DaPrawf

My betta recently developed vertical hang. I moved him to a quarantine tank and gave him a one week treatment of Maracyn II. By the end of the week, he has recovered nicely. To prepare his home (a 7 gallon cube) I had treated it with both Maracyn and Maracyn II. I then sucked out as much of the water as I could. My substrate was UNS Controsoil (am I allowed to mention brand names). I wanted to brighten things up a little, so I added a later of thoroughly washed CaribSea Super Naturals Peace River substrate. Refilled the aquarium with fresh dechlorinated water. Added Stability to restart the nitrogen cycle. The next morning I checked the tank parameters and I had a serious ammonia spike and a mass extinction of cherry shrimp. I pulled out all the plants and ornaments. I removed about 30 dead shrimp. But I noticed these little white bugs that look sort of like crustaceans of some sort had survived. Anyway, I tossed the old plants, cleaned all the ornaments, and when the nitrogen cycle restarted, I put the betta back in his tank with new plants. He's doing great but I still have these little white bugs. I thought maybe they were shrimp babies that had somehow survived the big dieoff but they're not getting bigger. The only change prior to the appearance of these little bugs was adding the Maracyn and the Caribsea substrate. Any idea what they are? Should I worry about them? If so, how do I deal with them? Thanks.

I decided to experiment with carpeting by buying dwarf hairgrass that came on cocoa mats. Three questions: The mats keep floating off the aquasoil substrate. Should I weight them down with rocks? Also, about how long does it usually take for hairgrass on mats to root in the soil? Will they propagate off the mats?

Bruin the male Mustard Gas Betta in a 7 gallon cube tank with red cherry shrimp. The shrimp colony is thriving, by the way. (So far.)

I was little skeptical of [brand name omitted] Shrimp Lollies. But it turns out my shrimp LOVE them.

An overview of my 12 gallon community aquarium. Honey gourami. Blue eyed red neon rainbowfish. Carbon rile shrimp. Nerite snail.

My old HOB filter died and I ordered a double sponge filter to replace it. I'm wondering whether the sponge filter will generate enough water movement to oxygenate the water or whether I need to supplement it with a separate bubbler. (I'm running an undersized regular sponge filter as a stopgap until the new arrives.) Thanks.

Over the last 4-5 days, I noticed the honey gourami chasing my female betta around my 29-gallon community tank. There seemed to be some fin nipping. Today, I saw the gourami bully the betta out of her floating log hangout. The 29 gallon's water parameters haven't changed. Zero ammonia and nitrite; 15 PPM nitrates, pH 7.2, temp 76.3, KH 3, GH 7. This seems contra to the web, where everybody says honey gouramis are peaceful. When I set up the 29 gallon tank, everybody told me the betta would be the problem child. But she's sweet and doesn't bother anybody. Anyway, I decided to move the gourami into a 12 gallon long tank that houses 9 blue eye red neon rainbowfish and some shrimp. I'm hoping the rainbow fish's small fins and high speed will tone down the gourami's fin nipping.

Thanks to all. The rainbows loved live baby brine shrimp. Went nuts hunting them down. Now they're taking X-treme nano and crushed flakes.

Thanks so much.I'll try that, but I'm not sure I could get anything smaller than the Northfin Fry Starter! ;=) Thanks. Maybe they'll start taking it.

On Thursday, I got 10 red neon blue eyed rainbowfish (pseudomoguil Luminatus) for my 12 gallon bookshelf tank. They are between 1/2 and 1 inch, with most 2/3 to 3/4. I let them settle in with lights off until Friday morning. Have tried feeding them X-treme Nano sinking pellets Friday am; Northfin Fry Starter Friday PM; and Hikari Fancy Guppy this am. They mostly ignored the food. When they did try to eat it they spit it out almost immediately. Happened with all three. The only other inhabitants are 2 nerite snails and a bunch of plants. Water parameters: Temp: 75.6 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 by test strip; 0.25 by API master test kit. It was at 0 the day beforeI added the new fish and had been zero for a couple of weeks. Nitrate: 10 pH: 6.8 GH: 7 KH: 3 Any recommendations?

When I went to feed my 29 gallon community tank this am, I couldn't see my female Betta. After looking around, I saw her lying on her back on some plants near the bottom. I freaked. I figured it was swim bladder disease or maybe something even worse. I went in with a fish net and then she freaked, darting all over. I caught her and moved her into a quarantine tank. She has been swimming normally for the last 10 hours or so and exhibits no unusual behavior. Her color is normal. The water parameters in the community tank are fine. Ammonia: 0 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate 10 ppm KH: 2 GH: 7 pH: 6.8 Temp: 76.8 It's a heavily planted tank. All the other fish are fine. I read on the internet that some Bettas sleep in really weird positions, so I'm hoping she was just sleeping. I plan to leave her in the quarantine tank for a week or so before sending her back to the community tank. Any other suggestions

This thread helped a lot with my questions. I have two new tanks: 12 and 7 gallons, respectively. They both have about 2.5" deep UNS Controsoil substrate (brown if that matters). I use Los Angeles tap water conditioned with SeaChem Prime. I'm doing a fish-in cycle with some young guppies from my main tank using SeaChem Prime and Stability. The fish seem to be doing great. Eating well and swimming normally. Over the last week, the water has consistent; has a pH of about 6.2, a KH of 0-1 DKH, and GH of 8-9 DGH. I was worried about the pH and KH being so low; and wondering if they'll eventually go up on their own or should I add something. Based on what I read in this thread, I am inclined to just wait and see.

