Odd Duck

That last pic they look so annoyed! Serves them right if they’re eating all the fry!

This is a new one for me, but I’ll be looking into this. Always looking for handier ways to feed veggies.

When did you have a chance to look through my phone? And how did you know this? Snoopy people! 😉

Any chance we could get more of a closeup in better focus and from a couple different angles? I’m very afraid that isn’t infection but I can’t tell from your current picture. Ideally, you would separate this fish into a treatment tank. If you have a specimen container, that would let you get better pics before putting the fish into a hospital / quarantine tank.

Yes, also called false Julii. I think they’re a bit prettier because they have slightly more crisp and distinct lines and I prefer the squiggles on the face. They are also very sweet and gentle during mating compared to my bronzes. Really a very nice species.

Sounds like some solid plans. I hate to break the news to you, but I’m pretty sure you have trilineatus cories, not julii. Julii are quite rare in the hobby from what I’ve read, and they usually have a more dotted pattern on their heads vs. the squiggly lines of trilineatus. They are often more spotty looking as juveniles, so they are very easy to confuse them at every level of middleman and beyond. Trilineatus are expected to get very slightly larger on average, and have slightly more distinct lines along the body. Are supposed to have a slightly longer nose than julii but both still have a somewhat short, rounded nose compare to some other species. Trilineatus have a much wider distribution range and are far more often seen in the hobby. Does it matter which it is? Not really. They look so similar, have similar habits and behavior, and trilineatus may even live a bit longer. I love my trilineatus! They are far gentler with each other than the bronzes that are in the same tank. It only matters if you want to get more to go with them for breeding. Both species are lineage 9, so ideally shouldn’t be kept together to prevent hybrids.

With that info, treating the whole tank is appropriate. Obviously skip the high salt dose since it would likely wipe out all your plants. If you do isolate him, do the salt at that point or do a salt dip at up to 1 tablespoon per liter for up to 30 minutes. Watch very closely every second and move to normal salt concentration if any distress is seen. I usually start at 1 teaspoon per liter to see how they respond before going higher on the concentration. You can make a saturated salt solution by dissolving a set amount of salt into the smallest volume of water possible, tracking the volume of salt and water so you can calculate the amount needed to achieve your goal concentration. For instance, put your 1 tablespoon salt into 6 tablespoons water. Yes, this works, just keep stirring, it takes a while to dissolve it all. The salt will increase your volume of solution but so minimally that it doesn’t matter enough to worry about. Then use 2 tablespoons of the stock solution into 1 liter of tank water to equal 1 teaspoon salt per liter. You could slowly drizzle in more until you have full concentration for the salt dip. Stopping and moving to “normal” salt concentration of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. I wouldn’t go straight to no salt since that could be more shock / stress than going to a light salt concentration.

Good to hear! I hope she knows we wish her well, miss her, and hope to see her back to full speed as soon as possible. @Irene, please do not feel obligated to reply. Just know we’re thinking of you and we wish you well!

I agree completely with @macdaddy36 on Kuhli loaches being shoaling fish so 5+ is better and 5 G being too small. I’m not sure how many I have in my 100 G but I randomly see 1 to 2 at most, once saw 3 a couple weeks ago. They mostly stay out of sight but do an excellent job of controlling ramshorn snails so I have a good balance of snails for algae control but never an over population problem. I also second getting a small shoal of one of the dwarf cory species which will have a fairly similar bioload compared to a single Kuhli loach. Look into Corydoras pymaeus like macdaddy36 suggested or Corydoras hastatus. Both are similarly size but different in their pattern so pick ONE species that appeals to you the most by pattern / color and get at least 6 or more. Mixing species from the same lineage is strongly discouraged since you should always try to prevent hybrids so do NOT get both hastatus and pygmaeus chose just one of these species. There are other species of dwarf cories but these 2 are the smallest and the best fit for a 5 G. I would definitely NOT put any Malaysian trumpet snails in a 5 gallon. They will highly likely overrun the tank under a beginner fishkeeper and you will have to completely change the substrate in order to clear them. You would be much better off getting a single, young mystery snail (up to large pea sized or smaller) so there would be no reproduction in your tank. Most definitely be prepared for what to do with more endlers. If you get both males and females, you will end up with dozens more. Maybe consider chili rasboras instead since you could have a nice shoal of them since they are such low bioload fish. You could gradually build up your shoal of chili rasboras to around 10 if you wanted, but take several weeks to build up to that many. As always, do NOT get all the fish at once. Pick one species and add a few at a time. Take several days between adding each group. Because the dwarf cory species mentioned are such a light bioload, you could add 6 at once but be careful not to overfeed. Same with chili rasboras, you could add 5 at a time, then a week later, add 5 more. A mystery snail has a fairly significant bioload for a 5 G, but buying small will help build up your biofiltration gradually and it would help with algae control that is nearly always an issue with new tanks. I would put the mystery snail in first, wait a week then add the group of 6 dwarf cories. Wait another week and add 5-6 chili rasboras. Wait another week and if everything is still going well, add another 4-5 chili rasboras. You certainly don’t have to take our exact recommendations, I’m using these species just as example. If you are set on chili endlers, then decide on if you want to do mixed sexes and what your plan would be when they reproduce, since they will. Or you can get all males so you don’t have to worry about extras appearing. If you get mixed sexes, make sure to get more females than males so the males don’t excessively hassle the females (2 males, 3 females would be an appropriate ratio). You’ll likely have triple that many in a month and about 6 times as many in 2 months. It can overwhelm a 5 G in very short order, so you’ll need a grow out tank to handle the offspring before you realize it. Keep us posted on what you decide. We like watching a new tank developing.

