AquaAggie

I’m sorry that you had a bad experience. I started ordering from the Co-Op after watching cory’s YouTube as well. I have always been impressed with my shipments. Even had a plant replaced when mine just withered and died after some discussion with customer service. I think something that needs to be pointed out here is that @Cory did respond to you here, admitted a mistake he made in his response to you here, and did not have your response removed from the forum sponsored by his company. I believe him to be an honest and reputable business man who keeps things as open and transparent as possible. The last week went far beyond anybody’s expectations, trust me I live in Texas. Mistakes happen from time to time, but the effort was made to make things right with little effort on your part. I’m sorry it’s not what you necessarily wanted, but still a lot more than you may have gotten from many other places.

I was able to split the polishing pad in half and have been using it that way. I have the Marineland reusable cartridges ( MarineLand Cartridge Media Refill for Penguin 200/350 Filter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YSR24M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_X6NE31K4TANG8TQCG2D6 ) I filled the deep side with split bio rings and and the shallow side with the split polishing bad. If you put the original outside so that the water flows through it first it seems to last longer and rinse better. I have been able to use them a couple times. Before needing to toss them. I would think if you cut the course in half it wouldn’t be enough. In my Marineland 350 of aquaclear 70 sponges first (2 tall) but have to shave off about a 1/4 inch so it will fit between the back and my reusable cartridges. good luck

But where did they come from. I have treated plenty of fish with paracleanse in this tank and have never seen this. I will have to look closer but I don’t see them moving independently just floating in the water column.

Any ideas on what the white floating stuff is? It first showed up when quarantining some sterbai and a butterfly loach and treating with paracleanse. It’s in my 5 gallon quarantine tank with a sponge filter. Have used paracleanse before an have never seen this.

@Suzb123

@Brandy I get the concern but that looks amazing. I have two and I only get 3 or 4 leaves at time. One give great big leaves other thin leaves, probably only 1/3 of the width of the other. The variability seems odd

So @Keeg @Fish Folk @MJV Aquatics @Maggie and @Kirsten Thanks for playing along. The take home is that it depends on the tank the inhabitants. I understand @MJV Aquatics as well. It’s a confined system and new water freshens things up and cleans things up. Fish are always more active etc but at the same time. If it ain’t broke and everyone’s doing well then do what works for you. I think that’s the hard part about this hobby. Every tank, every water source, every location is different and going to require different things for different setups. So there is no one right answer. I have a 60g that’s been up and running for a year. water parameters: pH - 7.9 Nitrates - 20 Hardness - 7.5 Nitrite -0 Ammonia - 0 KH/Buffer - 5 Water Temperature - 79 inhabitants: 11 neon tetra (been in tank whole time) 1 pearl gourami (10 months) M and F apisto caucatoides (6 months) 3 sterbi cories (1 year) 5 khuli loaches (1 year) 1 super red bristlenose pleco (1 year) 2 Bolivian rams (10 months) 1 silver hatchet fish (10 months) 1 pearl scale marble angel (3 months) 4 golden wonder killi (1 month) nerite snails, MTS, Amani shrimp I feel like I am on the upper side of stocking limits and have a moderately planted tank. Yet my nitrates are a stable 20 even dosing easy green 1/2 dose now 2-3x a week. I do 50% water change every two weeks just to get some fresh water in and micronutrients but not because anyone is looking sluggish or because the nitrates are bad. Today I dropped to 25% because of time but we will see how it goes.

Ok so I think I know the answer to this question, but I’m curious to see others thoughts. I was surprised to not find a similar thread already when searching the forum, but When/how often should you do a water change? some say every week some say every 2 weeks once a month when nitrates hit 40 ”I never do water changes just top offs” discus owners seem to do it daily 😂 So when or how often do you do a water change and why?

I have a pair of apistos caucatoides super red, 2 male Bolivian rams, and a pearl gourami al in a 60 gallon. The two Bolivians spar a bit but nothing terrible. My apistos don’t hide at all. Even built a big cave specifically for them and they don’t even use it 🙄. My male apisto is probably the flashiest fish in the tank. But my pearlscale angel is up there as well. If you get a pair of Bolivians the color you get from your male will be pretty good. Have you thought about German blues? there all great. None cause any problems for my other fish

@CaraB I think that is a ramshorn not a mystery snail?

Ok so I have a 60g that’s been up and running for a year. water parameters: pH - 7.9 Nitrates - 20 Hardness - 7.5 Nitrite -0 Ammonia - 0 KH/Buffer - 5 Water Temperature - 79 inhabitants: 11 neon tetra (been in tank whole time) 1 pearl gourami (10 months) M and F apisto caucatoides (6 months) 3 sterbi cories (1 year) 5 khuli loaches (1 year) 1 super red bristlenose pleco (1 year) 2 Bolivian rams (10 months) 1 silver hatchet fish (10 months) 1 pearl scale marble angel (3 months) 4 golden wonder killi (1 month) nerite snails, MTS, Amani shrimp Over the last month to six weeks I’ve noticed my neon tetra school’s tails looking pretty beat up too nearly missing. At first it was just one that looked really bad and almost like tumor or a wound at the end of the tail before it forked out when I was ready to pull him and medicate it started looking better and the tail had started growing back. There is still a bump and tail is not all back but doesn’t seem bothered. But now there are maybe 5 with beaten up tails. they still look ok otherwise, are eating, schooling and swimming relatively ok. I don’t see anyone chasing anybody around or nipping at anyone the Bolivians will half-heartedly spar sometimes, the bristlenose will chase anyone away from his piece of food, and the female apisto is cranky even though she and the Male pay little attention to each other and she mostly goes after the gourami or angel if they invade her part of the tank for the day. I tried to take pictures but funny enough neon tetras don’t want to stay still for pictures. Is it fin rot, NTD, or fin nipping? How do I tell the difference? Should I just do a full course of maracyn on the whole tank? Thanks

That’s what I do. Works for me so far. Just don’t forget to feed them.

