Yambino

Thanks Mate, I will look into trying this.

Hi all, Sorry for the rather vague title, I am asking for advise on a process to clean my aquarium substrate which is covered with a large amount of algae without kicking up the soil below. To put a bit of context, several months ago I set up a brand new aquarium, with this aquarium set up I bought 2 types of substrate, JBL Manado soil for plants which sits at the base of the aquarium and some small gravel substrate to sit on top of the JBL Manado substrate, during the initial set up (putting water initially into the aquarium) I found that some of the JBL Manado soil made its way above the gravel and some of the JBL Manado soil even started floating in the water. This was not ideal. Over the course of the months following the set up, i carried out water changes and tried to manage algae growth but it seems that algae is hard to control with algae being found in the gravel and seeping all the way through down into the soil, this has me worried that even if I keep the glass clean the algae growth will get worse in the gravel leading to potentially worse outcomes in the near future, so I am looking for ways to get rid of the algae between the small gravel stones without kicking up the soil below, as I expect that some soil would end up floating in the water and possible cause the fish some issues. I would like to get peoples advice in cleaning the substrate without polluting the water with soil or having soil which should be below the gravel simply be moved around by fish making things look less pleasing. Thanks in advance

Thanks Guppysnail. I will give this a try and see.

Hi all I have a 50 liter aquarium and at the start of the year, after spending much of January removing everything and cleaning it up. I established a heated aquarium for the first time and then slowly introduced fish and snails to the aquarium The first two snailed died under mysterious circumstances and I put it down to A: Adding an incorrect dose of fertilizer to the aquarium and B: A water change that may have altered the PH level to below 7.5. After losing the first 2 snails I bought, I then bought 2 snail replacements roughly in March and both seemed to do well until 1 simply vanished. For months I could not find it. Until Sunday 09th July when I did another water change. I found the snail stuck between the 2 suction cups on the water heater. For months I searched for it, moving the filter, rocks and sifting through the plants and I gave up assuming that it somehow got out of the aquarium and was eaten by the dog. So now that I have found it. The mysterious long lost snail, by this point I thought it was dead so I smelled it, nope no smell at all, completely odorless. So I placed it at the front of the aquarium on the substrate and watched, IT MOVED. My mind was blown, but something didn't look right. The snail barely moved but not by much and on one occasion part of the snail extended out of the shell this didn't look like the normal part of a snail to stick out I couldn't describe which part of it extended out to be honest. My assumption is that this snail is barely hanging on to life, but I still have hopes it actually A: Is still alive since I didn't see it move for a few hrs at least and B: It can be nursed back to health if it is still alive. I am uncertain about how to nurse the snail, if it is possible to do so and would kindly ask the community to offer their advice. My parameters typically are around as follows: PH levels: 7.2 - 7.6 High range: 7.4 Ammonia: 0 - 0.25 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 10 - 20 PPM Temperature: 80.6F / 27C I presume I need a separate aquarium or container, matching water PH and temp?

So, I checked on my aquarium this morning and noticed that Snail 1: Still had not moved from the shell it receded to Snail 2: While it had this white trail coming from it, was still very much alive and moving around until this morning where it fell off the glass (either via harrassment or other reasons) and has now gone into recede mode as well) While Snail 2 has just decided to hide in its shell, I have taken it out and given it a smell check, there was no notable smells, however I pulled snail 1 out and smell checked it and it smelled like going off fish, so I have disposed of it, I also noticed some additional white stuff which seemed to be stuck initially to snail 1 prior to pulling it out of the water, I couldn't find the white strand like thing after it fell back into the water. I have decided to treat the entire aquarium with API Melafix. While I suspect Melafix wont address what I suspect to be parasites, I do hope that dosing the Aquarium for the next few days will help, or at least isolate the problem to the snails, whatever the problem is. As a side note, Aquarium Co-Op does supply medicine like Fritz Paracleanse however I live in Europe and I have never seen Fritz products supplied here. So I will need to source parasite meds on my side.

