Ben_RF

@irene, bless our hearts, I feel you on this. I did this just yesterday. A silly mistake on my end was once when I was making my fertilizing mixture for my plants I forgot to put in the nitrates. I was like for a few weeks wondering what in the world is happening to my plants. Why are they dieing back? Then I looked in my cabinet and realized I did not open up my new bag of KNO3 when I made the mixture.

Thats awesome man. I am actually over in Morehead City. Glad to see Eastern NC representing 🙂

I am always glad to help if I can.

Hey Jack, API general cure will only target one section of possible issues. To be perfectly honest, it is just not enough. I would strongly encourage you to wait until you are able to get all the trio or comparable lesser products. Granted, yes they will not cover everything, but you will benefit so much by doing all three. You will spend years enjoying your fish, and the funds you put in to care for them off the bat is so important. It is an investment you will not regret when you can do it.

Honestly? It brings so much joy that I just wanted to spend my time trying to do the best I can with this. Plus, I have always been a bit anxious, and I find being able to simply watch my tanks and tend to them with care helps a lot. So spending my time fishkeeping has been somewhat medicinal for me.

Now a few ifs that might change up how I would introduce them: If this was my only tank and I had no room for even a plastic bin of a few gallons... If my betta was the only aquatic animal (fish, frog, etc.) in the tank... If I never did the quarantine trio that Aquarium Co Op recommends on my betta... If I did not have another filter, even a sponge, to put in the quarantine tank/bin then, and pretty much only then, would I consider introducing the fish directly to the tank and treating the whole tank as a quarantine tank while administrating the medication trio as they recommend then, I would keep my eyes on all fish due to the risk being taken TIP: I honestly like to use the 10g aquarium co op sponge filter's sponge on my intakes for hang on back filters to keep them seeded with bacteria. When I need to quarantine I get a plastic bin, put the sponge filter together with the seeded sponge, and begin the fun. After quarantine, if all goes well, I return the sponge back to the tank after sterilizing to reseed.

Girl Talks Fish at Aquarium Co Op has a great video on doing budget friendly quarantining which can be found here:

I am so glad to have found this forum. 🙂 My name is Ben and I am from a small town on the coast of North Carolina, I have been keeping tanks for most my life, but only really got interested in the hobby back in the 90s. I don't have a fish room or anything, just a few nano tanks ranging from 5 gallons to 35 gallons. I switched over a few years ago to all planted tanks after finding Aquarium Co Op on YouTube. This definitely sparked a new joy for me in the hobby. Professionally I work in plumbing, so nothing to fancy.

Welcome 🙂 Also a fellow North Carolinian from down at the coast, Morehead City.