Julia

Ya know, after clicking on your link I’m surprised that your story with the cories are so similar. In my case some of the cories I lost had very similar markings on their body. But the majority seemed to have nothing wrong with them except that when they started to die all the sudden they got pale. And it seemed like one might be totally fine when I looked in the morning but by that night it would be pale then the next morning dead. And no other animals in the tank seemed affected at all. So odd. Maybe shipping. Maybe stress, and/or a virus or a bacteria. I suppose without access to a lab we will never know. Well, I’m glad you likely have a small school of healthy cories now. Me, I cant do that again. In part, thats what led to consolidating my tanks in the first place, just felt too out of control all the sudden. Just gonna make one tank be the best it can be.

All good thoughts. Thank you for talking it out with me. I think i am going to take a few weeks to focus on honing in the feeding amounts/types. The filter feeders do tend to forage on the bottom which worried me a little. I’ll try feeding them a little more simce the cherries will be getting less other things they will be more likely to clean up excess powder. if it doesnt all settle i will decide between giving up the bamboos or the rummynose. Although when i added them the rasboras seemed to get much more comfortable. K. Thank you all. May your tanks bring u all the joy with minimal worry!

Oh, really? I put a pinch of the repashy powder for them. I have been adding those fluval bottom feeder crumbles alternated with shrimp pellets for the rest of them but if its as simple as just the powder then that would help to cut down a lot! this is good stuff guys! So much appreciated.

I love the medicine container idea. I will definitely try that since I already have a days of the week one. the cories, good eye! They are the survivors of the panda cory disaster or 2022. A month ago I purchased 8. They were small and maybe not entirely healthy but i had never had them and didnt exactly know better. They began dying off one by one. Maybe slightly pale. But full of energy and eating till bam they died. So i though. Okay, maybe bad stock, i had never been to that lfs. So i got 6 more from a different lfs. Those are the only 2 left. I gave up on panda cories. I caught one but the other one is going to make me make a mess, that is the main goal for the day. To take them to the lfs I like so they can find a forever home. Cause i have no idea why they die in my tank. At a loss.

U all talked me off the ledge. I just need to learn how to feed them all appropriately without feeding too much. Plus last time i tried a community betta it did die after getting swim bladder issues. But I do like what is going on in there. Just so paranoid they are hungry and then paranoid i fed them too much. thank you for the compliments. Maybe I just needed reassurance before I do anything rash.

I think i just had a “plan” and now that I added all those different shrimp and there are so many fish it just feels very busy. Also, all the food of all kinds! Plus the powdered stuff for the filter feeders. Ive always struggled with overfeeding and now with all the foods im struggling again. The betta hasnt over eaten yet, but its inevitable. Can you feel my overwhelmedness? I think its the feeding thing. Aqadvisor says im at 71% which is fine. I have plenty of filtration. Everyone gets along fine. The plants will grow more which is exciting. Its the feeding issue. Any tips?

I need to take out some things from this tank. But, what are the smartest things to take out. Can everybody take a vote? 40 gall breeder: (1)Male Betta (12) Harlequin Rasbora (13) Rummynose Tetra (1) Bristlenose Pleco (20?) Cherry Shrimp (3) Bamboo Shrimp (1) vampire shrimp (3) Amano Shrimp Some of these pairings are intentional, some are circumstantial as i have had to consolidate tanks. The betta, for the record, is the perfect gentleman, except for baby shrimp, which I find rather helpful. what would you take out? or nothing? Lol.

Entirely possible, though i read this species (multi) is known to do this with “extra” males. Not much info about it in detail via google. I wanted to know if anyone else who kept them managed to somehow integrate them back in or if after a while the male managed to wiggle his way back in. He tries sometimes but the other two promptly turn him around and escort him back up. I may take him back to lfs tomorrow. Its not much of a life for him.

Hi. Starting my shelly adventure. I put 2 in a 36 inch 30 gallon with 35 shells. Not much happened they hid a lot. Went back and got 5 more and it all fell into place. The first two turned out to be two males. One now has one female and the other has the other three females. The last fish seems to be male and has been ejected to the top of the aquarium. I rearranged the shells the next day to see. They let him in the shells while i was rearranging but he was back in the corner within an hour. Will they ever let him in or do i take him back to the store?

Rhabdocoela is the most likely thing i found on google. But they are very small so I am still not sure. Oh and i mean they are 0.2 cm!

2 days ago these very small (0.1mm, 0.2mm) white lines appeared. A LOT of them. I thought maybe it was a bloom or a hatch of something but they dont move at all. Nor do they stick to glass. I hope the picture is good enough that you can see them. Any ideas? water parameters good. Tank mature. Cleaned on saturday. Inhabitants seem fine.

Thanks for responding. And yes. Lol you have a good point. I just worry about the 40 which is a semi wasteland with stunted plants and algae. I forgot that i had purchase womdershells that i was gonna put in after i got the hardness test kit. So i put those in. I do tend to get bogged down in overthinking though so thank you for wake up call.

Hi, my softened water is testing at 18 degrees KH 3 degrees GH 8.0-8.2 PH the 20 gall has shrimp and plants and all are doing wonderfully and reproducing like crazy. Its a happy forest. the 40 gall has 2 one year old common goldfish ( someone w a pond will take them when they are bigger my kid won them at a fair with his grandma). In this tank simple vallisneria is at a standstill and algae is a bother. The crypt is covered in algae and the fish understandably constantly try to uproot it. I can accept their goldfishness. Both have been running for 6-12 months. i learned years ago to add kent marine calcium so that the shrimp could molt properly. Question is can I add seachem equilibrium to fix GH issue? Unsoftened water would be 14 degrees KH and 23 degrees Gh. i can bypass the softened water but i would need to run a long hose and the water would be freezing and its would be like a 30 gallon ordeal and ugh. Just no. Please no. There must be a ton of people who had this issue so i thought ide finally ask.. leave it alone? seachem equilibrium? Thought?

Thank you for posting Bentley Pascoe’s videos!!! So helpful! I am going to try his suggestions regarding starting slow. My blue and pink is likely too high. These videos are everything I needed. Thank you again!

Help! I have a 55 gallon low tech setup. I use root tabs and flourish. I switched to a 48” fluval 3.0 plant spectrum from a standard flourescent that came with the hood cause I felt like the sagittaria and other lower plants werent getting enough light. but now Im having so many issues! I went from just a little green spot algae that my pleco happily enjoyed to Hair algae, green spot algae and black beard algae. The tank has been running since april. i have been adding excel for weeks but seems to do nothing. i want to maintain a low tech set up. i simply have Val and wisteria (which is brown with algae) willow, and anubias(which have the black beard but also now these tiny white dots everywhere...mold? I dont know! No, not nerite eggs. I have those too though, lol) the lights are at red 75% blue 20% all the whites at 60% i read that algae gets worse with low light but if the light is too high then the balance with the nutrients will be off and cause algae anyway. So do I need to increase or decrease light?? also, my nitrates are always low, at zero after a cleaning. I water change every two weeks and by two weeks nitrates are back up to 5. But do i need to add a nitrate fertilizer? Help. Im in the weeds here.