Hi Mmiller, The fertilizer is: Tropica Specialised Nutrition https://tropica.com/en/plant-care/liquid-fertilisers/specialised-nutrition/

So here are the photos. I hope some of this is visible. I suspect I may have to walk you through this and explain especially the snail with the white thing trailing from it. The first picture is the better one and give the clearest view of the snail which has receded into its shell, the shell looks clean and intact without any identifiable breaks or cracks at any angle, however hopefully the image speaks for itself. The green algae on the glass does not help with the mobile phones focus unfortunately. In the second image I have provided a wider view of the aquarium to encompass the positioning of both snails and to demonstrate the scale of the Brown algae growth which came about not long after the fertilizer was added to the water for the plants over 1 week ago. The final image is poor quality and understandable difficult to decipher even for me, the person taking it. However the contrast in color between the snails shell and this trailing white "string" should be visible. From my research, on similar topics elsewhere some people have speculated that this white trailing thing is most probably a parasite, however I open the door to those who have experience.

Hi Matty, Perceptive and Katherine, Thank you for the responses. The last reading of the PH was roughly 7.6 with a small margin of error, I did not do a High PH test. In regards to calcium, not sure, if there was an actual proper method to determine calcium I would absolutely give this a try. The shell seems to be fine and intact. I also didn't notice any odd smells when I investigated the snail up close (specifically referencing the snail which receded into its shell), as I heard that a sign of a dead snail was either a sulfur or at least smell especially bad however this is not the case for me. It is worth noting that on Sunday 5th Feb, concerned that maybe calcium or some other minerals were missing from the snails diet I went to the local pet shop and bought "bottom feeder" food, similar to the Hikari Sinking wafers, since I suspect that snails are bottom feeders and I have cory's then it wouldn't hurt trying, the particular food i bought included spirulina as I recall the video mentioning that, I didn't notice any of the snails feeding off the wafers, the corydoras seemed to like it though. The below is a record of my water parameter readings and the dates in which they were taken, the N/A is predominantly times I simply didn't record GH and KH but as you will see below, the test results seem remarkably consistent and show absolutely no Ammonia or Nitrites and in my limited knowledge it shows a reasonably cycled tank, many of these results were recorded at roughly the same time during the evening so as to avoid throwing unwanted variables into the mix, I am acutely aware that these are basic water parameters and don't disclose stuff like Calcium or other minerals, which may affect the fish or snails. PH GH KH AMMONIA NITRITES NITRATES 10th Jan 7.2 N/A N/A 0 0 20 11th Jan 7.6 19 4 0 0 20 14th Jan 7.2 (or 7.6) 13 -14 3 0 0 10 16th Jan 7.4 0 0 20 19th Jan 13 4 0 0 20 22nd Jan N/A N/A N/A 0 0 10 24th Jan 7.4 0 0 20 31st Jan 7.4 13 4 0 0 10 4th Feb 7.6 0 0 20 I will work on getting those photos asap, i am bit tied to my pc at the moment so the photos will be a work in progress.

Hello all, I am having some concerns over my 2 Nerite snails and wondering if there is some serious problems that this community could help shed light on. I have a 50Ltr fresh water Aquarium, Water temperature is about 25 - 25.5 degrees celcius. The 2 Nerite snails share the aquarium with 6 Corydoras and 5 Ember Tetras and live plants such as Java ferns For about 2 weeks after the snails were introduced to the Aquarium, I was amazed by the sheer speed they moved at and their insatiable appetite for the green Algae growing on the glass. Everything seemed to go fine and then I introduced some plant fertilizer to the aquarium to help promote plant growth, shortly after this, two things started to happen: 1: Brown furry algae started to appear on the rocks and some of the plants (not all) and increased green Algae in general 2: Nerite snails stopped eating, 1 went into hiding in between 2 rocks initially (in what looked to be an awkward position where I thought the snail may have become stuck) and the other simply stopped moving but remained fixed to the glass. Following what started off as frenzied snails with an insatiable appetite the snails just seemed to not move and not interested in eating, I put it down to 3 possibilities. A: Water parameters (so I tested for Ammonia spikes and the test came back as 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 10 - 20 PPM of Nitrates (acceptable for plant life) B: Temperature, temperature is about 25 - 25.5 c (77 - 77.5 degrees F) which seems to be okay C : General hardness seemed to be about 13 Gh there abouts. Following the observations of both the algae and the slow / lethargic movement of 1 snail + the immovable other snail, I firstly moved the snail that was "stuck" between two rocks, putting it into an observable location at the front and facing down (so as to not be eaten by the cories). The snail did eventually move, to the back glass of the aquarium. Where I later found the snail on its back and the snail receded completely into its shell where it still remains for the past 3 days. The second thing I did was that I carried out a 20% water change 2 days ago, thinking that maybe the water parameters may be off (too much iron??) Following the water change, 1 snail (the snail which receded) has remained unmoving and still in its shell this time turned facing down and the other snail remains on the glass, showing some life but with a white string coming out of it. From reviewing blogs and the video linked below, I am uncertain, it seems its possibly parasites? if possible, I would like to get an idea as to what I should do next Huge thanks in advance. I have watched this video

