Boulder_Betta

Thank you so much! And the bridge won’t require any drilling into the glass; rather, it’ll be more like a long, upside down U that I feed in from the top and will only have to drill into the lid.

Although I don't know a ton about barbs, the bloated area seems to be a bit further forward than the egg area for females of most species. If it's not that, my best guess would be that it's probably something to do with swim bladder- have they been eating a lot recently? Many people will tell you that a common side effect with swim bladder issues is that the fish is "jumping" in the water, almost in a Super Mario Bros. sort of way to not sink, but even when the symptoms and the causation all point to swim bladder issues with my cardinals, they can usually maintain a good amount of buoyancy in the water. Hope all goes well! 🙂

So sorry to hear about this, hope everything goes well. This really depends on how long the tank's been up and running, but a big red flag that I saw was that you're changing the filter cartridge. Don't. We've all made this mistake because the company is trying to sell more products, but in the big picture, this is a horrible idea that I wish I had learned about sooner. By replacing your filter, you're also replacing all of the beneficial bacteria that's been growing on it, so when you take that colony out, you should expect an ammonia spike when a new colony is developing to counteract the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. The solution to this? Simple: just rinse out the used cartridge in a bucket of 'dirty' tank water after a water change, then put it back in. That being said, I'm not sure what's causing the oily stuff at the top of the tank- I'm going through that in both of my tanks right now, but because they're biologically fine, I'm guessing that it's maybe residue from something I've touched without washing my hands enough afterwards- just a guess. Good luck! Also- welcome to the forum!

So I'm helping my friend set up a 75G tank that'll likely be stocked with 5-6 discus and a couple dozen cardinals, as well as a 55G that we'll likely bridge with the 75 as to increase the water volume and swimming space (ever since the beginning, my friend has really wanted a bridge so I'm gonna use at least 6 inch diameter clear PVC to make it, if not 8 inch)- if bridging ends up being too complex, we'll probably divide the 55G into two or three quarantine tanks. But for this to work, I need to know: should I filter and heat each tank individually (one canister filter each, two sponges and maybe a HOB/internal, as well as two heaters) or do the previously mentioned setup but for both of them combined, just with a higher GPH? Same question for stocking, since there's extra water volume but I don't know if they'll prefer one tank over the other.

So… when I was doing water changes recently, I was cleaning the filter when I found out why the meds weren’t working: I completely forgot to remove the carbon. I removed it and his fins are healing much faster now and his personality is so much better, and so haven’t added any more meds/salt.

Back before so actually knew what I was doing as a fishjeeper and did 100% water changes with frog removal, I once dropped him but he just hopped along the floor like other frogs do, so I’m guessing that they can survive out of water for brief periods of time, but I’m not positive. What’s your secret to getting such healthy floating plants though?

First off, I just want to congratulate you- a 55 gallon community tank is every frog’s dream home, so great job on that part. When you say that he’s on the plants, is the setup like a paludarium with an intended basking area or is he jumping out?

1) RODI is essentially rainwater, but with a whole lotta filtration to make it safer to drink. 2) Never tried it, but if the breeding tank doesn’t have any plants, then API has a ton of products to change the hardness to the desired level.

I’m so sorry for your loss- I felt the same way when I lost my girl Crescent after my yo-yo loach stressed her to a point where dropsy killed her. I’m 87% sure that he died from a fungal infection (it might be bacterial, but fungal is way more likely), as the ”stuff that looked like mold almost, coming off his gills” is one of the primary symptoms of it- the same thing happened when I first tried to make a sorority. If this happens in the future, salt and maracyn/erythromycin are gonna be your best bets for recovery. Hope this helps.

Although I've never kept discus, I know a trick that might work to help if they end up having the same dominance issues as your tiger barbs, but this method might take a lot of trial and error, as well as being a temporary eyesore considering the discus' size compared to the size of the 'leader'- just hear me out. Whenever I'm in that sort of situation of there being a backup aggressor that takes power when the "top" fish is taken out of the tank, what I've found to work is that I add a fish that is infamously flashy/bossy (but not aggressive after the first few hours of when the hierarchy is first being established), e.g. a betta, male gourami (females might work), etc, so that the other fish will stay together with equal "status", in fear of the common enemy. If all goes well, you may be able to remove the intended aggressor after a few days/weeks and let the discus swim peacefully without issues, but the risk of fin nipping and stress is extremely high, so I'd recommend some small tetras/rasboras as dither fish, if you have room in the tank. I've had several successes with this method in the past between my cardinal tetras and female bettas (it also helps the tetras school tighter), but idk if it's safe for young discus, so if you choose to go down this route, I'd recommend using a plant-free tank until the fish have found peace, so you can add any medications straight to the tank without quarantining everybody- except for any strained fins from the intended aggressor. Hope this helps!

Lol

They should be fine. I've found anubias (especially barteri, but all species work well) to be really hardy with anything you put it against, and if you give it a couple months to take root in a couple inches of gravel (doesn't have to be nutrient-rich), Jungle val will grow back quicker than you can do a water change if it receives any damage from them, and if you're willing to do a lot of cutting and replanting of the clippings, pearlweed will make an easy, beautiful carpet, as long as you have nutrient-rich substrate. Hope this helps!

Ever since I brought my halfmoon betta home (thinking of naming him Michelangelo or something like that) from Aquashella Dallas '22, he immediately started harassing the cardinals, shrimp and guppies in my 29 gallon tank which strained and damaged his fins, so I put him in his current temporary 3-gallon cycled quarantine tank with a sponge filter, heater set to 78 (now 81), no decorations/plants, and freshwater salt and API erythromycin. I tried to use a pH neutralizer because it was at 6.2-6.6 ppm, but because its effects only lasted a day or so unlike advertised, I haven't really been giving him that since, because that seemed to be the turning point from healing going back to more damage- then (back from his 29G residence) vs now below. Ammonia and nitrites at zero, nitrates at a constant ~15, GH around 130, and KH at 50. At this point, all of the medications and additives I've used have been a big waste of money, and I'm really trying to avoid Methylene Blue, just because I don't have the time for daily water changes since I've worked my schedule around reliance on the beneficial bacteria, which been highly trustworthy in all of my tanks thus far. Any suggestions on what I can do to affordably heal him until he's ready to go back in the community 29, or a personal 5-gallon? (Note: I also have a 10-gallon with constant 0 ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, but there's 3 pea puffers in there, so I do have a last resort ready for him, at the cost of starting a war in the now-peaceful tank.)