Will Billy

I totally understand the concern of the zebra muscle infestation. Invasive species of any kind should be closely monitored, and im glad it was caught quickly from what we can tell. I wonder tho about all those contaminated batches, and how they will all get destroyed. Since marimo moss balls are endangered in the wild, and they grow soooo sloooowly, i wonder how long it will take the farmed moss balls to bounce back (pun not intended). Will we see them again for sale? I wonder how long it will take the industry to recover from all of this. Im thankful for the 3 i have that i bought a long time ago, but im saddened that it may be a long time before they are safe for purchase again. I hope we can see our green fuzzy little aquatic tribbles again soon.

Ah, spring time is upon us once again, and once again so is shedding season for those of us with fur babies. Unless you happen to have a German Shepard / Labrador mix then it becomes rolling tumble weeds of fur. Oh about half way through our brushing session in which i pulled out enough fur to make 3 more dogs her size, the wind began to pick up. Im still scraping the back of my tongue where i involuntarily ate some. But yay!! Spring is finally here, ive been holding out for warmer weather to purchase some new fishy friends online. Im gearing up to move my guppies and dojo loaches to a new tank, and im gonna dive back into shrimp for my 55 gal community tank. Im hoping with my dojo loaches in their new home i can keep my shrimp and bladder snails around longer. Hmm, does anyone actually sell bladder snails? Ima need some more soon, my dojos love em like i love cake. So many projects to come, i cant list them all, but yay spring is here!

This is exactly why i love the open discussion format of this forum. There is always something new to learn from veteran fish keepers. My experiences described above could very well be as described. That was my assumption as to the cause, but @MJV Aquatics may have more accurately described what i witnessed.

In my experience it mostly depends on the livestock. Much hardier livestock like my guppies did fine with just temperature acclimation. Generally shrimp on the other hand are a bit more sensitive to water chemistry differences. Shrimp i will drip acclimate to avoid chemistry shock. And some fish like my pygmy hatchet fish were super sensitive to temperature swings. Water changes for guppies was dump new water right in. With pygmy hatchet fish i HAD to ensure the new water was the exact same temperature as the tank or i would have dead hatchet fish the next day from a simple water change. I believe the wide range of different livestock, is the main reason why there is a wide range of opinions on the subject. Some do fine and others do not. The only instance of acclimation ive experienced that caused harm was a delayed shipping order in which the bag of water was (im just assuming here) probably low in oxygen and maybe high in ammonia from poop. Something that may be a more common concern with ordering fish online compared to a quick trip to the LFS.

Nerite snails are also an excellent choice. They have a voracious appetite and fit in well with most any tank setup. The big bonus as you mentioned is they wont breed in freshwater tanks so population control is quite simple. Just a quick tip, tho they wont breed unless in brackish water, they will still lay eggs. The eggs wont hatch, and you will have to scrape them off with like an old credit card or something that wont scratch your glass. I didnt want your significant other to freak out if and when they see a random snail egg hanging around lol

That video was too funny, i love it lol. Even his Attempt of the David Attenborough impersonation. Pure gold! Awe man i am so stoked for you. Have you had dojo loaches before? If not you are in for a real treat.

I agree with @Schwack let you bacteria colony mature. Plants actually prefer ammonia over nitrate, they will help too. As far as the algae there are many different species of fish and invertebrates you can add after your tank has cycled. If you dont want bladder snails you should remove them immediately. They can reproduce asexually, so even 1 can be the start of a colony. I personally am pro bladder snail all the way, as they have a lot of great benefits to an ecosystem and one of the best tank cleaners in my opinion. However i also understand why they can be overwhelming to some people, especially people who are newer to the hobby, or how they can make a tank appear unkept. I do not wish to persuade your decision one way or the other, but i would press upon you to make a decision quickly before there are tiny hidden snail eggs in places you cant see that will force you to take further steps and measures to remove them should you not want to keep them. If you do choose to keep them, then no harm no foul, and enjoy your awesome team of freshwater glass roombas that will scrub your glass clean.

Im super happy for you. I love my dojo loaches so much. Hands down they are the coolest, funnest fish i have ever owned. Always active, they can be trained to do simple tricks, and yes they do in fact predict storms (hence the other name weather loach). I will warn you, they are little piggies tho. You cant stop them from eating. They eat at the top of the tank when you feed everyone, and they are living breathing gravel vacs, constantly digging and sifting your substrate. You are gonna have a lot of fun with those guys and/or gals. I hope you post pictures im eager to see your new pets.

Not just neons, but a lot of schooling fish try to establish a pecking order as well. The most dominant neons comes out on top in regards to food, territory, first pick at mating etc... this behavior is most common when they create a new school, as in your case getting fish not from the same school. They are establishing a new pecking order. It will subside overtime with a few flare ups from time to time if one decides to challenge another to be on top. The flare up you are observing is usually quite rare in an established school of fish because they begin this dominance / submissive ordering system as juveniles, with only the occasional time to time challengers. It should subside overtime once they have sorta figured each other out.