Thanks for your help Matty and also to you too @Flumpweesel

Hi Matty, My apologize for the delayed response. Honestly I think I saw the video and forgot it, so thank you for referring me back to it again. In regards to your queries about dimmable lights, no my light is not dimmable and honestly I am not even sure what type of brand of light it is. I spent some time today since I was off work to go around to pet stores in my local area and admittedly wasn't really sure either. It seems to be some fluorescent light tube T8 (unsure what that means) and with mostly unreadable writing on it besides "Daylight". So my strong suspicion is that the light tube is certainly not a plant light and most certainly not LED. The Aquarium which I am using came as a kit and I believe that the black lid with the light back as one. From my online research into the lights, most of the lights like Finnex Stingray suggested by Aquarium Co-Op (which is described as bright) ( https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/finnex-stingray-led-lights?variant=17546663108 ) would be unsuitable unless I intended on getting rid of the black lid and spending more money on a new lid. My research actually drew my attention to this https://fluvalaquatics.com/ca/aquasky/ which seems to have included fittings for T8 (still not sure what this is, but seems to match what is wrote on the inside of my Aquarium lid) however this seems particularly expensive as well and I am not 100% convinced that the length of the light would be suitable for my aquarium, I think I measured the Light tube to be between 18 - 18.5 inches in length? To further add, I noticed Flumpweesels post and the following was mentioned "Tropica premium nutrition" so I bought some of this while in stores. If light source is the only thing remaining, I would need to get some advice on this too as I have noticed that on the Aquarium Co-Ops blog post for lighting recommendation is " -- " i.e. blank. So uncertain if should spend 150 + euros on a light that may be unsuitable. if I can get assistance on this matter it would once again be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, in regards to the water parameter readings, these readings were done via API Master test kit, it is possible that I 1; Misread, 2: Didn't properly do the test or 3: 11th Dec PH = 7.2, Ammonia = between 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrates = n/a 18th Dec PH = 7.6 (introduction of rocks), Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = 10 - 20 PPM 24th Dec PH = 7.6, Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = 20 PPM. For the aquarium size I seem to have forgotten to include that detail, it is a 50 Ltr aquarium, just above the 10 gallon mark which is why I used the cookie cutter 10 gallon tank blog post as it seemed to be the closest thing without going overboard. As for lights, I am not sure what light bulb it is. The aquarium has been used for close to 15 - 20 years at this point and I don't think there has been any change or work done on this light bulb, however hopefully the photo below may offer some clear indication of its brightness. I can categorically say though that it is not an LED / fluvial light. The Light is attached to a large black aquarium lid and most certainly came with the lid. This is one of the reasons why I have not jumped at the chance of getting a really fancy (and expensive) light as I am uncertain if a replacement is even feasible for the lid. It may also be helpful to understand that this aquarium sits in between the kitchen and dining room so it is a particularly busy area, the lid is helpful so as to avoid clumsy household members from dropping stuff into the aquarium. The light cannot be dimmed. I also have a smart plug which automatically turns the light on at 18:30 and turns it off at 23:45 every night. As it was mentioned in some of the videos that consistent timing of the lights is a wise move. I have included two photo's of the aquarium the second photo is probably the best of the two so I've marked down a few observations here which are numbered in the photo 1: Are the amazon sword plants leafs which are black spots, possibly phosphate deficiency? 2: This is the Bacopa, it isn't easy to see this from the photo but there used to be a leaf at the top, two in fact. However now they seem to have molted? and are somewhat transparent 3: Is once again the Amazon sword plant and is once again difficult to make out, the first image may or may not offer more insight, but the spine of what i consider to be the largest leaf seems furry? it is dark in color but works its way to the top of the leaf along its spine. I hope that this is certainly more helpful than the original post to offer insight and hopefully can, in turn allow the community to provide more of their knowledge. Thanks in advance

