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.

So im not sure if this is just a problem specific with this species, or something im doing. First of all water params: Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate all at 0 (well nitrate at maybe 20). I did hit an initial .25 nitrite "spike" when I added the 6 serpae tetras (to replace what I had lost before (4 of them) but other than that water quality is good (pH sits about at 7.6-7.8ish with kh 5 and dh 10 degrees) I noticed originally of the 6 I had purchased that it seems like 1 would die off a day after every water change. Now I will admit during this time Nitrite was still a little bit elevated at around 1ppm+ish. I was dosing prime but I think that's what took out the initial 3-4 of them. However I learned from that and waited until nitrites were zero and I was getting nitrates (so about 2 weeks after). So I purchased 6 (making a total of 8 of them) and one has already died (Again, a day after a water change but im only doing 20% water changes and making sure I dose dechlorinator for the full tank volume each time so it can't be a chlorine problem). I also make sure the temp is "close-ish" so the temp may only drop a degree after the water change. My only initial thought is that my pH out of my tap is high (around 8.2) but it drops after awhile and it mixes with the more normal ph so I can't imagine that's it. Is this species maybe just sort of "weak"? I mean maybe it died from just stress coming from the fish store (I did the float for 30 minutes thing but the LFS store water is very similar to mine anyways). The ones that "made" it from the initial batch seem fine and I've not had any problems with ANY of the other fish in the tank (Raphaels/Corys/Loaches and Pleco's and a few neon tetras). Thanks!

So obviously Ammonia and Nitrite is toxic. But when adding new fish a lot of aquariums go through a mini-cycle where the ammonia/nitrite rises. I wonder...how long exactly can fish tolerate 1ppm ammonia/nitrite before it's really harmful? I mean I know zero is ideal but im curious. Also side question. I know Prime is supposed to detoxify ammonia (1 "part" per 1ppm of either ammonia/nitrite) but I don't see that anywhere on their website. How is that calculated? (IE: 1 dose = 1ppm of ammonia/nitrite)

I do have the spraybar kit, but it's set at the top.....should I put it at the bottom? You mentioned the 407 doesn't have good suction? I hope it's ok for a 55g. I do have a large coop sponge filter in there as well...but yeah it def. overall looks dirty ironically in the corner near the intake. I do probably overfeed some though but IMO it's not really overstocked or anything. I think part of the problem is my python hose does a terrible terrible job at getting debris. I may just use a normal gravel vac in a bucket to get the debris up, and then switch to the python for changing water. Cause it can barely lift up fish poop. Also how dangerous/common are these "deadly gas pockets". My sand is around 3 inches thick.

I have a 55g tank with a cream colored sand (Technically sunset gold caribsea sand). It seems like no matter what I do even after water changes/vacuuming substrate it always looks so dirty! I have plants/driftwood and it doesn't help that my catfish/loaches like to poop in this one particular stone/house thing. But even then it just feels like it shows EVERYTHING and even after vacuuming the substrate (Which is difficult to get everything due to rocks/driftwood/decor/plants) it just doesn't look "clean". I have good filtration (Fluval 407 + Aquarium Coop large sponge filter) and good flow..so I don't think it's a filtration problem. Is this just how sand is?

Hi! im looking for some stocking options for my 55 gallon tank. Right now I have: 1 Bristlenose Pleco 1 Zebra Pleco 2 Raphael Catfish (1 spotted/1 striped) like 3 tetras (They've been getting slowly eaten I think by the raphaels......so smaller fish isn't a good idea) 6 Kuhli loaches A few snails Right now I have a Fluval 407 and a Aquarium Coop LARGE sponge filter (It's also planted) and a sandy substrate. The Kuhli loaches hide most of the time (as do the raphael's) so im looking for something active for the bottom and also maybe some sort of middle/top swimming fish that is HARDY and does ok in a 76-77 temp and 7.8ish pH. AqaAdvisor says im at 81% stocking (Which feels higher than it should be) but my filtration is 241%. Any Ideas?

I do wonder if I am doing something wrong, because I don't use either of the white "washers" that come with it. I unscrew my aerator from my sink and screw in the "smaller" brass threaded portion (it goes "inside" the hole in the sink where the aerator was), however it will NOT fit with the washer for some reason in it. I wonder if not having the washer causes some air leakage or something. I do notice if I pull down on the green T shaped part that goes on the sink (Like the part you turn to make it either suck or push water) it seems to help the suction somehow. So I almost wonder if there is an air leak.

I asked this question on another forum, as a new fish keeper im curious how "common" it is (Since you see so much about sick fish it's a bit anxiety inducing lol) But yeah im curious for those (especially those that keep a lot of fish) how often you've had to medicate/deal with sick fish over your fish-keeping time? Thanks!

This is something as a new fish-keeper to the hobby I struggle with. I never know how much to feed (and like many probably over-feed). I really wish food brands had like a suggested amount "2 pellets per 5 fish" or similar. I know it always says "How much they can eat in 5-10 minutes" but that's hard to gauge because some fish are nocturnal, and some fish just don't "get" to the food till later. Has anyone figured out a good approximation to go by? I mostly use pellets or hikari stuff and generally don't use flakes as much. (Although a do use algae wafers plenty for my pleco's)

Thats kinda what happens. The "Initial" suction works great but soon as I lift it out of the tank to change sides it goes down to terrible suction.

So im curious if anyone else has this problem. I feel like the python works well BUT If I EVER lose flow at any point (by removing the vac from the water) I basically lose 50% of my flow. To get the suction back i'll have to pull down on the thing that lets you change it from suction to adding water. I know I have good pressure but im curious if anyone else had similar issues? It felt like once you remove the vaccum part from the water it's impossible to get back to your original flow (I mean after that I BARELY have enough flow to even suck up poop/etc...)