Beckybettas

rock collecting, pickle ball and struggling with cello

How big is your aquarium? Is it planted? Kuhli loaches are bottom feeders but mine are not a good clean up crew. Ramshorn snails are much better. They will quickly eat almost anything. Their down side is that they rapidly multiply and their numbers can quickly get out of controll especially if you are over feeding. When you do water changes do you vacumm your gravel? oops sorry I just realized you already said.

I found black mold growing inside the lid of a 1 gallon bottle of Fritzyme and just want to give every body a heads up. I figured this was not a good thing and tossed the bottle out. The bottle had only been open for a month so not really that long but how long does it last for other people? Should it be kept in the fridg ? Thanks

That is good info to know, thankyou. I dont have RO water, there is no room here for an RO system. I use tap water. I added the crushed coral about a year ago to stabilize ph. which has been stable at 7.2 . It was dropping from 7 ish down to 6 over night. Fortunately there were no fish in the aquarium during that time.

Could be, I thought a scud would be smaller and I didnt realize they were scavengers. but this a major relief. Thankyou! So perhaps my unexpected fish fry could eventually eat them? That would be great. I will check, thankyou.

thankyou, Yes, you are right the ammonia level is concerning and its been a chronic problem in all my aquariums since I started keeping fish again, almost a year ago. My tap water does indeed have ammonia, its increased from .25 to .5 so when I do a water change Im just replacing amonia with more ammonia. Its been a balancing act trying to have enough food available for the kuhlis, mystery snail and shrimp (which were all out competed by an explosion of ramshorn snails) and not over feeding.. Adding an assasssin snail has helped with snail controll. Any way Ive tried lots of differnt things to lower the ammonia, nothing made any difference. Ive been just using sponge filters but recently added a HOB filter (was able to find one that fit the Fluval lid) containing carbon and ammonia filters which helped somewhat. Then I tried removing the carbon filter and replacing it with another peice of ammonia filter and my ammonia level dropped to 0. So I stopped using the ammonia filters for a week to see if really still needed to continue to use them and the answer is yes, so this has been my experiment. Ive continued to use old sponge filter so I dont think my cycle crashed.

This morning I woke up to a dead kuhli loach and a mystery snail. Help The snail has been lethargic and flipping onto her back for a couple of days, Ive turned her over several times but would find her on her back again. Ive had her for 7 months. She has laid several clutches but I removed them. I rescued last clutch that was floating and it looked like some had hatched so I gently crumbled the eggs and now have about 15 of her babies in a snail nursery and so far they are active and growing. Hazelnut was quite large so dont think one assassin snail could kill her but I could be wrong. I havent noticed any changes with the kuhlis but found a dead one this morning. Ive had them for about 8 months. The dead kuhli had a tiny white almost shrimp like thing attached to its belly plus some tiny blobs on her head that I think were baby rh snails. Am wondering if this is a parasite? What do you all think? The aquarium is planted 32 G, has been set up for about 10 months. Occupants are 5 kuhli, ramshorn snails, 1 assassin snail, 7 dwarf neon rainbow fish and 5 amano shrimp. 4 of the rainbow fish were added a week ago . I treated this aquarium late may and early June with Expel P and then Para cleanse after I had fish with dropsy, pop eye and wasting. The survivors seemed better so I added some new fish last week. The new guys might be rubbing against plants but they are so fast its hard for me to be sure. Temp 78-80, ph 7.2, ammonia .25, nitrite 0, nitrate 5. I did a 40% water change 3 days ago and the parameters were the same as todays. I did add ammonia filter back to HOB then also. I was experimenting to see if new filter made a difference and it did.

That has helped me immensly. I have a new favorite web site. Thankyou.

I have plakats and an alien in 10G and 15G tanks. They are all over their tanks and have no trouble swimming. I admit long finned bettas are gorgeous but I think breeders have gone too far. I dont want a fish that is unable to swim freely or has to resort to self mutilation in order to move off the bottom of its tank. Plakats are every bit as colorful and have a variety of fin types also. I had a giant plakat in 32G with amanos but I never saw them so I thought he had an expensive snack. After he passed I suddenly started seeing all 7 shrimp every where.. The betta seemed pretty chill but apparently he intimidated them and they were always hiding. Your tank looks lovely. My only concern is that the peice on the right looks like it has some sharp edges which could tear betta fins.

Ive recently become more interested in shrimp. I was wanting to replace a deceased giant betta with small gouramis but also wanted to try something different. Im enjoying my goofy amano shrimp and they seem to be doing well so was thinking shrimp but maybe larger and Ive been doing some research but theres a lot of conflicting info. Anyway I unexpectedly found an unlabeled singapore wood shrimp with vampire shrimp so brought her home. So far she has just hung out on the front or underneath the HOB filter but Im hoping she will be more outgoing eventually. I know its a filter feeeder so Ive been dropping a small pinch of fry food in front of the filter 1 or 2 times a day. Is this necessary? One site says they dont feeding, they can live off of plant fragments ect in the water column? If this goes well I may add a another one in a few weeks or maybe a vampire shrimp. Some sites say vampire shrimp grow to 4 inches others say six +, so not sure if I have enough room? I dont want to overstock. Its a 32 G, 34"x 15"x 16". I slightly turned up the HOB and sponge filters. Sorry the pic is upside down, I dont know how to fix it. tank mates are: 1 mystery snail, ramshorn snails, 1 assasin snail, 6 kuhli loches, 7 dwarf neon rainbow fish Do you think this will work? Any tips or info is appreciated

I always have ammonia in my tap water. 0,5 , so not as high as yours., but my aquariums always tested at .5 to 1 ammonia. Ive tried all kinds of things that didnt work. I added 2 peices of co ops ammonia filter to a new HOB filter about 2 weeks ago and tonight it tested 0 for first time in 9 months! I dont have room for a RO system so can't reccomend one. Hope you find something that works for you.

