I’ve had Captain Mandarin Orangalot since September 15, 2008. I call him “Orange". He’s a spunky fish who likes to look down his “nose” at you. Full of attitude and a huge appetite, he lived the first year and a half of his life without major incident. … Minus the time he inhaled an entire corn kernel and couldn’t chew it or spit it back out. But that’s another story…

I think that his good health mostly has to do with the way I treat him. I never handle him with my hands, unless he gets food or rocks stuck in his mouth. I do regular water changes – I try for once a week, but sometimes it’s once every two weeks. I never have put him into a tank that hasn’t been cycled. The less you handle them, and the less you mess with their tank water (with the exception of the mandatory water change which includes dechlorifying the new water and adding appropriate amount of aquarium salt), the healthier your fish will be.

But that doesn’t mean they will always be healthy. In January I moved him from a 10 gallon tank to a 75 gallon tank – quite the upgrade. Throughout the past six months, we have added fish to the tank that we have had in other 10 gallon tanks. (I have never put a fish into the 75 gallon tank directly from the pet store.) But even with the careful cycling of fish and the tank, sickness developed.

Orange was the only one affected by this sickness. I noticed he was becoming more and more lethargic. After a couple of days, his stomach started to bloat up. I became concerned, and placed him into a designated sick tank that had been kept cycled by a pleco.

When I put Orange into the tank, I did a 50% water change and began to heat the tank to 80 degrees. I kept the pleco in there because he was a relatively new addition to the fishy family and I didn’t want to stress him out too much. So I started treating the tank using Jungle Fungus Eliminator, which supposedly helps with red streaks in fins (which he always has had) and swim bladder disease. The treatment is supposed to last for four days before you either finish treatment or do another water change and add more.

Two days after I started treatment, he got worse. He bloated up more, his tail fin was clamped to the side, and he was breathing very heavily. He wasn’t eating and wasn’t moving very much. I put the carbon filter back into the tank to get the chemicals out to try a different medicine.

I set up some more water in anticipation of another water change. We always put water into a large plastic container and allow it to sit for about 24 hours to allow the water to become room temperature and for chlorine to evaporate. We also use instant dechlorinizing chemicals to remove chlorine from the water.

I waited until the next morning. When I got up, he was even worse – he had dropsy. His scales were sticking out like a pine cone. I was incredibly worried that he wasn’t going to make it.

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How I Saved My Fish from Dropsy

What I used

Epsom Salt
Jungle Fungus Clear

First thing I did was took out the pleco and placed him into another 10 gallon tank. I did a 50% water change and added 1/4 tsp of epsom salt.

As I was in the middle of my water change, I was looking up information online on how to cure dropsy. I stumbled upon a person’s blog (which unfortunately I don’t have a link to) who stated that he was able to keep his fish from dying of dropsy by cleaning out EVERYTHING in the tank.

So I began the process of cleaning my tank out. I took out the plastic plants and gave them a thorough cleaning using only my fingers and running water. I took out a couple handfuls of gravel at a time, keeping as much water in the tank as possible, and poured the gravel into a small bowl. I rinsed the gravel using running water and spinning the gravel around with my hand, placing it into a larger bowl. Then I would take out another couple handfuls of the gravel and repeated the process. I took out the gravel slowly because I was trying my best to not stress out my fish. I could see already that the epsom salt was helping alleviate some of the dropsy.

I took out about 98% of the gravel, and waited about 5 minutes for all the poop and misc shit to settle. Once it was settled to the bottom of the tank, I used my gravel cleaner to suction out every piece of shit out that I could. I returned the gravel to the tank small handfuls at a time, then put the plants back in. I topped off the water in the tank, added a pinch of epsom salt to make up for the water loss, waited about two hours so the remaining medicine could be cleaned through the carbon filter, took the filter out, and dropped in a tablet of the Jungle Fungus Clear.

I stopped feeding Orange regular goldfish food, instead feeding him peas.

The next morning when I woke up, I cleaned the gravel thoroughly of any poop and left over peas that was in the water. There was very translucent poop hanging off the plants, so I removed the plants from the tank and cleaned them off. I returned the plants, topped the tank off again. Continued feeding him peas.

On the third day, I did no water change. I continued to feed him peas.

