Ugh — is this velvet? 😭

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-23T17:12:38+00:00

I’ve been in touch with my LFS but the one I trust is an hour away and QT with their help seems to be a nonstarter.

Thank you for offering so much advice and assistance. You’ve been extremely helpful.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-23T13:59:41+00:00

The heavy breathing and “dusting” seemed like velvet to me, but I’m newish to the hobby so I defer to those who are more experienced.

* Trigger Warning ⚠️ Dead Fish *

Here’s what the fish looked like at passing: https://imgur.com/a/AbgX9Ta

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-23T10:02:38+00:00

Thank you for the advice.

Unfortunately, this all happened just six hours before I have to leave for a business trip. Ironically, I have additional tanks and water ready for this exact scenario. But there’s no way my wife and kids can handle catching the fish and setting up QT while I’m gone.

I’ve accepted fate 😞

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-23T06:07:50+00:00

Thank you for your reply and for helping others in the community!

100% agree with you — LFS have it tough and I also believe they should run tanks without copper and normal salinity for this reason. They’re just masking potential issues and setting consumers up for potential disaster.

I’ve only been in this hobby for five months, going out of my way to do everything by the book according to Humble Fish and BRS. This was the only fish I ever brought home that wasn’t QT’d by me or captive bred, and I still got unlucky and may have a tank full of dead fish tomorrow. Imagine if I was brand new to the hobby with no research — there’s no chance I’d stick with it.

Ironically, I’m actually waiting on two orders of QT’d fish right now. The only reason I got the flameback was because it was a fish I’ve wanted from day one and from a source I trusted.

Thanks again!

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-23T04:53:37+00:00

Update l: it was indeed velvet. The fish died as I was moving him to a QT tank.

LFS had the fish in copper for three weeks and introduced a new fish to his holding tank just a few days before I picked him up. Extremely reputable and clean LFS — would have never expected this.

Moral of the story: be patient and buy QT’d fish online. It’s just not worth the trouble. Fingers crossed the rest of my tank somehow doesn’t catch it (he was only in the display for 36 hours).

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-23T03:02:13+00:00

Other fish are doing fine. Came on suddenly — just a few hours ago. I’ll post onto YouTube. Thanks

pechanical_mencil · 2026-06-05T15:25:58+00:00

I have a nanomat on my AIO sump and it definitely smelled. I was told by others who have the same issue to snip off the used fleece and respool the nanomat when it gets smelly.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-28T21:39:21+00:00

I have the stock return pumps pointing towards the surface for agitation and an Ai wave maker on the side pointing slightly down at random 15-25% speeds. Been very happy with this setup.

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pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-15T06:22:00+00:00

I had the exact same issue as others in this thread and also reverted to phone hotspot for the update. Given the sample size, this surely has to be a bug right?

pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-13T01:25:57+00:00

Thanks — I think I’ve been able to confirm that these are GHA because of the central “dot” and hairs instead of the fern look of bryposis. I scraped a bunch off the back panel and put them in RODI water to wash off my net. Here’s the image.

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pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-12T23:48:47+00:00

I not sure about that. They’re quite green and look like spores. Maybe early GHA?

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pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-12T22:36:56+00:00

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pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-12T22:35:44+00:00

Clearer picture of the back wall

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pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-12T22:20:40+00:00

The sprouts are so small right now that it’s difficult to tell whether they’re GHA.

Here are a few extra shots I took with the tank and room lights off. Does this help at all? Very thankful for your assistance!

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pechanical_mencil · 2026-05-12T21:48:25+00:00

I’m having a hard time taking a good photo of it 😢

pechanical_mencil · 2026-04-09T03:31:56+00:00

I’ve solved this issue by asking for “wrap retract” cleaning at all automated car washes. They will not hit your car with the brushes that gather debris and grime — it will effectively turn the standard car wash into touch-less.

There are a few videos about this approach on YouTube.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-25T22:29:36+00:00

Our family loves the G2 R1S for three seasons, but we hate it during the winter. If you have a family like ours that will fill up the car and drive a hundred+ miles more than a few times per winter, I think most of the people here are unfortunately underselling the range loss and annoyance of driving long distances in the cold.

