Darth Mollusk

@Kurt BruttingI'll do that! Thanks!

@Guppysnail thanks! The snaibies have started eating a lot more, I've noticed, and the adventure continues!

My first assumption is always chaos and destruction that I somehow caused. And I certainly caused it, but it's not quite chaos and destruction 😆🙈

I use the co op tabs and put a bunch in yesterday! (I'm not used to the capsule kind). Phew!

I woke up to my newish 29 gallon to find globs of this weird white stuff I'd never seen before. It's like wet toilet paper if toilet paper were made of jelly. It breaks up when I try to pick it up. It's almost like very very thin calamari or something. Any thoughts? I added a bunch of new plants yesterday, and I can't imagine that's a coincidence. But what is it? The only thing in there is a mystery snail who had to be separated because he was mounting the others so much he was wearing down their shells, and two amano shrimp. All look happy as clams. Tank has been running about 10 days with one Co-op sponge filter and a HOB with established filter media. Sand substrate capping eco-complete with a little bit of soil on the bottom. Temp: 75 PH: 7.5 Ammonia: 0 Nitrites: between .25 and.5 (API kit) and I'm about to do a 50% water change. I dose with Easy Green, and my well water has iron in it. I've got a number of emersed plants, too--pothos and peace lily. I also use Co-op root tabs. I've got drift wood, ludwigia, a red dwarf lily bulb starting to sprout, cryps, java fern, anubias, four leaf clover, cardinal plant Everything was going so well 🤦‍♂️

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea I didn't know if it would work, but that's exactly what I did! Seems to be holding up so far

I've stuck them in! Now to try and figure out how to keep the red root floaters away from the HOB output 😆

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea thanks for the tips, this is really helpful

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea how deep do you usually stick them in? Do you remove leaves from the bit going into the sand?

Oh, fantastic! Thanks!

I've gotten a hold of some plant cuttings. The cardinal plant and Marsilea crenata (four-leaf clover) seem to have some decent roots growing. But, the Ludwigia has no roots. Anyone have any thoughts on whether I should float them for a while (and for how long) or just jam them in there and hope for the best? What do you do? (My substrate is sand capping eco-complete with some earthworm castings beneath) Cheers! 🐌🌱

I'm sorry you're having issues! I'll throw out a couple things on the off chance it's helpful. Personally, I wouldn't keep mysteries above 76. The higher the temp, the faster their metabolisms, and the shorter their lifespans (not that mystery snails are especially long lived, unfortunately). But, higher temps make their shells grow faster and thinner. Combine that with not enough calcium (both in food and in water) they will not do well. Cuttlebones (the calcium carbonate kind) and products like wonder shell are good. Is there any potential source of copper in your tank? Found rocks? Metal? Your tap water? Copper sulfate in food? Are there any fish in the tank who could potentially be stressing your snails? Their antennae look very tempting to some fish. Have you used Meds or salt?

I'm experimenting with converting a polka-dot plant to growing emersed now. So far as I know, it is pet safe

Awwwwwwwwww it's like a veggie teddy bear 🥺😆

Moms and babies go hogwild over zucchini! They look like they're nomming on watermelon, I love it. I also love how much easier it is to clean out zucchini from the breeder box than repashy or snello 😅. I've never seen those little slime beans zoom so fast!

I didn't think to ask, but luckily, they thought to tell me! 😆

Wow! That is a productive single snail! I had to separate the male bc he's been so persistent he's wearing down shells. But they'll be laying fertile eggs for a while. Luckily my local fish store wants them 🥳 (wish I could keep them all, but alas) I've got wonder shell in the tank and I used to make my own snello. But more often these days I usually mix up repashy with some extra calcium carbonate powder. Those little babies cruise for the veggies like nothing else! Which is great bc it's the easiest to clean! Everyone in the tanks loves Crab Cuisine 😆 (and none of them are crabs). The shrimp have gotten very good at darting in, stealing some, and darting away again. The adult snails will cradle one in their bodies when they find it to call dibs now.

I embrace the critters too; makes life simpler and more interesting. Mine are only a few days old and still look like little speckled amber seeds 😆. They've all got the same horn-dog blue dad, and half are from a magenta the other half from a jade mom. Here they are, swarming zucchini

The slits are only on the bottom; here's a pic with a dime for scale

Thanks! I agree with @HenryC ; it looks like a limpet. Some people find them beneficial. Anything you do to get rid of them (other than cleaning) would hurt the babies, I expect

Hm. The video isn't working for me for some reason. If you post a photo, I will take a look though. (I've got a breeder box full of mystery snails now, too--hope yours are okay!)

I can't keep a plant alive outside an aquarium either 😂 So far as I know, rubber plants are pet safe (depending on how avid yours are about munching). I don't know about growing them in an aquarium, but as they can be propagated in water I'd expect they can be. Maybe. It would be an interesting experiment! Not quite ivy like, though. Have you considered Swedish ivy? I don't have experience growing it, but it's another that is propagated in water so might work.

@Guppysnailthere are slits, but they're fairly small (but not breeder box small). I have a baby amano shrimp who is a big fan of hiding in there (and I'm a fan of him hiding in there, too 😆)

@Guppysnail I love the look of all those plants! I'm feeling inspired to get more adventurous, too. I think I'm gonna need a bigger boat...by which I mean soap tray. 😆 I got it at Home Depot and it's quite sturdy (about $15). It's pretty unobtrusive looking. It's only been in for about a week (I had the plants precariously perched on driftwood before) but it seems to be holding up well. I might pick up another next I'm able... Since I can't seem to stop buying plants 😅😆

@Odd Duck that is fantastic! My snails have recently started to support themselves producing babies for the local fish store, but it never occurred to me the plants could help fund the habit! I watched a bunch of that guy's videos on YouTube; I started using peace lily at his suggestion. I thought about the egg grate thing, but then I happened upon this tray at Home Depot that was perfect for me. It was about $15, but holds a good amount of weight and feels sturdy. I picked up another peace lily at the store this morning for it (and might pick up another tray before they can stop selling them). It's clear and is mostly concealed by plants. It's funny, the first time I tried sticking pothos in a tank it wilted and died on me in fairly short order. The swords and java moss and cryps inside the tank were doing great so I know it's not some sort of plant curse 😆. I started to worry my anti-green thumb that always kills my land plants had struck my emergent plants 😆. But the plants in my newer tank are thriving! It'd be great to have the pothos creep far enough to cover the airline tubing (but maybe I should be careful what I wish for)