OnlyGenusCaps

According to the Invasive Species Compendium: "The guppy was first described as Poecilia reticulata from specimens collected in Venezuela by Wilhelm Peters in 1859, and then again independently from specimens collected in Barbados in 1861 by De Filippi as Lebistes poeciloides. Following this, RJ Lechmere Guppy sent specimens from Trinidad to the British Museum of Natural History, where they were given the name Girardinus guppii by Günther in 1866, and it is from this collector that the common name guppy was given. Regan recognised these synonyms and reclassified the species as Lebistes reticulatus in 1913, but this revision was later restored to the original name Poecilia reticulata by Rosen and Bailey (1963). P. reticulata has also been placed in the genera Poeciliodes, Haridichthys, Ananthophacelus, and Heterandia (Magurran, 2005). Besides ‘guppy’, common names for P. reticulata include millions fish, seven colours, rainbow fish and red-tail." So, it sounds like there was a lot of collection at the time and it took a while to sort out who was the "first" to describe the species and thus which name got priority. Happened all the time back in the day. The last sentence is why scientists go to all the trouble and why in general common names are not as useful (I am sure this could start a whole argument with birders, but that's not where I was going with this. 😛).

I mean @dasaltemelosguy will know better, but I'm planning on trying a CO2 system but using and O2 tank instead. After dealing with serious disease issues this last year, I'm planning on over building a QT tank. I think O2 enhancement will be part of it. Once I get it going, I'll post about the assembly and then using it as well.

Yup. That's all called "common knowledge", basically a bunch of guesses. BBA is a freshwater Audouinella species of red algae. Even the Wikipedia page for the genus is riddled with [citation needed] statements. Here is the thing. Not all algae has spores that float through the air readily to colonize temporary water bodies. Sure there are algal species that do that, which is where the idea that in aquariums we'll just get algae comes from. And that's true. But we treat algae like it is all basically the same stuff, when what we call "algae" is an artificial grouping of wildly dissimilar organisms. All land plants are more closely related to each other than distinct "algae" clades. Even in plants, we would wouldn't expect a banana plant to sprout in your lawn randomly, but dandelions, sure. Same with algae. That's why no SW aquarium has ever accidentally grown kelp - they don't have spores floating through the air to colonize new pools of water. Same with many FW algae species adapted to larger bodies of water - and it seems BBA is one of those. So, you can encourage it's growth, for sure. But if you don't have it in the tank, it won't suddenly appear. This unrequested diatribe has been brought to you by the OGC foundation for understanding algal diversity. We now return you to your usual fare of aquarium topics. Thank you for your attention.

You need to inoculate! BBA doesn't float in from the air. You need a frag, madam.

I think you should feed the offending isopod to Baby. Why?

I suspect if they could, they wouldn't be so expensive. 🤣

I'm not surprised by this. Snails are quite effective secondary hosts for all sorts of parasites. Including those with human disease implications, of course. Makes me think twice about the standard that quarantining snails is unnecessary. 🤔

Well, I have some good news on the snail front for you. As of last night's check and tank change, the remaining pagoda snails were alive and crawling around. Plus, so far all of the rabbit snails are alive. Some have not yet crawled, but then are peaking out consistently. Thanks to information sent to me by @dasaltemelosguy, I am relatively confident that the palliative care I am providing, not only is all I can do, but consists of the proper measured to take. Some of the snails are even feeding again! This has come to pass as well. I saw at least one Julie fry yesterday evening before lights out. It was really exciting to see! They seem to be a particularly effective sort! 😉

Hopefully Baby got the isopod too! I have to say that your tank is far and away more dramatic than the most over-the-top international soap operas. I mean if it is revealed that one of the critters has an evil twin, I won't even be surprised!

Amazing looking room! I think it's coming along nicely. I'm glad to see someone else besides me has things that keep them from making progress at the pace they'd like to. With some of the builds I have seen on here, I was worried it was only me. 😜 Just glad you are back!

