Mahi27

Thank you everybody for the replies. I just want to make it clear that I'm NOT putting the co-op on blast or anything like that -- just wanted to put it out there that this happened. @Brian, I agree, it's quite odd/hard to fathom how this happened. @Brandy, you asked about substrate, and I do think that has a lot to do with how this happened. I was running the qt tank bare bottom. I had a fake plant in the Easy Planter, rather than aquasoil or a plastic pot, so there was some degree of access to the bottom hole meant for root growth. I also noticed that it was the four largest gouramis that suffered this fate. The three runts are the ones who made it out of quarantine. So I am thinking they were able to get under the planter, but not back out, due to their size. Again, I agree, rather bizarre. I did speak to @Candi via email and she was kind enough to express her sympathy while also advising that the planters are intended to be used with soil/gravel or a plastic pot, which would leave virtually no room for a fish to get in there. I guess this is part of the process. I've been in the hobby only about a year, so I am still learning every day. Sometimes happy lessons, sometimes hard ones.

Just a PSA in the hopes that someone learns from my unfortunate afternoon. I had seven sparkling gouramis in quarantine. Today I went to transition them to their main tank and could only find 3. I lifted the Easy Planter I had put in there and found four of them dead, stuck in the hollow underside of the planter. So it appears smaller fish can and will hide in there, get stuck and die. I really want to cry. I got them as practically fry, and super underfed, from my LFS. I fed them frozen brine shrimp every 5 hours for like a week to put some weight on them before even doing meds. I eventually bought the Ziss hatchery off the co-op website and was so excited to feed them live baby brine shrimp. Instead I had to bury them in the yard. Buyer beware 😕

Have to agree, they look good to me. How were the root systems? As long as those are healthy and in tact, and the plants were still moist in their packaging, you should do just fine. I agree with holding off on liquid ferts until they start showing growth -- at least, I believe that is the protocol @Irene has recommended in her videos.

I just ordered 16 green kubotai rasboras from AquaHuna to go with some sparkling gouramis in my 29gal. I am hoping the matchup works well and looks visually pleasing -- we'll see! I definitely recommend you look into the kubotais (also called neon green rasboras I think?). When I've seen them in person, to me they look exactly like what a green ember tetra would be -- same body shape and approximate size, but green!

Hi everyone. I feel like every time I post on this forum it's because I've got some drama. Sorry about that. But please help if you can to identify what's wrong with my buddy, Jose Cuervo (don't ask). Pics attached. I know this is mostly an indoor aquarium forum but Aq Co-Op people seem to know diseases and treatments better than anyone else. Pond parameters: Size and stocking - ~750gal, 8 seven-inch shubunkin, 1 four-inch koi, 1 eight-inch koi (Jose) pH: 8.0 Ammonia: 0.1 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 gh: 80 kh: 180 Last water change: Yesterday, 50% Temperature: Stays aound 55 F Background info: Early December I noticed Jose Cuervo's friend, a juvenile yellow koi named Lemon, floating near the surface in a low-flow area of the pond whenever I went outside. I also saw him flash on the substrate once or twice. Three weeks later, he had disappeared (I was busy with holidays and unfortunately he paid the price I guess). Now I am seeing Jose Cuervo doing the same thing -- floating in the same low-flow spot, super lethargic, not really eating. Yesterday (Tuesday) I dosed the pond with 6.25oz of PraziPro (at a rate of 1oz/120gal). Tonight I saw Jose sitting in the same spot for at least an hour. I went and netted him out, which was easy due to the lethargy. As you can see from the pics, he has some red stress streaking in his pectoral fins, but the base of his tail has red sores on either side and his scales are pineconing a bit (as if the area is swollen). Can anybody help (1) identify the disease(s) afflicting Jose and (2) recommend a med regimen to help? My thought is external parasites with a secondary bacterial infection, but another set of eyes will really help me out here. Thanks.

I ended up bringing it inside and putting it next to the sponge filter in my 20 long. So far it looks like it just might not die! Lol. Thanks for the tip! Meanwhile, on a whim I threw an extra windelov java fern I had into the pond, and that thing is sending out tons of roots. How cool will it be if I can have an outdoor java fern.

