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Chick-In-Of-TheSea

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Everything posted by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

  1. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    I went to the “LPS” which is really an outdoor lot and bought a firecracker plant to attract hummingbirds to my feeder area. I have LOTS of firebush, taller than me, and that is supposed to be desired by them, but that stuff is way across the yard and can’t really be seen from any of my windows. The efforts to draw the birds closer continue. Within a few minutes of potting the plant, I did have a bee visitor 🐝.
  2. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    @xXInkedPhoenixX I literally face-palmed when I read some of the things, and my cat looked at me quizzically when she heard the smack noise. 🤣 It’s tricky to talk to non-NERMs without overstepping. You are a kind soul for helping to guide them and spending your time and money to help the fish. & I knew your shrimp would be fine! You were so doubtful at first. Now you are about to have like 40 more. 🦐🦐🦐 It’s awesome how you can see through that shrimp to view all the eggs. 🥰 I looked into these once as I thought the idea was pretty slick. But they have a tendency to overheat with just a light. Creative pets (?) I think was the YouTuber that had to evac fish from them hurriedly so they didn’t cook.
  3. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Everyone is snuggling, asleep. @Lennie
  4. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Pic now that we have sun
  5. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    I love them 🙂
  6. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Me too. Exactly
  7. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Very nice! How many rams do you have, 4? @Otto
  8. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    The little tree I've been caring for is doing ok. A lot of that orange discoloration has disappeared, and it is firmly holding onto its leaves, but it does have some long gaps between leaves on some branches from where it lost foliage. Every Friday morning when I take the trash out, I spray the tree leaves, over and under, with neem oil. I do this in the dark because we've had strong heat waves this summer. I'm very consistent with this treatment. And then, just this morning, I was rewarded! I went to spray the little tree, and I noticed it has a bunch of flower buds on the end of one branch! Yay tree! Go Go Go! I don't know what color the blossoms will be as this was a tree I received from a charitable donation, so updates will follow. I also gave it some miracle grow to help with the blossoming. I wear latex gloves when I work with neem oil because I believe it is a pesticide as well. I don't want to get any on my hands and then have some residue under my nails when I try to work on the shrimp tank or something. That would certainly harm the little shrimps. I also have other gloves dedicated to shrimp tank work.
  9. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Yes, and that sword plant is a showstopper!
  10. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Yes, they need a period of darkness just like we do. Maybe you can make green water in a jar or something instead?
  11. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    I did a 2" sand cap on top of my gravel. I left the gravel dirty so the plant roots can reach down and utilize that stuff as fertilizer. It worked well. The gravel allows the plant roots to spread out nicely. I used the mess free method to do this. It prevents dust in the water column. I do rinse the sand in the bottle first, and pour off the water, several times before adding to the tank.
  12. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    What is on the grass-like plant looks like a type of hair algae. I’ve got it on some of my plants also. It roots strongly into plant leaves and cannot be brushed off with a toothbrush. The only way to get rid of it that I’ve found (on plants) is to soak the plants in seltzer water in the dark for 12 hours, with the container loosely covered by a towel. The pH and CO2 from the seltzer will benefit your plants, but not the algae, and you should even see that the plants have perked up after the treatment (see Reverse Respiration post). The plants can be returned to the tank since seltzer water leaves no residue. The stuff on the glass: the photo is not clear enough to ID it. You may have to download and use the magnifier app or just zoom in with your phone, use a magnifying glass, etc to examine the creature and see if it looks like the claw from a coin operated toy prize machine. It it does, it is hydra. The little “claws” will close around things floating by, and that is how hydra eats. Here is a video of my hydra in action. Mine are green because they had been eating algae and green Repashy powder that I swirl in the water for shrimps. In my experience, the hydra have never caught a shrimp nor bothered with them, despite the bad reputation that is emphasized in some videos about them online. My plant with deep rooted hair algae before seltzer. The stuff was too tough for shrimps to remove. After seltzer and allowing shrimps to pick off the dead algae: Also something to note: I have never fed brine shrimp or live food to the tank, so my hydra did not come from those sources. However, I did start this tank with water and a sponge filter from a different tank that does get fed FROZEN foods (bloodworms, brine shrimp). I believe this to be hair algae: This one could be black beard algae:
  13. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    I think they are cute, hehe
  14. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Bladder snail friend MTS friend
  15. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    They have them at LFS, but I don’t have a qt setup rn and I plan to qt any and all new shrimp. Unless of course, it wants to live in the community tank rather than with the neos.
