Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hum, possible use for the UV sterilizer lights.

NOT AP - so skip this post if not interested in in other matters.

So - we spent about two hour trying to figure out a mass that had developed behind my sons ear over the last day. It is not big - but it hurts him. Thie first doctor that looked said it was his lyphm node.

To quote the second doctor: " I'm not to concerned about cancer yet. He does not have a fever and he is has high spirits - that is good thing. I'm not going to rule out lymphoma of lukiemia though. At this point we need to watch him closely for 30 days."

My best friend is going though chemo treatments with his 10 year old girl as I type.....I'm trying to keep my chin up - but man it is fuc'n hard.

Hey Deja, just to put your mind at easy if both DRs think it is a swollen lymph node then most likely it is, a single swollen lymph node in an other wise healthy child is not a concern and is probably just a sign of a localised immune responce, most probably to a minor infection in the ENT area. The second Dr should not have even mentioed the C word with out the other symptoms

I know it is hard not to worry when it is one of your own but I hope this helps

All the best

Simo

Some of them lymph nods can be very painful when they are working hard. (I spent much of my child hood battling recurring infections that were generally brought on by allergies. What sucks is we didn't realize it was allergies causing it till I moved out of the house.) Anyway, hopefully the infections clears up and the lymph node goes back to normal and stops hurting.
Sending positive thoughts your way.

That sucks Deja.... hope the young fella gets better quickly...

We went to another doctor this morning who has a lab in the office. He did blood work, and all his numbers check out. Definatly not the 'C' word so mom and I are feeling better. Still unknown as to why it is swollen - but appearently fairly common in kids.

So plans for today work more on bunny hutch when the missus wakes from her nap and can give me a hand.

I still have some pesky leaks in the AP overflow. I want to get those fixed this weekend so I do not have to topoff the water so often. Once all that is done, I'll get some more fish. The local asian store has some live catfish - it is a 10 minute drive home, so I figure I can just bring them home in a bucket.

The straberries are growing well, my son got to eat one yesterday - but the bugs are getting most of them. It is a shame. I guess I'll start growing some gourds as appearently they do not have many pests.

Hi Dejadoo:

Glad to hear about your son, whew!

Vitamin C can be used as a dechlorinator. I haven't tried it but you could get a big container of it (from the Internet listed as health supplements) and use it to remove the chlorine, then run through a biofilter to get rid of the ammonia afterwards...

It seemed attractive (natural) to me if I had to remove chlorine, but I ended up keeping my water out for a few days before using it because we only get chlorine not chloramine in our water.

Hey Dave - I might give that a try. I keep a large can of asorbic acid in the kitchen for cooking, so no cost to give a try.

Hope all will be well Dejavoodoo with your son. I'm sure it will Think positive.

Sorry, no updates for a while. Been pretty busy.

Took another trip out to Overton Fishery yesterday (kind of a spur of the moment things as we were only about an hour from there). This time I picked up 10 blue channel cats and somewhere between 15 and 20 tilapia. Cats were said to be 4-6 inch (but have not yet got a good view of them) and the tilapia were all under about 3 inches....tiny little buggers. Anyway, before putting them in the tank I had to get the crawfish out. I was able to use a little fish net and net three pretty big crawfish. but in the process stirred up so much fine sediment from the bottom I could not see if there were more...After swishing the net around for about 5 minutes and not catching anymore, I figured the rest had been eaten....so I put the fish in. This morning the water has cleared a little, but I still cannot see the fish. I can tell there is a little movement in there, so fishes are OK for now. I will run the pump a little extra today to see if I can clear it up at all before I start feeding.

In the absence of fish, the crawfish powered the system along just fine for a month or so. Stawberries have stopped fruiting, the cucumber plant is going rough, will fruit little fruits and then they dry up. The egg plant is huge with lots of flowers but not fruiting at all. Peppers have a couple fruits and basil is still going nuts also.

Picked some basil and a pepper this morning to serve with scrambled egg whites and tortilla.

yea, this time of year is tough since so few plats seem to thrive in the extreme heat with humidity. My tomatoes have all been pulled out. Lots of peppers still powering along here. Okra does well with the heat though.

Congrats on the new fish.

The new tilapia have settled right in and are comming up to feed. A couple of the cats will come up also, but for the most part they seem to want to stay at the bottom. The water has cleared a little bit and I can see to the bottom again, but it is still not "clear". It was crystal clear before I went and stired it all up. Should probably try and vacume some of the bottom sludge out soon. But water parameters are all in check so not worried for now. I put 4 passion fruit seeds in cups with soil and two in the AP system to see if they would start for me. I have a papaya nice and ripe in the fruit bowl also, so I will try a few of those seeds this week. I have about another dozen passion fruit seeds to figure out what to do with. I have a small bed along the driveway that has a rosemary bush and some bulbs that mostly goes neglected, so will probably put some in there. The papaya will be harder to figure out where to put. The lawn guys are not real good about watching where they mow.

I've got papaya right in the AP system. You could always put a few in pots that you could set part way down into the gravel beds for this coming winter (if you can protect them a little on freeze nights in the AP) and then plant them into the ground come next March and perhaps you will get fruit before the next winter.

Yeah - catfish have settled in and are comming to the top to feed with the tilapia. It is amazing how much character fish exibit. When I lost my last batch of fish I was so bummed out, but had forgotten how quick they get used to swimming up for food when the top is lifted.

The catfish seem to have a little bit of a hard time eating off the top. I'm concerned about getting sinking pellets though as I will not be able to tell if it all gets eaten. The floating stuff floats long enough, that any extra gets flushed to the growbeds. Really a win win for me if the cats can get used to eating off the top. The problem is, the tilapia can eat it so much faster then the cats. I have to leave the lid on and just lift it enough to toss the food in and hold it up enough to watch, as the cats pretty much come right out of the water trying to eat and some hit the lid. Certainly a lot of water gets splashed up and out.

So what has happened to the forums in the last month...I used to be able to read all posts everyday...been busy lately, but cannot keep up at all.

Papaya still waiting to get cut...maybe smoothies tomorrow morning. Have a goodnight/day everyone!

Hey Dejavoo
Just read you post about your son hope all is going well
I'm sure I may speak for all the Aussie forum members and wish your son and family health and happiness