PerceptivePesce

Just a friendly FYI notice. I bought a discounted tank, in store, last september. It may not be the same at your store, but at my petco the tax I paid was applied pre-discount. That miffed me a bit.

My phosphate look to be somewhere around 0.5 mg/L

I use remineralized rodi so the water im adding should be good, and I've done weekly 30% WC with gravel vacuum since day one. Except, after I recently dosed the tank with maracyn & ichx, I went 10 days before WC. Now my WC day is Thursday instead of Monday. As I understand it, "old tank syndrome" happens due to a lack of weekly maintenance. I think I've been keeping my tank clean, although I didn't clean off the dead plant matter that stayed attached to a few plants until recently. I didn't think it was that much though. I'm happy that my pH seems to be stabilizing at around 7.4. That high pH, 8.2, didn't add up. Also, my gh & kh in the tank is 2 degrees higher than my remineralized rodi. It's been like that since day 1 and it still does that. I havent done a phosphate test in a while, since I started this thread. I'll go do that now! Let's see!

Has anyone tried to get an extra 15% off by ordering online and pickup instore? Is that discount applicable on top of the 50% off? I may go get a 2.5g for qt purposes.

The fry is still alive. I put him in 1g water in an opaque blue 2g bucket. It's hard to tell, viewing from the top, if he's healing. It's also hard to tell if he is eating. Anyways, my parameters are still the same as my OP except my pH has dramatically stabilized and I increased the GH by 2 & KH by 1. Before I started this thread the pH was swinging ~0.8, lower (7.4-7.5) when lights were off and higher (8.2) when they were on. After I created this thread and treated with maracyn and ichx, the pH stopped going as high. That happened before I started increasing GH & KH. Now, for over a week, it's been reading 7.3-7.5, even after increasing the GH & KH. I did clean some dead plant matter off plants too, but wouldn't dead plant matter make the water more acidic? Can anyone help explain why this has happened? I was thinking this may be the "seasoning" process after the nitrogen cycle process? Is the "seasoning" process a thing?

The flashing Ive seen has been rare. I'd say the chronic symptoms I'm seeing are color loss (some turn semi-transparent), fin fraying, not eating, wasting. Ive also culled quite a few when they develop hunch back, not a lateral curve like scoliosis, and that tends to happen more often in the ones that turn semi-translucent.

I just wanted to let y'all know I got a hygger magnetic glass cleaner. The hygger magnet is stronger than the mag-float brand. The part inside the tank is slightly less proud and it's black. This is the external glass cleaner I use. I love the way it smells, and it works great. I've used the product for years to clean glass inside my house. It's cheap, too. Although, I rarely use it for my aquarium because I also do the @lefty o technique and wipe the glass with the damp towel I was using. I've also used magic erasers in my home for years (now i use generic brand), they are truly magical. And to clarify, the magic eraser brand doesn't have cleaning chemicals in it. I looked into that a long time ago. I actually bought some of the name brand magic eraser Sheets as they are thinner and I figure that will come in handy for the aquarium.

@Colu I tried to catch the fry before bed last night. I wasn't able to so I gave up and went to bed. This morning his mouth spot looked smaller and he was able to eat when I fed the tank. Does this info help dx? After feeding, I caught the fry like a pro (took 10 seconds), and put him in 1g of remin rodi water treated with salt. I have a tiny heater that only does 78F in the qt, and the spare airpump is way too strong so there isn't one in there atm.

Thank you for your posts. Thanks to everyone else, too. I'm setting up my qt now. A 10g and 1g. @Colu what does this lump make you think it is? Parasite?

Best pic I could get: I fed them 15 mins ago. He tried to eat, butted the piece of food quite a few times, and gave up. It was tragicly remarkable how his mouth plug looked exactly like the food, same color & size.

There is a fry with what I think is mouth fungus. It looks like he has a piece of food stuck in his mouth but I fed them over 10 hours ago. @ColuColumnaris?

