Schwack
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Posts posted by Schwack
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I think this: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-2-prime-and-safe/ is a pretty good article on Prime and the claims made by Seachem. The "detoxifying" claims always sounded like marketing speak to me, and I don't rely on Prime for that purpose.
Are you certain your municipality uses chloramine? My understanding, limited as it is, tells me that chloramine isn't volatile enough to off gas, even with agitation.
I'm surprised you'd see such a dramatic effect from .5ppm ammonia. Could there have been something else going on during that water change? I've heard of people periodically seeing much more chlorine in their water than normal, probably the result of maintenance by their water supplier. Did you get a chance to check the water that went in during your die off?
My provider also uses chloramines and I just go straight in with a Python. Don't think I've ever had an issue immediately following a water change. https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-2-4-prime-safe-and-chloramine/ Might be a useful article to read through.
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On 2/2/2022 at 3:18 PM, Odd Duck said:
@Schwack Has your puffer resolved the issue or did you have to help?
I tried to net him on the first night, but if you've ever tried to snag a SAP you probably know how crafty they are when a net is in the water. Unlike basically every other fish I've owned, their first instinct seems to be to shoot straight down and burrow around in the substrate to get by the net. Fortunately, the stuff in their tank is nice and soft so no harm done, but I didn't want to press the issue until I was sure it wouldn't resolve on its own.
Next day I came down in the morning and the shell had been expelled! Little river pigs are back to begging for food every time I stand up. Gave them a piece of frozen shrimp this evening... little hogs ripped it right out of the tweezers. Gonna need a few days of fasting after tonight!
https://i.imgur.com/xf10iSV.mp4
I wish my phone did a better job picking things up in the weird lighting, but it's good enough for a silly video of fat fish.
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On 2/2/2022 at 11:08 AM, Gannon said:
I’ll have to get an ink bird sometime! Would those work to make even preset heaters adjustable?
I had one hooked up to a pre-set heater because it was still working, but it's probably not something I'd do if I had a choice.
Basically, with the Inkbirds, you set the heater's temperature controller for higher than you actually want the tank temperature while setting the temperature controller to the temp you actually want. That way it's guaranteed to kick on whenever the Inkbird supplies it power. With the preset you have to be a bit creative about the temperature settings on the controller and be OK with some variance. Sometimes the preset heater temp controllers aren't super precise and won't kick on until things drop several degrees. Not that the fish should mind such an occurrence, but it's something to keep in mind.
Between removing the temperature controller from the water and the alarm for high/low temp, it's hard to beat the Inkbird in my opinion. I typically go with the ITC-308S. It comes with a detachable, water-proof temperature probe and high/low alarms. It isn't wifi capable, which is a bummer, but I can count the number of times I've wanted to adjust my tank temperature remotely on one hand (0).
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It really seems like the best option for heaters these days is a cheap, adjustable heater attached to an Inkbird. Removing the temperature controller from the tank takes that failure point away and going cheap on the heater means you can just swap em as they fail. Feels so wasteful and pointless.
Bulk Reef Supply offers a setup like I mentioned, but it's pretty pricey. Their heating element alone will set you back $65 and they charge roughly double what Amazon does for the Inkbird. So far, I've had good luck with Jager's hooked up to external temperature controllers. The only failure I've experienced was caught by the Inkbird off cheapy Aqueon preset.
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Well, this certainly isn't something I had considered when keeping Amazon puffers. Apparently, one of my little dummies tried to chomp on a bladder snail that was a bit too big for their mouth. At the moment, they don't seem too upset about the whole situation... still begging for food like they do every time I come near the tank, but obviously leaving a snail stuck in their mouth is going to become a problem eventually. If I had to guess, it's been in their mouth for a few hours. It wasn't there when I checked them in the morning, I only noticed it as I was walking past about an hour ago.
Anyone else had something like this happen? How long should I wait before trying to help? Should I bother with sedation or just go for a small container and some tweezers? I'm a bit nervous about hurting the little guy, but the alternative is worse. I've attached a few pictures of the little goofball.
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On 1/24/2022 at 1:28 PM, HydraSlayer said:
@mountaintoppufferkeeper and @Biotope Biologist, I was never referring to Pea Puffers, we've already decided against them.
I'm asking if there is any species of puffer that could live in a 5 gallon, any.
If peas are off the table, I think you're sort of out of options with puffers. Amazon puffers are small, but also prefer to be in a group and need lots of space to move.
If it was possible to bump up to a 10 gallon you'd have more options, but puffers in general are going to want a larger space than 5 gallons.
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On 12/2/2021 at 11:08 AM, SWilson said:
I did try trimming one of my amazon puffers. I used Tricaine, but I don't think I used enough. I was scared and I couldn't find very clear information about dosing. The directions that come with the bottle were for commercial use, and it was a bit difficult to try to convert the dosage down to a single fish in a tupperware container. Because the fish was not fully sedated, the trimming was very difficult too. Much harder to get the cuticle trimmers on the tiny tooth than I thought. In the end we were both traumatized. lol. I don't mean to worry you more, I think I got worried and trimmed when I didn't need to.
