Keeg
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Posts posted by Keeg
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Does tap water conditioner inhibit the effects of Coppersafe? It says on the label that it detoxifies heavy metals but isn't the copper in copper-safe what makes it effective?
if it does inhibit, how do I treat a tank of velvet if I can't use Coppersafe?
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I feed pellets that float for a little bit and then sink after a bit. It is true that parrotfish can swallow air from gulping at the surface for food, but I have found that they are less prone to it than goldfish because their mouths are smaller. If you are worried, you can always presoak your food in a cup until it sinks then dump it in. Plus if the parrot fish are very small still, they may appreciate the softer food to take bites.
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Usually, the tanks people use for turtles are just fish tanks. If you are skeptical, ask the buyer of the brand. Also in my experience, you may want to ask if the age of the tank because I've seen tanks for sale for cheap but they are 7 years old which means the the silicon will need to be replaced relatively soon.
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@ColuThank you so much. I just treated the tank with the metroplex and will start doing the medicated food tonight. Quick question about dosing, I recently just cured a betta with epistylis but her tank was super super overprinted and never needed a water change for the duration of the medication, as per most of my tanks. On this tank, it usually needs a water change every few weeks, but I am worried it will need one sooner as a result of the medications having an adverse effect on the bacteria. So if I have to replace the water, do I treat it with the equivelnt ratio of medication removed, mainly speaking for the malachite green and formaldehyde meds?
Thank you again, I really appreciate it 😁
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Older puffer, roughly 5 years old.
Just did a 40% water change on the tank and noticed he had bumps on the body and holes on the body. I just got home recently from school and only noticed this now, so I can't give a good time range for when they appeared. You can see the holes/ bumps on the body in the photos. White bumps seem to be either very attached to the skin or protruding from under the skin, holes are just pits, not symetrical.
Tank mates: neon tetras, golden tetras, black neon tetras, galaxy rasbora, orange place, and a bunch of endler guppies.
Just treated the tank with a malachite green and formaldehyde medication (similar to ich x but company shut down in early 2000s so true malachite green and formaldehyde, at low dosage for scaleless fish), copper safe, melafix, and kanaplex, hopefully these will do something. metroplex is on the way as this message is being sent.
I would like some input on what this is exactly and if I need to add an additional medication to the above listed. Right now I am willing to treat anything and everything because this is a very important fish.
New additions to tank: a random guppy from Petco months ago (a family member did this when I was away), the guppy is very healthy, and a couple plant cuttings from a clean tank today.
I cant find any 100% certain sources of the lifespan of spotted congo puffers, but I have a feeling he's getting up there in age as he has been slowing down for a little while now, but hes always perked up when theres food.
Photo key: Red= white dots, blue = holes.
Willing to try anything, this is more of a family member rather than pet.
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On 4/26/2023 at 2:10 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:
Avoid Garlic Guard for Betta, our Vet friend @Odd Duck advises there is evidence it does organ damage. If the fish is eating fine you won't need it. If I also remember correctly it is better given in the water column and is not more effective in food.
I was also thinking water column but like the two top links said to feed them it so I don't know which route to take. Do you recommend water column? Or maybe @Odd Duck, what are your thoughts?
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I got a quick case of epistylis on my betta after transporting her to a new tank. Anyways, online said to treat with kanaplex medicated food. Kanaplex is on the way but I don't know how to prepare it into food.
I need a step by step process, and is it worth getting garlic guard?
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I have never heard of lymph or what it stands for so I cannot speak on that regard. But for ich, it is usually very white while epistylis is kinda clear looking. Based on your pic, I want to say the very very early stage of ich. If i were you i would quarantine them and treat with an ich medication. Out of my experiences, I seem to have better luck with medicines with malachite green w/ formaldehyde. If you dont want to treat them to be cautious, you could wait to see if more dots appear which I do not recommend.
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On 4/20/2023 at 9:06 PM, Odd Duck said:
I’m far from an expert on monster fish since I’ve never kept any but I do have some opinions on appropriate tank sizes relative to fish size.
