Do What? (a redneck saying that is growing old real fast)

[bookfish]

More subtle but just annoying:
"clownfish live in anenomes"
ps. if you don't get it, buy a good dictionary!

 

[Anonymous]

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Me: "You really should use a net to catch that tang."

LFS employee: "Do what?"

Me: "Use a net."

LFS employee: "I'm much better catching them with my bare hands." [drops fish into bag with bare hands]

Me: "Um, let's skip the fish, okay?"

LFS employee: "What!?!? you had me catch that fish and now you are not going to buy it?!?!"

[true story]

 

[Anonymous]

Me: "You really should use a net to catch that tang."

LFS employee: "Do what?"

Me: "Use a net."

LFS employee: "I'm much better catching them with my bare hands." [drops fish into bag with bare hands]

Me: "Um, let's skip the fish, okay?"

LFS employee: "What!?!? you had me catch that fish and now you are not going to buy it?!?!"

[true story]

i always caught fish by hand, as often as possible-sometimes without a collection cup-it's actually better for the fish than a typical store net-less abrasion and mucus sloughing (IF done properly, natch)

 

[dizzy]

I agree with vitz on this one. Nets probably do greater damage than the bare hand. I'm not sure why Lee used this example. :?

 

[mark@mac]

WOW!!!!! Slick Willy here actually agrees with vitz and Mitch on this one... All you need do is use the force young fish whisperer.... :lol:


ps. not @mac any longer but can't figure out how to change my username yet....... : /

 

[clarionreef]

Welcome back, Mark!
Steve

 

[JennM]

Me: "You really should use a net to catch that tang."

LFS employee: "Do what?"

Me: "Use a net."

LFS employee: "I'm much better catching them with my bare hands." [drops fish into bag with bare hands]

Me: "Um, let's skip the fish, okay?"

LFS employee: "What!?!? you had me catch that fish and now you are not going to buy it?!?!"

[true story]

Ditto here - I almost always fly without a net I usually gently herd the fish into a specimen cup. If I need to pick a fish up, I usually cup it in my hand and move it gently to wherever it needs to go - if a long distance I place it in water in a specimen cup.

I make exceptions for venomous fish... no sense getting tagged but for my first 6 months in the biz I was blissfully unaware that foxfaces were venomous and I'd regularly use my bare hands to lift them into and out of freshwater baths Fortunately I never got tagged.

With nets the fish are more likely to get scratched or fins or gills caught. Herding the fish without contact of any kind, into a specimen cup is much safer for the fish, less stressful if it's "their idea" to go into the cup. I prefer buying fish that aren't netted.

Do what?

Jenn

 

[clarionreef]

People do indeed choose what to define and distinguish themselves about....don't they?

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

So we should be demanding "hand caught" fish not "net caught"? :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

heh foxfaces ain't so bad-your fingers swell up about 2-3x's normal, and they'll go numb for hours

baby hippo tangs are fun that way, too

 

[dizzy]

I've been finned twice by foxface. It wasn't really all that bad either time. In both cases it happened when I was trying to get them unstuck from a net. 8O I did have a customer that got a very severe sting from the dorsal fin spines of a 4" yellow bellied hippo from Africa. He was in extreme pain for several hours and the tip of his finger remained numb for a couple of weeks. He called here and I advised that he soak it in very hot water, but he said it didn't help much. I posted a question about it over in the general fourm but didn't get any useful information. I didn't realize hippos had venom. I sure have caught plenty of them by hand when they play possum. So maybe you better be careful catching hippos by hand, for your own well being, not necessarily theirs.
Mitch

 

[mark@mac]

Thanks for the welcome Steve!

My ex-father in law got poked by a volitan lion while on the job "hand feeding it"..... Apparently the pain was pretty immediate and severe.... He had quite a significant reaction...... One of my other "stupid" accident stories is when one of my reef shop guys was dumb enough to get bit by a big yellow mouth moray..... of course while servicing a powerhead, in the tank, right after feeding shrimp to this 30 inch glutton......... duh..... don't do thaaaat.

 

[mark@mac]

hey can anyone tell me how i can change my username? please? i gotta get rid of this one........ at least for now...... :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

P.M. an admin, Mark.

 

[JennM]

Yep tangs are venomous, at least some are. I was surprised to learn this at SaltwaterU last year. Dr. Bill Light gave a great talk about toxins and venoms that reefkeepers and snorkellers/divers encounter, and what to do about them. He had a great list of stuff that divers and hobbyists should keep in their first aid kits, such as MSG for jellyfish stings and the like, and how hot water breaks down the venoms of lionfishes and such.

