Odd Duck

I would dose the levamisole again. It’s fast acting and also clears quickly so less risk of side effects. Don’t forget your before and after water changes. If he still doesn’t eat for another 24 hours or so, then do a round of the prazi/metro combo.

My guess is also Windelov or Lace Java fern (Leptochilus pteropus ‘Windelov’). Has leaves sprouting from what appears to be a rhizome, has brown, skinny, slightly fuzzy looking roots, and it looks like it has multiple forks/splits starting at the leaf tips. Looks in rough shape currently, so don’t be surprised if it fades. All varieties of Java fern like to be attached to something (wood, rock, decoration) and hate their rhizome being buried in substrate. Their roots can be buried, but the rhizome will be prone to rot if buried. They are water column feeders, primarily. I've noticed, if you can attach them to something so that their roots can eventually reach substrate, they seem to especially like that. They also seem to do a slightly better attached to wood vs rocks or decorations. I suspect it gives them just that little bit more nutrition as the roots dig in to the wood.

I think I would risk another dose of levamisole if he doesn’t start eating tomorrow. It looks like there’s still way too much stringiness to that poop. Then move his next dosing date to a week from tomorrow (if he doesn’t eat and you decide to dose again).

I’ve also seen it as potted plants, but my goal was to do a big swath of them in the 100 gallon, so TC was the only way I could afford that many plants. Wellll, . . . . I have a little swath in my 6G. 😆 And I have sturdier, better rooted plants in the 100G. I can’t even tell you how many times I replanted tiny pogos in the 100G. 2-6 *daily* for at least 2 weeks or more. I kind of got ahead of myself in adding the corys. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thanks! I really love that contrast, too! Really makes them both stand out better. The Crypt ponte was supposed to be nearly the same color as the pogos to contrast from the other side of the dark Buce, but it doesn’t look as bright because the ponte got so tall. You see the color *through* the leaves instead of *on* the leaves and it doesn’t come across nearly as bright, neon green. Plus they have that single E. ‘Red Flame’ behind them and it darkens that corner a bit. If that sword gets big enough it will have to come out and I’ll let the pontes grow in that direction. Maybe it will give it more contrast that way. I also had the *hardest* time getting that Pogostemon to establish! The first 2 TC melted, but the second TC melted slow enough I thought, “Well, I might still have a chance at getting it to work”. The third TC did fine, but I had split the plants between this tank and my 100 gallon. The cories kept dislodging the ones in the 100 gallon! I finally just stuck them all in this one and they’re doing great! I like the aquascape to evolve and develop. I don’t want to look at exactly the same thing for years. I want to see what the plants want to do. There are some I’ve given up on (almost gave up on those Pogostemon), and some I’m trying again for the first time in years.

Bleach only needs to sit for 10 minutes. After that, rinse it like you have the blood of your dead enemies on your hands. Then rinse a few more times. Then I let things soak with triple dechlorinator for at least 30 minutes. THEN I feel comfy using things.

I also vote for wait a month. Let it sit there and be pretty. Take a step back. The best things that happen in a tank, happen slow.

The string holding the poops together could potentially be remnants of IP passing or random fibers he’s ingested. Small herbivores (rabbits, Guinea pigs, etc) often get this “string of pearls” poop when they are shedding and have excess hair in their poop. Hopefully he is clearing out any nasties!

Now if I could only figure out *how* to make a signature. I took a pic of your instructions but can’t even find the “signature” spot! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ Edit to say, “Found it!”

Thank you, I think it’s coming along well. My aim was initially a Betta tank. I’ve been holding out because I have a geriatric singleton pea puffer that I’ve been trying to work into a socially healthy shoal. First I have to get the right number of puffers in the right sex ratio (which has been far tougher than I expected). I’ve tried a couple times with him with juveniles, but it didn’t work out well because I didn’t have a large enough group and probably didn’t have the right sex ratio. He gets one last shot at it. My *new* juvies are just starting to show me sex differentiation, so I’m (hopefully) only a couple weeks from a proper shoal. If it doesn’t work out, this will be his retirement home. Here he is when he was in temporary puffer jail for his previous bad behavior.

Next the AR ‘Roseafolia’ just had to come out. It wasn’t growing anything but algae anyway. Replaced it with some AR ‘Mini’ and getting better growth since it’s not covered with algae (🙄🤦🏻‍♀️). The Anubias wasn’t growing very well, and what was growing was too green, so I thought I’d try more light. Algae was otherwise under control, finally. Took out the floaters to maybe get the Anubias back to ‘Pinto’ and moved its friend over to join it from my algae troubled pea puffer tank. There are a couple random Buce rhizomes laying there with weights on them, waiting to see to what variety they are. They came in with no leaves but I know which 2 they could (should?) be, so we’ll see soon. They just started sprouting some leaves in the last week. These pics are July 1. Close up of the Anubias nana ‘Petite Pinto’ pair.

The Anubias was getting a little too much light for the nutrient level and was getting algae. So I floated a ring and added red root floaters (Phyllanthus fluitans) to shade it. The dwarf lilies grew even faster than I expected, so they got pulled and put in another tank (I’ll get to that one eventually). This first pic is what got the tank named ‘Volcano’ when I posted it on FB. Second pic is after pulling the lilies and after adding what was supposed to be 3 Crypt. wendtii ‘Pink Panther’. You can see 2 are pink, one . . . not so much. The oddball is a pretty enough crypt, it gives me contrast between the pink Crypts and the pink of the AR ‘Roseafolia’, so it stays. You can see staghorn algae on the AR (not a nice look). Things are otherwise coming along nicely.

