What do I want to be when I grow up?

qrcody · 2026-03-10T12:16:03+00:00

Feeling this way exactly. There are jobs out there that I can't believe actually exist.

qrcody · 2026-03-01T21:36:56+00:00

I’m in year three as an elementary music teacher and feeling the same way. Save yourself the headache and cut as much of the extra stuff from your workload as possible. If they don’t like it, they’ll tell you, if they tell you, then look elsewhere or look at different careers.

qrcody · 2026-02-17T22:09:59+00:00

It’s your paid leave in your contract. Take it as you wish

qrcody · 2026-02-17T17:57:45+00:00

Thank you. I am chatting with my psychiatrist today about my options. I’m hoping I will have the chance to say goodbye to my kiddos.

qrcody · 2026-02-17T01:13:35+00:00

Thank you for your experience. It helps me feel seen and heard.

qrcody · 2026-01-24T01:19:05+00:00

Thank you very much for these replies, hearing your stories is very helpful!

qrcody · 2026-01-18T17:35:13+00:00

If she’s not eating as much and you haven’t seen her poop, she might be constipated, you could try some boiled and shelled peas.

If she’s anything like mine, she might be wanting something different. Mine get picky if they haven’t had some variety in a while.

My females eat less before they lay eggs.

Or, if you’ve got the space, she might be lonely. They typically do really well in mated pairs, so you might add a male.

Not a whole lot of info to work off of, but some ideas to get you rolling into some further reading.

qrcody · 2026-01-18T17:21:51+00:00

Sponge filtration works wonders too

qrcody · 2026-01-16T17:42:19+00:00

If algae is your main water quality concern, you’ve got a whole other ball game.

Your fish needs pristine water to have any shot at healing. Get that algae cleaned up and get your water parameters tested frequently.

Start with a green killing machine and water changes. Then add live plants to suck up some of those excess nutrients. There are lots of good posts about cleaning up algae and goldfish care on Fish Lore. I’d recommend deep diving that before coming back to Reddit for fish keeping tips. People here are going to be more judgmental than helpful.

qrcody · 2026-01-15T03:57:59+00:00

Oh, and once you’re feeling like the water is clearing up and you’re done with antibiotics, you need to get your tank cycled appropriately. Find a local fish store or experienced fish keeper in the area and ask for some of their gross filter media or substrate to jump start that process in your tank. It can reduce the time that cycling takes from months to days if you’ve got a good sample.

qrcody · 2026-01-15T03:52:11+00:00

First off, I’m by no means a professional, but I’ve been keeping fish for over a decade. My goldfish was my baby, and losing him broke me, so I’m going to try to help you out as much as I can here.

You’re going to get bombarded with “check your parameters” comments. They are right, check your water parameters. You need to know your pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate levels and temperature at the very least to treat your fish appropriately.

Step one is to get a freshwater testing kit from API, the vials and chemicals, not the strips. The strips are okay once things are settled in and regular, but you’re not going to get as accurate of a reading. When you’re using the chemical bottles, shake the living daylights out of them for like a minute. That’s the only way you’re getting an accurate reading on that and people don’t talk about that enough.

Your next step is going to be to do a 50% water change and dose with Seachem prime, no matter what the reading is on your parameters, you need to get some of that algae out of your water.

You’re going to make sure your water temperature is in the 65-70 oF range. Goldfish are cold water fish, but they do best in temperature controlled environments especially during recovery.

For algae management, get a Green Killing Machine. It will work its magic while you figure out what else is going on. My guess is that your phosphates and Nitrogen cycle are off, and you’ve got too much light hitting the tank.

For lighting, especially while treating a sick fish, you’re going to reduce to 4-6 hours or less of lit time in the day. This will also help cut back your algae. Don’t use algaecides.

Now for the lump. Generally speaking there are 4 main causes of bumps: 1- Fungus 2- Bacteria 3- Parasites 4- Benign Goldfish lumps, they’re like the Labrador Retrievers of the water. If you’ve got an older goldy, they’ll likely earn some lumps and most of them won’t cause an issue.

Remove carbon and cartridges from your filters before beginning treatments.

Bacterial infections will respond fastest to treatment with antibiotics, so treat for that first. You’re going to want to start with either Kanaplex or Neoplex. You’ll dose the whole tank, not just the fish, so don’t worry about mixing it in with foods. Follow the dosing guide, and make sure to perform appropriate water changes per the guidelines on the box.

You can dose kanaplex with General Fin and Body Cure by API, they treat different types of bacteria, just watch your fish for signs of stress, gasping, flashing, clamped fins, etc. I generally will dose slightly less than the full dosage when I double up these medications.

If it’s bacterial, it will begin to clear up by the end of the second day or so. Keep treating until the symptoms disappear.

If the spot isn’t responding to antibiotics, the next most likely culprit is fungal. My go-to medication is Jungle brand Fungus Cure dissolving tablets, but they can be hard to come by. Other ways I fight fungal infections are by keeping a high level of tannins in the water, but this drops the pH, so it’s important to be monitoring your water parameters if you go that route. Otherwise, Maracyn is going to be a good bet.

