Stef

My recent shipment of the KH and GH combo test kit came with two bottles of just KH. Coop came to the rescue!

I once had a new 10 gallon with a single betta doing a fish in cycle. The tank had serious off the charts ammonia. I was using ammo lock and giant water changes endlessly. I had a very large piece of mopani driftwood in there that started looking really funky and filmy. The wood got so disgusting looking I took it out. Once it was gone, everything stabilized. I’m convinced it was the wood. Your piece isn’t large, but if you’ve tried everything else, might be worth a shot. My old mopani wood is now decorating my outdoor garden.

Hi all. I have a new Zebra nerite snail to help with an ongoing algae problem in a 10 gallon. The snail was introduced about 12 days ago. The other occupants are a betta, 3 panda corys and an oto. None of the fish have white spots/ich. The plants are loaded with hair algae and also have collected this whitish stuff. Is this just detritus or mulm or something else?

I’m also curious on this topic. I rinse my python with really hot tap water between water changes. Is that sufficient? No issues in the tanks other than one with hair algae.

I also lost a mystery snail in July. I had him for 1 year 5 months. He was large and very active. Fun to watch zoom around. Then like yours he stopped moving for about 4 days. His antenna got wrinkly and I gave him a sniff test and he was gone. He was my first mystery snail and had read they live for about a year so I was pretty happy he made it that far. They are really cool. Hope you get another.

The move went smooth. No issues with the tank. I struggled with the board/shelf but all I had was an actual section of 2 x 6 and it added a lot of excess weight, so I just used my hands to support the bottom as best I could. Will try to get an thinner board for any potential future moves.

Such pretty little fish. Like miniature brook trout.

Hi All, anyone attempt a solo move of a frameless nano tank across a room...that's semi filled? I have a 9 gal Fluval Flex with 2 inches of substrate, a few potato-sized seriyu stones, two mollies and live plants. It's on my kitchen counter and is just a tad large for the space. I know this is tricky with frameless tanks and I'm doing the move by myself. I'm physically strong enough to do it once most of the water is drained out, but what are my odds of damaging the frameless design? The tank also has bowed front. I'd have to carry it about about 15 feet total distance. I've nearly dropped a coffee mug on it twice from the cabinet that sits above it in its current location. So leaving it where it is, is also risky. Thoughts?

There’s a handy video on the Fritz Aquatics website (makers of Maracyn) on how to treat aquariums smaller than 10 gallons. I can’t seem to link to it from my phone, but if you navigate to the Maracyn page, then under directions & dosage, scroll to the bottom and you’ll see the video link. I have several 3 gallon tanks and used this dosage method.

I bought a few Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green in June and they took off. They’re not tall, but really filled out well. More short and bushy. Nice coloration too. I’d send a pic but currently power went off and all dark in the tanks. I also got a tiger lotus bulb on a whim. It arrived pretty sorry looking from shipping. I put it in a spare 3 gal with my betta and a nicrew light and it rebounded really well and is the star of that little tank. Great pinky/spotted color.

Are there any lubricants used in any of the joints of the figure? Not sure if there’s any metal supports inside or if it’s entirely plastic.

My local shop wouldn’t sell me 4-5 neons when I wanted to add to my new set up with a betta being that the neons were not that hardy in tanks that were not established. Most of my bettas are with mystery snails and I’ve been comfortable with not having to stress over aggression. And definitely I’ve noticed the bettas “playing nice” with the snails when the bettas were added last. My one betta is just plum dog mean even in a 10 gal and only an oto to pester. That’s ok, I still love his tough guy attitude.

Thanks @Colu do you mean increase volume of water change or increase frequency? I usually go every two weeks at 50% for this tank.

Is this tail rot? He’s a half moon. I’ve had him almost 2 yrs. The upper section of his tail looks a little torn. No ragged pieces hanging off. I have several seriyu stone pieces and live plants. No sharp spider wood or other artificial decorations. He’s in a 10 gal with only a single oto. He’s eating and swimming normally. Per master test kit this morning: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 I can’t seem to get any nitrates. I have a ton of frogbit pH: 7.6

You’re going to have one happy betta. So may places to explore. Nice!

Thanks @Jungle Fanand @quikv6. I really don't want to move tanks (frameless) and would definitely not want to start fight club in the betta tank. I tried to make a video of them chasing, but they both seemed mesmerized by the camera light and just swam in place staring at the front of the glass like little angels. P.S. I do have 3 small pieces of driftwood in the tank and was surprised how much they like nibbling on the wood and the air line. They're making great little cleaners 😄

Hi Everyone, I'm wondering if it's possible to ease some of the fighting between my two female gold dust lyretails. One is larger and constantly picking on the smaller one. They're the only fish in the 10 gallon planted tank. The tank was intended for a single betta who fell ill during cycling (he's ok now and back in his 3 gallon). The cycling process stalled after I took the betta out and it was recommended to me that mollies would help restart cycling, which they did nicely and without getting sick. Anyway, as I'm still working remotely and have the tank on my desk, the fighting is driving me nuts. I miss the calm of a betta cruising around just admiring himself and begging for food 😊. But the mollies are very pretty and active and I was thinking of adding 1 or 2 additional female mollies. Would this just give more "victims" for the larger one to pick on? Do they every stop chasing each other in larger groups? I'm guessing the smaller tank is probably not helping the territoriality and adding more fish could strain the bio load (though I do regular testing and water changes). I could try to return them to my lfs, but would feel guilty. So either 1) moving the tank out of the room so I don't have to witness the constant harassment, 2) splitting them up by moving the smaller one to another existing 10 gal with a betta, or 3), a few more molly peacekeepers. Thoughts? I should also mention that the smaller molly getting harassed isn't getting fin nipped or damaged, just chased into the plants where she hides for a few seconds and then comes right back out to nibble on stuff, gets chased back into the plants, repeat. The larger female is especially bad during feeding time.