I do not currently have high nitrites. My nitrites are reading 0, and have been 0 for a few months. What im trying to convey: This vague sickness I'm currently seeing in my guppies may be the consequences of nitrite poisoning from 2-3 months ago when I did fish-in cycling. I don't know if that's how it works, but it doesnt seem irrational to assume that my guppies may have incurred internal organ damage during the high nitrite phase of my cycling process and are just now starting to show signs of sickness. I hope that makes sense. Also, my guppies seemed to get better when I dosed antibiotics and antifungal. But now they seem to be deteriorating again. Last night i saw one suck tiny food in and spit it out. I've never witnessed that before and if I understand correctly that is a classic parasite symptom.

I didn't realize there was a problem until a couple weeks ago when I started this thread. Perhaps I was delusional and subconsciously ignoring signs, but I didn't just let their acknowledged sickness roll- in fact, i dosed as soon as i realized there was a problem. I've ordered expel-p and will dose it next Thursday because they still ain't actin' right. Two 30% WCs is a 50% WC, and it did nothing to lower nitrites.

When the nitrites first hit 5ppm, like day 3 of nitrites showing up, I did a 30% water change and it didn't change the test results. The next day I did 2 30% WCs and it didn't change the color at all. After that I decided to prioritize my cycling process and just let it roll. That was the last time I did a WC more than once a week. Most of the guppies seem better, but there are a couple who worry me. I'm watching them

Oh, my favorite tool which I commandeered from my husband is a toolbox step stool. I love this thing!

I was a waitress for almost 2 decades, so naturally I shop at my local restaurant supply for kitchen utensils. When my husband made my tank stand we made sure that bus tubs would fit inside. They hold almost 10g of water so they can be used as an emergency tank. They currently hold extra supplies, and I've used it to put plants in for algae cleaning and RR. I also use an 18" long spoon for stirring remin rodi, and 18" tongs for grabbing my plants glued to rocks.

Dang, I need a BF with a 3D printer, I only have a husband without a 3D printer. 😄

@Saltinthedesert @Dtolb15 I've been checking out a local ceramic studio on FB. I want to make my own shrimp caves and grow moss on them. Hopefully I can visit their shop in the next few weeks, and get prices on kiln rental. @Jabberjaw I've been reading about the clay hobby. There are medium fire clays like terracotta, but it still requires a heat that you can't achieve with a home oven. You need a kiln to make clay structures that wont disintegrate in an aquarium. I know, I was sad to learn this too.

I bought some recently from aquaticarts. I noticed they had a listing for 1 shrimp. I got a 10pack. Also, I wrote them once to ask if they could make a listing for 1 color mystery snails, they only had 3 or 5 packs, and I wanted to order 6 mystery snails in all different colors. They replied that there was some kind of technical problem with the listings they were working on, and that they'd post the singles soon, which they did, but I had changed my mind and ordered the amanos.

I'm referring to my initial "new tank" nitrifying cycle about 3-4 months ago. I got these guppies from a friend who had way too many guppies in his son's 10g. I was planning on doing a fishless cycle with ammonia additive, but my friend and husband conspired against me and I caved. We put 2 dozen female gups in my tank before the nitrifying cycle had started. The ammonia spike was short and really never got that high, I attribute that to the bottled BB I was adding. The nitrite cycle was hardcore. It was like 11 days of off-the-charts nitrite. I tried WC, but the nitrite tests stayed Deep Purple. The guppies never showed any signs of distress, and they were reproducing the whole time.

It just occurred to me; this vague malaise I'm sensing from the fish in my tank, I bet this is the consequence for making these guppies ride out the nitrite spike of my new tank cycle. If true, I wonder if the future generations that were in the guppies during the nitrite spike have been corrupted, too?

I dosed 1pack/10gallons maracyn and 1tsp/10gallons ichx a couple weeks ago. My BB never crashed.

That's cool. So, it's a microscope that connects to you pc? Do you happen to know what power of microscope is needed to identify parasites in fish poop?

I was watching a youtube vid by the channel The Secret History Living In Your Aquarium, and in one part of a vid I was watching he showed one of his favorite tanks that has red/purple diatom algae just like yours. I can't find the vid in my history, but I swear I saw it!! He said something like it's rare so he keeps it that way.

Oh, yes, I understand that, but in a hospital tank there wouldnt be any other flora and fauna that could be damaged by treatments.