I would strongly recommend against getting any fish that can grow to 2 feet long if you can’t afford a tank that’s at least 3 feet in its smallest dimension. Bigger is absolutely better when it comes to tanks for very large fish. They should at the very least, as a humane standard, be able to easily turn around without bumping their face or tail or they are at risk for developing chronic rub wounds on their chin/face or having a chronically tattered tail, or both.
As far as length, that’s a very different issue. There are 2 schools of thought - 1. have the tank just short enough they can’t get up to full speed or 2. have it long enough they have time to change their mind and not slam into the end of the tank if startled. In nature they would not run the risk of slamming into anything if they were startled or pursued. The perfect situation would be a tank as big as a full size swimming pool. The real life situation is that tanks like that are almost exclusively public aquariums. So most are forced to do a tank that’s not long enough for the fish to get up to full speed in the hopes they won’t kill themselves if startled.
The next consideration is filtration for large fish. Big fish means big bioload and big filtration because almost any tank that fits in a private home is going to have a big bioload with only one single 2 foot fish. Many large monster fish keepers build combo acrylic and fiberglass tanks in their basement or on slab foundation due the weight.
Now here’s a bit of a soapbox for me: Don’t get a young fish thinking you’ll have plenty of time to get a bigger tank. It’s harder than you think to afford that next tank and many, many, many times I see fish advertised for sale, over and over, at successively lower prices, until finally offered to give away because somebody couldn’t afford that bigger tank when the first tank or second tank was outgrown.
NEVER buy a fish (or any other animal) thinking you’ll be able to give it to a zoo or public aquarium if it outgrows your tank. They are rarely able to take them since most have to meet very stringent standards on where they get their animals. They have to have documentation of being captive bred, or legally imported, appropriately quarantined, parasites eliminated, not a hybrid, etc, etc, etc, and can rarely accept an animal from the private sector. The days of accredited zoos taking animals from the private sector is pretty much over. If you get a monster fish you need to commit to that animal for its entire lifespan.
My macaw is in my will. He is probably around 50 years old as near as I can guess. I’ve owned him since 1983, he was in the country at least 5 years before I got him. He was imported as an adult well before CITES took effect in 1985 so there’s really no telling how old he is other than he has to be over 46 years old and almost certainly is older than that just judging by the age changes I see in him.
I still have the Jack Dempseys that I rescued 3 years ago (knowing they aren’t a species I would have ever sought out) even though I got to thinking I could move them along to someone that might actually appreciate them more than I do. But I found I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Everybody that showed interest wanted to put them in with Oscars or something else that would have beaten them up or outcompeted them for food. You need to plan for the entire lifespan of any fish you get. Have you thought about the basic expense of feeding and how you will find enough food variety to keep a large fish healthy?
I wish I had suggestions for you that could give you that monster fish feeling without the massive expensive and intensive labor that comes along with keeping that size fish/tank. Maybe ask yourself exactly what it was about those monster fish that you liked? Is it the thought of owning a big predator or just the actual mass of them? Is it how stately they look as they prowl the tank? Was it a specific fish that caught your eye - shape, color, attitude? If you can tell us more about species that caught your eye or what made them so appealing to you, the hive mind may be better able to help you.
In general, I try to be a stingy guy because I absolutely hate spending money whenever I don't have to and because I am afraid of scams. A family friend is getting rid of their tanks and they're offering up a 300g for 1500 so Im on edge about going all out. I have thought about feeding expenses, that is often times the first thing that comes to mind when considering a fish for me. Like with breeding, starting a live food culture before the eggs hatch 😁. It's not that a particular species caught my eye, except a baby alligator gar but I know I would never buy one of those true monsters 😂. The future issue is that I have already fallen for one baby monster, a little dinosaur bichir. Right now hes only 3 ish inches but I want to give him the proper space for when he's older, knowing that nobody would want to take him in once he's full grown (one of the biggest mistakes out there), ive already had him a year and I love the little bugger. But since they get to around 24 inches max, I am worried about the 30inch width, 8ft long of the tank for sale. Plus I dont want to have a 300 gallon tank just for a living log, so I would want to get him a tank mate like a silver arowana or knife fish or even a bass of some sort. Eventually when the bichir does die like all living things, I feel like crossing off another bucketlist fish of a mbu puffer. I feel like the main shift in my aquarium fish preferneces are just due to the constant same fish being sold out there. I always enjoy going to petstores and I love all my fish, but there's always going to be that itch for caring for a beast. I guess thats why I like puffers, they're a lot thicker than fish of similar size, so Im going to go with your idea of their mass.