After many years away from the hobby, I got back into it in June 22. One of the first things I did was join the Aquarium Coop forums, which have been incredibly helpful and welcoming. Thanks to all who have been so supportive. So here's an update. My 29 gallon community tank is doing really well. Ammonia and nitrites are zero and have been for a long time. Nitrates have been between 10 and 20. KH I 3 to 4. GH is 8 to 9. pH is 6.8. I picked up some mini ramshorn snail hitchhikers somewhere along the line but I added three assassin snails who have kept the ramshorns in check. All epiphyte plants. Community: female betta, honey gourami, 3 guppy females, some baby guppies I haven't been able to sex yet, ~12 green neon tetras, 6 orange Venezuelan corydoras, the snails, and about a dozed red cherry shrimp. I plan to go with a female-only guppy group. Today I started working on two new tanks. A 12 gallon long and a 7 gallon cube. I plan to heavily plant both. The 7 gallon will house a male betta. (I really want a mustard gas.) Plus a mystery snail and some shrimp. (I know they may end up as expensive betta food but my female betta has left the shrimp alone, so fingers crossed.) AqAdvisor says that stocking list will put me at 85% capacity, so I might be able to add a tank mate or two in the future. But I'll let the tank mature before doing anything. For the 12 gallon I was thinking about a school of harlequin rasboras, some nerite snails, some shrimp (see above; I'm an optimist). Maybe another male betta as a centerpiece fish, but I'm open to suggestions for a nice centerpiece fish. OTOH, I'm also thinking about a species-only tank of Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbowfish with some invertebrates. Thoughts?

Started setting up two new tanks. One 12 gallon and one 7 gallon. The seven gallon will house a male betta (I really want a mustard gas), a mystery snail(?), and some shrimp (I know, they may end up being expensive betta food, but my female betta in my community tank leaves the shrimp alone, so fingers crossed). I'm open to suggestions for the 12 gallon.

I picked up some pest snails (presumably on plants I stupidly skipped dipping). I bought the Dennerle snail catcher sold here at the Coop and it works great. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/dennerle-snail-catcher So far I've been using it during the day and it doesn't seem to bother the fish. But tonight when I went to bed at 11 I noticed that there were snails all over the inside walls of the aquarium. My tank lights are on a timer that gradually shuts down between 6 and 7 PM. There was a desk lamp on in the office, so lights were pretty low. So I turned on the tank lights, opened the lid, and went to town with the snail catcher. I was catching tons. But my fish FREAKED. The betta (female half-moon) went and hid in the coconut shell cave, which caused the corydoras hanging out in there to flee. The female puppy started seriously zooming all over the place with the male guppy in fast pursuit. (BTW, I know guppies and bettas aren't supposed to make good tank mates but my female betta is really mellow and after a few days just ignored the guppies.) The honey gourami went and hid in the java ferns. Head first. It was actually kind of funny. The green neon tetras disappeared somewhere. So lights plus catcher seem to be a major stressor. Let's not do that again. Do you think doing a midnight snail expedition without tank lights also would be too stressful? I've tried other traps and none worked. The Dennerle works but I'm learning that I catch a lot more snails and much bigger snails after the tank lights have been out for an hour or, even better, two hours, than I do during the day. So night seems the time to hunt. Which might stress sleeping fish. Alternatives I'm considering are natural and chemical. The more aggressive chemical approach would be dosing with SOBAKEN Genchem No Planaria which is supposedly shrimp safe and supposedly kills snails. The natural approach would be getting a small shoal of dwarf chain loaches (maybe 4 o5 5?). Reommendations, condolences, advice, constructive criticism, alternatives would all be welcome. Tank: 29 gallon Visio. Acquaclear 50 HOB filter. No activated charcoal. Smooth rounded gravel substrate. Aquarium coop air-stone and USB air pump. Lots of live plants. Parameters Ammonia: 0 ppm--Spiked recently when I killed some snails in the tank (a mistake). Got I bak down with regular water changes, treatment with Seachem Prime, and Seachem Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 10 ppm pH 7.3 - jumped after a water change and removal of several deteriorating catalpa leaves temp: 77 GH: 7degrees KH: 3 degrees

Thanks. I think they must be ostracods https://www.biwahaku.jp/smith/ostracod_carapace.html

LOL

Very small critters that seem to move by opening their upper and lower shells and flapping them closed to propel themselves. Not sure what they are. Any ideas? (Sorry for the quality but these guys are really small.) Video:

Video of my "Flying" bugs Very small critters that seem to move by opening their upper and lower shells and flapping them closed to propel themselves. Not sure what they are. Any ideas? (Sorry for the quality but these guys are really small.)

I seem to have picked up some tiny snails as hitchhikers on my last set of plants (I knew I should have dipped them but got lazy). But here's the weird thing: I saw--but was unable to photograph--some of them swimming in open water by flapping their shells like wings. They looked just like sea Butterfly snails (Limacina helicina). Any idea what I'm dealing with?

Thanks. I'm very happy with her. And I'm pretty sure she's a she. That's what Betta Squad USA said. And she looks like a girl based on fishparenting.com's sexing image.

I opened things up by taking out the driftwood and the large dragon stone on the left side of the tank. I made a second cave in the back right. On the left I made a little "sacred grove." I'm at full capacity at this point. Time to start thinking about my second tank.

She's a half-moon betta female. I love her coloration. She's active, very peaceful (so far 🤞). Brightens up the whole tank.

The good news is that a very very deep clean and adding a batch of beneficial bacteria seemed to have solved the problem.

Thanks. The wood and plants have been present for about 2 months. The only change has been the antibiotics. But the fungus is also on dragonstone and plants, not just the driftwood. Is that usual?