HelplessNewbie

The amount substrate I put in was really too much. My spouse removed another 5 gallons worth for me. Now it is practically flat, which is okay by me! I have included a photo. Don't mind the cable running across it; it is for the powerhead we added to help with aeration. I am now on Day 3, using Dark Start. I have a diy minipump-scrubbies filter, sponge filter with diy scrubbies diffuser, a HOB and the powerhead all going at the same time! Once it is cycled, my plan was to leave only the diy and sponge filters. I guess this should be moved to the journal section of the forum.

Can you share a link to one of his videos? Is this the guy: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCl4DEcd7cdV5Yj9RS0MB1mQ ? I couldn't find a specific video mentioning a disability.

I thought my fish would have to be renamed to the original "Fab Four", but it is still the Beatles with Yoko today! Will they be okay just being 5 of them? Is it too soon to return the mystery snail to the same tank?

The Fab Five are alive today! Hoping the group won't be forced to "disband". Have been continuing Maracyn 2.

Here is a photo of Polly, the betta. Looks like the dots cleared up! Btw, is Ich-x safe for mystery snails? Should I perform a repeat treatment on week 4, or only if dots reappear? Have noticed bloating, so have been fasting her for 3 days now. A follow-up question: is it normal to have some discoloration under the chin? I cannot tell if scales are gone. Also, the scales around her belly seem yellowish.

When I receive the Kanaplex, should I start that but discontinue the Maracyn 2 or do both, with the Jungle Fungus Clear Fizz Tabs?

Thank you for the diagnosis and treatment plan. Should this ve done for the whole tank or just individual fish? I don't have Kanaplex nor the fizz tabs readily available, will have to order for next day shipping. In meantime, what can I do? I have Maracyn 2 on hand My medicated pellets https://www.discususa.com/medicated-foods-c-7/medicine-cabinet-duo-plus-1mm-pellets-p-43.html?zenid=466vduo333hlka3p00eu6mnsj0 has kanamycin but we can't get the fish to eat. Maybe pellets were not a good choice.

Tank is 3 weeks old. Had 1 mystery snail for 2 weeks in it, but moved it to quarantine tub with betta. We are on Day 3 with the tetras and quarantining them in the 10g intended for their home. 1 nano and 1 medium ACO sponge filters, with a diy minipump+plastic scrubbies filter. Shared photo of the test tubes. Is my PH too high? My tap water is soft, so I had added Equilibrium.

Found another dead one. Two are shimmying and one of those two has a weird big white patch on its back. Photo attached.

I have noticed that water gets cloudy when my sponge filter has been off for many hours. Is there a monitor for water clarity, or a way to verify that my filters are in actual operation? We have them on smart switches but what if airline tubing somehow popped off?

Oh! I found one dead body. Okay, I omitted one piece of info, we inadvertently left the sponge filter off and didn't realize it because the treasure chest bubbler was working. It was off for 12 hours. We did 50% water change and added rescue aerators. So, we think that is why those 2 are dead... We were proactively treating the tank with ich-x and paracleanse and were fasting them. Still never found the 2nd one. Seven seem perky. There is one guy who is straggling behind the others but I am thinking it is because it is one of the smaller ones. The kids are sad. Ammonia and nitrite looks good! Moved our mystery snail to a tub, since we weren't sure ich-x or paracleanse was safe for it. How much damage will one decomposing green neon tetra cause in a 10g tank? I already bulb basted the 1 carcass I found.

Where are typical hiding places, other than plants and decorations?

Just put in and quarantining our first fish ever in their 10g tank yesterday. Can't find 2 of 10 green neon tetras today. No obvious floating bodies. Should I start beating around all the plants and decorations? I have a sinking feeling they went down went we vacuumed We didn't remember to pay attention until 2 gallons were gone. They couldn't pass through the mesh that came with the vacuum tube, right?

Thank you all for the kind words. I am hoping it will all settle flatter. This endeavor has been exhausting so far. It helps that my spouse is assisting, since I am disabled.

I took most of it out. Or rather my ever-patient spouse did. I am so discouraged. I haven't seen enough in-progess pictures of other people's scapes to be convinced that enough plants can cover my mistakes. Will post when I add a little water in the next few days.

Brand new to the hobby. Trying to set up a 20g long hybrid planted aquarium following this setup: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/15-10-hybrid-planted-aquariums/ Please be kind, I know I got cocky. Instead of laying a 1 inch level layer of the wood pellets and a 1 in level capping layer of coarse sand, I decided to create various large mounds and deep valleys. It is ugly and there is now too much substrate. It is all still pretty much dry, though the sand was damp from having been rinsed. I did not put any mesh separating the 2 layers. My question is, should I just throw all the stuff away and start over with fresh materials (I still have some), or scoop out what I can and use a screen to separate the pellets from the sand?

Based on your comments, I won't risk it. I was hoping to use it instead of buying driftwood.

I have an unused rustic wooden bowl that does not appear to have varnish, polish nor stain. Can I use this in my tank? Here it is behind a sample of my sand.

Great ideas!!! Thank you

The standard airline tubing appears to be 3/16" outside diameter. I am paranoid about leaks, so was hoping to clamp my connections. Can someone instruct me on what kind to get and where to source them?

I am new to the hobby. Family decided to try fish-in cycling in a 2.5 gal clear tub (quarantine tank). PH is 6.8, buffer 40 kh, hardness 25, 0 chlorine, nitrite and nitrate only slightly pinkish on test stri but not registering enough to be 10 ppm for both. Test tube ammonia measured at 0.5ppm. After this, I did 30% water change. The tub had a bunch of plants for 6 days (fyi, applied api quick start), then I moved all but one piece (in photo) to its future home, a 10g tank. I have no seed bio-filtering material from an existing tank. Betta has been in this tub for 4 days. So, tub is 10 days old. Nano sponge filter with airstone has been in there since day 1. Water kept at 77 F. Her cup water from petco was 75 F. Light from a basic household led bar on for only 5 hours at a time and angled away from tub. She seems okay, has good appetite (just fed her 2 eyeballs worth for first time yesterday). She is exploring, follows your finger, sometimes goes up and down along front of tub. I think she sees her reflection so I will be covering the tub with a blanket or something. Other than her appearance, she seems ok so far but I wouldn't know since I am new. White stuff on mouth is not protruding. I initially thought the white on her eye was the "white" of her eyeball, like a human. LOL, but I don't think it is supposed to be white. The rest of her cornea(?) is red, like her scales. The white dots are sprinkled on her body and a few on the base of her tail and on the fin on the bottom close to the tail (can't remember what it is called). Also one dot on the part covering (but not the actual) gills. Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi, this is the family's first fish. Is that ich on her eye and body? What about the cloudy whitish film on her lip?

If I don't I don't have nylon stockings nor media bags, can I use the white bags my plants came packaged in that keeps them moist? Will cheesecloth work? I was planning on putting a little calcium carbonate in some filter-capable bag and inserting in my hob filter to help raise buffer and/or ph a little.

Okay, why can't I remove the quote above? Anyway, I am pleased to know there are such services out there. At my LFS, though, they didn't volunteer or offer to give or exchange used filter media to help me get started. Btw, I asked at PetSmart if they would give me gunky water from their tank clean outs but they gave me blank stares and said it was all gone...

This article suggested disposing of filter media when putting away using a quarantine tank: https://www.bettacarefishguide.com/betta-quarantine-tank-guide/ If the quarantined fish turned out recovered or healthy, why shouldn't I just stick the filter media back into my main tank?