I hope everyone had a chance to attend this year’s show. This was an excellent show in what could only be described as a superb location.The event was completed with the Awards Banquet held at the Best Western in Orange Park. A combination of a nice buffet meal, trophy awards, raffle and door prize items coupled with good friends made for a great evening of socializing and laughter. Fred did an excellent job combining just the right amount of jokes to make the awards ceremony entertaining and informative.I could not begin to tell you how many great comments were made about the Show and Awards Banquet. Joe White liked the show area so much he felt we should bid for the 2001 All Florida Show. Congratulations to everyone involved with the show; both to the members who showed fish and all the volunteers that helped put the show together. Your hard work and dedication was noticed through the success of the show and everyone should be really proud, it’s a great accomplishment. I’ll close with a Thank You for the opportunity to serve as Secretary for these two terms. I have really enjoyed being in this position and I’m very proud to be a part of the N.F.K.C. We have a model membership and even if I had not learned anything from the club I would still value it for the friendships that I’ve made from being involved. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Christmas Party, we had a great time last year and certainly appreciate Don & Shirley hosting the event again this year. Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!

Caught In The Net by Todo

I found this thread the other day one the web. I have used this foam to make floating plant holders and Don Wright has and entire floating island made from it. Here is another use for it around the pond.
Keith Kowalski kelumida@mindspring.com   wrote: Has anyone tried using the expanding type of insulation to set waterfalls? I think I remember an article endorsing it as a way to ensure a nice flow over "layered" rock waterfalls, with no chemical side effects.                                                       Dave: http://www.ehap.org , ehap@ehap.org ,Yes, I use it all the time. Use the Great Stuff brand and be careful. It will heave rocks around as it expands and sticks to everything.                                                                                                                                                                                            Derek www.netcom.ca/~dbrought/pond  Sure - just two things: don't leave any of it exposed (as if you would - it's pretty ugly) as it breaks down under UV; and there are no chemical side effects _after it dries_. I'd be inclined to leave it a few days before actually turning the water on. My waterfall builders managed to drop a few small globs in the pond without killing anything.                                                                                                               Dan D.: http://www.deja.com  ,Just my 2 cents to add to what Dave and Derek said. You can cover any foam that is exposed by tossing a handful of pea gravel or even sand onto the foam before it drys. If you have foam that's already dry and exposed, add a little more foam and then toss on the gravel and or sand to cover it. Also like they said, the stuff is the !@#$%^&*!! sticky-est stuff you've ever seen! Be careful, wear old throw away gloves or even put plastic bags over your hands. Wear glasses, I once had a can that was just about out of foam, spew out a bunch of gas with tiny bits of foam. It nearly went in my eyes. This would be VERY bad!!

A Cautionary Tale by Todo

I was in a local pet store the other day. This was a familiar place where I knew them and they knew me.. The shop keeper and his assistant were in intense conversation with a woman customer as I came near. The assistant turned to me and said, "You're a goldfish expert, what do you think about this.?" I didn't bother to point out that I knew only something about koi and precious little about goldfish. In any event I listened to the problem.
"This lady is having trouble with worms in her aquarium. Do you know anything about them?"
It seems the customer had brought in a sample of the worms. I said I didn't know much but would help if I could. "Let's go see the worms."
Before I saw it I expected to see the red blood worms that show up in our filters. The harmless larvae of the midge fly. Instead, there on the counter was a black/brown worm about an inch long. It looked more like a small slug without the slime or a snail missing its shell. On closer observation, it appeared to stick to the plastic bag it was laid on with a small round mouth part while the back end twisted, moving back and forth. There were a half dozen more if these sliding around a 5 gal bucket next to the counter.
As we examined the creature it became obvious what it was, a leach. The woman's 20 gal.
aquarium was infested with leaches. The conversation then turned to how they managed to get into the aquarium.
I asked her if she had introduced anything to her aquarium..She and the shopkeeper assured me that she had not. But further discussion revealed that the woman had purchased some Anacrus from the shop. Further, the shopkeeper said that they get their plants from someone who takes them directly from the wild. Neither of them did any sterilization of them nor he did nothing to sterilize the plants before putting them up for sale. We decided that the leaches had to have come in with the plants.
We talked about how to sterilize plants with potassium permanganate or with a bleach solution. The shopkeeper said that perhaps the store should be doing that with the plants they get.
In the end the customer went home intent on watching her fish to see that no leaches grabbed them and with a healthy respect for what she puts in the aquarium. The shopkeeper was a bit chastened and lucky that the woman was not upset. To me it pointed out a fact that is often lost when dealing with otherwise familiar vendors. There is no substitute for quarantine and proper disinfect practices. In the end, you don't know where that plant has been.