Had i anticipated how much i love my bladder snails, i would have dug up that old receipt when i bought one of those magnetic algae glass scrubbers and gotten my money back. It just sits there collecting dust unused underneath my tank. Gosh, i cant remember how long it been since i used that thing.

One of these days ima convert you to snails @Philip lol. Just kidding, but your post did give me quite a chuckle.

I can second that observation. My java fern was displaying potassium deficiency, and my anubias is growing like gang buster after adding it for my java fern.

Now that is mystery snail eggs. The clear globs were your bladder snails. But that is definitely mystery snail eggs. I know this sounds weird, but mystery snails though they live in water, lay there eggs outside of water because somehow the baby snails can drown submerged. Yeah, i dont get it either lol. They do need to stay moist however, just not submerged. Also not to dash any hopes but mystery snails are sometimes known to lay a clutch of eggs unfertilized. If i recall correctly and maybe someone can correct me if im wrong, i think it takes about 3 weeks for the baby snails to gestate. If after a month and you dont see them hatch they could be unfertilized and you can just pull them off.

@Fish Folk hit the nail on the head with that one. Not only do i try to not disturb anoxic and anaerobic bacteria deep in my substrate, i have a healthy population of detritus worms that i also try not to disrupt.

I would give it time. That appears to be normal poop to me. Snails have a sort of weird hibernation phase (not sure what to call it) where once every couple of weeks they hit a lethargic spell that lasts for a couple of days and then they go right back to doing there thing. Continue to monitor him though, and if after a few days he doesn't come out of it let us know.

Normally you want to ramp up intensity and duration slowly over a period of time. Its sorta like when you float your fish in a bag it reduces shock to the plant from being transplanted. I think at this point though just continue with what you got as far as lighting goes. Yes it is true with anubias that you dont want to bury the rhizome, but you can still bury the roots. Fortunately your gravel is quite forgiving in this situation compared to a more compact substrate like sand or aqua soil, as your gravel can get better water exchange to prevent rhizome rot. Its hard for me to see by the picture if your rhizome is buried or not but yeah dont bury the rhizome more than a 1/4 inch.

So for now dont use activated carbon. It will reduce your ferts. Your anubias is a water column feeder and does better with liquid fertilizers like Easy Green. Your amazon swords are heavy root feeders and will do better with root tabs. Water sprite can go either way, but since you have it planted root tabs is probably the way to go with that one, but it will also pull liquid ferts from the water column too. Since you have BBA for sure, i would hold off on adding any phosphorus, but i would probably add some potassium especially for your anubias. Right now your BBA infestation is quite small, but as you add more ferts it can and will grow with your plants. Under normal circumstances i do not recommend liquid carbons, because they are toxic for fish in high doses. However you can spot treat the algae with Easy carbon or seachem flourish excel. Follow the dosing directions very carefully. For a 20 gallon tank i would turn off your filter and airstones for about 10 minutes and spot treat the algae with 2ml of liquid carbon with a pipet. *WARNING* Do not use more than 2 ml per day for your tank size. Spot treat 1 piece of algae per day and turn your airstone and filter back on after 10 minutes. Within a day or 2 you will see the BBA turn red as it is dying. This is not a permanent cure, this is a stop gap approach to reduce algae consuming valuable nutrients from your plants while we balance your tank. Do not depend on liquid carbon as a go to cure, but in this case it will help reverse course and get your plants absorbing nutrients and beating out algae for competition of said nutrients. Continue to monitor your plants through new growth. New leaves give you a better idea of what is going on as they bloom. Be prepared that this will take time. Plants respond quite slowly to change, so it may take a while to notice the changes you've made. Lastly what type of lighting are you using, and how long do you keep your lights on? Lighting will be crucial in reducing future algae outbreaks without resorting to liquid carbon, which i try to avoid whenever possible.

First off, looks like a great tank. I like that you went with deep gravel, that will help you later as your tank matures. A few things tho that could help me out is #1 i noticed your canister filter, do you have any activated carbon media in your filter? #2 just to be sure can you provide the names of your plants? I have a pretty good idea of most of them from your helpful pictures i just dont wanna guess wrong on some of the others. #3 what type of lighting are you using, and how long do you keep your lights on for? My preliminary thoughts are from what i am seeing is some potassium deficiency, and maybe some phosphorus deficiency. I dont want to land on that diagnosis just yet until i can get further clues as to what is going on. I am also seeing some BBA for sure, and i cant quite tell but maybe some staghorn algae as well. Dont fret we will get to the bottom of this and help you balance your tank nutrients. For now the above questions would really help us out for a more accurate diagnosis and better answers for appropriate treatments to get you back on track.