Originally posted in general discussion. But probably belongs here. Hoping to get some more input. also what do you shoot for for phosphate levels in your planted tank?

I would caution that corys can be very sensitive to nitrite spikes. Learned that the hard way

*Not An Expert* some people have a permanent tank, some use a temporary tote or tank. I didn’t used to have a quarantine (QT) tank, but I am a full believer in them now. My fish survival rate has increased dramatically since I started using one. It could also prevent you from killing lots of your older established fish when you introduce a new fish that has disease. I think there are a couple of ways to look at this. If this is a brand new tank then you have little to lose introducing new fish so maybe it’s not a big deal. And you just treat all the fish once you get them. But since it is a new tank you may start losing fish to disease before you get it fully stocked on the other hand even if it is a new tank and it’s 55 gallons, but one of your little fish is sick and you need treat with meds, treating 55 gallons with meds takes more meds and is more expensive than treating a 10 gallon tank. If you get a QT tank I would highly recommend a 10g. All the meds come in 10g dosing packs. I could only fit a 5g in my tank stand (didn’t have anywhere to put one) and I really wish it was 10. I use my QT tank to quarantine all my new fish I alsO use it to treat fish that end up looking sick later. With QT this happens less frequently, but have definitely saved a couple fish from wasting disease. This way. Mine is always set up and running. I have some Java fern and hornwort in there and some snails live in there all the time to keep the cycle going. Good luck

I think most crypts propagate by runners. I have had my wendetti for a year and it has made 4. I have a tropica in another tank and it has gotten very dense but no runners

So then why does API say it should be 0 and what’s your take on my level?

Ok so I have a bit of a green spot algae problem. It probably has to with lighting and fert imbalance but also read that low or high phosphate could contribute. So I got myself a test kit. I hate reading these things. What do you think my level is? Secondly the instructions say that an established tank should be 0, but this goes against what I read about low phosphate and GSA. I think it looks darker in the picture than in person and would be one of the lowest 2 looking at it. It’s always hard to say, but definitely not high? All pics are the same test, first one is with flash. Thanks.

Do you know what color the parents were and the relative color ratios you got out were? or those some purple/magentas I see?

Also guppies like hard water. I know your pH is high but so is mine but my GH and KH are both very moderate. These things can also be affected somewhat by the contents of your tank. It is likely a combo of all the things. Also there are things that we don’t or can’t measure which may affect things as well. Some people may be able to keep the most finicky fish in the world alive and can’t keep what many would say are easy fish alive for no good reason. As others have mentioned I have to say that quarantining fish and treating with the med trio has also made a huge difference in my fish survival.

I agree with a lot of the above. The honest answer is that it all depends. You have to take into consideration waste accumulation (nitrate build up and need for water changes), physical space, where in the tank fish occupy, do you have plants, etc. Also going slow is a great idea. I am jonesing to add more to my 60 gallon. The calculators all say I am overstocked, but my nitrates are under good control. My fish are all happy and seem to have space, no one is fighting, but adding more can always upset the balance AqAdvisor is very helpful, but is still pretty conservative. I have found this site ( https://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/community-creator ) helpful as well. It tends to be a little less conservative, and is more graphical. It is from the UK so it is in metric. But looking at both of those sites may give some more insight as well. Good luck, go slow, and test your water.

@Maggie, I hear you on the deep tank part. I usually just have to do it blind by feel, still gets a bit messy, but as stated above if you keep the air running and pull up slowly it shouldn't be too bad. Also, not to highjack your thread but to build off of it, how long will sponges stand up to this? Certainly @Cory course sponge filters and intake sponges are super sturdy and hold up to this very well. However I have some aquaclear 70 sponges hotrodding my MarineLand 350 HOB that are disintegrating. I think they are about 9 months old now, and I had to trim them some to get them to fit. Certainly nothing lasts forever, but replacing your media in your filter is always daunting.

@Water nymphi’ve tried asking this question before an never got anywhere. I haven’t been able to catch mine in the act to find the girls but did see someone talking about how they by nerites one at a time and put them in quarantine and watch for eggs before adding to their display tanks. Doesn’t solve the current problem but could minimize it in the future

I’d like to know as well. I planted some from the co-op a year ago and they are only 3” tall 😂 lots more leaves but not a lot of height.

From what I have seen from others and in my experience aqadvisor is pretty conservative when it comes to stocking. I found this site ( https://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/community-creator )to be helpful as well and really like their community creator tool. It is a bit more liberal as far as sticking capacity. Good luck i too would like to know your plants, especially the bushy light green one on the right