Hexamita doesn’t usually cause a lump, more typically ulcerated or eroded areas, but if there’s no catching and no possibility of closer inspection I would use the Metroplex added to Repashy if you can get the fish to eat it.

For feeding to reptiles, the best nutritional content in the mealworms is only possible when fed only high calcium cricket food that is at least 8% calcium, using this as both bedding and food. Use a lightly damp paper towel renewed frequently as needed for moisture. This can be a bit harder to maintain them on, so some keepers still keep the bulk of the culture in cornmeal or bran, feeding high calcium vegetables, then transfer a feedings worth into the high calcium cricket food for at least 48-72 hours before feeding to the reptiles (also dusted with calcium powder {NOT calcium/vitamin combo powder} before feeding). Fish that are getting mixed diets have less stringent calcium needs but I would still gut load the mealworms on the high calcium cricket food before feeding to fish. Here’s a link to the recommendations from the guy I consider to be the top reptile nutrition expert in the US. He has written most of the chapters on reptile nutrition in most of the reptile medicine and surgery veterinary textbooks. https://www.pethospitalpq.com/how-to-grow-mealworms.pml

The cornea looks a bit fuzzy vs. just cloudy. The fuzz doesn’t seem to be protruding much but I’ve seen an African Grey (parrot for anybody that doesn’t know) that had a fungal infection of the cornea that looked a lot like this. Hazing of the cornea from bacterial infection or corneal ulcers doesn’t usually look so patchy and irregular. It tends to be a smooth, homogenous cloudiness if it’s inflamed or a distinct spot that’s a scar. The scar might have slightly fuzzy edges but will still be relatively homogenous across the central part of the lesion. This looks a bit more patchy than I would expect for only scarring. There may be scarring but I’m not certain it’s only scarring. The first pic especially looks like there might be a very slightly raised spot at the 1:00 position that’s concerning to me. Plus there are slightly whiter areas closer to the middle of the cornea and just forward from center at about 9:00. It’s unusual to have more than one ulcer on an eye and more than one area that gets extra cloudy. Unless there were several wounds happen at the same time or in succession. Bacterial infections of the cornea tend to spread outward from a single point but fungal infections will spread through the layers of the cornea via tendrils. Fish will sometimes flash after corneal scarring has happened. They seem to try to rub the scarring away like they think they have something on their eye vs. realizing it’s scarring in the layers of the cornea. That seems to be beyond their comprehension, but they do eventually get used to it if it’s only scarring. If they persist in flashing after weeks to months, then there is likely some persistent inflammation and discomfort.

Looks swollen and irritated and maybe getting some fungal growth. Time for strong salt at 1 tablespoon per gallon. I would definitely move to quarantine and away from any plants now. And time for some antifungals. There are a variety of them but try Ich-X first if you have it.

Absolutely! I’m sure you could do a search and find diagrams and plans. Info on how long your coil needs to be for a set fridge temp, desired water temp drop below current water temp, etc. It was all out there back in the day, after the internet became more widely used. We didn’t use one on our first reef tank in ‘83 but a friend did on his and it worked well. We did finally try one on a more complex tank set up we did in about ‘97 or ‘98 after we moved to Texas and by then there was more how-to stuff available on the web and chillers were still massively expensive. It worked well and was much quieter than the fans because we also had it plumbed through the living room wall into a closet. The fans didn’t cool enough in the closet - they were set up on an elevated refugium and on a sump.

Some people did this along with blanket wrapping, floating hot water bottles, etc, during Snowmageddon and were successful.

Back in the days of early reef tanks before chillers became more common place, we used to use small apartment / dorm size mini refrigerators and run a stainless steel cooling coil through the wall of it and circulate tank water through the coil. You adjusted the refrigerator temp with the dial and if you needed more or less cooling than you could get with the dial, you added or removed coils in the fridge so the water spent more or less time inside the fridge as needed. You don’t even need to cut the coil, just reshape it and pull some outside the fridge. But more cooling (unlikely to need on a NANF tank where you’re already fairly close) you would need a longer or spliced cooling loop. Where you would like to cool multiple tanks, this might not be such a bad idea. Amazon has one for just under $90.00 and I see they also have a stainless steel cooling coil for under $40.00. You could add more coils for more tanks. I don’t know of any chillers that could run multiple tanks unless they were on a shared water / filtration system. You would need a pump for each tank to run multiple coils and it might be a bit of a Tetris moment to get multiple coils into the fridge, but I’m sure it could be hooked into a canister filter system for each tank. You might even be able to acquire any cheap, used but functioning refrigerator if you have room by the tanks, and use it for a second fridge in the basement (ala mancave beer / soda fridge if you’re so inclined). As long as you weren’t particular exactly how cold your sodas are. 😆

I’m late posting this but this has always been a favorite of mine. Maybe because Bob Seger has always been. Favorite of mine.