Since I’ve been dropping comments about the 75 gallon redo and encouraged to post a journal link in my sig, but this is not that! 😆 I’ll get to that when it’s more than just an ugly mess needing a redo and a plan. To keep in the spirit of sharing, though, this is currently my next to favorite tank. Arguably the best looking right now. In February this year, I bought a “new in box” second hand, 6 G Aqueon cube. Bought one of their “planted tank” lights to go with it since I already had one on another cube that was a complete, used, starter kit (tank, light, filter), and those plants were growing well, so why not continue the same and they would match with pretty minimal expense. I set it up with a nice chunk of petrified wood I got from another hobbyist (one of my favorite rocks I’ve ever had). It got a couple tiny, baby, dwarf red lilies - front left (Nymphea lotus ‘Zenkeri’) which I knew I would have to remove eventually. A handful of Alternanthera reineckeii ‘Roseafolia’ - back left, a single sword back right (Echinodorus barthii x E. schlueteri’Red Flame’), a trio of Cryptocoryne pontederifolia in front of the sword, and some Pogostemon helferi front right. It also got a trio of Bucephalandra ‘Brownie Ghost’ glued to the black lava rock, and a single Anubias nana ‘Petite Pinto’ glued to the petrified wood.

I hate waiting for days and days before I can see *any* changes! I should have most of what I need in the next week or so. I’ll put it all together then. I’ll still be able to post progress pics since I’ll have lots of plants to mature. I always have to fiddle and fine tune, too.

Not really a good picture since the tank was very old and scratched, but this is what a clutch of around 900 Jack Dempsey fry looks like.

I will when I have more to post beyond the before pics and a plan. So far I only have the “hot mess” pic, a post cleanup pic, and some ideas in my head. I’ll have more next week, hopefully, when more stuff arrives.

I normally do, too, but I’ve had other tanks I set up the same way and not had any significant nitrite spike. Not when I transferred a well-aged filter. I think I underestimated the bioload on the other tank so the BB hadn’t developed as much as I expected. It’s also probable that I got carried away with the Osmocote. Snails are all doing fine, eating, etc. I was just surprised by how much of a spike I got. It’s already settling down.

I don’t know if I have any left that are good enough to be worth bothering with. I wasn’t careful enough with isolating them to their own tank of similar colors. I’ve also been feeding out the bladder snails fairly heavily recently since my blackworm cultures are somewhat depleted. Edit to add that I do have some nice red rams horn snails I’d be happy to trade.

Can we get more reactions? I almost always run out before I’m done reading the forum.

@benchilton Nice!

I have several large rams in my pea puffer tank and they mostly leave alone the big ones. I have it planted densely enough that I see eggs laid regularly but don’t often see baby snails. I do add small ones regularly, always trying to drop them into an extra dense bunch of plants. I have seen the peas harass snails to death, taking little bites when they can. They like small snails best, but they will usually still slurp the meat out as best they can rather than eat then whole. They rarely get everything out, so the remainder needs removed. I try to keep scuds going in the tank and rely on them to help clean up any remainders. I add the scuds regularly from my shrimp tanks.

Got to step two of my 75 gallon redo. Removed all the gravel. It wasn’t a lot since it started out in shelves that were planted, silly me thinking my Jack Dempseys would leave the plants alone just because they weren’t on the bottom. Then siphoned out as much crud as I could. Scraped all the sides and bottom (was very overdue). First step got done yesterday. Received my jungle Val (may not be enough) and got it planted on pots (dirt capped with sand) then layered with big pebbles (1-1.5” rocks). Those are hanging out in my main plant grow out tank until the Val’s are rooted well (may be weeks to months). Now waiting to get supplies (and for plants to grow).

Be patient. As long as the bulb isn’t getting mushy and soft, give it time. They can go dormant which can take a bit more time for them to sprout.

She’s just a very uncommon color to have that yellow foot and clear, gold shell. I was growing some for a while that had a speckly gold shell, but they had a darker foot. They actually looked more metallic gold in the right light but they weren’t breeding true for me and weren’t different enough from “normal” bladder snails I didn’t think anybody but me would appreciate them, so I haven’t worked very hard at continuing them.

Yep, should have had plenty of bacteria on it. I do this all the time, keeping a extra sponge filled HOB or an air driven sponge running all the time. That being said, the only way it won’t have plenty of bacteria is if the bioload on the tank it was in was so low it didn’t support much growth. I just had that with a filter on a shrimp tank that hasn’t really prospered so I didn’t have many shrimp in that one (why can’t I keep oranges?) and have plenty of plants. Moved that filter to a new start up with only plants (just some extra Echinodorus vesuveus) and 6 or so red ramshorns, but it’s dirt bottom (baked heavy clay dirt with Osmocote granules mixed in) capped with sand. Popped a couple young, gold mysteries in it last night and they didn’t want to come out. Huh? Checked and my nitrites are very high!!!!! Sorry, snails! Quick 60% water change. Still high this AM but all snails seem happy. Repeated same water change this AM. Snails are TOUGH! I’m sure it was from fresh Osmocote granules. I *was* going to use this tank to quarantine some fish that should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll see what my params are on arrival. I have another seasoned tank I can use, this one would have just been the easiest for catching out of after quarantine. I usually check params more often if I’m deliberately aiming to put fish in eventually, but it was only planned for plants, then shrimp in a couple more weeks once fully settled. Got a wild hair and ordered the fish. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️