That is the one time I've had to even try to trim though, now coming on a year with six amazon puffers. I have just left them alone and just increased the # of snails I'm breeding so I always have small ones, the lack of which was my problem before. I unfortunately mostly have ramshorns, which are the ones that the puffers easily snatch out of the shell. With bladder snails, I do see the puffers take the whole shell in their mouth. My puffers ignored clam on a half shell and freeze-dried krill.
I did try the repashy on a rock (I use soilent green mixed with bottom scratcher) but because I keep a lot of endlers in the tank with the puffers, I suspect that the endlers ate it all. I haven't had a chance to re-try this again. I also feed my puffers with frozen food using tweezers, so I can confirm that each of them is eating. Their little bellies are helpful -- you can immediately see if they're getting food in or not.
For what it's worth, when I bought them, the LFS guy said that there are many people who keep them who never have to trim their teeth, but you don't hear about that because they're not fishtubers. He could've just been saying that to get the sale, but they are a pretty reputable store that's beeen around a very long time. There are many things in fishkeeping lore that get said once or twice and then are just repeated over and over -- "you'll have to trim your puffer's teeth every six months" could be one of those things. Though it's not bad for anyone planning to keep them to prepare themselves for that.
Good luck @Schwack with your puffers! We should keep in touch and compare notes!
Definitely! I'm terrified of having to trim their tiny teeth. I've watched a few video on it and it looks... unpleasant. I'll update whenever I manage to get a crab leg. I think they'll go for that. Mine won't even sniff freeze dried krill. They want frozen or nothing, but they go like absolute hogs when I put it in the tank. Watching them play tug of war with a chunk of krill is a lot of fun. My pearl gourami have even gotten in on the krill action, but they don't seem to care for it.
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I've been terrified of this ever since I picked up my Amazon puffers. None of mine have teeth growing out of control... yet, but I'm nervous that it's only a matter of time. I tried getting them on manila clams, but they were only interested if I pulled the meat off the shell for them. Leaving a halfshell in there for them to scrape clean didn't go well. I'm planning to try some crab legs next, or maybe some large shrimp? What variety of Repashy have people had success with? I've had very little luck with any of my fish and the community blend, so I'm a bit hesitant to pick up another $16 bottle of food I won't be able to feed out.
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On 11/16/2021 at 4:44 PM, BeginnerFishKeeper said:
Your water sounds pretty close to mine, and my Bettas have been rock solid.
I've never actually seen pH shock in person, and I suspect it's hard to be sure when you do see it. Generally, I'd look for erratic behavior or lethargy. Either of those would indicate a problem to me.
That said, some bettas are more energetic than others and some are lazy. I have one that spends significant amounts of time just lying on the substrate. Once you have the fish and get to know its usual behavior it's easier to diagnose a problem. Just control the parameters you can and try to source your fish from water similar to your tap if you're extra paranoid.
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Harm them in what way? Bettas are pretty tolerant fish, there's a reason they're a favorite for people just getting started in the hobby. Assuming you keep things warm and the water free of ammonia/nitrite, you're almost certainly going to have a pretty happy betta.
edit to add: I've kept several bettas in very high GH water with no issues or obvious distress. I can't imagine you'll have any trouble.
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Mine started doing this several months ago. I bought them as adults, and they were a bit timid but slowly warmed up and would come out to greet me etc. Then, without anything happening, they started spazzing out every time I'd 'startle' them. Same sort of thing, they'd swim toward the back or into the substrate. I added some dither fish, which changed nothing, I replanted a bit to give them more cover, same story. It got to the point where I considered rehoming them and then it just... stopped. These days they're still pretty timid, but they'll come out whenever I open the lid or get down to their level and look into the tank. No idea what caused it or what solved it, but you aren't the first person to experience this behavior!
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Typically, legacy mode is only turned on for the setup. With my router it's a 10 minute window for setting up devices which only support 2.4GHz and then the 5GHz radio turns back on.
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I started running purigen in my common area tank. The driftwood in there throws off an insane amount of tannins and I was constantly getting pestered about my 'dirty' water. With purigen it's crystal clear, but it's not something I'd typically run, especially not in a brand new setup.
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You may need to put your router into legacy mode. Lots of 2.4GHz devices get confused by modern routers when both antenna are on. I've always been able to solve the problem by temporarily disabling the 5 GHz radio, but I can't speak to the Inkbird specifically.
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On 11/12/2021 at 9:53 PM, eatyourpeas said:
They are indeed!
You could try a nutcracker and just feed a portion each time, shell and all. I do not think cooking is necessary.