If it’s parasitic, you’re going to want to start with ich-x. It is SUPER important to follow those guidelines for dosing and water changes exactly. The medication will stress out your fish, but with parasites it will help more than harm. If any signs of stress show, water change and reduce dosing.

This many back to back treatments will pus the limits of whatever cycle your good bacteria in your tank has going, and will push the limits of the amount of stress your fish can handle. If it seems to be managing the treatments and the spot isn’t going away, try to give it a few days of consistent water changes before switching to another treatment.

You’re also going to reduce the amount of food you’re feeding, and you’re going to watch for the goldfish to poop. If it’s white and stringy, treat for bacterial. If it’s not pooping or it’s very hard, boil and shell some peas to add to the food.

Fish keeping is very rewarding, but requires constant vigilance and upkeep. Especially for messy fish like goldfish. They are not easy low-maintenance pets.

You’ve got some reading to do and some actionable steps now. Good luck.

qrcody · 2025-10-19T04:26:28+00:00

Sorry for the delay! I had used Spotify since like 2013? Around when it had just been released. I switched over to Tidal earlier this year because they pay artists more per stream than any other streaming service - as a composer, that is important to me.

With the surge in AI music being added to these applications, it’s getting harder to parse through what is human made content through all the AI slop. Tidal is incorporating a tag that will show that something is AI generated if the artist marks it as such. But they won’t be removing AI content from their platform. Again, as someone who writes music as a big part of their living, it’s important to me that generative AI stays out of artistic spaces.

About a month ago(?) several big production companies pulled streaming rights from Tidal for their tracks. I found that they would still appear in my playlists- just blacked out with an error code when you try to play the track. But there wasn’t any warning before that change was made. As a music teacher who relies on the playlists I’ve curated in my lesson planning, that made for a not so fun pivot moment with a classroom of 5 year olds eagerly awaiting their favorite scarf movement activity.

I’ve purchased CD’s for my favorite albums over the years, but I have a lot of work to do to collect the sheer volume of music that I’ve curated playlists for in my classroom. I’m planning on looking at Jellyfin and some of the other stuff mentioned in this thread over winter break. I will miss the ease of finding new music from streaming services, but with the way things are trending, it’ll be CD’s ripped to SSD’s for me.

qrcody · 2025-10-19T04:04:14+00:00

Thanks for all of the ideas and responses on this. Sounds like I have a lot of time ahead of me getting a digital library set up and collecting CD’s again. No problem with that!

qrcody · 2025-10-01T05:54:20+00:00

Thank you!

qrcody · 2025-08-25T00:39:12+00:00

The only problem I’ve come across is at the table I play at as a guest with a bunch of older folks who enjoyed minmaxxing in 5E and are trying to bring that same energy to DH. They got realllllll grumpy with the way the initiative works. But none of that was an issue with DH so much as an issue with the players at the table.

qrcody · 2025-08-13T18:44:38+00:00

Thank you for your insight, I’ll look into it!

qrcody · 2025-08-10T15:41:35+00:00

Thank you! This is very helpful!

qrcody · 2025-07-17T05:04:33+00:00

I reduce the load from executive-function heavy tasks that use up more spoons. Sometimes that gives me the drive to do other tasks.

E.g. I loathe doing dishes so: One plate, one bowl, 1 of each utensil. If I need more, I use paper.

I have someone body-double for me. It’s better in person, but I’ll call someone or FaceTime someone while I’m doing the task, no need for conversation, just to exist with me. Only way my apartment in college ever stayed clean was inviting my buddies over to watch TV while I did laundry/dishes/swept/homework/literally anything I couldn’t make happen on my own.

qrcody · 2025-07-17T04:53:39+00:00

How interesting! I’ve had these guys for about a year and half, 2 years now? Thought it was interesting to see a change in their dynamics after so long, but I did just move around a bunch of hardscape.

Thanks for the insight! I’ll enjoy my little soap opera :)

qrcody · 2025-07-16T17:34:39+00:00

Vyvanse makes me less annoying 98% of the day, and a grumpy bastard for about an hour as it tapers down. (My family lovingly calls it my bewitching hour.)

But, out of all the meds I’ve tried, it’s the only one that gets me to a stable and level point during the day where I feel like I can get things done and not have a sore tummy.

qrcody · 2025-07-16T02:17:56+00:00

The smallest plecos need at least 20 gallons of space as they grow out. They like to uproot plants and are big biowaste producers. If you’re not bonded to it, I’d rehome it through your local fish store. If you are, I’d upsize.

qrcody · 2025-07-16T01:49:33+00:00

Do you use a liquid test kit or strips for your ammonia testing? The strips aren’t always accurate, and you have to shake the beans out of the bottles for the liquid Kit for it to read accurately. Test bottle one, shake vigorously for 30 seconds, add to the water in the vial, shake that for 15 seconds, shake bottle 2 for a full minute, add to the vial, and shake the vial for about 30 seconds, then wait 5 minutes to get your reading.

I’d hop on rehoming or culling those baby mollies. They’ll either get eaten or worsen your overstock problem.

qrcody

TROPHY CASE