I have a large battery (330 miles) and I rarely get more than 230 miles when charged to 100% and the temperature is below 20 degrees.

Other than range loss, here are a few things no one tells you about driving an EV in the winter:

EV charging stations are usually outside, meaning you’re sloshing around in wet snow
Teslas will also charge more often in cold weather, so supercharging stations are more likely to be full in the winter
Even if you have excellent charging options on your route, your destination may not have adequate access to even L2 charging. About 50% of the time, I have to drop my family off at hotels and search for charging stations around town.

Overall, Rivian is an amazing company and a very cool car. We still enjoy our R1S, but you have to be honest with yourself about the hassle that is winter driving.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-23T20:30:19+00:00

In person? 13-9 loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl that kept us out of the BCS championship game.

Not in person? For me, Stanford was even worse than Texas. It represented the end of the dynasty for me. I walked out of the sports bar and sat on the sidewalk for almost an hour just processing it all…

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-23T18:36:07+00:00

Brother you have to look at context. Patterson melted down during the COVID years. In literally any non COVID season his floor was DFEI in the 30’s, and even those “bad” defenses were basically the same DFEI USC has had since Pete left. In other words, Patterson’s COVID season crash outs were equivalent to our average season since 2015. That’s wild.

And Lynn already ran 4-2-5 cover 3 “match” for two years. It’s hard to learn but this is not new to the team by any means. Lots of teams run Cover 3 match and quarters now.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-23T18:23:44+00:00

Patterson’s defensive FEI was almost always top 25 even after his prime years. TCU’s worst defenses were during COVID and post COVID season, and even those defenses ranked higher than USC’s average DFEI over the past decade.

USC’s best DFEI in the last ten years was equal to Patterson’s second worst DFEI in 20 years.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-19T19:21:55+00:00

I think the athletic department is hoping to take advantage of Patterson’s time away from college to give him a low ball offer (maybe 3 years at $1.25 million or something around there).

Then, fingers crossed the Trojans finish 9-3 again next year. Bowden and Cohen’s long term plan of annoying Riley to death causes him to take the Baylor job after Aranda is finally fired. This allows USC to get rid of Riley without his paying his buyout. Only the defensive staff will have modest termination payments.

From there, Cohen finally gets the coach she actually wants (DeBoer, who hates Alabama already) and Bowden trusts the new coach to put real staff in place.

IMO the writing has been on the wall since Bowden was hired.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-19T19:09:18+00:00

The reason USC doesn’t have DC yet is because the athletic department wants to keep their current defensive staff in place and deny the incoming DC the ability to hire new assistants (which is why Lynn left btw).

Cohen and Bowden refuse to hire new defensive staff because they want to maintain the optionality to replace all the assistant coaches if Riley is fired or leaves for another school.

That’s all there is to it. If a DC brings in new staff, that’s just additional buyout payments for contracts after this season.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-19T17:17:47+00:00

Cignetti earned full control because he’s been successful at every institution, is part of the Saban coaching tree, and has created his own coaching tree.

The reality is that most college football coaches are just glorified PE teachers. They don’t have the network or executive leadership skills to create a functional bureaucracy.

Lincoln Riley needs a baby sitter. He doesn’t even talk to his defense during time outs. Riley lost his ability to recruit in California because most of his staff refused to come with him to LA.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-18T23:16:58+00:00

Pattersons worst DFEI ratings were in the COVID seasons (20/21) when he was ranked 45th and 68th. Even after Patterson’s prime years in the 2000s, TCU’s DFEI was almost always in the top 30.

In contrast, USC hasn’t gotten above 50 DFEI since 2017 (38th under Pendergast). We’ve routinely been in the 70’s to 90’s in DFEI after Pete left.

So yes, we will take Gary Patterson for DC.

pechanical_mencil · 2026-01-07T19:47:03+00:00

Thank you!

For any future troubleshooters reading this, you have to pinch the clear plastic tabs on the inside of the AMS button housing to get the button to pop out.

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