H.K.Luterman

It looks like epistylis to me, which is a bacterial infection. https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-2-4-epistylis/

Just a waiting game. Are you "ghost feeding" the tank (putting food in to feed the bacteria)? That will help it get going. It seems like waiting for nitrites to show up takes forever, and then once they show up nitrates seem to follow quicker. But then it's just more waiting and ghost feeding until the bacteria colony is large enough to eat all the ammonia and nitrite and keep the numbers at 0, and that seems to vary hugely for everyone on how long it takes. Algae will help. Have you considered getting into live plants?

I also grew up in CT (Enfield). 😄 I've lived in NYC as well (Brooklyn) and then KS (Lenexa), UT (Cedar City) and now AL (Madison).

You could see if he'll chase a laser pointer. Some fish will, and bettas are typically a type that will do it. Here's my limia in quarantine having a grand ol' time with the temp gun. Other betta toys can be a mirror held up near the tank for a few minutes each day to get him to flare or even a finger to chase. What plants have you tried? Have you got him one of those suction cup leaf hammocks to hang out on? I've noticed that younger bettas tend to swim constantly, especially the short tailed varieties. As they grow older, they get more lazy and slow down. As for food, fish always seem hungry, don't be fooled by the begging. I only feed my betta once a day, about 4 or 5 Bug Bite pellets. If I do blood worms, he might get 2 or 3.

Ammonia and Nitrite should always read 0 in a cycled tank, the presence of any is indication that your tank is not ready to support livestock quite yet, as the nitrifying bacteria colony hasn't grown large enough - adding animals would compound this problem. I would definitely hold off before adding shrimp, as they are even more sensitive to water quality, and do need an established, seasoned tank.

Mystery snail mating looks like this, the male sitting on the females top right to hook under her shell: It's a few weeks between mating and egg laying, and then a few weeks between laying and hatching. Be sure to feed them extra calcium; I give mine Hikari Crab Cuisine. Also, be prepared for HUNDREDS of babies. XD

Definitely give live food when you can. Mine LOVES mosquito larvae. I like to try to hide the snails when I drop them in so he has to really hunt for them. I do change up his scape now and then but for the most part I watch from a distance - my guy is extremely shy and seems happiest if I stay away from his tank.

How often are they flashing? Is it once in a while or constant? (I only ask this because flashing IS a normal behavior if it's just every now and then - the fish just has an itch. Flashing can also be triggered by a change in water parameters, like after a big water change). Did you see a presence of Ich in the form of cysts on the fins/scales before you treated with Ich X? It looks like salt sprinkled on the fish. I would hold off on dosing any more medications for the moment - Prazipro and Paracleanse are pretty much the same stuff. Overloading fish with medications often can stress them out even more. Has anything changed in the aquarium? Have you added anything new to the system? Are there any other symptoms? Sunken bellies? Rapid breathing? Listlessness?

But my vote is for the L236! Gotta love that black and white striping.

Oh no, be careful! The compliments go straight to her head!

I love Easy Green. I also get my Repashy foods from them, especially Soilent Green. The red goldfish t-shirt is a staple of my wardrobe, and the towel I use practically every day. The snail catcher is also a must have if you have fish who like eating snails. I love how their sponge filters stack, too - I have 3 in my 75 gal. And I usually buy a plant or two with my orders. Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the test strips!

This is what I opted to do. I have a pretty dim light on his tank and only have it set for 5 hrs a day.

I have kept a nerite snail safely with my pea puffer; I think the shape of the shell makes it harder to get at them. However, every puffer's going to be different and you may end up with one that figures out how to murderize a nerite. Same with amanos. When my puffer was younger he lived with an amano who had been living in the tank before he was added. I moved the amano after a while to another tank. Then a year or so later added another amano to the puffer's tank and he killed it. So the answer for both is IT DEPENDS. You might have better luck if the nerite and amanos are already in the tank before the puffer, but it's a risk regardless. I have just resigned myself to the fact that his tank will always have algae and I just manually remove as much as I can.

I think both are equally good; I have both types. The coarse ones can go longer between cleanings, but don't filter out fine particulates as well, and the finer ones do the opposite (filter out finer particulates but need to be cleaned more often). But both are typical sponge filters and work the same. Great for bio filtration, not the best for "water polishing" (crystal clear water).

I love hornwort! It's so pretty and easy to grow, and many of my fish seem to like it (though my catfish just likes to pull the ends off it, so its more of a toy for her). I'm attaching pics of both ways I've kept it - floating and weighed down with a plant weight. If you weigh it down, you just have to be mindful that the parts near the plant weight might rot and need to be trimmed off every few weeks; but by then you'd be trimming it anyways because of how crazy fast it grows. Floating: Weighted: It WILL make a mess by dropping needles if the water doesn't have enough nutrients to support its crazy growth. It's also fussy about medications, so I move it if I decide to dose the tank. I give it Easy Green once a week and that seems to keep it happy.

Interesting. Thanks!

Yeah is it ANY black pigmentation that carries this gene, even just on the fins? Or is it just for body coloration? I have a bunch of blue platies I'm trying to "clean up" - reduce black spots on the body and darken the black on their fins.

I'd stack 2 of the large ones together (I love how they stack. I have a stack of 3 in my 75). I'm also a fan of having more filtration capacity than what is probably needed.

Welcome to the forum! Good job on caring for Pancake for so long! How big is he?

Something's up with your cycle; Ammonia and Nitrite should always be 0. Have you changed anything in the tank recently?

It's either a bladder snail or a pond snail. It looks like a bladder snail by the shell shape, but you can tell for sure by the shape of their feelers. Here's how to tell the difference: Both are great little algae eaters and scavengers.

How fun! Keep us updated. Love seeing the pics of the process.

I don't know how to read that diagram, lol! But hair algae loves light. Five hours a day is really all plants need.

Looks like hair algae to me, something that pops up when my lighting is too strong/long. Try lowering the duration of light each day - 5 hours is really all you need. How old is the tank? I find I mostly get hair algae like this on newer systems.

Yeah that's definitely black beard algae. Looks cool on the wood.