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Plutoids Mom

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  1. Plutoids Mom
    Well, Tuesday was day 6 of the Maracyn treatment/ water change day, healthy gold barb up and died on me. Today, my 3+ year old rosy barb started swimming in circles in the main tank and I'm getting suspicious of the last gold barb in there also. Since I don't know what to do or I did to trigger this, I'll start another thread since the topic is now different. 🤪
  2. Plutoids Mom
    My favorite (which changes by the season lol) is Epimedium Amber Queen. Foliage looks dainty but is as tough as nails. It blooms really well for 3-ish weeks and the new foliage is lime green with some red mottling.
  3. Plutoids Mom
    Life got busy after I posted, so thanks for the replies! I started dosing Maracyn Thursday afternoon, but I lost the last of the three sick fish this morning. The healthy fish is still healthy, so yay! He's going to hang out in quarantine for at least another week. I'm itching to get some fish for my other tank so we'll see how long my patience holds out to keep him in there 4 weeks lol. Just me wondering, could the barbs have actually "eaten" themselves to death when they ate all the congo tetra eggs? I fed the tank that morning and nothing seemed off until an hour-ish after the spawning stopped. I'm trying to decide if it was a weird coincidence or maybe I shouldn't get any more barbs since the tetras spawn weekly and any future barbs will have the same egg buffet.
  4. Plutoids Mom
    Seven days ago, I pulled 5 of my 6 gold barbs from my 75 gallon because all five were lethargic and sometimes tilting head down. One was also missing it's tail. No other outward signs of problems with these fish and only thing odd that happened in the tank was the barbs gorged on Congo tetra eggs that morning. I put them in quarantine and started treating them with Kanaplex. So far, I've lost one Monday and probably losing the tailless one today (so will be down to 3 barbs in quarantine tank). I've given the max of three Kanaplex dosages (Thursday, Saturday, and Monday), but only one of the barbs looks normal now. My question is: when can I pull the one healthy barb out of quarantine? Since it's a schooling fish, I don't want it to get too stressed by being in there by itself, assuming the other barbs also pass away, but I don't know what is going on with them and don't want to give something to the rest of the fish in the main tank.
  5. Plutoids Mom
    I like gardening and horse back riding, when my kids give me a break to get out to the barn 😜.
  6. Plutoids Mom
    Freshwater Angelfish Care - 50 Years of Experience! Aquarium Plants Dying Plant Deficiencies Plants 101 Cycling a Planted Aquarium Biological Filter Aquarium Filter Tips and Tricks! Start Saving Money Now Giant Puffer Fish Gets 200 New Tank Mates For honorable mention since I've learned so much from so many of the videos: Irene's quarantine tank setup How to get rid of blue green algae Unboxings Fish profiles
  7. Plutoids Mom
    I have hard water with high iron too. In my measly month of experience (so take it for what it's worth), corkscrew val and crypts are doing really well. I'm aging my well water a week to get some of the iron out and adding a little bit of RO water from the grocery store.
  8. Plutoids Mom
    There are a lot of differences, so I don't know why. Alive Anubias Golden Located directly under light Different side of tank Bought from Aquarium Co-Op Planted with more roots in the gravel (rhizome is still higher than gravel) Has grown new leaves in 3-4 weeks of being in the tank Dead Anubias coffeefolia Located at the edge of the light Different side of tank Bought from LFS Planted with fewer roots in the gravel and rhizome was higher up a rock Never grew leaves in 3-4 weeks of being in the tank They were placed in the tank at the same time, so have received the same water parameters and fertilizers.
  9. Plutoids Mom
    I just lost my Anubias coffeefolia to rot. The leaves started to yellow, then the rhizome turned white and mushy. I just pulled it out of the tank to see if there was anything salvageable on the rhizome, but all leaves and most roots fell off. I also have Anubias Golden in the tank, and so far it's growing and no discoloration. Would it be safe to put another Anubias in the same spot as the coffeefolia, or should I put in a different specises? I don't want to kill a second Anubias if the virus or bacteria will linger in the gravel and rocks.
