Chick-In-Of-TheSea

January 21

On 1/21/2024 at 12:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

They have shrimp intakes which are fine mesh

Cool, so basically like a faucet screen.

January 21

On 1/21/2024 at 11:24 AM, BIRD0887 said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSeaYou have a picture near the top of ur snail eating something, what is that?? Is red...

Which photo? Could be bell pepper, bloodworm, or vibra bites. I have a cichlid pellet that is red too and sometimes they eat those when they find them.

January 21

Removed baffle and then deployed my flow tester to check direction of current.

January 21

What is the method for seeing if a fish, shrimp, snail etc has entered the tubing, and how do you go about getting it out? Isn’t that the reason tubing is usually clear? Also how do you know when gunk is starting to accumulate in the tubing, prior to it impeding flow?

January 21

My opinion is sand will be dirty. 🤣 For awhile it can be maintained but it gets to a point where it always looks dirty, particularly with overstocked tanks (like mine) or with high bioload creatures like pleco and mystery snails (also like mine) 🙄😂. To remove some of it and add new could be a solution. Or you could mix gravel into the sand to help hide things. Adding river rocks helps camouflage waste too. A catappa leaf layer is the best way to camouflage that I’ve found. But remove the leaves before they decay or it will dirty the sand…😂

Um, good luck, lol

P.S. I am using pool filter sand. I’m not saying it’s better or worse than other sand. Idk

January 21

Wow, there is a lot of advice going back and forth, and I’ve been trying to figure out how I can contribute without adding confusion. So first: welcome! Glad you’re here and seeking help. This is a great, positive community that you will enjoy being a part of.

Ok, here we go.

This is the proper way to use salt:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

@nabokovfan87 mentioned:

removing carbon from your filter. I agree. Carbon removes medication from the water.

Removing plastic plants. I agree. Plastic plants are ok for a lot of fish, but with bettas they result in injury and fin tears. Do silk ones, from a pet store not a hobby shop, if you must do fake. Real plants are best and help remove bad things from the water like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Extra airstone. For sure. Meds make the water thicker and harder for fish to breathe. Bettas breathe from the surface but when at rest the airstone will help them.

Do not change from one med to another. Agree. Meds stress fish. Stress can lead to more illness or death. Use them sparingly. Take several days or even a week between meds to let the fish rest, if you must change meds. Wait a period of time to see if a med worked or made the fish health worse.

Testing water daily. Agree. This is critical. You should be testing for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Any reading at all on the first two is toxic to the fish and a water change must be done. Use a dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia and nitrite such as Prime or Fritz Complete. A water change should be done if nitrates are 40+. Take care to match the temp of new water to existing water. I use a meat thermometer.

Betta temperature. At least 80 degrees as @Colu recommended.

I agree with @Colu’s advice on medications suggested. @Colu has invested a large amount of time in researching freshwater aquarium fish disease, and their advice has saved my fish many times.

Avoid pH up and pH down products. Agree. Changing pH causes more harm than good, and in my experience it’s not necessary in most cases. What is important is stable water parameters.

Catappa leaves. Yes! Great for bettas. Antibacterial and antifungal. Use alone if no issue or mild issue; use with meds when treating a moderate to severe issue.

Lastly, if you can, do less. Research before adding anything to the water. You’re not making a soup. Every time something is added it will have an effect on the fish. Meds cause stress. Stress kills fish if not managed properly. But sometimes meds are indeed necessary to save a fish. Use caution and skepticism.

January 21

On 1/20/2024 at 5:42 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Shrimp EVERYWHERE.... (apparently they're liking the Repashy I had put out)

Is it Soilent Green? My shrimps go nuts for that.

January 20

On 1/20/2024 at 12:41 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I noticed issues when I ran out of bee pollen

I do not feed bee pollen, and I do not have issues.

Here is a fun video I recently took.

On 1/20/2024 at 12:41 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

During molting, the shrimp is filling its shell with water

Cool! Shrimps are dope.

I feed:

boiled veggies

catappa leaf

Repashy Soilent green (as powder but also prepared. More often powder if shrimplets)

Bacter AE

calcium chips (crayfish empire)

Kat’s Aquatics snail food (3-in-1)

Hikari shrimp cuisine

Sometimes:

algae wafers

Hikari crab cuisine

snail cookies (crayfish empire)

Also they are eating algae and biofilm off of things.

January 19

When the light was on the dimmest moonlight setting and about to go out, I saw Flint taking the grand tour of the tank, cleaning every inch of the front glass. It’s his turf when everybody goes to sleep. So I make it a point to get the Repashy in there as late as possible so he has the proper nutrition. Also, he is very camera shy and I couldn’t capture it. But when he moves he flares and his fins are so full and beautiful and NO more splits! Fully healed! The pure white edges of his fins are JUST. SO. STUNNING.