Second dose went in yesterday. Sans snails, of course. The fry from the Julies made it through the first round, but I haven't seen them in a day or two. Hopefully they are still hiding. As for the snails: half the pagoda snails are dead, but so far none of the rabbit snails are. To be sure, some aren't happy, but others are crawling around to the point I put some food in yesterday. The simple setup that allows me to check them each day and change 100% of the water seems to be helping. I'll have to remember this snail rescue setup!

Fancy! That's a really pretty place, but so very expensive now. I also loved the hills in the Bay Area. Such an amazing green belt of public land! I feel a bit guilty that my kids won't have those experiences here in Minnesota. Don't get me wrong, Minnesota has world class wilderness opportunities. It's just that they are all hours north of here (to the great credit of the Minnesotans, they make time and take the effort to use these places!). But, I loved as a kid getting to hop on a bike and having endless parks to explore right out back. That just doesn't exist here. To this day people around me are thrilled when land gets developed; "how nice, they are building a new neighborhood". I'd rather see some of that land set aside. Public land is such a valuable community asset! I miss it as much as I miss the crash of the waves from the Pacific.

I too have plans. I think I am going to do a 20 gallon quarantine tank with a bottom matten filter riff on this setup. It's awesome, @gardenman! Thanks for chronicling the journey!

I'm really glad you are doing this project, but I'll say that was a good call. My grabbing brush algae from the LFS was one of two possible sources of the creeping death that moved through my aquariums. I can see if I can find any remnant BBA from my previous planted tank to send you in the spring if you still can't find a source.

Noooooooooooooo! He's been there from the start, right? One of the longest residents, I think. So sad. Now that is a fine looking shell!

When the owners of first place I was renting ending up deciding to sell it, I moved down near Portage. I was basically walking distance to the DW Fesh on Parkview and Oakland. I didn't know what to expect when I lived there, but it is such a great town! I still love walking around in my Kzoo swag. It's literally the only place I've ever lived that managed to make the over-hyped holiday of New Year's Eve as fun as film makes it out to be. That is a Herculean feat, and one that people don't believe when I tell them. Same district! Monta Vista. In what is becoming, a really long time ago... Really?! There is zero chance my folks will be moving here. They haven't even visited. They just tell me I should come back to visit them because "you miss it here anyhow". Although, the Bay Area has changed so much in the last few years, it's crazy to me when I go back! My sister did crash with me when she got out of the service, but when the first frost hit, she was loading her car and on the road back home. 🤣 So, it's funny, the winters have never really gotten to me. I mean, I don't love them. But, you agree to move to Minnesota and you expect long, cold winters. That was eyes wide open for me. But the summers drive me nuts! I tell people back home that Minnesota has a lot of nerve getting as hot and sticky as it does given how cold it gets. Minnesota it seems, has all the charms of Canada in the winter and Georgia in the summer. 🤣 I'm starting a business here right now. Which I think means I have to officially stop telling people I have plans to leave. 🤭

That's interesting! I have a sneaking suspicion there is probably a whole filed of study about this sort of thing, and I'll admit, my interest is piqued. Reminds me a bit of this BBC article. Sorry. Back to your regularly scheduled pizza talk... 😁

Sames-ies! Where in NorCal? I grew up in the Bay Area. In fact, much of my misspent youth took place in Santa Cruz. So if you are from further north, I grew up in fake NorCal. 🤣 I lived in Kalamazoo for a time. I loved SW Michigan! I would happily live there again.