Thank you for your reply, it was really thoughtful of you to provide such an extensive explanation. Out of curiosity, what kind of macaw is he?
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Hey everybody, long time no see,
I was at the aquarium and saw some massive fish that kinda made me want to keep a monster fish. I just dont know how to decide tank dimensions, price, and the fish yet lol. I was looking at 300g tanks and theyre in the thousands 😞. So i guess I am here to ask all of you.
What size tank would you get for a 2ft fish? Would you prioritize base area over volume? What would you consider a fair price for that size of tank? And most importantly, got any fish recommendations?
Thanks!
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Hey everybody,
I just finished watching some hoarding videos on the interweb and they found bed bug infestations in multiple houses, and the new Mark Rober video on the bugs. In one of the episodes they treat the house with chemicals, and in the other they treat with heat. This had me wondering what would you do for either? Online had some idea around wrapping the tank up with plastic and stuff for the duration, but I didn't see anything directly for heat treatments. Most advice was to remove the tanks or plants for the time being, but what if the people can't?
I would love to hear y'all's ideas.
PS. I dont have bed bugs, just genuinely curious on a situation like this.
PPS. That makes it sound like I have bed bugs; like when someone says their friend like you but in reality it's them. So, yeah.... I don't got the bugs but it kinda sounds like I do, but I can't prove it lol.
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Awesome name btw. If you can, I would move the fish to a bucket with the air pump running. If you can't, keep the tank level low and carry the tank on your lap to help keep it steady on the drive there. Usually after I move fish, I will treat the tank with some stress coat as well as keeping the tank dark while they adjust. As well as giving them a treat, like some blood worms or a snail. hope this helps.
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Just saw this today, bad joke but gave me a chuckle
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Gotta show off the skills 😎🤓
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Looks like hair algae to me. Seems odd to have 0 nitrate, what are you testing your water with? The first thing I would do would be to lower the CO2 if possible, I am not every experienced with CO2 so I dont know that much about it. See if theres any changes, then if it gets better continue, if it gets worse then I would put the CO2 back to where it was and then adjust the light levels if possible for your light or decrease the amount of time the lights are on. Same thing as before to see if any changes, good= continue, bad results= go back to what it was. Lastly, if FlorinMulti is anything like the Co-ops easy green then I would decrease the amount of that as well.
A temporary solution would be to manually remove the algae with a soft brush like a new tooth brush. Or you can dip your plants but I dont know much about dips all too much either but theres plenty of YouTube videos out there. Hope this helps
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You may run into issues with certain fish species. You just gotta look into fish that you want and see if they work with your parameters. If they dont and you really want a certain species of fish, then yes I would consider crushed coral because then it would be necessary to get that kind of fish. If your parameters are just slightly off compared to what the fish need in the wild, then you could try drip acclimating or starting off with their natural parameters and slowly adjust them to yours so that they are used to your parameters. It all depends on what kind of fish you want to keep. There are a bunch of fish that like your parameters but, I really enjoy livebearers, especially balloon belly swordtails. There are many different kinds, just takes a quick search on the inter webs and you got some.
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I was thinking something similar where it doesnt drown out the unanswered topics people have by adding another heading so instead of it being under unanswered topics it would be under another heading like Sell/ Trade/ Buy. I would be bummed if I needed help for a sick fish and then that post got pushed down below somebody trying to sell some guppies or something
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Im pretty sure that is fish meal and that is made of smaller fish that people dont want. So they take the small fish like anchovies and grind them up into a paste, add in a bunch of other stuff, and then dry it out, then boom you got fish flakes!
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Welcome to the forum! I hope you find that you like and belong here.
