Brandy

He will regrow it naturally if the infection is fixed. I'd just keep up with the maracyn. It's up to him now.

Pardon the hiijack, but @Taylor Blake and @KBOzzie59 where does one find the uncommon otocinclus?! I mean, I had a heck of a time just finding the common ones...But I LOOOOVE them.

I think the bacteria nitrification process can contribute to acidification while they are getting established. I can't remember what article I read that makes me think that, but it was some primary research literature article--not some internet comment. This, however, IS some internet comment, so take it with a grain of salt. My memory may be faulty. 🙂

So I have dwarf hair grass in 3 tanks--I love the stuff, when it works. Here it is planted in a dirted tank with a fine white sand cap. It is going CRAZY. I planted in larger clumps, because I happened to score a petsmart pot of it that was cheap and ridiculously healthy. When I planted it the roots were healthy and robust. This tank is barely 2 months old. I don't even bother to dose with easy green here, since all the plants are root feeders, and the soil is giving them plenty of nutrients. There is shockingly little algae in this tank. In my other tanks, with a mix of Eco-complete and ADA amazonia, it is struggling BADLY. Poor growth, lots of melt, infested with algae. The original plants came in as bunches, bare root. They looked pretty rough to begin with, and I spread them out in smaller clumps. These tanks are about 3-4 months old. They get easy green, but I am not using root tabs. I did give them some passive CO2 to start, for a month or two. I am ready to give up on them here. I would like to give my next attempt at growing a carpet a better shot. Options are: Start fresh with new dwarf hair grass plants Add root tabs Abandon hope with this substrate and choose a different plant for this space Some additional option I haven't thought of yet?

If you try the net thing, put the moss on the bottom edge and let it try to grow UP. You may need to weight the bottom edge. Just don't accidentally net your fish, maybe a lightweight dark colored fabric might be better. I have sewn moss to things like that, works well.

Well, if you want REAL trailing effects, can I interest you in some thread algae? I will send a huge portion to you for just $9.99, plus shipping. Guaranteed to grow! You will be successful! 😆

NitrAte yes, nitrIte, no. Coincidence, I think.

Blue area: christmas/taiwan/willow moss or, if you feel adventurous, do the moss AND try tucking a tiny sprig or three of hydrocotyle tripartita japan into the moss....If it takes it will do the trailing thing well. Just not sure if it will manage totally unrooted... Red area: same moss as above. Green area: Bucephalandra!! or, anubias nana....Additionally, after MUCH patience (like, a year) anubias will send trailing roots downward that look like jungle vines if they are in a "bonsai" tree set up.

Ebay or etsy. No floater likes to be bashed around. Small stuff like duckweed or azola might tolerate it the most. If you have high flow or lots of surface agitation, one trick is to put a "feeding ring" (floating hoop made of airline) in the tank in the corner farthest from the flow, and make a little floater island. I also have some large water lettuces and I don't like them flying around the tank. I anchored them in a corner with a loop of fishing line and some tape on the rim of the tank.

They stay short, 1.5 inches. These are my best:

I don't think that is remotely unreasonable for a nitrate level. I suspect he has some kind of infection. I feel like with skin and fin issues I usually would treat with maracyn and maybe IchX also, if I suspected fungus. I don't see any weird growths in your pics so I would probably stick with the maracyn first.

Check pH too, just in case. But if that were the issue, you would see more than just one fish reacting probably. I have not used salt, but it does seem like it might help? Hopefully someone who has used it can chime in and say whether it should be used with maracyn. Admittedly, he needs serious intervention at this point. Whatever you decide to treat with, I would use the full course.

It looks like he is sloughing his slime coat. I don't know what can cause that? I think it is time to isolate him and start treating him if you can. Since I don't know what the cause may be I would start with antibiotic/antifungal. Unless he is flashing? If so, then the damage could be self inflicted and maybe an antiparasite med would be better. What are your water parameters, what else is in the tank, and how do the other fish look and act?

I anchor hornwort by shoving it thru a shell with a hole in it.

I wonder if the tetras weren't the source of the parasites and just got snacked on as they died? Then again, 7 months is pretty late in the game for that to manifest. I feel like a school of 15 would be sufficient, but maybe more tank cover in the form of plants or rocks or wood...?

I made a shrimp trap that is similar but it takes 2 bottles. You invert the top of one into the bottom of the other, and then to get the shrimp out you uncap the outer bottle.

I have that tank...with shrimp, and a betta. My first act was to cut filter floss to block all the intakes. I thought I might be paranoid...glad to hear it was worth the knuckle scrapes!

Yikes, did the same thing with pruning shears when harvesting eggplant once. I bled all thru the house looking for a bandaid! So far, knock on wood, no fish injuries! But I did find out fairly dramatically that I am wildly allergic to blood worms, and had to have someone else remove them from the house, and clean my tanks for me for a week or two--my face swelled shut, and I got itchy just standing near my tanks. I am not allergic to anything else as far as I know, so it was a big shock.

I think it all depends on how much they bother you. They will keep making food for the plant. If they are too ugly you can cut them off entirely or just trim them into less "eaten" looking shapes, or you can wait for them to die back on their own.

Sure!

Caterpillars would be a good candidate for Bacillus thuringiensis spray, which should be fish safe. It will however also take out mosquito larvae, and blackfly larvae, and so on, you may want to avoid it in your daphnia set up. Or not, it should only bother larval stages of insects. Alternatively hand pick and squish and feed to fish!

If you are setting up a QT to get your very first fish for the display, you wont have luck seeding the filter for the QT from the display tank before buying the fish. The bacteria wont have enough food if there are NO ammonia sources. If you have a smaller display tank, you can just put the first fish in directly and add meds to the tank as needed. If the display is over 30g though that can get very expensive. After you have a few fish in the display tank you can then seed a filter for the QT, and quarantine all additional fish. If your display is big, I would get used filter media from you LFS, and seachem Prime and Stability, and a few of the toughest fish/snails you plan to keep, and do a fish-in cycle in the QT. A handful of duckweed or other floaters are great too. Alternatively, if you don't like that idea, add some food to the QT each day as if there were fish in there, and let the ammonia come from the food, once the cycle is done (by testing), siphon out the gross detritus and start your quarantine in a cycled tank.

Well, heck. This was NOT in my game plan at all.

If you go with rummynose, the otocinclus will sometimes jump into the school. They are about the same size. It makes them happy with fewer otos in the tank, I think. My tank isn't quite as large, so I don't want to overstock algae eaters and have them hungry, but they like a social outlet.

Local clubs maybe? Or an ad on craigslist? I know that is sketchy in some parts of the country, but I have had the best luck there.