That is a fine looking pizza, @dasaltemelosguy! I know thew above quote was taken out of context, but it segues to my story, so I went with it. I was just thinking of this thread last night while eating Punch pizza here in Minnesota (forgot to take photos of the incredible pies, and they disappeared to the last slice very quickly) and reading a news article on the "pizza effect" (which I now can't find of course). I'd not been aware of this tendency to seek "authenticity" in some aspect of culture in an adopted country of the home country when the importance of the aspect only really emerged in the adopted country - and pizza is the poster item. Apparently, pizza only rose to prominence here in the States and then upon the befuddlement of the native population in Italy about why this thing was successful elsewhere, it was adopted with zeal in the home country. I thought of this thread and laughed at myself a bit for things I said here and elsewhere. All of that of course in no way detracts from my love of Neapolitan style pizza, even if NY (or at least the eastern seaboard of the States) is likely the actual home modern "pizza" as we know it. It's just funny how these things shape up as we seek a connection to "where we are from". I see this in Minnesota all the time with the claims "Scandinavian" cultural associations here. A friend of mine from Norway was visiting me just before COVID hit and he was fascinated by what he called "the shards of Scandinavian culture stored in a time capsule from the 1880's that survive". It would seem much of what is thought of as Scandinavian here, has either never been so in the form we see it here, or at least has not been for over 100 years. It's funny the connections we seek. Though I'll still be eating Punch pizza here by preference, I just can't be snotty about now. 😜

I recently learned that some canister filters have ports for heaters! I have never used a can filter, I tend toward sumps when external filtration is needed, which also hides all the equipment. Does your can have a spot for a heater, perhaps? If not, this seems like a feature that should be standard. Just saying.

Little update. Fish are all doing okay. Snails... Not so much. I wish I had seen @laritheloud's thread on this med and snails before dosing, but the snails are now in a recovery tank and won't be exposed to any further treatments. And by "tank" I mean one of two 2 gallon sterilite bins with sand on the bottom and an air stone. I am switching the snails between them daily so they get a 100% water change every day because there is no setup filter in there. 🙄 Plus, then each snail gets checked each day as they are transferred to the new bin, so I guess that's good? Still, you could say the snail issue took me by surprise, yes. The up side is I've not lost more fish yet. So bonus on that. I was concerned with this disease/parasite getting into every tank I was going to end up with no fish and only snails. Now the pendulum may have swung the other way, and it's most of my snails that look to be in danger. Sometimes, I swear, this hobby... Well, some days it seems it could use a less steep learning curve. Uf-da!

I wish I had seen this about 7 days ago. 🙄 I can confirm that rabbit snails do not do well with Levamisole. I have them in a recovery tank, but they had not moved in 5 days. Neither have my pagoda snails. They are all alive based on the fact they close their operculums when disturbed, weight, and that they don't smell dead (yes, they all get a sniff test). The recovery situation is not ideal, as I was not really prepared for this. But I had to treat the fish. Interestingly, my colony of Colombian ramshorns has not skipped a beat. They are as active and voracious as ever! Wonder why the difference? Now I know. Pull rabbit/pagoda snails when treating with Levamisole. Wish I had known it before, but we press on.

Slow to update. The morning after adding the meds to the tank I awoke to find this foggy scene: I hadn't expected that. Interestingly, none of the tanks downstairs that also got the treatment did this. It ended up clearing up later in the day. No idea what happened. The fish definitely lost their appetites, as you can see my the flakes on the bottom in the photo. The snails hated the treatment! I sort of thought they were dead at first. And they still haven't moved. I think I'll remove snails from the tanks in future when I need to use this. Hopefully they will pull through. I've already changed 25% of the water and gravel vacuumed heavily. I think I'll change a bit more today and tomorrow, before I have to do the second dose again next week. Now I suppose it is just a waiting game. I need to see how the fish do. Their appetites are back, but they never really lost them.

Well. Cards on the table... I'm not a member. But, the bigger issue is that the post-doc is in no rush. She's got work to do that she's expected to do. If she can get to the necropsy, great! If not, well I get that. Regardless, I am just hoping this latest medication makes it all stop. I'm trying to keep focus on what I can pull from this, but I'd be okay just to end all the death in my tanks right now. That'd be enough for the moment.

Wait. You can out a heater inside a canister filter? For serious?! I honestly had no idea. That's plus one for canister for me.