Something like that is sort of the plan. I've managed to get them on frozen krill and, of course, frozen bloodworms, but I want to start working crunchy foods in to try and avoid having to trim teeth. Seems like clams and crab legs are the easiest way to do that, but crab is expensive! I'm hoping they'll take to the clams OK, if not, my next try will be repashy in a clam shell/on a rock. Anything to keep them working those tiny little teeth.
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I'm not super concerned about them being marine clams, a bit of salt in 40 gallons won't bother anybody. My biggest concern is preparation. I'm a bit of a weirdo among lifelong PNWesterners in that I don't eat seafood, so any prep is a mystery to me.
I ended up opting not to cook them in any way and instead moved them to the freezer based on a few old posts I found on a puffer forum. I figure a few days in the freezer and I'll be able to open em up and remove some of the raw meat to get the puffs to scrape the shells clean. They're such picky little buggers I'm guessing I'll have to hold off feeding for a few days to get them hungry enough for something new.
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I've had my group of amazon puffers for ~a month now and I'm starting to get a bit concerned about keeping their teeth under control. They've been systematically destroying all the ramshorn snails in my tank (the bottom looks like a snail graveyard now) and their teeth are nice and short still. I've got a nearly endless supply of ramshorns to feed them, but I was hoping to supplement with other crunchy foods. I know Hikari sells frozen clams on the halfshell, but I haven't had a chance to drive to my LFS to pick up a pack.
However, the other day I saw a bunch of reasonably small Manila clams at the grocery store. Since they're pretty cheap, I picked up 5 of the smallest clams to try out. Unfortunately, I'm not really sure how I should prep these guys for consumption by my fish, or if they're even suitable! Should I steam them first? Shell and offer them raw? I'm only out $1.50 if these don't work out and I figured worst case I can use the empty shells to try Repashy. My hope was that I could remove most of the meat from the shell and get them to scrape bits off, but I figured I'd check in here first.
Anyone have experience with grocery store clams and puffers?
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In my last few batches of CPD fry I had probably 8 out of 100ish that could be diagnosed with "failure to thrive." Either they developed very slowly, and weren't able to eat as often as the others, or they had some minor deformity. Most of them just sort of disappeared as the rest of their siblings grew, but 5 or so have made it to adulthood and I keep them in a 29 gallon I intend to use to house the little ones that aren't quite "perfect." It's really that I dont have the heart to euthanize a fish that can live a decent life just because it looks a bit funny, I'm still new enough to fish breeding that they're all my babies.
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I've got some SA puffers doing really well in my off-the-charts hard water. I'm constantly worried about their teeth, but otherwise really enjoy keeping them.
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On 11/5/2021 at 9:04 PM, Minanora said:
@Wingman12r and @Schwack When you started with your shrimps, do you remember the pH of the water they came from? I'm wondering, if I buy shrimp from my LFS that are living in that 6.8 pH water, how well they'll take to drip acclimation. I just got corys from them that were at a pH of 6! I drip acclimated them for 5 hours, which I hope was enough. They seem to be doing well.
I just worry about the hardiness of the shrimps, they're not cheap and I want to make sure they have the best chance at success.
Thank you guys.
Unfortunately, I never bothered to check. In my experience, pH has been one of those parameters that's gotten a bit overblown by the internet, with the exceptions of cases like @Atitagain is describing. Shrimp are the one critter I do drip acclimate, but typically only for ~an hour. I can't say I've ever had a loss from "parameter shock."
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It'll acidify your water, but you'd have to inject quite a bit to get a full 1.0 swing. Mine drops .4 out so throughout the day and then comes back to 8 overnight.
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I don't have a ton of info on pushing pH around, but I can say with certainty that cherry shrimp can thrive at 8-8.2 pH. Even my first generation of shrimp did pretty well once I started adding supplemental calcium/magnesium.
Is there something specific you want to keep that absolutely can't tolerate even a neutral pH?
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Even with all that in mind, I'd have a tough time blaming the snails. I've never noticed any issues between baby shrimp and snails, especially since the babies need such a small amount of food they can typically pick a few grains of detritus off as snails go to work on a wafer/stick/skewer and do OK. Do you add extra minerals to the water? Are the snails shells pocked at all? Could they be pulling too much calcium out of the water leaving the baby shrimp unable to molt properly?
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Reticulated flying fox, perhaps?
Color seems too far off. I'm inclined to agree with Fish Folk on this one, but it's tough to get much of a look at its mouth.
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Hold My Beer While I Detoxify This
in General Discussion
Posted
I think @CT_ is right to be cautious of blindly accepting the findingson AquariumScience. The internet is full of nonsense. The thing that sways me most is that the author isn't trying to sell anything. Nor are they really trying to push people away from Seachem products. If they were pushing their own dechlorinator, or another company's, I'd be extremely skeptical of their findings.
The gist of their research seems to be that Prime works well for its intended purpose but doesn't live up to the marketing speak. If I recall correctly, the most product pushing they do is toward another Seachem product: Safe. Mostly because it's shelf stable and goes further per bottle.