BellaNova

Established tank Api test kit Nitrates under 5ppm (between 0 and 5) All others 0 PH 6.8* Recently added guppies- they have been in the tank for about 2 weeks now. One male was kind of a weird guy to begin with- not interested in mating. Noticed last night he was swimming in the stream from the bubble bar- swimming and swimming. Not interested in even stopping to eat. Then saw one of the females attack him. Took a real close look at him with the flash on camera and noticed he has some white across top of his head and his scales look kind of ragged and not smooth. Setting up quarantine tank now Should I Quarantine all fish? If so shoud i seperate the males and females? Can anyone ID this? It does not look like Ick- im worried its columnaris. Just got back from nearest pet supply store and got all this pictured, can anyone recommend a treatment? Other fish seem okay and not acting irregular like this guy but I have noticed two others will randomly hit themselves on the substrate or decor. Running an under gravel filter, alot of plants. Working on adding a sponge filter in the next few days. Do 30% water changes every friday. Hard well water. Unknown exact hardness of water.

I have rigged up a little net to catch them when they fall into the water. Hopefully I see it when it happens and can catch most of them before they find their way out. Im going to take them back the petstore after they hatch. I think most will end up being puffer fish snacks ☹ I cant have 100 snails in a small 10 gallon tank 😅

I could NOT for the life of me figure it out. I spent a good hour scouring google and becoming more and more worried. I had to test parameters again and when I opened the lid I found the clutch 🤣

"Mystery" solved...some of the eggs the mystery snail laid must have fallen down into the water- the clutch is right above the plant on the lid 🤣 Been in the process of fishless cycling for about a month now. About 5 days ago I added another plant, hornwort. I rinsed it off several times and agitated any loose needles off before planting. In the process of planting a couple of the stems broke off and eventually settled down amongst the other plants. Where it settled is next to my pillow and has been in my line of sight since. This morning when i turned on the light I see these odd little eggs- they almost look like bladders on a bladderwort- but 100% sure they were not there the night before. They are not pond snails, and only other fauna in the tank is a single mystery snail and about 10 tadpoles. Can anyone help me identify this? Google image search didnt help and i would hate to end up with some wild bug infestation if I let them hatch to solve the mystery. Edit: OMG i flipped the lid to test parameters and the mystery snail....laid a huge cluster of eggs... could it be possible it laid a few on the plant before going above the waterline?? Added pic and pic of pond snail eggs as well.

Thanks so much for your response. I am using API and all bottles have 3+ years before expiration. I do shake the #2 bottle for a count to 60. I did a 25% water change and the foam cleared for a day and when i woke up the next morning it was back again. I will redo the tests right now and try shaking the bottle for a full 2 minutes and see if the results show anything different. I tested yesterday and ph is 7.6 so i tested High Ph and it appears as 7.4. All other parameters for the API were 0- not even a hint of green on ammonia. The only thing i have put in the tank with intent to help the cycling process was "Aqueon Pure Live Beneficial Bacteria and Enzymes" - I added 2 of the little capsules during week 1 and added one more on week 3. Im not using a HOB filter- im using a UGF and had alot of issues with the airstones and pump not putting out equally to both sides. I unfortunately havent purchased the adjustable airstones from CO-OP yet but I do plan to eventually switch them out when I have a 50$ order and make a purchase. The air pump was finally fixed by putting a control valve and spending about an hour hunched over adjusting the dial and the valve to get both sides about equal lol Nothing seems to be suffering. The plants all have new growth, and have all anchored with roots as well. The single mystery snail stays busy giving piggy back rides to the pond snails from petco and the tadpoles are all fine and do not seem stressed- except the one that was eviscerated when i was removing some of the pond snails with suctioned airline tube and accidentally got it too...still feel bad about that 😕 I did add some hornwort recently (after the foam). In the process of planting it and moving it around a small section broke off and eventually floated down near the other plants and got lodged. Its right next to my pillow so its been in my line of sight for about 5 days now and this morning when I turned on the light I saw some type of eggs that I cant identify. Definitely not snail eggs and definitely were not there the night before. It almost looks like the bladders on a bladderwort plant. Ive added a picture- but this is the only oddity thats occured. It does seem weird to me that all parameters are normal when all the plants, tadpoles and snails are all doing their thing pooping and decaying and such... I will check parameters again right now and do as you suggested shaking the bottle for atleast 2 minutes- and will report back. Thanks again Edit: to answer your question- my son is very curious about it all but knows not to put his fingers or hands in the water...but its possible! The gloves may also have something on them. I will rinse the gloves from now on before putting in the aquarium. When i was doing the water change the sunlight was coming thru the window at the kitchen sink and i did notice a slight biofilm/oil slicky/soap sheen appearance on the surface of the water but in normal indoor lighting it wasnt noticeable from any angle. So it may be something you mentioned that just ended up in the tank somehow. Ill keep doing water changes and hope it clears up soon.

This crossed my mind but I am hyper aware of this possibility because I use voltaren frequently. Because I didnt want to cross contaminate with that medication I actually purchased elbow length gloves. I have not put my bare hands in the tank, ever. Ive only rinsed the plants with bare hands and that was after throughly cleaning my hands and nails with 99.9% biodegradable soap. I decorated the tank and moved plants around in it with gloves on.

I used fluval bio stratum in planters for the plants and normal aquarium gravel (rinsed)... Thats interesting- I will try a 25% water change in a couple of days and see if that helps clear it up. Maybe its just a total overdose of stuff in the tank and very minimal good bacteria to feed on it? Tadpole and Snail poo, decaying plant matter, tannins from the wood, minerals etc.from hard well water.. i guess all of that together could be contributing to the frothy mess 😅

Tank has been cycling since June 18th. UGF, mopani wood, water wisteria and hornwort, 50%tap (well- hard/alkaline) 50% filtered About 10 tadpoles(having the time of their life) 2 mystery snails 10+ pond snails (thanks PetCo) 7.4ph 0 ammonia 0 nitrates 0 nitrites Originally the PH was around 8.4 and it has since gone down. Im not sure whats causing the foam- the air stone bubbles and they just pile up to where the entire surface is like the picture. There isnt any visible biofilm on the surface. Is this a normal part of a cycling tank or am I potentially doing something wrong? I did a small water change but it had no effect on the foam...

Yes im having issues with the airstones. The two that came with the UGF - one worked perfect and the other didnt. Just picked up some generic ones from petco and the bubbles are borderline micro- so I'm a little frustrated with that. I can tell now after switching the airstones that the bubbles are too small to even push the water up and out. Can you recommend any airstones? Here is what I unfortunately just installed

I have scoured the interwebs for an answer to this question with no luck- so i figured I would try here 🙂 Is there an ideal placement of the airstone in the lift tube? Should it be touching the plate? Slightly above plate? Above gravel line? Is there a way to know its properly creating a good enough flow; will there be a visible rhythm to how the bubbles and water come out of the tubes? i have 10gal tank with a dual line adjustable air pump, two lift tubes off the ugf. Tank is about 2 weeks into cycling- i have mopani wood and plants that I planted in tiny pots with substrate, a few pond snails that just hatched, and some tadpoles i put in to keep my son entertained while we wait. PH slightly elevated at 8, 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia. Using a 75%/25% mix of well water and filtered tap (well is hard water and alkaline at 8.8ph, filtered is 6.8 ph)