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while feeding the fish this morning, i became a witness to tragedy: apparently it got so hot that two of my male guppies died from heat exhaustion. actually, one died, and another one was flopping around at the bottom of the tank. i immediately transferred him to a vase filled with cooler water, but he was a goner, floating around upside-down suffering from a heat stroke. i was hoping i could revive him but he finally succumbed later during the night. i did a water change on the main tank, hoping to lower the temperature (i reduced it by 2 degrees, but it was still 84 degrees to hot) and ran a fan pointed to the aquarium which didn't really do anything. for some reason the male guppies seem to be very sensitive to the temperature; all my other fish in my other tanks seem to be okay. nevertheless, as long as the temperature continues to be this hot, the only remedy i can think of is to perform daily changes with cold water. i even added a few ice cubes into all my tanks, don't know if that'll do anything.

visited the garden in the afternoon to reinforce some of my tomato plants with string ties. at 94 degrees, even the simple act of watering the plants can become a laborious activity. by the time i returned home, i was exhausted and sweat-soaked.

elsewhere in the community garden...

the second half of the day i spent in the living room with the air conditioner turned on. i still feel guilty using it, and turn it off intermittently, only to turn it back on minutes later once i start feeling hot and sticky again. i had leftover cold pizza for lunch and some mantou my mother brought over for dinner on her way to the grocery store. the most exciting thing i did this evening was ordering a bunch of normally embarrassing items from drugstore.com. times like this, i appreciate the faceless anonymity of the internet.