It amazes me how few hobbyists know about the dangers, or potential dangers of some of the creatures they keep. Of course *some* don't know the first thing about even the most benign of creatures so buying dangerous or potentially dangerous organisms should be a given, I guess. :roll:

Client of mine a few weeks ago bought a sea apple at another store (I don't carry them) and was shocked to learn it could have wiped out everything in his tank.

Just like I was surprised to learn about foxfaces, many people also don't know how toxic Zoanthids are. Their toxin, according to Dr. Light, is more potent than that of a Blue Ringed Octopus - however one doesn't usually get a "dose" of toxin that large from Zoanthids. Dr. Light showed a diagram of the molecular structure of the toxin and it's one of the most complex carbon molecules on the planet (how's that for a U.P.I. for ya?)

I've been sliced open by tangs more than once but never had more than a bad cut, no "afterburn". Had a dinner-plate-sized Atlantic Blue slash the entire palm of my hand open once -- that smarted. 8O That fish was too large for any net we had and I had to move it by hand from a bucket of saltwater to a bucket of fresh because it had flukes/trematodes (and it got better too!).

I've been stung by more bristleworms than I can count (as I'm sure most here have been), shards of live rock, anemone stings, and once while moving a tank for a client, I found out why Fire Coral gets its name 8O I knew it was there, was very careful but not careful enough and my little finger just touched it ever so gently... owwie. I have no idea where the customer purchased that coral but I have a healthy respect for it now

Back in the day back in Canada, the LFS I frequented took in some fishes while their keeper was away - one of them was a stonefish and the keeper had no idea of its being venomous... cripey - that would have been a fatal mistake...

Do what now?

Jenn

 

[Anonymous]

Just like I was surprised to learn about foxfaces, many people also don't know how toxic Zoanthids are. Their toxin, according to Dr. Light, is more potent than that of a Blue Ringed Octopus - however one doesn't usually get a "dose" of toxin that large from Zoanthids.

Zoas or palys? - I thought palys were generally more toxic than zoas..???


Any way (place) the rest of us schlums can get the info shared at "SaltwaterU" there? - I think I'd heard/read about MSG for jellies but defintely forgot about it a couple years back when my oldest got a mild sting. Info like that should really be more "out there" / made available for all, dontcha think?

 

[JennM]

Unfortunately Dr. Light's lecture was not videotaped You can check with the SaltwaterU people at SaltwaterU.com or atlantareefclub.org to find out what's available - I know they taped some of the lectures and they are on DVD - perhaps the Cliff's Notes are available for Dr. Light's lecture.

I believe Palythoa and Zoanthids have a similar toxin (but I'm not 100% on that). Either one can make you really really sick.

Jenn

 

[JennM]

OK Back on subject. Last night this lady calls up describing a problem she's having. The conversation lasted probably 20-30 minutes when it should have lasted 10, if it even needed to take place at all... she was not an existing customer, but looked me up because of a problem.

In English, her return pump was pumping water faster than her overflow could accommodate it and she nearly had the tank overflow.

It took me forever to make her understand that what I called a "sump" is the "tank on the bottom with the trays of filter stuff and the big wheel"(Translation: Marineland Tidepool sump) which appeared to be running empty despite having been refilled. In fact I'm still not sure she knows what a sump is, I finally resorted to her terminology or I'd still be on the phone.

It took me probably 10 minutes to ask in a way she could comprehend, to please check that there were no obstructions in the drain pipe because that suggestion worded that way was lost on her. The PIPE going DOWN to the "tank underneath with the filter stuff and the wheel" (I don't think she realizes yet what a "sump" is). She kept telling me that there was one pipe going down and one coming back up (duh, no shizznit Sherlock!)... she kept talking to me as if I had no idea what I was talking about.

I was a good 15 minutes into the conversation when I tried to learn if she had a reef-ready tank or a hang-on overflow box. When I finally learned it was the former, asking about the drain pipe came next.

By about 10 minutes into the conversation, the custmers standing in the store were laughing at the obvious frustration on my face -- but my voice remained friendly and calm

AFter about 20 excruciating minutes of going around and around, her describing the same problem, and me looking for simplistic terms other than the proper names of the equipment, that she'd understand, I asked her if there was a valve on the pump "that brings the water back up from the bottom tank to the top tank"... which there was (thank God!) and asked her to adjust it.

Then she had her "aha!" moment... seems that her grandbaby was playing around the tank today and must have loosened the valve... she was going to tweak it a bit and see if that solved the problem.

Lord help us all...

Jenn

 

[MartinE]

Great reading and thank God for you patient people at the LFS! Dont you wish people would school themselves more on these things, there is more to it than throwing fish in a glass box, because they are pretty and the kids like them.

By the way as annoying as "Do What" is another is just as bad and that is "My Bad" I hear that one a lot instead of "My mistake," or "I did a wrong thing." How did people let that get started.