On the fourth day, I did another 50% water change (always having water set-up the night before), thoroughly suctioning the gravel, cleaned off the plants again, added another 1/8 tsp of epsom salt, and still fed him peas.

By the fifth day, I saw significant change in my fish. He was swimming around, had an appetite, and was acting more like a fish. The dropsy was gone, though his belly was still a bit bloated. By the sixth day the bloating was going down still.

Knowing by then that he had a bacterial infection, I bought Medigold, which is an antibacterial goldfish food. When I finished up the second dose, I did another 50% water change and placed the filter back into the tank. I fed my fish for 10 days on the Medigold, and he seemed super fine.

Of course, once a fish gets sick, he becomes very susceptible to other sickness. It’s been a month since he has had dropsy, and he seems to be doing fine minus a small parasite issue that he now has. I’m in the process of trying to cure him from anchor worm, which may lead to another post on how to clear that up. We’ll see how it works.

But as of now, minus the parasite issue, Orange is a perfectly fishy fish. He’s swimming around just fine, and is acting pretty normal.

So, in case you don’t want to read all that, here’s a summary of how I cured my fish of dropsy:

Day 1
1. Noticed Dropsy. Removed all non-sick fish from sick tank.
2. 50% water change
3. Added 1/4 tsp epsom salt
4. Cleaned 98% of gravel, clean plastic plants
5. Wait for shit to settle, sucked out the shit at bottom of tank
6. Put gravel back in a little at a time
7. Filled the tank back up
8. Put a pinch of epson back in to make up for water loss.
9. Waited two hours. Took out filter, put in Jungle Fungus Clear
10. Fed peas.

Day 2
1. Filtered out waste and left over food.
2. Fill tank back up with new water.
3. Cleaned plants that had poop hanging on it.
4. Fed peas.

Day 3
1. No water change.
2. Fed peas.

Day 4
1. 50% water change.
2. Cleaned plants.
3. Added second dose of medicine.
4. Added 1/8 tsp epsom salt.

Day 5
1. BETTER!! :O!!
2. Siphon out left over food/poop.
3. Add fresh water.
4. Fed peas.

Day 6
1. EVEN BETTER.

Day 8
1. 50% water change
2. Placed carbon filter back in.

Wow… there’s real people actually commenting on this blog! And here I was thinking the only people who read this were my family and robots.

I received this comment a couple of days ago:

Hi,

I came across your site and that it was interesting because I want to study in Japan too. I would be great if you could talk a little more about dorm life and what it’s like living in Japan as a foreigner.

Thanks a bunch!!

Alison B.

So, per request, I’ll give you the honest to goodness details of my dorm experience in Japan.

It sucked. Big time.

Just because I say that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be the same for everyone. My particular school’s dorm was all female and had a strictly enforced 11pm curfew, dorm meetings, and required bathroom and common area cleaning once a month (but the bathroom and common area cleaning were done on separate days, so really you’re cleaning twice a month). The common area included kitchen and dining area, where as bathroom cleaning included the bathroom and sweeping the floor in the hallway (of your specific wing only).

The dorm had a ryobosan - a dorm mother. She was a tiny, manipulative, passive-aggressive old lady who obviously did not like her job and took it out on everyone around here (to her credit, this particular year housed some very irresponsible girls). When someone didn’t do something correctly - whether it’s sorting the garbage (more on that in just a minute) or cleaning up after themselves - EVERYONE had to listen to her bitch at us for one person’s irresponsibility. These made for uncomfortable and long dorm meetings - which were held once a month. And, if you were walking around, trying to grab a drink from a vending machine, or doing some cooking, or doing your floor cleaning - if she was anywhere in the vicinity, she would bee-line to you like a moth to a flame and criticize whatever you were doing in a very condescending way.

The Tokyo area has a pretty strict garbage sorting method. During the orientation we had when we first got there, we were given a rather hefty guide on how to sort your trash. Particular items go in a particular bin, and if you did it wrong, the ryobosan would hunt you down and tell you how to do it correctly, but not before she made you suffer first and every step along the way.

The worst part about living in the dorm was the curfew. When I had been told about it before I went there, I thought, oh it’ll be no problem, 11pm is late enough for me to still have fun.

WRONG.