  10. Plutoids Mom
    In case anyone was wondering, I went and measured the Aquaclears since I couldn't find any official measurements. The gap where the filter sits on the aquarium is exactly 1", maybe a hair less. The tank edge/lip for my 75 gallon is also 1", maybe a hair more. Since I didn't want to chance the Aquaclears not fitting (wasn't sure about return policy if I put them in an existing tank and live rather far away from the store), I ended up with the Tidal 75 and have been pretty happy with that. @markkazdad I found those Tidal measurements, too. Thank you for adding those to the post! I should have thought of that.
  11. Plutoids Mom
    I have 6 congos in a 75 gallon with black skirt tetras, gold barbs, pearl gouramis, and an angel fish. I haven't seen any problems with them picking on any of the other fish. They chase each other sometimes, but never cause injuries to each other. I'm really glad I splurged on them because they are very showy. I don't have plants in this tank, so no experience with plant compatibility.
  12. Plutoids Mom
    Is there a substitute for Kanaplex? I can get the other meds, but not that one.
  13. Plutoids Mom
    My pearl gourami has a large lump on just one side of his body. Is this a tumor or something treatable? Today was the first day he didn't want to eat. Temp: 76 PH: 8.2 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 5 GH: 4 KH: 11
  14. Plutoids Mom
    I wish I could get a pair of Apisto cacatuoides but I haven't seen them in a LFS by me in about 15 years. @missriss126 They'll have to stay on my bucket list for a little longer lol. The rams are fun to watch and check you out too.
  15. Plutoids Mom
    Glad to hear plan A isn't a deal breaker! Now I can get something for me (the ram) and something my son can pick out (the platies), plus the adorable cories. The feedback from the forum has been great and helping boast my confidence with fishkeeping.
  16. Plutoids Mom
    My 20 gallon long is going to be done cycling in the next week or two, I'm guessing/hoping. I had originally thought about doing platies with maybe cherry shrimp and/or cories. I've had platies and cories before, but never shrimp. Then, I was reminiscing about keeping bolivian rams and thought about keeping a ram or two with cories and/or tetras. Then, I saw a guppy tank from Primetime Aquatics. Things kept going down hill from there and now I can't decide on what and how many. I'm hoping someone can prevent me from making a horrid over stocking mistake. Would you keep in this planted tank: A.) 1 bolivian ram, 4 platies, 4 panda or pygmy cories B.) 2 bolivian rams, 6 neon or lemon tetras B.) 6 platies, cherry shrimp C.) 10 guppies (I don't know what I'd do with the babies, but they are so colorful) I really want to do option A, but I have a feeling that is too much for the tank? Guppies are in the mix in case I can't decide between platies and rams and go in a completely different direction 😄
  17. Plutoids Mom
    I'm so torn, but I think the snail is going to have to go just because I have a feeling there is enough hidden leftover "stuff" to fuel a snail explosion of a nuclear size. Dang. I wish they reproduced a little slower because it would be great to have them clean it all. Of course, when I went back to pluck the little thing out to put it in a jar, it already disappeared. (It is going to live in my water garden container outside once the weather warms up some more.) I had mentioned the nerite snails previously to my significant other and that met with approval only after I said they couldn't breed in the tank, so that is another factor. Thanks for the advice on the water change! That helps a lot! I'll gladly put the buckets away for a little longer.
  18. Plutoids Mom
    I set up my 20 gallon long one week ago. I put in seven plants, a sponge filter from my other tank, and have been putting Stability every day. Tested the water today and ammonia is at 4 and nitrite is at 1-2. Plants are super happy with new leaves and runners. It's obviously not ready for fish, but I found a bladder snail today in there and there is plenty for it to eat with biofilm and possible algae. Question 1: Should I do a water change at this point to get ammonia and nitrite down? Things are high because the gravel I used came from an old tank that had lots of algea. It had been sitting dry for 6 years but I couldn't get every little piece out before putting it in the tank. Question 2: I was going to get a nerite snail. I'm assuming they aren't as hardy as the bladder snails? Question 3: How long do I have before I have a crazy number of bladder snails? Debating taking it out now before things get out of hand, but I really want the help cleaning things up before I could get the nerite snail.
