BettasAreSuperior

Thank you all for the help and advice. I completely agree that chasing a balance tank is so tiring, and I've gotten mine to the point where there's slight algae on the crypts and that's it. I feel like only 1 thing is holding me back; my soft water, causing a calcium deficiency in my plants. Otherwise, I feel like I should just let it be and just enjoy my tanks. I'm going to focus more on just enjoying my tanks and fixing small things here and there (like the calcium problem). Moreover, now I know if some elements are too low; the plants will show it. Thank you all so much for your advice and time!

Hi all! I'm currently trying to "balance" my tank and I wanted to measure my phosphate, calcium, potassium, and iron to see if my parameters were low or high, but I have no idea where to start. I'm not sure what my parameters should be. I know you need a specific amount for your aquarium to be balanced but there's so many opinions online that I don't know which one is right. I watched Irene's video on nutrient deficiencies in planted aquariums and it helped, but I just don't get how she knew they were too low or high. She knew they were out of whack, but how'd she'd know that they needed to be lowered or increased? How do people in general know? I'm so stuck, I don't know what my parameters should be for my tank to be balanced for the elements bolded above. I so want to achieve the "balanced tank," but I need help. Desperately. My tank's info: Freshwater, moderately planted (a lot more plants will be planted soon), fluval 3.0 light. Ammonia: 0 ppm. Nitrite: 0 ppm. Nitrate: 20 ppm. Ph: 7.6. (If you guys need the gh and kh, lmk) This tank has been established for I believe, a year or two. Stocking: 8 harlequin rasboras 6 sterbai corydoras 5 otocinclus 2 nerite snails

Hi! For the ich, I would treat with ich-x. Totally bullet-proof. Just follow the instructions on the bottle and you should be good. It would definitely make the ich go away, in my experience. For the algae, it takes over when one of the following is out of whack: Nutrients, light and/or co2. You need to balance your tank and figure which one is out of whack. For me, it was all 3, lol. The following video should explain how to get your tank alge free. (It's only 12 min and it's very helpful.) This video is the reason I don't have algae in my tank anymore. My tank had the green alage you had and it went away. It should solve your problems, good luck and lmk if you have any questions.

Mine? I'm not sure who but i'll respond. My ph is 7.6 and my nitrate is 99.999% of the time 20 pm as I dose fertilizer accordingly so it can consistently stay at 20 ppm.

It's 20 ppm, no worries! 🙂

Seachem or Thrive is fine but I would suggest Thrive. Both work totally fine though! Those are the only brands I would reccomend. (Easy green is really good too, if you can get it.) Oh! I didn't see this. Easy green is supposed to be dosed to 20 ppm nitrate so test your water weekly until you hit 20 ppm nitrate consistently.

Sorry for so many questions 😞. I just had one more: Is there a way to make sure you don't get aggressive puffers at the store other than sexing them?

I'm not the op, but I wanted to keep puffer fish and would like to see a picture of the tank as well 🙂

Thank you, it did. One question: is there a difference is personality whatsover?

Algae takes over when one of the following is out of whack: Nutrients, light and/or co2. You need to balance your tank and figure which one is out of whack. For me, it was all 3, lol. The following video should explain how to get your tank alge free. (It's only 12 min and it's very helpful.) This video is the reason I don't have algae in my tank anymore. My tank had the same, exact alage you had and it went away. It should solve your problems, good luck and lmk if you have any questions.

Hi all, I had a quick question for you guys: What are the differences between Bettas and Pea Puffers BESIDES the obvious like tank size, agression. etc. I want differences between the two that aren't common and are really helpful in deciding. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, I had a quick question about endlers live bearers: If I have all male endlers, will they fight as there is no females? Also, if I get males and females will they breed as crazy as guppies?

Agreed. @tzahroxi, could you share your exact water parameters?

@tzahroxi, is he getting noticeably better since the salt treatment? How long have you been doing it? According to @Colu's post, it says we should identify the underlying cause but I'm not sure how we can do that as your betta looks fine other than his operculum open.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to skip on the co2. I just had one quick question: how do you set it up and what parts do you need to set it up?

Thank you so much. I had a question though: Can you safely use both at a time or will it be overkill?

Hi all, my betta, Ronan, is sick. He has velvet and fin rot. I can't show pics rn, I'll upload some tommorow. I have been dosing ich-x as it says it treats velvet. I saw no improvement. I don't want to try ich-x again, I can see it's not working. I saw somewhere that api general cure can be used to treat betta fin rot and velvet. Is this true? Also, I have a hospital tank set up that he is in right now. So, can I use general cure for his fin rot and velvet? Thank you in advance.

Hi all, I wanted to install a co2 diffuiser in my aquarium after I saw one of Irene's videos showing she had a co2 diffuser and she has a low-tech tank so I'm confused. I thought co2 diffiusers were for high-tech tanks? How do you set one up? Can I use it for low-tech tanks? Will it make things more complicated? Just explain eveyrthing you know about co2 diffusers, I'm so confused, please help.Thank you in advance.

Hi! I'm pondering whether this is gill flukes or gill hyperplasia? Research on both and get back so we can figure what is the best course of action.

I acknowledge this is an old thread but I had a question. The below pic says 283 pts till next rank. How am I supposed to get points? Does 1 post equal 1 point?

The last one, lol! I love your resoultions! Mine would be: 1. Conquer new plants 2. Balance my 20 gal 3. Breed some fish like my corydoras! Super Excited for this one! 4. Sell some Fish at my LFS Nothing exciting coming up

Howdy fellow Nerm! On ich-x's instructions, it says to do 1/3 wc's everyday. After wcing (wc is water change) add the med acccording to your tank size. Repeat until there is no sign of ich. I see there is still some ich left on your ram so I would do this process for another two or three days. (Three to make sure there are no more pathogens and your tank is free of ich. There maybe ich pathogens swimming around waiting to latch onto their next host so better to be safe than sorry.) Good luck and lmk if you have any questions!

You're totally welcome. Same here, it's always refreshing for someone to back you up.

I agree with @HydraSlayer's post above. Seachem would totally work. @Cinnebuns, you mentioned Thrive and I would hands down recommend Thrive over Seachem because Thrive's ingredients are a lot more than Seachem. I use Thrive and my tank is totally flourishing. If possible, both would be good because Thrive has some ingredients that Seachem doesn't and vice versa. Benefit of both worlds! But I was on a budget too and Thrive would be my choice if I had to pick one.

Thank you! And no, they are separate email addresses so no issues there.