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"WARNING"...This tank may produce NTS!!"

I wonder how many new/potential hobbyists would venture any further if this warning was posted on every aquarium sold.

Just the very thought of asking a fish store clerk to explain "New Tank Syndrome" is frightening.

I'm sure, even if they knew, the time involved to explain would stifle the selling process and back up the waiting customers in line.

I mentioned in my previous post that an estimated 30% of new hobbyists get all bent out of shape and drop out after a year of pure frustration when the new tank produces more cloudy and smelly water than the local wastewater sewer treatment plant.

And they do drop out.

All newbies have good intentions. Take home some fish, fill the tank, fire up the filter and heater and plop in the fish.

Oh, the glory of a new and sparkling clean tank. What a terrific home for tropicals. What can possibly go wrong with such a wonderful environment??

They'll probably be sorry within a week or two they asked themselves that.

But let's change the subject for just a minute.

After all the years I've been in the hobby and probably kept every species of freshwater trop known to man, one piece of knowledge escapes me.

Bacterium:

"Any of a group (as kingdom Procaryotae syn. Monera) of prokaryotic unicellular round, spiral, or rod-shaped single-celled microorganisms that are often aggregated into colonies or motile by means of flagella, that live in soil, water, organic matter, or the bodies of plants and animals, and that are autotrophic, saprophytic, or parasitic in nutrition and important because of their biochemical effects and pathogenicity."

Good grief. That's a mouthful. Bacterium are all around us. We're surrounded.

What's my point??

My point is the amazing ability of bacterium to eat just about anything.

Are you aware that certain strains of bacteria are used extensively to control ocean crude oil spills??

How in the name of bacterium do they do that??

They eat the stuff!!

I can hear them now:

"Pass the oil, Bertha."

"Crude or refined, Bernie?"

"We had refined last night, Bertha."

"OK. Crude it is, Bernie."

NEXT: Dinner is served, again.

--garyroland.

Last edited by garyroland at 18-Oct-2004 19:46