Dennerle makes a nice Scaper’s tank that is deep (like 14”). But 10 gal is their smallest. Comes with a glass lid, internal filter (Eckfilter)and light and has the nice curved edges in the front.

I have a betta who recovered from a combo of swim bladder and fin rot. He was floating on his side for nearly 3 months. He fully recovered. He was actively eating, just couldn’t swim. He had to be hand fed. Kanaplex and aquarium salt. Don’t give up.

Are these the Aqueon frameless cubes?

I had a similar situation with a 10 gal planted betta tank. Though I did a fish in cycle, the ammonia was off the charts even after multiple weeks-long water changes at 50% or more. The betta was a trooper and did well using AmmoLock. I couldn’t figure out how a single fish could create that much ammonia. I wasn’t overfeeding. I had a large piece of mopani wood that was looking funky. It was getting covered in whitish fungus. I removed it because I couldn’t stand the look of it anymore. Once it the wood was gone the ammonia was significantly reduced after another big water change and then gone altogether after one more water change the following day. I’m done with mopani wood.

My Flex 9 is humming along. The box is huge but was well packaged with thick styrofoam. The tank and equipment is the right size and well-made. No leaks at all. I still hate the lid and light. I got mine at the local pet store that has nice small fish section so I didn’t have any breakage from shipping. The FedEx guys are rough with the Chewy boxes and many of my dog’s stuff literally gets tossed from the guy’s shoulder to my concrete porch. No tank would survive that. I also have a Fluval Spec 5 gal which grows plants like crazy and I’m still using the stock light it came with. Hoping the Flex does good for the plants but my preference still leans towards glass lids. Good luck and have fun with it!

I have the Flex 9 that’s been running for just 3 weeks. It was intended for my betta’s upgrade from his 3 gal. I like the size and depth. Stock filter is strong and does not have an adjustment for flow. Needs baffling for a betta. It’s very quiet tho. I also like the dual output that can adjust in any direction. I don’t like the lid/hood and light. It’s a little too shady for plants in the back. I saw a mod video using waterproof LED strip lights that I might try down the road. The storm and moon modes are gimmicky. The lightning is strobe light bright and hurts my eyes. I bought lid props but I keep bumping them when servicing the tank and the lid crashes down, so I just set the lid off to the side. Overall it’s a nice nano tank.

Wanted to give an update on my crowntail. He’s making a miraculous recovery. I think the extra tablespoon of aquarium salt really helped (thanks Colu!) because 24 hours later he wasn't as bloated and had minimal pineconeing. I watched him flash against the sand and the white cottony patch behind his right pectoral fin came off. Though the fungus persists, it’s smaller. You can still see it in the 1st photo. He’s eating better, actively swimming and off the bottom! The white ick-like spot on his head is also gone. I refreshed his catappa leaves so his water is really brown, but he’s been actively swimming through them and under them. I have noticed that as the food sinks, he watches it hit the sand and then sort of circles it and then eats it. Not sure why he does this rather than eat it as it falls. He definitely watches it come down. Could the water color affect his vision? They don’t look cloudy. Or could he just be a little dull from being sick and on medication? Not out of the woods, but I sure thought he was a goner. Don’t give up!

As a result of upgrading my betta to a bigger tank, he's now fallen ill with multiple problems. On day 4 in the new tank doing a fish-in cycle, ammonia started going up to .25 ppm. I used AmmoLock to detoxify. There were no nitrites and no nitrates yet. The next day the betta was hiding between plants and rocks and not coming out. I put him back in his old 3 gal which I kept running as a back up. He's the only occupant in the tank. I did normal acclimation process to get him back in his old tank. The following day he had a big belly and was pineconing. I started treatment immediately with KanaPlex, aquarium salt (1 tbsp total) and a little Melafix (tho a 3 gal tank, there's only 2 gal of water since I lowered the water level for easier surfacing). I also added some catappa leaves (boiled) for cover since the old tank is mostly bare as the plants went in the new tank. Today, on top of dropsy, he's now got a single white ick-like speck on his head, and a larger white fuzz patch behind his pectoral fin and another small white-ish fuzz on the tip of his tail that looks like the beginning of tail rot (maybe from being on the bottom for so long?). On a positive note, he ate a single Bug Bite that floated down to him today. He hadn't eaten since June 23. As far as the Kanaplex goes, He's on his second dose today as I'm adding every other day per instructions. My question is should I keep going with the Kanaplex and salt and wait? I wasn't expecting to see fungus on top of the dropsy. I don't want to stress him out any further but he's a mess. He also had a small/short stringy poop(?) but it's gone now. Hoping that was some fluid being released?? He's been very healthy and active prior to this. I've had him about a year and he came from a big box store. Can he handle more meds? More salt (maybe a salt bath)? Should I perform a gravel vac since that's where he's hanging out? With the meds in, I'm hesitant to remove any water, though I could use a turkey baster to get the food he didn't eat earlier. Water parameters are good (always have 0 nitrate and I haven't figured out why yet considering his hospital tank is an established 1 year old tank). Water Parameters today: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 PH: 7.6 Temp: 78 Other meds I have on hand: MetroPlex, BettaFix, IchX, Betta Revive, Prime (not a med, but probably should have used instead of the AmmoLock). I know his chances are slim. Anyone have success treating dropsy?