dan182

Thanks!

Hello all, The Issue: Today I spotted this white patch on the head of my Betta. It's not a fuzzy patch, at least not yet and it's not ick. I'm hoping it could be a scratch but don't know? My background is concrete. The Kohli loach had a similar white patch early on, but it went away. I think the Kohli loach rubbed up against the rock and got scratched. The Betta dose seem to rub against the background when lounging in the Java moss or scrounging around. I've never had to deal with Columnaris or Saprolegnia Fungus. I have no idea how to treat this tank if I have this fungus or some other bacteria. Some treatments work with some but kill others. I assume I can pull the Betta and stick him an a 10 gallon to treat him if need be, but I'm worried about the other fish. Any thoughts? The environment: I have a well established, low tech, planted, 40 gallon tank. I have two canister filters: one that broke (Fluval 300) so I use it in tandem with my Fluval 307. The 300 is filled with mechanical filtration and the 307 has additional mechanical filtration and I replaced the bio media with Biohome Ultra filter media. I keep the tank at around 78° with a DIY inline heater. The lights are timed (on for 10 hours), and I keep the tank pretty clean and groomed with weekly water changes (RO water/20 gallon water changes). My water tests reveal 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, between 5 and 10 ppm of nitrates (at water changes), my PH sits around 7.2, phosphates run between 0.25 to .5 and GH is about 100 (don't know KH). The wild life is an interesting assortment, and was collected over time. Some of the fish were purchased, a few were given to me because my friends didn't know how expensive the aquarium hobby was. So along with the plants, the bio load also includes: Amano shrimp (I started with 15, but I have seen a few babies, so I really I don't know how many shrimp I actually have. There are a lot of places to hide in this tank.) 20 neon tetras 1 Betta 3 Albino Corey Dora's 1 Kohli loach 6 Bumble Bee Gobies (given to me and seem to be doing ok for a non-brackish tank) 3 Otocinclus 4 Boesemani rainbows 3 Hillstream loaches 2 Nerite snails 1 Mistry snail, and 1 Assassin snail to control a Blatter snail problem (not so bad now) It is a pretty heavy bio-load for a 40 gallon tank, but again, I keep it pretty clean, and it has been this way for many months. The only bully in the tank is the Betta who chases the Rainbows (once and a while). I am resealing my 70 gallon tank to get up and running to spread the load. That wont be finished until next year.

Just as a follow up. I used Chemiclean and it did the job. Thanks all for your input!!!

I have a freshwater 40ga tan. This purple stuff has started to develop on the walls and a little on a rock (not on the plants yet). Has anyone seen this purple stuff before? Is this cyanobacteria? I've added Chemiclean but so far there has been no change. I'm going to change the water and do it again. I'm hesitant to use erythromycin because of its affect on beneficial bacterial. Any thoughts?

Re: Marimo Balls This is unfortunate and worrisome news. I have a reasonably new but cycled tank that I've added a mess of fish and a bunch of plants. Understanding the situation, I've removed the Marimo Balls from my tank. The Marimo Balls have been in my tank since the beginning February 2021 (impulse purchased from a local pet store while getting dog food). The second part of this equation is disinfecting the aquarium and equipment. Taking the cautious approach, I will proceed to disinfect my tank and equipment. I've placed the Marimo Balls in a container to observe. If Zebra Mussels develop, the disinfection was the right choice, and I'll advise the appropriate government agency; if not, I have peace of mind. Anyway, I've heard that chlorinated water will do the job. However, this leaves me with questions, and I'm hoping someone with excellent knowledge may be so kind with advice/answers. Question 1) I assume people are not talking about Clorox but a particular type/brand of Chlorine, which would be what? Question 2) What would be the ratio of Chlorine to water that works, or would the local city's chlorinated water work? Question 3) If the local city's chlorinated water works, what would be the PPM of Chlorine needed to be effective? Question 4), How long does the chlorinated water need to run through the aquarium to be considered disinfected from the Zebra Mussels? Question 5), Once disinfected with chlorinated water, how long will a dechlorinator take to make the tank safe for a new fishless cycle and returning the fish to the tank. I doubt they will care for their temporary quarters? Question 6) Will the fish carry any Zebra Mussels, reinfesting the tank once returned, and what to do about that? Question 7), What will happen to the aquarium plants in the tank while soaking in chlorinated water? Is it good bye to these beautiful plants? In particular: Staurogyne repens, dwarf hair grass, Anubias nana "petite," Java Mass, Java Fern Windelov, Marsilea Hirsuta, and Cardinals. A few of these plants are freshly planted while others, have been in for about a month. Any help with these questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Dan

I purchased an arranged driftwood (mopani) ornament from a local pet store. I rearranged it (used screws) and boiled it for a couple of days to extract some tannins, used it in my aqua scape and added plants (no fish). My tank is still cycling, but today I noticed one of the pieces of wood is glowing roots. Has anyone experienced this before? Should I pull the wood out or leave it in?