So, the technical answer here is, Easy Green is safe for fish and invertebrates. The only water parameters ive ever noticed it to affect is nitrate levels. In SMALL quantities nitrate is also harmless to fish and invertebrates, especially compared to ammonia and nitrite. However extremely high levels of nitrate do become toxic, and is one of the main reasons for recommended water changes. The best answer here tho is I highly recommend a test kit. Not so much for testing fertilizer, but it is a great tool to help you diagnose problems in your tank should they arise. It also provides forum members clues as to whats going on in a situation where you might get stumped trying to figure out a problem and reach out for advice. If a special trip to an out of the way pet store is inconvenient for you, i believe Aquarium Co-op sells API master test kits that you can have delivered to your house. So the short answer here is no you dont need to test for Easy Green fertilizer, but it is recommended to test for everything else.

AC stickers are my version of pokemon cards. Gotta catch them all!

The bubbles will go away with good filtration. It it caused by oils and proteins in the water. Anything that separates in water normally makes a sheen on the surface. Good surface agitation from an airstone will break it up and eventually find its way through your filter. Alternatively the Tidal hang on back filters have a surface skimmer to pull that stuff out directly. All aquariums have oils and proteins that can cause a sheen that can make a skin that traps pockets of air in the bubbles that you see. Most people never notice because of surface agitation from air stones and various filter flows that break up the sheen then filter it out. Totally normal, however if you are seeing it it may be a sign that you need more water movement. Water flow helps move nutrients and toxins move around your tank. I know moving toxins sounds bad, but ammonia may be a toxin for fish but is a nutrient for plants and bacteria. Good water flow goes a long way in establishing your tank.

Wow thank you for sharing pdf @Daniel. I cant wait to plow through it tonight before bed. Again thank you for sharing that, i much appreciate it and will be looking into other similar books. What a great thread this is!

Believe it or not, this is a very pertinent question. Most people know to use a seasoned filter for a quarantine tank. But what do you do with the reusable filter media once quarantine is complete? Lets dissect this question further. How i quarantine is most different from what is what i would consider common practice. I prefer to not add meds until i see a problem. For me my quarantine tank is exactly that, plop them in and observe. If i see a problem, i only medicate for the visibly noticeable problem. Common practice is to add meds wether the fish are sick or not. On the one hand an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure philosophy, on the other i save meds and only use them as i see fit, saving me on the cost of meds but also not dosing my pets with unnecessary meds leading to stressing them further for a treatment that is not needed. Granted blasting a quarantine tank with a med trio means you can add your fish sooner (like 2 weeks, compared to my method of 4 weeks or longer of observation). Should a problem arise, what do we do with the medicine laced, possibly contaminated filter media? My quarantine method allows me no harm no fowl should all fish make it through quarantine no problems to just reintroduce my sponge media directly in my tank. If however i have an ich outbreak for example and i treat my quarantine for ich, #1 i dont want to introduce ich contaminated media into my display tank, and furthermore #2 i dont want to introduce fish meds to my display tank that uses no activated carbon to remove residual meds. I know i took a long way of going about this but, generally it is far easier for me to seed a sterile sponge with new bacteria, than to worry about and adjust consequences of a contaminated sponge. My method is to dip the contaminated sponge in bleach to kill bacteria and rinse with chlorinated hot tap water to remove surplus bleach. Once confident the bleach is mostly gone (as it is hard to rinse off) i soak the media in a 50/50 hydrogen peroxide vinegar solution. The hydrogen peroxide will oxidize and exfoliate trapped meds, the vinegar will remove fungal impurities such as different molds and fungus that are resilient to bleach that mostly kills bacteria. After a 1 hour soak in vinegar and H2O2, i rinse again and soak in dechlorinated water for 24 hours swishing and squeezing periodically. Before reintroduction to a display tank, to start growing new bacteria. It seems like a lot to go through, and maybe im extra cautious, but the vinegar is only applied if and when i see a fungal infection, bleach if and when i notice a bacterial infection, and if no infection is observed i do not use my regimented sterilization method at all. Just my 2 cents, im sure others have different quarantine methods and sterilization procedures. Thats what i do, and so far it has not failed me.

If you want to replace the poly pad, i see no harm. Removing poly pad with no replacement could ramp up your ammonia and nitrites. The bubbles will go away with surface agitation as it is proteins that collect on the surface of the water. Eventually your filtration should remove them, especially if you replace the poly pads with new ones.

Like @Streetwise mentioned, for a 20 gallon 1 nano should suffice for a shrimp tank filtration wise. If it were me i would put 1 nano sponge filter in each corner (for a total of 2 sponge filters). Again like @Streetwise said they will eat off of the sponge so you are not only providing surface area for beneficial bacteria you are providing surface area for shrimp to eat.