Although you were allowed to stay out IF you filled out a form and turned it in BEFORE you left for the night, if you missed one curfew, you were pretty much disowned by the dorm mother and she would growl and snarl at you from that point forward. I missed curfew only once due to an amazingly long Gackt concert (which was AWESOME), and after that day, the dorm mother would be extra rude in a very Japanese way.

Eleven pm was also quiet hours. But don’t be surprised if you have people standing right outside your door giggling in the echo-y hallway. My room happened to be directly across from the bathroom, so I got to hear everyone go in and out and slam doors shut and wash their hands. A handy tool to diffuse sound is a fan. Highly recommend it.

In addition to quiet hours, you were also not allowed to cook after 11pm. There was a lot of miscommunication in regards to this. Someone had told me you could cook downstairs as long as you remembered to turn the gas off afterward. Then later someone told me you couldn’t cook downstairs. So people would cook upstairs after 11pm. But then either because of people’s lack of respect for keeping a common space clean, or who knows what, they have now denied ANY cooking after 11pm.

Keep in mind, you are PAYING to live in these dorms.

~*~*~

My advice to anyone who is planning to study abroad in Japan - if you have lived on your own, are a full grown adult who knows how to take care of yourself, have issues dealing with passive-aggressive behavior, or do not like very community-oriented mindset (in which case you shouldn’t be going to Japan in the first place): DO NOT stay in dorms. Make arrangements to find an apartment; it will save your sanity.

However, if your dorm doesn’t have the millions of strict rules that mine had, you might want to look into it. My dorm was an international dorm, so there were girls from all over the Eastern world there - from Thai to Indonesians to Koreans to Chinese to Malaysians. There were only four white females in the dorm, including myself, and we were all from America. The cultural diversity had its moments.

~*~*~

As for living in Japan as a foreigner, I think it will really depend on the region you’re living in. For instance, Japanese people in the Tokyo area - though an international center - seem to have a very negative opinion of foreigners. If you’re a white person especially, people WILL stare at you no matter where you are - whether you’re out having dinner, or walking around on campus, or even in the streets of Shibuya where there are tons of foreigners. Don’t be surprised if you’re discriminated against, since Japan is a very homogeneous culture.

If you can speak Japanese very well, everyone will marvel at your ability. If you struggle, people will still marvel that you’re trying to speak it. It’s kind of silly, I think, the reaction people give when you can speak their language. But don’t expect people to correct your mistakes. Most Japanese won’t, unless they have had experience studying or living abroad (at least that’s what I’ve found out).

You will occasionally stumble upon people who are extremely nice and giving. I once was trying to find a club in Shibuya (navigating that place is near impossible), and after getting lost, a random Japanese guy stopped and helped me find the place. He even walked me all the way there and asked other people how to get there. Granted, he wasn’t a Tokyolite - he was from Okinawa. From what I understand, the southern regions of Japan have much more laid-back Japanese people who are nice and willing to help.

~*~*~

Definitely, definitely, for sure and for true, take the opportunity to go to Japan if you’re a student of Japanese. I highly recommend it, because you might just find out things about yourself and the culture you’re studying that you wouldn’t have known otherwise.

~*~*~

Also, there’s a fantastic online resource that you can use to help improve your Japanese - or any language really. The website is Lang-8.com. The way the site works is you write journal entries in your non-native language, and native speakers will come along and correct your mistakes. It’s really neat, and I know the Japanese/English side is very active. You’ll find out grammatical points that you might not learn for years in a classroom. It’s a great community, and I highly recommend it as well.

~*~*~

If you have any questions about Japan, life in Tokyo, or anything else, please feel free to leave a comment.

Not much happened today. At 12:15, there was a special ceremony for all the Bekka (Intensive Japanese course) students. We got to meet the people who are teaching the different level of classes. After that, we went to the gym where everyone in the school got to listen to the president talk. We were also introduced to several people. Because I know barely any Japanese, I don’t know who those people are. Haha. Afterward, we got our student IDs for the school (amg my picture is so bad). NOTE TO FUTURE STUDENTS: The pictures you send to the school for Certificate of Eligibility is also the picture that is used for your student ID!! Make sure it’s a good picture!!

