals to consume if they should fall out during the dive. We proceeded (on foot) through the manatee feeding area where a large manatee (Blue) was having some lettuce. Blue is a rescue and is missing half of his tail due to a boat propeller. After a few minutes, Lil Joe, the young manatee, swam through a hole in the wall to join Blue. Lil Joe was found at 50 lbs when he should have been 200. They fattened him up and tried 3 times to return him to the wild, but he couldn’t understand how to get around or forage. The floor of this manatee tank is heavy duty egg crate, basically. They can raise it to lift manatees out of the water to do dental checkups, etc. The ceiling is a skylight but the manatees can be airlifted through it if/when needed. Next to the manatee feeding station was the dolphin feeding station. No dolphins were in there but a young dolphin, Andre, was resting his chin on the portal into it, just watching us. Nosy, but shy dolphin. We were called by name to line up single file, then we were escorted through a doorway and found ourselves in the main aquarium. We went over a catwalk to a round platform where the dive staff were. I also saw some computer terminals there. Our BCs (Buoyancy Compensators) were already weighted, and air was already turned on for each tank. After a dive briefing by the head divemaster, who is the twin of the maestro from Mozart in the Jungle, we descended, in the same order, a few steps onto a platform where we were waist deep in water. There we put on our fins first. The staff told us to lay our mask down on the platform while we got into our BCs. Immediately there was a staff member to help me put my arm through. Wow, what service. We turned to face the upper platform again and found that defogging solution had already been applied to every mask. We also got to pose for 2 photos at this time. The maestro from Mozart in the Jungle There were 12 of us and 6 divemasters. Again, WHOA. I’m used to be dumped in the middle of the ocean with 15 other people and just one divemaster, who people may or may not drift away from. Rules were simple. Group up, descend, and follow the divemaster for a brief tour underwater. Then 2 rocks would be clapped together to signal the start of “free time”. Stay 6’ off the ground or objects (corals were fake, btw — “tank ornaments”) to give animals the right of way. Listen for the tank banger which the divemasters will use to alert one of us if something is coming. After 45 minutes, the rocks will be clapped together again to signal the end of the dive. All divers were welcome to surface whenever they pleased. Due to the 25’ depth of this dive, decompression did not apply. But before we got off the platform to even start the dive, we had to stay still and wait for the guitarfish to exit the platform first. LOL. The guitarfish was very social (and bizarre!). That was definitely a fish I have never seen on any prior dive. bowmouth guitarfish. Photo credit: GA Aquarium ^ like a half ray, half shark The first animal I saw after descending was a spotted eagle ray. Swimming alongside it was a baby that didn’t have its spots yet. Spotted Eagle Ray. Photo credit: Wikipedia Then I saw a shark swimming along the bottom. The shark also had a baby tagging along. Various rays and schools of fish were all around me. 20 minutes of the dive something comes out of nowhere from behind me, and FAST. It was the hammerhead. It started circling around the perimeter of the tank. I kept my eye on it, fascinated. It moved with such purpose and speed, it was hard to ignore. (Fun fact about the hammerhead. Its head gets a bit awkward so, to chill, it swims sideways. It is more “aerodynamic”, if you will, when doing this. However, THIS hammerhead did not chill-swim. Hammerhead in Epcot’s aquarium. Photo credit: Disney Parks ^ Mickeys are “hidden” throughout all the theme parks. This was an obvious one though. 🙂 I was finning around, having a great time making hand signals to the tourists. Throwing peace signs and using 2 hands to make a heart. I did this to a couple dining in the coral reef restaurant, and they got a kick out of it, started laughing, and hand signaled a heart back to me. Then a guy behind them several tables away started a large, exaggerated wave at me. I mirrored him, and then he made the heart. LOL! Little kids going through the aquarium were charmed when I waved to them too. Their eyes got big and they quickly looked at their parents to make sure they saw what happened. It was very fun. Then I heard the tank banger and looked around as I was instructed ahead of time to do. Approaching me was the >100 year old loggerhead sea turtle. Do you know what its name is? Tolstoy! (Nudge @tolstoy21). It headed to the surface, and I surfaced with it just for fun, to watch its cute snoot stick out of the water and its mouth open to take a breath. We descended together and continued the dive. Loggerhead. Photo credit: WDW Parkhoppers In the meantime, I saw the other turtle was out & about. That turtle was nearly black. The pattern on its shell looked like a hawksbill turtle would have, but I don’t think hawksbill was stocked in their tank. Therefore, it had to be a green sea turtle. Green sea turtle. Photo credit: WDW Parkhoppers Next I joined a school of fish, then another.. in the meantime the sharks and rays, and the beloved guitarfish, were making appearances. I then heard the rocks clapping together and returned to the middle of the tank where the head divemaster was waiting with the rope to the orange buoy in hand. He pointed to each person, clearly taking roll, and after he was satisfied all were present, we ascended together. We were met by the other divemasters and the surface team and helped out of our gear. We were handed fresh, clean towels and asked how the dive went. Everyone was excited and had a great experience. We crossed the catwalk and re-entered the dolphin and manatee feeding room where 2 dolphins were splashing and playing? Or sparring? Or something. Idk, but there was a lot of splashing. We got back to the locker rooms where there were more towels, hot showers with body wash, shampoo, and conditioner, and even a swimsuit drying machine. We placed our shorties and booties into designated bins and regrouped in the room just outside. There they had a table setup with a self-inking stamp with the DiveQuest logo. This is so divers can stamp their logbook, where some divers keep track of all their dives. I definitely brought my logbook (logbook #4) with me, stamped it, and recorded it as my 126th dive. Stats of the dive were displayed on a TV screen, and I jotted those down. There was also a list of all the creatures in the tank on the screen. This was the only time we were permitted to take photos: of these 2 TV screens. Maestro, I mean, the head divemaster was there and I had him sign my logbook. It is customary for the dive charter or company to do this, if divers so choose to include that as part of the entry. For those who forgot their log books, large, ruler stickers with the DiveQuest logo were provided so divers could fill them out and stick them in their log books later. We were each given a gift! A small dry bag with the logo. Cool! Dry bags Velcro shut, then the top is rolled down a few times and the corners clipped together. Much better and more durable than, say, a ziplock. These were small dry bags that would be great for holding keys and phones while doing water activities of any sort. Each person was also handed a card with a code on it where we could access our photos online later (at no charge). My photo is not available yet. Will update post later when it is. To conclude the adventure, everyone was escorted outside the building, where I caught a glimpse of Goofy! Then we were led to the park exit with a very warm goodbye. 💙 Here are some stats about the aquarium: The Living Seas Fact Sheet Here is a video of the experience in general (this video was taken at some point for/of another group; I am not in this video) https://youtu.be/twib4h-JP_k?si=PMjeVZUOIyD3jTSj Here are some of the creatures I saw: https://youtube.com/shorts/ENgrTK84U-8?si=ts75pcXVoZu3pS1p Sidenote: everyone was perfectly weighted.. all different height and weight people. How is this possible?!? At least someone has weighting issues when diving. ????? Supposedly they used some algorithm to find the perfect weight amount for everyone’s gear. Either that or it was Disney MAGIC! ⭐️