Thank you @Daniel. Do you think I should move it into my 20 long, which I keep around 76 F? I'm worried that moving it will just tick it off more!

@Nataku Thank you so much for this extremely interesting perspective. I think it must have been the phenomenon you're describing, or one other possibility: A day or two before she died I had moved a really big piece of driftwood around, and as I was moving it I noticed kuhlis darting out from all over underneath it. I think maybe I smooshed her by accident, since like I mentioned she had some internal bleeding that looked like a contusion or something. Anyhow...she's over the rainbow bridge, and the rest of the tank is doing great. Just wanted to drop by and give a brief update for anybody who looks at this topic in the future.

Hi all. Does anyone have any experience keeping crinum calamistratum in an outdoor setting? I ordered one from Aq Co-Op a few weeks ago, stuck it in an Easy Planter with a root tab, and chucked it in the deepest part of my pond (about 21" down). It gets sunlight from the east for several hours a day; the spot it's in is low flow; the shubunkins and koi are leaving it alone. The water is pretty cold right now, about 55 F. The crinum looking pretty weak right about now. I know crinum melts and all that when you first get it, but does anybody see anything wrong with my set-up that might cause the plant to die? Is the temperature an issue? Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Thank you @Ali for your experience! I find that everyone who has a pea puffer always has some kind of quirky account of its shenanigans. Definitely getting one in the future. For now I decided to turn the tank in question into a shrimp penthouse. Picking up some Zebra Babaultis this weekend 😄 pea puffer some other time.

I go back and forth on whether I really want a pea puffer or not, but this whole thread is so funny to me that I think I'm quickly becoming convinced.

Thanks @JaredL. So far the others seem OK so I am hoping she was just weak out of the LFS. But it's never fun to lose a pregnant fish 😞

Hi all, hoping for some input here. I came home tonight after being away a couple days to find one of my 8 kuhli loaches passed away. I scooped it out of the tank to inspect and saw what looked like internal bleeding, very intense internal redness, on one side coming down from the gills and a clutch of eggs visible through the skin. No lesions or signs of external disease or injury. I am asking for help identifying cause of death in order to prevent any additional losses among the remaining 7 loaches. All the loaches, including the one that passed, are around 2 inches long. The first four have been out of quarantine for about two weeks and the second batch moved out of quarantine four days ago -- the casualty is from the second group, so she had been out of quarantine for less time. I added the loaches to my cycled, planted 20gal long over the course of a couple weeks after weeklong quarantines with the quarantine trio and aquarium salt. The remaining seven are behaving as they normally do, rooting around, swimming to the top occasionally, sifting through the substrate, hanging together, and so on. They share the tank with one male honey gourami, 3-4 Amano shrimp, and one mystery snail. Water parameters as of ten minutes ago: Ph 6.5 Ammonia <0.25ppm Nitrite 0.0ppm Nitrate 0.0ppm Temperature: 76° Farenheit I do not have hardness readings at this time. I am attaching a photo of the deceased to this post. Please view at your own discretion, and thank you for any help. Rest in peace little lady.

Do you think it's reasonable to try to keep a pea puffer with something else in a 5.5? I'm asking because I really want red crystal shrimp, and I really want a pea puffer, but I only have the one tank. Lol. I won't do it if it'll truly be mad carnage in there, but I would loooove if I could have a beautiful cleanup crew at the bottom to complement Mr. Puffy's hovering antics...

Thank you, mouseturd13. I feel that I can proceed with a bit of peace of mind now. 🙂

Hi all, I am seeking some guidance on the instructions in this article: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/how-to-treat-sick-aquarium-fish. It says NOT to follow the manufacturer's instructions but to add one dose of each med and just let the fish soak in it for a week. Then the article just kind of wraps up without saying what else to do. This is extremely confusing for me as most other sources say to quarantine for at least two weeks, and Cory himself regularly mentions re-dosing with parasite meds a little while after the first round. So, can anyone please help me understand the recommended regimen for the Quarantine Trio? For context, I am almost done cycling a 20gal long and want to get some fish soon so I can start stocking as soon as the parameters are right :) This is my first indoor tank but I have owned a 750gal pond for like 6 years now. Thank you so much in advance for the help.