Today was also a “wear your fancy suit day,” thus another wardrobe repeat for me. Luckily no pictures were taken. Well, relatively speaking. I guess during the ceremony, we had to stand up and sing the “fight song” (??) of the school, and the camera was pointed right on us, the gaijin (foreigners). Go figure…

After we were done, Chris and I went over to Donki Hote, where I found a bottle of Kahlua for $14.80. Yayayayay! So tonight I got to enjoy some yummy spirits.

It rained today, which totally sucked. But there was a brief flash of lightning and thunder, which made me very very happy. I love thunderstorms, and the northwest does not receive ANY.

After we went miscellaneous shopping, Chris and I went to a cool little restaurant called Yoshinoya, where I enjoyed this delicious meal:

I think it was… chicken? I have no idea. It was tasty though. Haha.

I took video of my walk to Donki Hote. Once I get some more video, I’ll be sure to post it on here for all to see.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow we get to visit city hall and hopefully get our cellphones.

Today was the dorm entrance ceremony. We had to dress up very nice, and most unfortunately, I left my business suit at home, thinking I wouldn’t need it. WRONG. If you come to Japan and are going to attend a university, get a nice business suit!! Preferably in black. I’m so sad that I could have had the perfect outfit but left it behind. QQ.

At any rate, my friend Megumu warned me about it the night before, and I had her pick out an outfit for me. I still stood out like crazy, but at least I wasn’t in jeans. =B

The day started by everyone meeting in the genkan (entry way) at 9:30. Together we walked to campus and into a huge room where all the dorms met. We watched a video (that no one paid attention to), then the president and other guy talked for a while. Some people introduced themselves, then we were dismissed by dorm group to go to another room.

In the new room, we were given a packet with the rules of the dorm in it (all in Japanese), as well as some other information, such as a dorm meeting schedule and such. One lady talked for 30 minutes straight, then another guy talked for about 10 minutes. I’ll admit that I zoned out during both, since I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Afterward, we were all forced to introduce ourselves. I totally blew it too. I just said my name, my room number, and in very very poor Japanese I said, “I understand a little Japanese.” But I don’t think I said that right. Haha. Oh well.

After all the introductions, we went outside and took a group picture of all the girls in my dorm, as well a few administrative people. Chris was nearby, so I had him take a picture of the group as well:

After the picture, we got a free obento lunch.

No, I did not try the black stuff. I have no idea what it was. But the rest was oishii! (Delicious!)

Since I was all prettied up, I had Chloe take a picture of me:

After lunch, I got to talk to Kevin a little bit before the dorm had to go back to the school to go over the dorm rules. Luckily, all the English speakin’ folks were thrown into a group and several people who could speak some English got together to go over the rules with us. It took nearly 2 hours to go over the dorm rules, and we even skipped a section. -_-

I came back, took a nap, and at 6pm we had a dorm welcoming party. There was a lot of delicious food. Again we had to introduce ourselves, and this time I did a little bit better. I told them I liked Ajikan (Asian Kung-Fu Generation) and several girls went “Hee~~~~!” That pleased me. Haha. I probably could have said a few more things, but I’m scared to speak broken Japanese in front of so many people. Haha. =B

The nice thing about it was after we were all done eating, we kind of broke into little groups and several girls talked to Chloe and I in Japanese and even taught us how to say a few things. One of the girls, who is from Malaysia, said the best way to learn Japanese is to say whatever we want to say in English to a Japanese person, and have that person repeat it back to us in Japanese. I think I’m going to do that method, but also keep a notebook with me so I can write it down as well. My memory doesn’t work as well via audio than it does with writing.

It’s 10pm now, and luckily we don’t have anything until 12:15 tomorrow. We have to dress up again, and unfortunately I’m going to have to do a wardrobe repeat. Le sigh.

Ah well. Hopefully I’ll get more fun pictures tomorrow.

ETA: Picture from tonight’s party.

Hitomi, me, and Chloe.

It’s really quite easy, actually. I think NOT having 25 cent pieces makes things so much easier. There are 3 bills and 6 coins, whereas the US has 7 bills ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100) and 6 coins (1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, 50c, $1).

Here is the Japanese currency:

Another wonderful thing about Japanese money is that most places include tax in the price. So you don’t even have to sit there and think about what the hell the exact cost will be.

The exchange rate isn’t exact … Right now it’s about 98 yen to the US dollar. It’s just easier to round.

Pretty useful, imo.