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I don't gravel vac when its super dense but if I can fit a medium tube in, I will get the surface stuff at least because I dont like the look too much. I took an oral syringe and added airline tubing to the end so its a mini version of a siphon.
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You're the first person ive heard call celestial pearl danios galaxy rasboras in a very long time. Kudos! I would keep them together at around 76 degrees F if they were housed together.
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The First Step: proper care for 'betta' health.
The male betta will naturally build bubble nests to attract females. They will build their nest when they are healthy and happy. The male should be active and healthy and a bubble nest is a good sign of this. I personally keep my bettas in smaller tanks as to provide as many spots available for more fish as well being able to move the tanks around (more on that later). The tank sizes range from 1-3 gallons (4-11 Liters) , each is supplemented with around 1inch (2.5 cm) of black sand, coarse enough to stand when damp and out of water but fine enough to the point where the little sand castle you made crumbles when submerged. The tanks are heavily planted with 1-3 anubias nana, a bundle of pearl weed, 1 marimo moss ball, a few stems of octopus plants floating or planted, maybe 1 rams horn snail (the kind normally fed to puffers), and giant duckweed that covers half of the surface of the water. I get my water from a well and it runs a little hard. Thats it, no filter or heater. I live in northern Washington and the house temperature does perfect for them. For filtering, I just do water changes. I feed flakes, blood worms, pellets, and mosquito larvae when they're in season. A photo below this post shows an example of a 1g set up for a male betta. A lot of people say this is too small, but this is what I do when keeping them in order to breed and separate after.
For female bettas. They will be healthy when they are actively swimming and are plump with eggs. You can tell when she's plump when her underside is slightly bulged and she is thick (viewed from above) when compared to males of a similar length. I keep all my female bettas together in one large tank as they can be housed together, I do use a heater in this tank as they are lower to the ground just as a precaution, I also have a bubble filter running in the tank. In addition to this, I have a bunch of java moss growing in there and a few anubias plants just floating in there. They are fed usually just flakes and occasionally some blood worms. The second photo of this post shows the female betta set up, do note the tank appears dirty but I only clean two sides of the glass of algae.
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This journal is the beginning of another successful breeding project from a method I have created over the last couple of years. I have made this from the help of my brother and father, learning from my mistakes, as well as taking a few tips and tricks from videos from the internet a long time ago.
Please note breeding bettas takes time and dedication as well as responsibility from you, you must have patience and determination in order to experience one of the best moments in fish keeping and in my opinion, the natural world. Some people may disagree with my methods but that's alright, everyone can have their own way of doing things
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It has been a fat minutes since ive posted here.
Here's an update to my college life: I am now a junior, majoring in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences with a thick scholarship, and I have been approved to minor in marine biology so I should set up self up well in the fresh water and salt water world soon.
Update on my college tanks: I had to bring the gourami tank home shortly after bring it there because she seemed to decline in health but after bring it home, she perked right up and is doing great. The bichir has grown a little bit and has been eating larger worms
The golden betta (Arum) and the Blood Red (Soku) both died from an unknown illness that killed them both within a couple days, this was early April after coming home from vacation. Everyone else has been doing good, my batch of babies from last year are almost a year and I am in the process of choosing which to breed.
Mini Bob has taken large bites out of all the large anubias plants I was growing for years and most of them rotted because of it. So that's a huge bummer. And now that I am back for summer, I can start posting here more 🙂
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Should I be concerned?
in Diseases
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stringy white poop like seen in the pics is usually a sign of internal parasites. While treating the fish for the parasites, I personally havent had much success with saving live bearers after they get to the point of heavy breathing at the surface.
If you want to give it a shot at trying to save him, follow the link: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/fish-parasites
Because he is already off to a heavy battle, and the tank parameters are not good yet, causing stress, I do not think the odds are in your favor. If I were you, I would try to get a donor filter pad from someone you know with a healthy tank. This would allow you to basically get all the bacteria you need in the tank started quickly. An alternative method would be purchasing tank starter bacteria, usually found in pet stores. I would always reccomend changing the water when you have ammonia spikes, even with a fish in cycle, adding a source of bacteria will allow you to do this without having to be worried either.
Best of luck!