Looking great, @Guppysnail! But this is not going to help your case of MTS…hehe

Very nice!

Hey guys, got a new lamp. What do you think?

Great to hear from you @TeeJay! I got a milk brother so I can have fancy coffee with @TeeJay.

In person the wounds are barely noticeable. I really have to look with the flashlight. One of his kickstands has loss of pigment in a little spot. I checked closely, and I cannot see fungus or anything there which is a relief. I just keep changing water every day and dosing back salt and catappa tea, plus like 3 leaves are in the tank. His fins do need a little help; they are looking ragged from the ordeal. Also not sure why he’s so attracted to that thermometer lately. He never seemed to notice it before. I gave him a flower pot tunnel today. It has no bottom, and it has been sanded smooth. The opening is way bigger than he is, so no concern there and it gives him a new something to explore. By the way, I hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend (if you are in the U.S., and if you’re not, then I hope you have a nice weekend in general). 🙂

It is hard to get decent photos so here’s a video of how our boy is doing.

Geppetto got white worms again today and was very excited about it. I saw him diving down to the bottom of the tank when I was across the room, checking on his pet trumpet snails. He loves to watch them. Wounds look good. Light pink. Last night I boiled the catappa tea and let it sit overnight, and today’s water change added back tannins. Redosed salt to level 2 as usual, and all is going well. He’s so nosy too. If I do stuff with the tanks below or next to his, he is right there watching everything that is going on.

Today was the last day of treatment. We did 17 minutes. She starts darting at about that point, I noticed.

Got the co op measuring spoon! Didn’t realize the bottom of it was also 2 measuring spoons! 4 spoons in one! (Why isn’t it green tho?) Perfect timing for this salt treatment. This is how you season a tank, right? (Hehehe)

Opened my box today, and this fell out when I lifted the flap. It made me smile.

We got to 17 or 18 min today on the Epsom bath. This was day 4.

Strange. I’ve had one black neon in the past affected by this as well.

Changed water. Redosed salt for replacement water.

Geppetto enthusiastically greeted me this morning and fiercely attacked his live white worms.

He sure is. He is resting a little more. I wouldn’t call him lethargic. It’s just like he’s taking breaks more often, understandably so.

So sorry for your losses @nabokovfan87. Hope things improve.

We did 12 minutes today. She was darting and it made me nervous, so I returned her at that point. Here are some photos from this evening. She had turned off her stripe while she was in the epsom bath, and is starting to turn it back on now that she sees her school.

Thanks! Kind of a long journal. Thanks for reading! No cameras allowed behind the scenes at Epcot, but if they take/offer photos of us diving, I will get some.

Wounds look good. Light pink, healing. He’s in good spirits. Did the wigglebutt dance when I approached. Good appetite, but I reduced his portion just in case of any internal issues that I can’t see. Sorry for the glass in the second video. Looks messy when shining the flashlight on it. That was the best way to assess him. I’ve been keeping his light off also, but turned it on to check on him. I notice 2 wounds on his side also, light pink as well. I am surprised at the progress he’s made in 24 hours. I think my co op order with the catappa leaves is due to arrive tomorrow.

Guys.. omg, beyond excited. I booked a dive in Epcot’s 5.7 million gallon saltwater aquarium for this weekend. Includes a behind the scenes tour of the filtration and all of the things. Gonna be epic! This is something I’ve wanted to do for years. While I can’t bring a camera, if they sell me a photo package or something, I’d probably go for it. Seems like a once in a lifetime type of thing. No waves, no 6 hr round trip drive, no fatigue from seasickness medicines, no diesel fumes, minimal decompression, and best of all.. guaranteed to see all of the things. And things I don’t normally see on my ocean dives. Like eagle rays and hammerheads. 🙂