I would probably get some small bits of well aged driftwood twigs and lay them across your existing wood pieces as close to this “moss” growth as possible and hope some transfers. I’m not certain if it would sustain loose in a bag or be able to quickly be attached by other means like other moss/algae does.

You could use a large, shallow, flower pot, cut or knock out most of the bottom, and glue on rocks to the sides. It’s not hard at all to cut or break slate and you could make a cave using a pot as a base or just use slate stacked and glued up together to make the cave. You could just lift it out to clean since it could sit on top of the substrate. Hmmm. I did get some thick slate tiles a while back and haven’t decided what I was going to do with them yet. I was thinking about cutting and gluing them into pleco condos but I might have to try this instead. They’re a bit thick to do pleco condos with, but might be very cool to do this. 🤔

Oooh, I’m soooo jealous! I was too slow seeing this and posting, but I’ve been on the alert for this for a while, too. Put me on the list to get some when you have enough to share! Happy to pay you for the plant and for shipping! I doubt the Coop will ever be able to have this available for quantity sale, so I don’t think this particular plant will violate group rules. 😉

Yes, exactly. Other states had to send snow plows, electrical workers, etc. Texas practically shuts down from an inch of snow, let alone several inches plus freezing rain, and extended cold like that is practically unheard of. The grid just can’t handle it and they were very lucky to manage to keep most of the emergency services running as well as they did. Many of the outlying communities beyond the close in suburbs were even worse than here in the metroplex, some much worse.

Well done! Love your port idea, it’s genius! A smaller syringe and shorter tubing might be easier on the port since it would stand upright and be an easier funnel to deal with. It only needs to be big enough to accept the tubing or the tip of the transport syringe. A 3 ml syringe would be lighter and not bend the tubing over. Maybe try the transport syringe without the tubing, just draw up and run the water with eels/worms directly into the “funnel” syringe. Then when you replace the plunger into the port syringe it will push all the feeding down into the tub. If you want the port tubing to kink and mostly close off between feedings without needing to have the plunger in the syringe, keep the larger syringe on a short piece of soft silicone tubing. It will fold when not held upright and close off the port for you.

Excellent topic! After the Snowpocalypse / Snowmageddon here in Texas in February of 2021, I’ve been working slowly on getting better prepped. I was incredibly lucky because I evidently share grid with the nearby fire station and never lost power. But it was my warning. There were people in the more rural outskirts that were out of power for up to 3 WEEKS! In freezing temps in an area that was and still is EXTREMELY ill prepared for such extended cold. People’s tanks froze solid and seams split inside their houses! Even if tanks didn’t freeze solid, many lost every single fish and plant. There were people in shelters because their area was without power for days. It’s fairly easy to survive a few hours without power but surviving days or weeks without is completely different. I have boosted my supply of battery UPS but we also have a couple decent sized generators that would keep us warm or cool and fish tanks running between them. We do keep enough gas on hand to run them for several days. The eventual plan is a whole house generator with at least one (and probably 2) 55 gallon drums of fuel at all times. Even if we never need it. This may sound extreme when we didn’t even lose power during Snowpocalypse, but better to have and not need, than need and not have. There are 246 deaths attributed (directly or indirectly) to that storm across 77 counties in Texas with about 2/3 of them from hypothermia. People and their pets FROZE TO DEATH in TEXAS. Do at least some basic prepping if you can, even if you can’t afford or are comfortable with a generator. Know someone that has one, know where a shelter would be set up, know how to wrap your tanks in bubble wrap and have blankets you can wrap over the whole thing, have battery UPS that can at least run your tanks for a few hours, have a camp stove you can run (outdoors only, don’t kill yourself with carbon monoxide) to heat water, etc, etc. Be safe and be prepared!

Congratulations! Looks fantastic! Plus those bonus plants, yummy! 🤣 At least they’re the good ceramic base ones. 😂 Better for resale. 🤣 🤣 🤣 So funny they included that with such a high end tank package purchase. I wonder if they were chuckling to themselves when they plopped that in there. I can’t wait to see how things develop and what you do with this new venture!

Just a heads up, I’ve had a few dozen pea puffers by now with the multiple attempts to integrate Bad Pea Daddy into a shoal and then raising a dozen or so babies (not from Bad Daddy). Not a single one was ever the slightest bit interested in Vibra Bites. I think you have to pretty much starve them to force them to eat anything other than live or frozen, meaty foods. Mine will eat all types of live foods off the bottom of the tank, but wouldn’t even take live fruit flies as they were floating or after they were sinking down and drowning. They truly need live foods and Vibra Bites are definitely not that.