Tony s

I think I might just fill the tank and see if it dissolves on it's own. This would do 2 things. 1- it would dissolve the salt hopefully or at least soften it. 2- it would perform a leak check on the tank. Especially important for a used tank. as for disinfecting it. if it's been dried out for a while there is really no need. not much of anything is going to survive being dried out. or you could rinse it in a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution and dry it out again

I Had a group of 6 skunks completely hide in a 75g. I doubled them to 12, now they are all over the place.

depends on the snail. I've had them escape their tanks and look completely dried out before. threw it back in the tank and later it was back up and going again.

Right, which is the point of having it there. It's just a set in and forget about kind of thing. ready to use whenever you need it.

Top of the sponge having air coming out

You could turn the air pump down. But some water flow would be essential to getting your bacteria to grow through it.

I have something similar running in the 75. But you would need the air pump running on it, it would need some flow through it to grow a good colony

I run an fx2 in a 75g and I have a sponge filter going in the back at all times. Mostly for aeration, but it works really good for a quarantine filter as well. Cory has always said you can’t have too much air in the tank 🤣 A plain sponge doesn’t really give much flow, just a bit. Unless you have coops new style with the long bent tubing

@Cjbear087 honestly, I think we all basically said the same things in different ways. A extra sponge filter running at all times in your primary tank works best. Leave your quarantine tank empty and dry until you need it. And transfer over the sponge only when you need it. Instant cycle. I wouldn’t use any kind of anti bacterial meds unless you see something going on. It usually takes about 4 weeks to get a good bacteria colony going doing it like this. Anti parasitic meds can be used at anytime. They shouldn’t mess with your cycle. I’d also leave any fish in quarantine for 4 weeks. Think of this as your opportunity to observe them carefully to make sure they’re fully healthy. And treat them only as needed. For the pre filter sponge, there may not be enough surface area to establish a big enough colony to be effective. as for disinfecting your sponge if you do see a problem. Letting it completely dry out for a few weeks should be sufficient to kill most pathogens. try this, it’s long but very informative

Back when I used to do lab research, a 2% bleach solution was considered effective for 99% of most pathogens. and yeah, stay away from the splashless bleach. The additive that makes it splashless, leaves a residue that is difficult to remove.

Colu had a response to cinnibuns question about a thick lipped gourami and dropsy currently visible on the list. The same advice and recipes should work for your flowerhorn as well. Hopefully it is actually a bacterial infection

Slightly off topic, the rock changing ph thing that they are talking about. Some rocks are limestone based, seiryu is one I believe, and those rocks will raise your kh and ph as they dissolve. They’re made of calcium carbonate the same as wondershell or crushed coral. There are no rocks capable of lowering ph that I’m aware of.

Sometimes with our livestock, after a bought of hard coughing, they get prolapses. The only thing we can do is to sew a ring around the rectum to keep the prolapse in. And making sure there are no blockages. Occasionally this heals completely incorrectly no matter how we sew it and we lose them anyway. Not saying this happened, but an incorrect healing could be an option. Possibly we need to ask the expert. @Colu ?

I have found that if you switch devices. The new device doesn’t have the limits 🤣

Na, but I like helping. and I'm stuck behind a computer most of the day making sure my equipment runs correctly. So I have time to learn lots of things. That and I usually over obsess about whatever I'm learning. 🤣 And I'm a bit older than you and have lots of experience in other things. Like raising livestock, just usually not fish. but most of it translates to a good degree. And I've been my own boss for 40 years so used to figuring things out. Some of the rating may be due to the thickness of the glass. but if your careful with it, it should do just fine.

I think I would

Sorry to hear about your animals 😪 At this point, It's just a waiting game. your ammonia is down low enough for your tank to cycle. It just takes time. If anything, I might add a bit more bacteria for a bit of a boost. If you change water at this point you could actually begin starving your bacteria colony.

My main question is why would you want to add that level of complexity to your situation. I'd leave it running in the main tank until you actually need it. It's not doing any harm in there and it's bacteria colony is just going to get stronger.

I have no idea, you'd have to measure your inside tank dimensions. That lid would fit tanks from Petco. Sometimes that's not the same. PetSmart doesn't carry the long/tall tanks like Petco.

for lids it doesn't. but for tanks that had kit lights, you'll want to measure from the inside lip to the inside lip. including what your kit light was sitting on. and match those exactly. petsmart should have them in stock by where they have the lights. and they should match petsmarts tanks

petsmart has the premade ones to fit your tank. Home depot/Lowes has polycarbonate or plexiglass that can be table sawed to fit your exact tank. The double walled ones are kind of nice. sawn the right way they kind of act like their own hinge

If you don’t have enough algae you could just supplement them with algae tabs and they’ll be fine And you could run both types of filters to catch the fines. Most of my tanks operate that way. hob as a primary and sponge as a backup and for aeration. But you’d have to replace your hob

If you have enough available tank algae or biofilm, they do just fine. Last year I raised about a hundred of them and did nothing at all for them. but I usually have enough (too much) algae.

Depends on how handy you are. DIY lids are very functional. but you have to cut it to fit. or have the place your buying materials for cut it for you. you can use plexiglass or double walled polycarbonate lids if you can find the materials. last time I checked at a home store, i couldn't find what i was looking for. other than that, your petsmart has them in stock and ready to go.

It’s actually a reduction in the kh values that lowers your ph. Kh levels are the carbonates or the alkalinity. Where calcium and magnesium are your hardness and your gh values. The normal form of calcium is calcium carbonate. So it contains both. When you add in your baking soda. You’re actually raising the kh of your water. Which buffers your ph. and yeah. With every water change your water will want to revert back to 7 ph