reefhugger

I'd still check since this is the most likely cause.

Hillstream loaches are among my very favorites. I love watching them zip about. The other day all of them were in a wide group together....lovely.

Applause!!! They are such lovely little fishes....ones I can see from across the room in the evening. Well done.

The Gulf water temperatures are genuinely appalling.

I wonder if spraying it with hydrogen peroxide would help?

Wow such interesting info on some orchids. Oh no, another internet rabbit hole to disappear down for a few hours. But a fun one certainly.

Amen to that.....lol

You will be happy with the Pogostemon Stellatus . It grows rapidly even in my gravel substrate. It will grow tall or it can be trimmed lower. Very uncomplaining.

I crashed and burned trying to grow dwarf hairgrass. I like the suggestion of using cocoa mats. I'll be interested in how it works out for you.

Sorry for the delay in reply....often have internet issues here. Anyway as I mentioned this is just what I'm going to try but haven't yet. I don't see any obvious issues. I know I'd have to have the soil wet and perhaps have a fine gravel cap or some other way of not having the soil flood out of the pot as I slowly lower it down. Any ideas on that I'd welcome. I wonder if aquatic plants have smaller or more spread out roots than land ones. But assuming this will work, they can be repotted like my houseplant? We should have some fun experimenting with this.

I was curious about this as I want to upgrade some plants in a large aquarium which as gravel substrate. I'm thinking using clay pots with good aquarium soil might be a solution to raising plants better suited to soil than gravel. A podcast I like "Blakes Aquatics" had a video where he does just that; I found other sites as well using pots for aquarium plants, I raise a few orchids and so have pots that are wide and have openings in the side. I'm going to give these a try in the aquarium. Also we have a small pond and grow water lilies in pots. I don't know why other plants wouldn't work as well.

This statement is so true and so important . I maintain two larger aquariums ( 55 & 70 gal) and two small ones (15 & 20). The difference in care and stocking even between the 15 and 20 was noticeable to me in the initial setup and long term maintenance. If at all possible, an upgrade to a larger tank helps a great deal for you and your fishes and impacts the types and numbers of fish that can be happy and healthy.

I dearly love my Mystery snails, as much as the finned denizens of my tanks. The fact they lay egg clutches at the top of the tank makes it easy to control the population as I know to look around the top borders of the tank, above the water line. I love watching them scoot up the tank and then parashoot to the bottom. They do a decent job on algae, and I do feed them specifically simply because I have allowed the population to grow a bit. I feed Repashy and algae tabs on occasion which everyone enjoys. I know this is perhaps an outlying opinion, I simply love the little critters. On the other hand I did not care for Nerite snails because, as noted in the article, they lay tiny eggs all over that are next to impossible to remove.

Thank you for that information.

I see posts for trader feedback. But I'm too dimwitted to find where on the forum the trading is available. Help!

Mystery snails are a commonly kept critter in aquariums. They are a subset of the larger family of apple snails, some of which are invasive, Do a google search of "mystery snails versus apple snails" and you'll find a more technical explanation. I love mystery snails as good clean-up crew, and entertaining to watch. Another characteristic is they lay egg clutches at the top of the aquarium making them very easy to pluck out to control the population for your tanks.

Thanks so much. I'll go do that right now.

Two of my rainbow fish have problems I need help with. One has a swollen and reddened eye on one side, the other has a protruding lump on one side. These injuries/sicknesses ( I don't know which) appeared or were noticed at the same time. I did a 50% water change and added aquarium salt to the entire tank at a 1T per 3 gallons ratio with worry its something that can infect everyone else. I raised water temp to 78 from 74, I've now got pictures to show. Pretty much freaking out here. Water parameters: Am-0 Nitrates 25 Ph 7.2 Hardness 80

When I received my first Mystery snails I was pleased to see one egg clutch, but picked it out of the tank as I wasn't ready for breeding. I was confident more eggs would appear. Imagine my despair when no eggs appeared for weeks! I thought I had really messed up by not retaining that first batch. Then for no reason I could discern egg batches started coming regularly and are still coming so often I'm backing to removing some. All my tanks have snails so I have to cull to maintain a health population.

I'm laughing and on my way to have a chat with the guppies in that tank. I may put a sign up pointing to the hydra saying "Next Meal".

Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm a struggling, chronic overfeeder. I've implemented a better schedule to help with this personal failure. But again thanks for the quick reply.

This white substance is all over the glass in my guppy tank, but none of the other tanks. Last week I scraped it all off, did a substantial water change and cleaned the filters. It has reappeared and blankets the glass. The structure looks to my uneducated eyes like fungus...? Our water is hard but all tanks are one to several years old so I can't fathom its water related. Water tested fine...0 ammonia 0 nitrite 5 nitrate. The fish are happy, no growth on the fishes or plants. I'm really baffled.

This white substance is all over the glass in my guppy tank, but none of the other tanks. Last week I scraped it all off, did a substantial water change and cleaned the filters. It has reappeared and blankets the glass. The structure looks to my uneducated eyes like fungus...? Our water is hard but all tanks are one to several years old so I can't fathom its water related. Water tested fine...0 ammonia 0 nitrite 5 nitrate. The fish are happy, no growth on the fishes or plants. I'm really baffled.

Everything Guppysnail listed is good advice. One additional thing helped me with green dust and staghorn algae was using Easy Carbon as directed on the container. Honestly I was a little surprised; something in my pea brain resisted the idea that it would help. Gosh I was wrong again. It did help and fairly quick.

You have gotten some great feedback on tank setup/cycling so I have nothing to add. But I did react to the internet nightmare of research done, and want to add my experiences. I have learned to rely on only a very few trusted sources of information including this forum, Cory and Irene, and Prime Time Aquatics. I stay far away from other social media sites; there is so much misinformation from well meaning folks and "common knowledge". I have found comforting consensus staying with sources who have established successful processes for setting up and maintaining healthy aquariums. Cory's video on cycling was a revelation to my cluttered understanding of what I was trying to accomplish. And my tanks are the better for it. You are undertaking a journey that will have some successes and some failures and will not ever really get to a "destination". To me that's what the fun is; there's always something new to learn. Enjoy the process!