[Help for my betta, please]

Do you know when the last time he was able poop? This is usually either constipation or organ failure which leads to fluid build up. If it's constipated, fasting/brine shrimp can work. As for the mulm on the substrate, I wouldn't worry about it. 

[Success rate with cold weather plant and fish shipments]

If the seller is good, they can ship year round. Colder is easier than hotter months.  Look out for vendors that make you pay for heat packs and such. We include them for free, and liners for free when our custom algorithm we developed that checks your weather and ours and calculates what will be needed calls for it. Importing plants, plants are routinely in the box for 5-7 days to clear customs etc, no problem. Fish typically are 2-3 days in bags. These are at high levels so less dense packing should last longer. Heat packs are up to 96 hours, which is 4 days if they are using the right ones for the fish/estimated delivery time. 

[The 44 Pentagon]

Most things that work well for a 29 gallons and smaller will work well in this size. In my 55 gallon hex, I always bred livebearers. 

[Gold Barb Fry]

19 hours ago, patricia said:

feed my gold barbs and swimming on the top half of my tank was a loan gold barb fry so I got him/her out and put him/h

congrats, always fun to find new fry.

[The new fish room and studio build thread.]

6 hours ago, DavidR said:

What will the cargo containers be used for? Just storage or something else fish related?

They'll be storing extra packing materials and products for the warehouse. We want to keep increasing our fill rates and reduce product outages. 

[The new fish room and studio build thread.]

22 hours ago, Andrew Puhr said:

When do you think we will see another video of the ongoing construction? I remember on previous videos that Jimmy got some drone footage and Bob got some footage in the pond. 

 

[Fry]

to maximize how many survive you would sort by size. Depending if you wan tto raise that many. 

[Tap waters testing high]

Plants will naturally consume Nitrates. Mostly it'll be managing how often you change water to keep parameters in line. Lots of plants will make this easier. 

[Drip water change setup question]

I use R/O unit tubing and the matching fittings. Drip emitters also clog if they make contact with water, and run into pressure issues based on tank level and such. 

[Aquaclear 110/70 pre-filter mod for turtles]

Yeah the cage is essential for turtle tanks.  Not easy to diy either. 

[55 cichlid stocking chat]

Mostly it's just the peacocks where the females don't have color. You can do the mix of 4 species, but you may not need too, things like a pseudotropheus saulosi have blue males and yellow females so you get 2 colors right there.  I think some of the fun for the african tank is getting babies going, the fewer the species,t he easier that is to do naturally without having to pull babies. 

[What's the best cleanup crew for a tank with turtles and tiger barbs?]

Goldfish are the best cleaners that I've ever used. 

[DIY aquarium racks]

Typically 2x4 pine works well. 

[Lump on Julii Cory]

Interesting, I think over time it'll probably rupture, and then you just need to keep it from getting infected and it'll probably heal up. So just keep an eye for now. 

[Sick Goldfish-Using Med Trio]

If no fish remain in the pond and the fish get better in QT, after a couple of weeks it's likely that anything that was there would have died out in the pond. 

[Weird white spot]

Looks like an anal prolapse, salt will usually keep it from getting infected while it heals up. 

[Auto water changes question]

I believe you're confusing an RO/DI unit with what I use, which is a carbon block filter, to just remove chlorine and other low level contaminants. 

[Is this pop eye?]

I would try the salt since you're not seeing results from the anti biotic. 

[Ghost Catfish? Questions and more.]

I'd make sure they are stable before adding any fish, they can easily get sick when transporting around. As for the fish, pretty much all can be done with water at 7.6 or so. 

[Red mass on Platy juvenile tail fin]

From the picture, it looks like possibly a tumor.  Reducing stress and sometimes salt in a qt tank can help, but it's like 40% chance to improve it.  Mostly it just keeps it from getting much worse. 

[The new fish room and studio build thread.]

The cargo containers were cranes into place today.

[Concerning LFS Advice... Updating Treatment Progress]

You can do different strategies for meds, the one thing I'll say is, if you have a method that is working, I wouldn't switch. Also if you have a method that isn't working after say 3-5 days, I would switch. I'd probably do another treatment and let it sit as the gourami seems to be recovering pretty well. 

[Tile bottom question]

If you silicone them in, nothing gets below them. The alternative is, if you don't silicone them in, you can remove and clean under them if you need to. 

[Is this fungus? 🤔]

I would just observe for now, I fit was fungus, it would likely spread and quarantining just one first migh tnot work.

[Growth]

Looks like a tumor, not much you're gonna be able to do I think outside of surgery.