  19. Plutoids Mom
    I also have the same situation: well water going through a softener, with a PH of 8.2, GH of 0, and KH of 11. I'm experimenting with using water straight from the well (PH of 8.2, GH of 20, KH of 11) that I'm letting sit for 3-ish days so that a lot of the iron precipitates out. I'm combining the well water with RO water from the grocery store, so that I still have some minerals but a lower KH and PH. I just started this experiment and am still playing with the percentages. With 25% RO water, I have a PH of 8.0, GH of 12, and KH of 9. Not sure yet if the plants will like this or not. I'm trying it with val, cypts, anubias, and a water lily. When my water comes out of the faucet, it has a PH of 7.8, but a lot of gas gets released since it's not under pressure underground, which is why the PH changes. The softener removes iron and some other minerals. It leaves the baking soda in the water, which is why the KH is high and the GH is low. On the plus side, you know the softener is doing it's job. 🙂
  20. Plutoids Mom
    I just caught a pair of my congo tetras spawning in my community tank! Was totally unexpected because I thought they were hard to breed but mainly because I had bought a group of six juvenile males. My main question since I now know that at least one, maybe two, are females, should I try to find more females so they don't get too harassed by the four or five males? They have all been growing at different rates, so I for awhile I thought I ended up with just two males. On a side note, I have larger gravel and a decent number of other fish in this tank. I'm assuming there isn't a chance the eggs will hatch and the fry will make it?
  21. Plutoids Mom
    No, you're not in danger. I had a really nasty outbreak of that before I knew what it was. Never had a problem with touching it with my hands. My cat also liked to drink out of the bucket when I changed water and didn't get sick if that helps any.
  22. Plutoids Mom
    @Mitch Norton Oh, I'm sorry you had to find out that way! I already ordered the two 50's, but at least I know now. There are so many measurements I didn't think of other than filter capacity. I'm glad I joined the forum to learn from everyone else.
  23. Plutoids Mom
    We try filling it empty like the manual says and try filling it full. We try pulling on the handle slow, fast, intermittent, and standing on our heads lol. I heard that the priming improved the next model (406 and up) after ours, but due to cost, we haven't upgraded. I replaced the impeller about 4 years ago. It primed the same before and after I replaced that part. Since it doesn't leak or have any air bubbles coming from it, I've never replaced the gasket.
  24. Plutoids Mom
    @MJV Aquatics I didn't think of siphoning the water out before moving it. Normally the cleaning process goes pretty smoothly, with just some water on the floor, until we get to priming it. Priming it normally involves trying 20 different methods googled from all corners of the internet because the method in the manual doesn't work. After about 30 minutes to an hour, multiple threats of divorce, and considering to just chuck it out the window, the filter finally starts. 😄
  25. Plutoids Mom
    I think I'm going to have go the AquaClear route because I just realized (as I'm sitting here looking at it all) that I only have about 5 inches between the tank and the wall. We obviously didn't take into consideration changing filter types when we positioned it. It looks like the Aqua Clear 50 is 4" wide from one website, but I couldn't find anything official from Fluval. I'm hoping that measurement is accurate. @Will Billy I was preferring to get two for the reasons you mentioned. Glad to hear I wasn't too far off base. One of the big box stores is having a sale right now, and two 50's are currently cheaper than the 110. I guess that is the silver lining to this whole thing. @Dawn T I am totally taking your recommendation on the intake filter! I was sold on them after watching Cory's videos, and after today, I want more filtration and to protect whatever fish end up in my tank.
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