Hello all, I just created this account as I am seeking advice from this community. First and foremost, I would like to extend my gratitude to Aquarium Co-op as there videos are fun and interesting to watch, so thank you for that. The reason I come to this forum though is I believe that I have a rather niche scenario and I am uncertain as to what video is most applicable to my niche case and I feel that it could not hurt to seek more knowledge. Several months ago, I lost more goldfish in my cold water aquarium, as this was not the first time and this batch of fish was relatively new (less than 2 months old) I felt compelled to stop buying new fish until I do research into what I was doing wrong and this led me down a rabbit hole of research into PH, Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia, plants, lighting, feeding and substrates. After several weeks of watching Aquarium Co-Ops videos I felt that I had just enough knowledge to lay down the foundations for what I needed for a brand new Aquarium set up and that I was going to "Go big or go home!". This marked my first dive into real plants, it also marked my first dive into a heated aquarium as I honestly love the looks of the Betta fish and other tropical fish, which seem far more lively and interesting than cold water goldfish (this could be me though) and my goal is to turn the aquarium into something to be admired to those who gaze on it. Over December I bought a bunch of new things and have been doing so by basically following this guide: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/cookie-cutter-for-10-gallon-aquarium - A heater: Fluval E Series 50 wHeater - Rocks - Plants (limnobium-laevigatum (aka Amazon frogbit), Java ferns, Bacopa monnieri compact and Amazon Sword Plant) - A brand new filter ( which I will be perfectly honest with you, I am not entirely happy with as the suction cups never stick to the aquarium and unsure if this would cause too much stress for Betta fish): Fluval U1 Underwater Filter 25 - Soil: JBL Manado 3l - Gravel: Dorset Pea Gravel 5mm 5 kg So this leads me to my questions: - I live in Europe and certain products mentioned in the Aquarium Co-Op videos are not available, such as Easy green for non-US countries. Can anyone suggest a similar product that covers all the needs for plants? - I have noticed that on the Amazon sword plant there seems to be this weird black stuff running the entire length of the spine of one leaf, it looks like it is fuzzy like some black algae, is this okay? - I have noticed that after a month, while nothing seems to have died yet, I have noticed some varying degrees of molting, especially molting of Bacopa monnieri compact's stems, some stems are just transparent and this too me suggests some iron deficiency (as per: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/plant-nutrient-deficiencies) ? - How long would it take (realistically) to confirm if things are actually going well for plant growth? - I have noticed that my Amazon frogbit has started to develop holes, could this be a lighting issue or nutrient deficiency? - The plants that I bought are considered to be low light and it was done on the following premises: 1: They were easy plants for a beginner and 2: Because it's low light, I shouldn't need to have the light on for 10 hours? - How can I confirm prior to adding fish, if the plants are creating enough oxygen for the fish? - As I work to introduce fish suggested in the "cookie cutter for 10 gallon aquarium" blog post. Is it better to buy a Betta fish first or last? is there a specific order in which the fish should be bought and introduced to the new aquarium to avoid stress, death etc.? - PH, so for the past month, with the aquarium holding some plants I have noticed that after the introduction of rocks the PH level increased from 7.2 to 7.6. I have done a few readings with the API Master test kit on PH and noticed that since the rocks were introduced it seems to have settled at 7.6 which seems too high for tetras? I know there is a lot of questions here, so I do appreciate the time anyone takes to assist me on the above