  16. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Thanks for being the Guinea pig. I am curious to see how RR works on a tank. Is the main goal algae removal, or are you trying to kill planaria or something else? Or sneggs?
  17. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Every so often I trim the dwarf water lettuce roots. It always takes them 2 days to reach the bottom again. The jar without the floaters. The trimmings. I inspect all these for snails and rescue them. 50% water change done. More flower buds discovered. Floaters returned. Snail friends
  18. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    First of all! The plants have trained themselves to grow around the light. They used to grow straight into it, and then I’d snip them, so now they are doing this. Second of all! The moneywort made a little purple flower. And is trying to make another. And this is the dwarf water lettuce with what may be little white flowers, not sure. Lastly, the once prolific colony of bladder snails is down to just a few stragglers. I do a little bacter ae once a week and Repashy powder once a week. Sometimes I will toss in a piece of catappa leaf or little Java fern pups I don’t know what to do with. Admittedly, I haven’t tested the water very often. When I do test it though, I always get zeros for ammonia and nitrite, and a trace of nitrate, maybe a 5. It doesn’t mean there’s never been ammonia though. However, I was obsessively testing (daily) when I first setup the jar, and I never got readings, nor did I get any readings with 30 shrimp in the jar, nor did I ever lose any shrimp, so ?? There are algae and biofilm on the walls, so I am not sure why their population has decreased so much. Then again, I don’t know their lifespan or much about them (negligent aquarist, I know). Any time I prune (rarely) I ensure I return any hitchhiking snails back to the jar. I also do the occasional water change, once every 3-4 weeks, mainly when I see the water level drop.
  19. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Sorry I hijacked your journal @nabokovfan87!
  20. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    @itsfoxtail The last photo- that’s my favorite! It is a female and has had babies. I hope they develop cool patterns. I always tell @nabokovfan87 I have Heinz 57 varieties of wild shrimps. Also once and only once, a red shrimp was born, and it lives in my wild tank. I started with a colony of blue dream shrimp and then all of these other things just happened. But one seller I bought 4 of the blue dreams from, one of the shrimps in that purchase was a clear shrimplet and may not have even been a blue dream. And their shrimp were labeled as “blue shrimp”, whatever that means. But I’m glad because it has made thing fun. I have been considering giving all the blue dreams to my friend, going down to one shrimp tank, and just keeping all the wilds. Not 100% sure yet.
  21. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Props to you @nabokovfan87 for such great record keeping! Do you usually track things electronically or jot little notes on pen and paper? Personally, I’m a jotter. I used to write all my water test results but things haven’t changed in a long time in that regard, so I have been jotting different things such as when I add root tabs or when I place a sponge in a tank to be seeded. The root tabs notes are especially important because if the leaves start to look transparent, I can look back at the notes and the determine if I need to fertilize more frequently. Speaking of which, just placed another order for root tabs. Also added a polishing pad; let’s give that a whirl. The stuff on a roll I’ve been using, I’m not totally happy with it. Honestly, I admit I’m more enchanted by my wilds, which have multiplied enough to have their own 5.5gal tank. They are all different!
  22. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    To the other folks who have posted: given the iron situation in the water, would using a Brita pitcher work (vs RO)? Or would that strip minerals also? Anyone know?
  23. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    I agree with the posts recommending: water test kit air pump w/ airstone The 3 water parameters you should be watching now are ammonia (super toxic), nitrite (toxic), nitrate (if above a certain level, harmful if fish reside in it for an extended period of time, like a person being in a smoke filled room). Also be sure to dechlorinate any water you add to the tank. Even if chlorine is not a concern, chloramines or heavy metals could be and the dechlorinators will remove those. Get a good one that neutralizes ammonia and nitrite, like Prime. If your tank needs to cycle (see videos above), Prime or Fritz Complete, along with water changes, could be a lifesaver to your fish. Live plants will “eat” harmful things out of the water, like the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. The more live plants, the better. Also some aquatic plants do not get “planted” - their roots have to stay out (such as Java fern or anubias). If you are shopping at a chain store, look for the shelf that has plants in clear tubes that you can buy. Using RO water takes some research (mineralization), so I can’t speak to that topic. You are in the right place here on the CARE forum!
  24. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    Tank doesn’t look so bad, @Cinnebuns. Do you have an idea why it crashed?
  25. Chick-In-Of-TheSea
    I usually can drop Repashy past my various tetras. They will eat the bits that may float off of it on the way down, but once it hits the bottom they lose interest and the slower eaters like my Bolivian ram and my snails can get the food.
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