Scaperoot

After losing several fish last week, I ordered some extra nets and tweezers for our (5) tanks. What method do you guys use to avoid cross contamination between tanks? I'm thinking of doing something to separate tools/nets by color for each tank. Do you use colored tape? Is there anything else I can use to mark each tool with a color that goes with each tank? I was thinking of using something like this on the side of each tank, and match each net and tool to it.

Our Pictus catfish appears to have Ich, so I’m treating the community tank. I had to order another heater since we only have two and they’re in use. We had the same issue in this tank a year ago and we managed to treat the fish effectively with just salt. That was before converting to live plants though.

Last week, my Cardinal Tetras (11) had Ich. I separated them, treated with Salt and IchX, and eventually lost them all. I lost a Molly who was pineconing a few days later. He was still behaving normally and eating when I separated him, but he died shortly after. The last fish that died got stuck behind a breeder, totally my fault. Those were all in our 40 gallon. Now I'm seeing what appears to be Ich on 5 of our Ember Tetras in the 10 gallon. I believe the Ich came on some plants I added last week. I added plants from the same fish farm to both tanks. In the 40, we were about to begin the process of transitioning from the filter cartridges to bio rings and filter pad. Never got that far. None of the other fish in the 40 appear to have Ich (hopefully).

There are cpds, otos, shrimp, and a couple Nerites.

I found Ich on 5 of our Ember tetras a little while ago. Along with IchX, I was told to use aquarium salt as well. How much should I use in a heavily planted 10 gallon? I’ve lost 13 fish this week (various reasons), so I’d like to get ahead of this. My wife suggested removing the plants from the tank first. Is that necessary?

This was a tough one. I appreciate the kindness I always receive on the forum. This is the hardest part of being in the hobby. Glad to know others can empathize.

He didn’t make it😞 He was my favorite fish. Can’t believe how quickly he went after I noticed the pineconing. There were no signs last night.

He is a Leopard Red Molly, I believe. I got him at a Petco last year, and they had various Mollies together.

Anything I can do to save him? He looked fine yesterday. Water temp in this community tank is about 72 degrees. I’ve had him (Keanu) since last summer.

3 of the Cardinals died yesterday. Oddly enough, none of the 3 showed signs of Ich. I checked each one and couldn't find a single spot on them. The ones with what appears to be Ich are still in quarantine. I think I stressed them out in the process of catching them.

Thank you to everyone for the tips. Greatly appreciated.

We have about 40-50 fish altogether, including Platy fry (a dozen) that were born 2 weeks ago. We have a couple mollies, several Platys, some cherry barbs, various Corydoras, about 10 Cardinal Tetras, a few Nerites, and one large mystery snail.

We just picked up a box of 15 MM, 10.2 oz Siporax for our 40 breeder. The hope is to get away from using the replaceable cartridges. What's the best way to transition? The filter is a Marineland Pengin Bio-wheel power filter (50-75 gallons, 350 GPH). If we place the bio rings in a media bag, along with a piece of filter pad, how long before we can remove the original cartridges for good? I'm reading that it could take up to 8 weeks for a bacteria colony to get established. Any concerns with these particular rings? The owner of the fish store (ACO partner) convinced us that these work better than the ceramic ones.

I picked up some Ambulia from a local fish farm to fill in some gaps with others previously purchased from the same spot. Also moved a Red Tiger Lotus from another tank.

The last water change was performed over a week ago. I added a few plants this weekend. The only other change in the tank would be the birth of about a dozen Platy in the last 2 weeks. The fish are well fed, and fasted on Sunday. It took us two hours to catch the Tetras, so I didn't have time to do a liquid test on the water. I forgot to mention that we've had the Tetras for nearly a year. The last time we added fish to the tank was 4-6 weeks ago.

Yesterday, we separated 11 Cardinal Tetras from our community tank after noticing 3 or 4 with what we believe to be Ich. No pics, sorry. We only see it on these Tetras, despite having over 40 fish in the 40 breeder. Should I have just treated the whole tank just in case? Last year, we treated the whole tank after our Pictus Catfish got it. In that instance, we did see it spread to other fish. Is it safe to assume this will spread again? I haven't seen any signs of Ich on the other fish, as of this morning.

