nudge

570+ officially confirmed cases and 17 fatalities. Has already spread to at least six countries, including the US, Japan, South Korea, Thailand. The virus has originated in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, reportedly from a local wildlife market (most likely from bats and snakes). The virus strain is in the same family as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). It has reportedly mutated and can be transmitted from human to human. China has put the Wuhan and two other cities (Huanggang and Ezhou) under lockdown, all forms of public transport are suspended under further notice, main highways are being shut down, people are urged to avoid crowds and large gatherings, and face masks are mandatory. There are fears of the virus spreading more rapidly with the Lunar New Year approaching, which means hundreds of millions people traveling all over the world.

Pellets. This one is specifically what the fish store gave us to help with the colour of the blood parrots.

I'm afraid if I do that it might turn into a precious little snowflake and start complaining about its food not being vegan, kosher, gluten and lactose free, low carb, and ethically produced by local farmers.

@Mel81x just took some pics and noticed a few things - one of the two fish still has visible black/brown smudges but they seem less intense than before. The second one (the smaller) barely has any at all, most of them seem to have disappeared and it's getting its normal colour back!!!

Cheers, I googled it myself earlier too but this doesn't seem to be the likely cause... We tested the water and the parameters are fine (all tests show optimal condition). The two fish in question are orange blood parrots (there are 4 more of them in the tank); from what I managed to read so far it seems black spots are quite common in the species and they can develop them from anything; like a large water change, stress, maturation, or something serious like disease or a parasite. The blood parrots are apparently laboratory created hybrids of unspecified origin

Moving around all over the tank, don't appear to be sluggish or stressed and have normal appetite. I'll get a pic of the spots a bit later if you don't mind.

Thanks for that! I took over the aquarium from the previous owner who had it all set up and going for around two years; he'll also be coming round to show me how to properly clean it and change water etc. But I will definitely bother you if I have any questions! The only concern now is two fish that seem to have gotten some black smudges on their body, tail and fins. It doesn't seem to affect any other fish (there are 16 in the tank in total) and the two don't show any other symptoms either. The guy in the fish store thinks it's food-related (could make sense as the previous owner mentioned he changed the food a few weeks back and that's then the spots appeared) so we switched back to the previously used food a few days ago. No more new black spots seem to have appeared but I'm not sure they're disappearing either.

I'll have to ask the parents

This is a fantastic idea. I'll hit the shop tomorrow. This is my first aquarium ever and I kind of got it unexpectedly a few days ago so I have absolutely no clue

Read about it earlier today; very fascinating and hopefully it will show even more promise when human trials start.

I spent hours keeping an eye on it today as I had the same fears... So far so good... But I don't trust the one hiding between the stones in the last pic (there are two of that sort) and the black and white striped ones; those four gang up on all other fish every time. Bunch of bullies

Haha yes it's extremely tiny... Not more than one centimeter. Only saw it today for the first time!

Some from my new aquarium... Noticed there's already an offspring as well (the tiny one in second pic)

Only in Bremen: Ludwig Augustinsson has injured himself while recovering from injury.

Toro Rosso Alpha Tauri new official logo:

Same; I have mixed feelings as one one hand it sounds good but on the other hand you have to question the motives behind the move...

Magath back in action

The in-flight test Crew Dragon's launch escape capabilities was successful!

So Carlos Sainz Senior has just won the Dakar Rally again... legend. Alonso the best rookie. Ricky Brabec and Honda win in the motorcycle category.

Racing Point, Ferrari, Haas and Williams have all reportedly passed their crash tests already. Sauber allegedly failed theirs and destroyed the chassis in the process, leading to potential delays. No info about other teams so far.

Scientists used stem cells from frogs (and evolutionary algorithms in supercomputers) to build first living programmable machines. This is fascinating stuff. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a30514544/xenobot-programmable-organism/ Also the link to the original paper for more details: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/07/1910837117 @Mel81x you might be interested in this if you haven't read it yet!

2020 Car launches dates: Ferrari - 11th Feb McLaren - 13th Feb Sauber - 14th Feb

@Tommy I think I owe you money for getting the bold predictions of the season wrong well one of them at least (Max winning the title); the other was rendered irrelevant after Albon moved to RB!

It's raining non-stop today and I'm binging on Indiana Jones movies on the couch Perfect Sunday. How's everyone doing?