Are you using tap water? Have you tested it for ammonia?

I think I know which ones.....they are lovely.....how exciting! Good luck with them!

@Lavender which ones are you getting?

Ive bought several bettas from Prism and they have all been very colorful and active little characters. I did have one terrible experience tho but it was not Prisms fault at all. I had purchased a rare wild female sorority and was expecting them to be delivered the next morning as the tracking info showed them to be at a facility just 30 miles away. They didnt arrive, I should have called but I had covid and was in no shape to drive to pick them up. They arrived the next morning in a cold box and were DOA. I was heart broken. She did give me a prompt refund for the fish and shipping. Like Root said check their feed back. I would buy fish online only if they were sent overnight and follow the tracking info closely. I have bought 4 from Prism and they arrived very healthy and beautiful, just like their pictures. There is another online fish store that I wont buy from again as they arrive healthy than slowly die off and I have major probs in one tank right now with them. Buying online is pretty much the only way for me to get fish. Nearest box stores are 30 to 60 miles and they are iffy. Nearest FS is 60 miles and every time I go they have several tanks with sick or dying fish.

thankyou

I just recently added a HOB with carbon and ammonia filters in a 32 G. I also use easy green, easy iron and root tabs and plants are doing well but am wondering if the filters will affect the Easy Green? Do I need to adjust the dosing, temporarily turn off the HOB, do nothing or ?

I added a HOB filter with purigen about a week ago. I had removed the original filters to make more room for the fish and have been using a sponge filters instead. I wasnt sure if I could find one that fit into the top of my 32G Flex but fortunately a Tidal 35 fits perfectly. I added purigenn and its been running for a week now. Im continung to use the sponge filter as well. Ammonia levels dropped to less than .25 but today up to .5, ph 7.4, nitrite < .25, nitrate 5. I should also say that my tapwater has .5 ammonia as well so I have ammonia present in all my tanks (.25 to .5)but other fish are looking OK. 2 more rainbow fish in the 32 G are not looking well, 1 is bloated, 1 is wasting, both have white poop. Ive started the oral paracleanse that Colu reccommended but the sick ones are not eating. Not sure if the kuhli loaches will eat it and am worried left over medicated food will spike ammonia. May have to dose entire tank? Anyway am going to pick up carbon filter today (30 + miles). Ive been hesitant to make too many changes all at once so I could figure out was is going on. Hyger sponge filters for other tanks ( two 10 G, two 15G) arrived today, am going to try adding some ammonia flters to them. May have to go to HOB filters for 10G, but HOB filters for 15G wont fit with lids. Im open to suggestions, not sure what else to do. No ammonia bubbles in any tanks. Thankyou for helping.

Thnakyou. but I still havent been able to catch the fish with popeye but found a RBF near death yesterday on bottom of tank, can only find 3 out of 6 kuhlis and those look like they have inflamation near their gills.......and I thought fish would be easier than an axolotl...... so wrong!

I added a new sponge filter that was soaking in a cycled tank for acouple of weeks, last week. My 10 G quarentine tank is getting a new occupant tomorrow (bad timing) so cant use that one but have just set up a 2.5G . I do will do the salt and kanaplex and have increased the Complete. Thankyou for your help. This is starting to be a bit overwhelming but very thankful for ACo-op and this group.

Thank you Colu for the info. Since I was missing some of the ingredients plus not sure if the loaches would get enough cuz they are competing with snails I followed the package directions and dosed the whole tank twice. Everything did ok, mystery snail and shrimp are more active, rainbows are hiding less but kuhlis don’t seem too happy. But now I have more problems…at least one of the rainbows has Popeyes in both eyes and looks to be starting to pinecone but they are eating ok. A couple rainbow fish now have white poop.Loaches hiding more and eating less. My ammonia levels have gone up too and are staying at 1 so wondering if cycle crashed or something else is going on. Have done a couple of 30-50% water changes and added more bacteria but that hasn’t helped. Ammonia 1, nitrite 0, nitrate < 5, ph 7.2, temp 78 not sure what to do next, thinking about Kanaplex?

Hi, Im looking for advice on safely medicating fish. Its a 32 gallon with ramshorns, bladders, 1 assassin, 1 mystery snail, 5 amano shrimp, 7 pracox rainbows, 5-7 kuhli loaches and a deceased giant betta. I also found a deceased rain bow fish yesterday. I added 7rainbow fish about 3 weeks ago and no I didnt quarentine. The betta recently was lethargic quit swimming, stopped eating and just rested on top of his see shelter near the surface. He became severly bloated and pine coned, I didnt want him to continuing to suffer so I put out of his misery. When I netted him I noticed a small greenish-brown jelly like blob on his side. The deceased rainbow fish just stayed at the surface, not eating and got very thin. So Im thinking possible parasites. I had noticed the betta and some rainbows occasionally rubbing on plants. The betta also had a small round brown spot on his eye that never changed. I dont want to loose any more fish, Some more meds arrived today so what should I use? I m sorry but I didnt get fish pics. Here is a tank pic. parameters: ph 7.2, ammonia .5 ( my tap H20 is also .5), nitrite 0, nitrate 5, temp 77-79

Good point! Thankyou

I removed the built in filters and replaced them with sponge filters. My tap water has 0.5 ammonia and the aquariums are almost always 0.25 (rarely 0.5). Im having trouble posting pics