karanit

I wish I could test for more stuff including illnesses. Maybe like a microscope or something?

I am not sure I am reading the report correctly.

If I'm reading my city's water quality report correctly, I have 100 ppm calcium hardness. In my case then test might actually be useful because I'm in the higher range?

I had heard there were only saltwater calcium tests so I was surprised to see these couple for sale saying they're for freshwater/low salinity. Can anyone speak to whether they're accurate or worthwhile? Fluval - https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-Calcium-Aquarium-Freshwater-Saltwater/dp/B092XFXDCC/ref=sr_1_1 Monitor brand - https://www.amazon.com/Monitor-Calcium-Magnesium-Salinity-Tests/dp/B096V9J9JP/ref=sr_1_4_sspa

I'm not sure how to proceed as the meds usually have you dose and then not do a water change for some amount of days to let the fish sit in the meds. I'm not sure how to adjust that to account for the water changes you'll need for the cycling issue. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

My understanding is that while reducing the nitrites does/could slow down your cycling process, you have fish in there so you need to balance the cycling process with the health of the fish. I wouldn't water change the nitrites all the way to zero but 2ppm is quite high. Flukes are treated with praziquantel, so meds like prazicleanse, prazipro. Other meds have praziquantel in a smaller dose mixed with another med, like paracleanse, API general cure. https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-6-flukes/

A thick slime coat could be an indication of flukes which irritate the fish and make it produce extra slime. I think the smoking gun is your nitrites. Why don't you do a larger water change to get it down to like 0.25 PPM? (I don't use stress guard so maybe it does detoxify nitrate [edit meant nitrite here], but I thought it was prime that was used for that. I checked quick on the seachem website and didn't see anything about nitrite on stress guards page but it is on prime's page)

I think I heard Cory mention that all aquarium lights with remote controls like Finnix just use an infrared receiver. and you can use a universal remote control app from your phone to control them if you know how to program it. Has anyone had any experience with this? (I have a finnex 24/7 planted and goof up the timing pretty regularly. I thought maybe typing on my phone might be more precise.)

I have mine vertically to be less obtrusive but does putting it at 45° make it heat more evenly or something? (I had a goldfish for a long time so I'm not used to this tropical fish stuff!)

I'm not sure if that is recommended standard practice for inverts like nerite snails and cherry shrimp just like for fish.