I am doing more water changes with Flint’s high bioload, but he is handsome and welcome and I don’t mind. Parameters are fine; I check nitrates and ammonia twice a week. It is just a matter of sweeping up after him. 🙂

January 19

Interesting, Snoopy was actually eating those. They are calcium. She’d carry it around and then take a bite out of it like a potato chip. Then I saw her go back and finish the rest. This was after she ate worms, and vibra bites.. I guess she wanted to sample the whole buffet tonight! Also I was wondering how those snail foods ended up out of the food dish and scattered around. Now I know. 🤣

There are not many foods she doesn’t like. Loves squash, zucchini, pumpkin, Snello. But doesn’t touch broccoli or green bean. Typical kid.

January 19

Thanks @Guppysnail!

I wonder what @TheSwissAquarist feeds their frog

January 19

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/pleco-care-guide

January 19

@Guppysnail has frogs. I think she feeds them worms. What else do they eat @Guppysnail? @TheSwissAquarist?

January 19

Oh man, I really tried to catch it on camera, but I couldn’t. Snoopy was carrying around these square snail foods. It was very silly.

January 17

Update -

Here was adoption day of ember tetras

And here is today 🙂 They are grouped up enjoying some Repashy. Everyone is nice and healthy.

January 17

@mountaintoppufferkeeper

January 17

On 1/17/2024 at 2:37 PM, OhGee said:

Hello all!

I’m excited to be here and to learn from everyone! Very much a beginner here. I did keep three goldfish over 25 years ago as a teen, and managed to keep them alive for five years before I had to give them away. Definitely didn’t know anything about cycling/having a seasoned tank back then! 😅

Anyway, getting back into it again. I’ve been going down a YouTube rabbit hole for the last 2 months and after hours upon hours of watching videos and reading articles/forums, I set up a 10-gallon planted tank (amazon sword, windelov java fern, anubias, with amazon frogbit arriving in a couple days) a couple weeks ago and am waiting for the water parameters to stabilize before I add fish. I’ve decided on either a female betta or a short-finned male betta, a mystery snail, and a nerite snail. Hope the betta doesn’t end up bugging them too much. Anyway, wish me luck! Here’s a pic of my planted, fishless tank.

Welcome! The tank looks great so far! Be careful with the betta vs. the snails - be prepared to separate them if needed. Antennae look like tasty worms to most bettas! I tried it and ended up having to move my snail to another tank because he was being attacked. Then again it depends on the betta's temperament. Some are nicer than others.

And I love sword plants! You can also look for one called a rosette sword. They are shorter and bushier and go great in 10 gallon or even 5 gallon tanks.

On 12/9/2023 at 1:30 PM, Retired Geezer said:

Retired Geezer here. My neighbor brought over a 2.5 gal tank with one sad guppy for me to watch while he is on vacation.

My wife and I have had tanks before and this triggered happy memories. Well you can guess what happened, we're off to look for a 20-29 gallon tank for ourselves. It's been 40 years since we had fish and I remember the filter was called an 'under gravel filter'. Do they even have these anymore?

Second question. Should lights be on 24/7 or should I turn them off during dark hours to help the fish maintain diurnal rhythm.

They do still make under gravel filters. I have one in my tank and enjoyed it, but I ended up decommissioning it (taking the tubes off) so that I could use sand. I had heard that plants do well in sand, and I am having good luck with plant growth.

January 16

Cool!

January 16

Babies, and other random shrimpy pics 🙂

January 15

On 11/20/2023 at 4:25 PM, Guppysnail said:

So this is them not doing what I’m trying to video

I love the video anyway. They are cute.

On 11/24/2023 at 11:27 AM, Guppysnail said:

He just does not fit where she chose

Do you have the ACO apisto cave in there too as an option?

January 15

On 1/15/2024 at 11:29 AM, Guppysnail said:

I’m hoping this means George figured out how to correctly fertilize them and they were eaten as they hatched

You mean you don’t want baby Georges??

January 15

I wish I could have gotten better images of this one, but here’s a cool shrimp. You can see his little face peeking out from the botanical he is cleaning.

January 15

I always worry whether or not Flint (pleco) is getting enough to eat, but one day I found him in the food dish when the light clicked on. And this morning I found “evidence”. So he’s feeding at night. During the day he eats catappa leaf, banana leaf, and wood.

Also there is Button eating some of the zucchini.

January 15

First, I am so sorry for your losses. As others have suggested, my gut tells me chlorine. You can’t predict what the water companies will do to the water. One day the water supply may have no chlorine, and the next day chlorine and/or chloramines may be present. Most dechlorinators will remove heavy metals as well for the safety of the fish. As @Galabar and @Tlindsey have mentioned, chlorine will kill your beneficial bacteria as well and can lead to “new tank syndrome” (unstable parameters ie: ammonia spikes).

January 15

I can see the MTS attached to the algae I intended for them to eat, so that’s great.

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