Froggy the Fish, Tap Water Quality, and Dyeing Yarn Thoughts

Sometimes you learn things a little too late. For Lucky's birthday we got him a fish, "Froggy."  After being home a few days, Foggy got a little sick and was having trouble swimming.  It turns out that the tap water in my area is high in nitrites, and if you're a fish owner that is BAD for fish.  The pet store was very nice, but said that the swim bladder issues the fish was experiencing could have been underlying before the fish came home with us.

It broke my heart, but the store gave Lucky a choice.  1) we could try to treat Froggy at home (which could be hard because he has other strange symptoms) or 2) we could bring Froggy to the "fish hospital" and bring home Froggy's brother.  Lucas chose option 2.  I know that I'm naive, but I honestly can't tell if they are going to try to treat Froggy or if they are going to help ease his suffering.

Froggy II (aka just Froggy after this blog post) 

Anyway, this makes me really curious about my tap water when it comes to yarn dyeing.  I know that sometimes you get different results as me with a similar set up, and little differences in the water could absolutely affect the final pH and other conditions for dyeing yarn.  Next time we get the water report from the city, I'm going to pay closer attention and maybe then do a bottled water vs tap water video to see if there are any differences.  I'll try to share some of the information with you since I use tap water for my dyeing videos. I've been meaning to do a video on pH and yarn dyeing for a long time anyway, but now I am hoping to take a closer look at it sooner rather than later.  Maybe there will be a difference in results when we compare tap versus bottled water.

Froggy I started showing symptoms within a day of being home.  Froggy II was thriving after multiple days in the tank created with purified water and betta fish conditioner.  His fins are open, he loves to flare at a mirror, and he is frequently swimming and exploring the whole tank.  Froggy II has a lot of personality.  He loves to hang out in the fake leaves, but sometimes wedges himself behind the filter or under the back of the Triceratop's frill.  He knows I am a source of food, and will come out to say hi when I come by the tank.

I have dyed some yarn inspired by Froggy I (stay tuned!), and now I need to think about dyeing some inspired by Froggy II!  I love that his fins are a warm blue with some flashes of red.  He is a Half Moon Double Tail Male and his colors almost feel iridescent.

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Reflection of a reflection! Does Froggy look a little different? Stay tuned for a new blog post on our lessons as a new fish family and the quality of our tap water. #bettafish #reflection #halfmoondoubletail #fishnamedfroggy #petfish

A post shared by ChemKnits (@chemknits) on Oct 25, 2018 at 3:33pm PDT

After this blog posts, all references to Froggy II will just be "Froggy."