TBOMM- If you're reading this and eating, stop reading, finish eating, then start reading again. Just thought I'd warn ya, ;).
So, Chtulu's tank started looking all grodie again, and I decided, "Hey! Cathy took all that stuff for the project from me so I'm done with it, why not clean!" And since my little snickerdoodle's tank was looking less than presentable (and students will be coming in hoardes soon), I thought I'd start there. I called the husband to have him bring in a gallon of water for me, and then when he left, I got a length of plastic tube and a large plastic container marked G-whiz (which stands for goldfish whiz) from Brad's office. He uses them to clean his tank and then uses the water from the tank to water the plants because it's full of what he calls "nutrients." I call it nasty ass scum and filth. So, I pull the top off Cthulu's tank and order him to stay inside it because apple snails like him can live outside water for up to a week and I didn't want him trying it.
I put one end of the hose into the tank and the other into my mouth (yum?) and sucked on it a bit to get the syphon (sp?) going to suck the water out. I dunno if it's just me and my plethora of fears, but I'm always real worried I'm gonna get a mouthful of Cthulu spunk, and that's just plain gross. I mean, have any of you seen what a rotting algae food wafer looks like mixed in with snail waste and various algaes growing on the rocks? Not pleasant, let me tell you. Kind of like runny green pudding dotted with shit brown. So I got the siphon (sp?) going and began vacuuming along the pebble floor.
Oddly, I really like vacuuming that stuff up. It's kinda fun poking the hose around the pebbles picking up green spooge here, brown spooge there, etc. All that old nasty rotting food gets swept up and it starts looking nicer. Cthulu, on the other hand, doesn't know what to make of this spring cleaning. The first time I did it a couple weeks ago, I accidentally got the hose stuck to his back for a second and he clamped shut for a while after that. This time, I didn't get it near him. He started the cleaning session being stuck to the side of the class near the top of the tank, and when the water level dropped to his midpoint, he let go and fell into the plant. When the water level dropped to where he was in the plant, he fell onto the pebbles. When the water level dropped to where he was on the pebbles, well, he just stayed curled up inside his shell with his trapdoor pulled shut. He's so cute.
So once most of the nastiness had been sucked up by the syphon (sp? damn this word), I pulled the hose out of the water level so that it would finish draining into the now quarter-filled container. The liquid in the container? In a word? Gross. In a few more words? Really goddamned fucking nasty as all hell. I mean, it's yellow for one thing, and for another thing, it's full of green and brown floaties and chunks of … stuff. Gross.
I really ought to bring a camera in the next time I do this though. Cthulu is so cute after I've put all the water back in and turn on the pump. First off, it usually takes him a minute to come out of his shell, but this time he was already moving around before the water was filled, probably because I was adding it really slowly. So he was already moving around, and the first thing he did was to hunker down behind the plant like he was hiding in case it happened again. Then he started rearranging the rocks. I guess he didn't like the way I shifted them. The next step of getting readjusted to the tank all over again takes him like ten minutes (Hey, he's a snail, he's kinda slow, okay?) because it involves him stretching his air tube out as far as it will go while he's on the bottom so he can try and figure out where the water level is. Then he climbs up on the plant about an inch and does it all over again. Then he climbs an inch higher and tries again. And again. And again. Again. Again. Hell, he still hasn't gotten up to the water level and he's about six inches up! This is why I really ought to take pictures because then he's got all his tentacles out in their full glory for everyone to see. He's so cute! Oh, while I was typing all that (and instant messaging someone), he finally got up to the top of the tank. Aw, he's so cute, meine schneke! So there's my story about cleaning the tentacle monster's tank. Ooops, he just fell off into the plant again. Crazy little guy!