This is our oldest planted tank, a 10 gallon aquarium. We currently have cpds, ember tetras, a few Otos, Nerite snails, and cherry shrimp ( with new babies!). The scape began with just a small piece of driftwood that has Anubias attached. That was my first aquatic plant. Once I saw how nice it looked, I added a dragon stone and went all out on plants. I love Ambulia and Red tiger lotus, and they’re both doing so well here. I’m proud of this tank because it’s been the most difficult to manage. Early on, I lost so many fish and snails as I learned things the hard way. We have be baby cpd and about a dozen baby shrimp as of last week, and that makes it all worth it. Couldn’t be happier with how the tank is flourishing at 9 months. Fun story would be how I once had nothing in this tank but eco complete and mystery snails, and I would make videos of them moving around the tank with Minions music and sounds in the background lol. I actually lost those videos when I dropped my phone in one of our tanks.

In our 40 breeder, we had Dalmation Mollies that gave birth to dozens of fry. This was over a year ago, when we first started a community tank. I was over the moon, but didn't know anything about breeding, fry care, tank mate issues, etc. One morning, I go to check on them and don't see any. I finally see one little guy swimming towards the front of the tank, and in a split second our Tiger Barb Tony comes in and scoops him up. Gone in a flash. I carried the guilt of that for weeks. I even set up a 10 gallon just for fry, but the ones I put there never survived. A year later, and the 40 breeder is now heavily planted, and full of fry! I have a wall of Ambulia that our Platys love to give birth in. Our 10 gallon has fry and even (as of last week) baby shrimp! It's the most satisfying feeling for me as a hobbyist. Give your fish some good cover, and stay encouraged🙂

We currently have a tank with diamond blasting sand, one with pool filter sand, two with eco complete, and one with aqua soil. The one that has thrived the most, incredibly, is the one with the pool filter sand. I set it up with various stem plants, as well as Anubias and Buce. The only reason Kant that didn’t do well was Hygrophila Pinnatifida. Everything else is thriving. The tank with black diamond sand is doing well, except for the back wall of Ambulia, but I think it’s the strong flow that’s hurting those plants. Otherwise, crypts and other stem plants are doing well. I have a hate/hate relationship with the Eco complete. My hands are too big to properly set up stem plants in there, so I often ended up snapping stems in my efforts to plant. My wife helps me get those in now lol. I also don’t like the look once the mulm really settles. My favorite look is the black sand with the green contrast from plants and other colors from the fish. I’m not sure why the white cloud island tank with pool filter sand is doing so well in comparison to the rest. Might be because it’s the one I set up for my wife and planned the longest. I have root tabs in both sand substrates, and I dose easy green. I’m going to be rescaping two of the tanks, and can’t decide whether to go with the black diamond or pool filter. Not sure my wife wants me to copy hers lol. …third and fourth pics are eco complete.

I got scolded on Reddit for asking this question. I was told NOT to raise the temp on my Minnows, because they need to stay in colder water. Our female Betta shares a 20 long with Golden Minnows and CPDs, at 76 °F with no issues.

Sounds like a plan. Thank you🙏

I forgot to ask about water temp. There's no heater in this tank. I can add one, but would that be a problem for the fish that have been in there for months at a lower (72*) temp? The guppies are all males.

Has anyone had success adding a male Betta to a stocked community tank? We have a 20 long with white cloud minnows, 4 Julii Corydoras, and 4 yellow/orange guppies. I was able to introduce a female to a group of 10 CPDs in a different tank, but I'm wondering if a male could adapt as well.

This is how his tap tested. By the time I read the recent replies, he had done a 50% water change. This is how the tank is testing now.

It turns out that my FIL had not done a water change in 2 months. Aside from that, does he need to physically remove this from plants and decorations? Should we consider using Excel?