Mercfh

FWIW He came out last night and I saw no indication of fungus on him. I imagine where he sleeps just has it and it's on his face when he swims out. 🤷‍♂️

I sort of wonder if where he "sits" grows a lot of bio-film so it's just attached to him until he starts swimming around. I'd assume a fungus wouldn't just "disappear" after 30 min or so of moving around.

Will try. it's tough because he's hiding most of the day tbh.

So I have a 55g tank, it's cycled and I do a 20-25% water change once a week (All water params are good). One weird thing i've noticed is my raphael catfish appears to have a bio-film on his face (very long stringy white threads) when he comes out of his hole to eat. I know the first thought is...ok obviously fungus or similar but the thing is I notice this bio-film gone as he eats and moves around (So it'll be there when he comes out...but then be gone a little later) So I know they don't move much during the day..is it possible he's just getting bio-film around him when he eats or that sorta just grows near where he lays? (I have a healthy amount of algae/bio-film in the tank, nothing crazy but the fish graze on it so I leave it). Otherwise the tank isn't dirty and no other fishes display any problems. FWIW the fish looks in good health and I only notice the "threads" when he comes out first thing during feeding time, then they appear to go away after awhile. These "threads" are also very long stringy threads near the head area and not like a fluffy patch or anything. Any ideas?

gh is 10, kh is 5. FWIW i had 3 guppies prior and added 3-4 and the others didn't do this. So far i've only seen it 1-2 times today. from 2 diff ones. I guess ill just keep an eye on them for now. It is odd the 2 flashed in the same place (in front of a castle decor) maybe they are marking their territory or something. Since the recent 3-4 we added are all males. (Only male guppies in the tank)

So I have a 29g with 8 small ember tetras/ 6 male guppies and some corys. I noticed today 2 different guppies were "flashing" (I had never seen such behavior and had to look it up) but they were flicking themselves on the sand. Water parameters are fine, 0 ammonia/0 nitrite/30-40 nitrate (I did a water change after just in case). Looked around and saw no signs of ich (No spots). It was odd to me that 2 different guppies did it, both near a decoration. Is this sometimes normal? Both guppies are fat and seem normal otherwise?

Yeah getting more corys was going to be probably my next approach. Since they are so active and just fun! Weirdly enough one of the corys will swim with my tetras lol

@Scapexghost On Both tanks? See that's kinda how I felt (Not double.....but the 55g especially seems not very stocked). I mean I see people talk about keeping 20-30 tetras in a 20 gallon and yeah the serpae tetras are larger....but overall the tank isn't very crowded at all. Especially since the kuhli's hide a lot (and have basically negligible bioload). The Raphaels are large.....but also hide a lot during the day too. So I guess AqAdvisor feels just SUPER conservative in this case, but being new I don't want to overload it. Also I guess I don't really care for "big showpiece fish" as I'd rather have more smaller fish personally. My catfish are kinda my showpieces (even if they only show their faces at night haha)

Spray bar is in the middle. My intake/outtake is like @nabokovfan87 is. But my spray bar is in the "middle/long" part. @nabokovfan87 Would how yours is set up make all the poop just flow to the other end? (Unable to be sucked up?)

So I know stocking is kind of a hard thing to determine, but I wanted to post my current stocking for my 29g and my 55g (Both planted pretty well) to make sure no-one thought anything was out of whack (I'll post aqadvisor % next to it as well, which I know is kind of conservative). Filtration for both is plenty 29G: (Aquaclear 50 + Coop Med Sponge filter) 6 Fancy Guppies 8 Ember tetras (I think, they are really small orange/red tetras smaller than Neon tetras) 10+ or so shrimp 6 Peppered Corys 1 Clown Pleco 2 Neritie Snails a bazillion bladder snails AqAdvisor - Says 106% (Which feels about right, I hit 40-50ish nitrates after about a week and a half or two. 55G: (Fluval 407 + Coop Large Sponge Filter) 5 Kuhli's 3 Neon Tetras (Had 6 but lost some) 7 Serpae Tetras 2 Mystery Snails 2 Nerite Snails 6 Bronze Cory's 1 Spotted Raphael Catfish 1 Striped Raphael Catfish AqAvisor - Says 105% (This feels right, but there are some ones I'd like to sort of "add to" to feel fuller. Specifically the Corys and Tetras). But I don't want to go crazy overstocking. I know AqAdvisor can be conservative. But does anyone have opinions on what I could add to either IF any, or if they feel overstocked or? Personally I think the 29g is probably maxed out, but it stays pretty clean TBH. I feel like I could add shrimp without affecting anything. My 55g feels kinda "empty" IMO. As in the Raphaels sleep most of the day and the tetras don't take up much room (Neither do the kuhli's). But again....don't want to max things out. Thanks!

Seems like it. Thankfully the new corys I have seem to kick up some of the waste which helps. I feel like the Fluval 407 intake is honestly pretty weak though.

This is what I do on a weekly basis, but im mainly looking for something to help "in between". I know light colored sand especially shows stuff, but it's just all collecting in a single corner making it look SUPER bad.

Pardon the title, but it's the best way I can describe it. I currently have a 55g with a Fluval 407 (Intake on very left/back side, with output to the right of it slightly and shooting towards the inner tank (Although I have a fluval spray bar attachment). Anyways, under the intake it seems like fish poop just collects, right underneath the intake (Which is fairly low). I have sand so of course it just sits on top. Now....I don't know if the fish are going there to poop, or the water is kinda making everything "collect" there since thats where the intake is. But im curious if there is a way to fix this because it just looks SO bad. Occasionally I will manually stir it up a bit, so the poop will float up to the intake but that's honestly a PITA. I put a river rock underneath to sorta give a higher flat surface for the intake to suck from, but doesn't seem to help much. Any ideas? It's pretty strange it seems to all collect there. Doesn't seem to affect the water though (I change 1x a week) as the rest of the tank is quite clear.

I know this is a topic of a lot of opinions, but I guess I wanted to see what people thought of this in general? I feed my 55g and 29g tanks every other day (but do a decent feed) and they seem ok, but I see a lot of people suggest this is bad as fish have small stomachs. But then some people say they only need to really be fed once a week. I seem to have much less algae/etc... when I feed every other day. I mean is there any reason this is a bad idea? I don't have really any SUPER tiny fish.

It starts at 8.2 and ages to about 7.6-7.8, so not THAT much. And I just don't see how pH dropping maybe .1 when I water change could possibly kill them. Thing is the "latest survivors" seem fine. The LFS I go to has a really good reputation and everything else i've gotten has done great 🤷‍♂️ FWIW On the Prime thing, thats pretty common from what i've heard especially people doing python water changes. I mean technically the extra could reduce the oxygen but i've got a lot of airstones + turbulance on the water surface o2 should be fine. I do water changes 1x a week.