xXInkedPhoenixX

@StockEwe49 haven't seen one at least on the non channel member side. Would be neat if he did that for members or not if there was a Veterinary expert on the benefits. If there's even any scientific research with aquarium fish.

@CT_ 😄 I totally wish I knew if my patient was male or female because I totally would. I think Waldo had a girlfriend though.... .....1 GTS later....yep Wanda...I'd be good with either.

I used to do this and there was no reason really why I stopped. I think partly because I am NOT an overfeeder. I might be an underfeeder if anything. They get fed 1x a day and just enough that they all seem to get a little bit. Fasting in general has been purportedly credited with prolonging lifespans, boosting metabolism, helping cardiac health, reducing inflammation. That's for us, but you can imagine if our fish were in the wild (as we were once lol) it could have benefits for them as well that may be similar- especially for those of us that do overfeed our tanks for one reason or another. At the very least it helps clear their digestive tract. My personal observation when doing the 1 day fasting not being an overfeeder is my tank does stay cleaner (less waste either from what little food they didn't eat to them well, expelling what they don't use). With some species like say Guppies, they tend to pick off the substrate and plants, algae etc so they find "other things" to eat- again cleaner tank.

@Georgiapeach88 ah totally see how that wood you have would work- the inspiration tank is very pretty, but I daresay I actually like your piece better. I'm also a fan of spiderwood- it comes in so many more unusual shapes being rootwood a lot of the times and smaller pieces are great for anchoring rhizone plants. Looks like you have a good thing going there!

Beautiful piece of wood! @Georgiapeach88

Hi @SinfulBetta94 what a bittersweet but wonderful post. I can relate. I've "retired" from Betta fish keeping as they are very much heartbreakers. I can keep several species of fish with no problems, cure illnesses, even have some reproduce but Bettas are far and away IMO one of the hardest fish to keep. So props to you for your persistence even despite the distance you tried to create in your other fish. My last "favorite"- I didn't get him very far, just under 2 years, passed after a case of dropsy despite my seemingly curing his pineconing he likely succumbed to organ failure. So in honor of your post here was my equivalent, Kimono They are admittedly wonderful fish, and though I have sworn them off I admire those fishkeepers that are excellent Betta keepers. May your new Betta live long!

It is entirely possible if no other symptoms they just died of "natural causes" at 3 yrs old. 🙂

Yea it really does seem we do a lot of gambling in a sense, trying one way or another, and sometimes what is equally cool and frustrating with this hobby is that just because it works for some people (gravel vacs or egg fungus methods) doesn't necessarily work for your set up. Sometimes it's purely gut instinct. When it fails it can be very discouraging but when it works it's one of the best things in the world.

One thing I can also advise regarding the snails at least while you're getting the population under control but this is actually good practice. Try doing 1 fasting day for the fish a week. I've not kept swordtails or platies yet but I suspect they might be similar to guppies who will pick at things off substrate and plants and may help reduce the amount of extra food for the snails.

Unfortunately I cannot advise you on where to put crushed coral in a canister as I do not have one. I'm sure as long as it's in an area that gets decent flow and doesn't clog your machine you should be good. Maybe others can chime in! The acidic water wears down the coral eventually so if you see your ph creeping back down after you've established your new "peak" you'd just add more or replace the old! It takes a while but in a higher flow situation it would be sooner than me who puts it in the substrate. Good luck! 🙂

I agree with @Guppysnail find yourself some Almond Leaf aka Catappa

I was sorry to see your favorite guy passed. 😔

Hi there. If your fish have been living happily in 6.6 for 2 years and showing no signs of stress prior you could be just fine. In order to safely raise it if you want you can add crushed coral to your tank. There are several ways you can do this, if you have a canister or HOB you can add it to that. You can put it in a mesh bag and hide it in the tank or just put it in your substrate. There is a ratio of crushed coral to gallons. I might have a heaping cup in my 20 gallon (my pH is 7.6). The last 2 methods (bag and adding to substrate) usually takes longer to get the pH to come up as there is no water flow across it like when it is used in a filter. You don't really want to do other more temporary methods like baking soda- this causes flux and doesn't stay steady. **adding crushed coral generally adds some GH which can be good for your fish (in particular guppies at least that's my understanding) if your water isn't already liquid rock As to your ramshorns, any snail that reproduces like they do (this includes bladder snails and pond snails) reproduce because of the abundance of food sources. The less food, the less snails. So the question you have to ask yourself is, what are you overfeeding. Do you just have platies, guppies and swordtails? If so, cut back on the amount of food you give them or break up the amount by feeding them just a little bit so they eat all of it and none of it hits the substrate. There are also other food sources. Algaes and dying plant matter so maybe a trimming or gravel vac will be necessary but don't do too much cleaning at once- IMO overcleaning can be detrimental as well. You can also get some Assassin Snails to help keep the population in check. HOWEVER if you have bottom dwellers or other snails like Mystery snails your plan of attack on the ramshorns has to be reconsidered because they still need access to food.

I admire that you basically turned your frown product to a smile product. Doubles as a lesson learned but still very useful even if it was an "expensive" lesson.

OTOCINCLUS COCAMA: The 2 Gallon QT 59 days into treatment of popeye....So just to illustrate why the only thing I do now is suck out old food and detrius with a turkey baster every morning and reload the food, and then make sure the patient is present and accounted for.... While I am working on using more Catappa leaves in 2 of my tanks (maybe expanding to all my tanks eventually depending on how this goes), I don't want a SUPER dark tank just a slight tint is fine. This QT is too dark for a regular tank for me and while I can admire what it apparently has been helping my popeye patient with I suspect it doesn't have to be THIS dark for benefits to healthy fish in other tanks. Anyway the patient is in there... Things are still looking good. I'm thinking of keeping the patient in this tank for at least another month and check where we are at- if they are significantly better or exactly the same I may release them into the Accidental tank and hopefully by that time there is a ramp up of IAL tannins in there for them and the rest of the Otos. Any additional thoughts on this specifically are definitely welcome as I've never experienced this before I think often about when the right time would be to have them return home.

I think at least so far my set up is ok but I'm keeping an eye on it for sure @Beardedbillygoat1975. I don't want to breed so I'm just trying to find an active balance.. 4 Guppies and 5 Endlers, 7 Embers, plants, and a few cave statues. They've been in there since the 20th (the 4 guppies). Added them because 2 of the Endlers were non stop. No fin damage or outright agression witnessed so far. They chase a lot, but I've observed them getting distracted and move to another tankmate and then another and some take a break from the fray and do their own thing and then the cycle continues.

OTOCINCLUS VITATTUS AND COCAMA: The Accidental Oto Tank Otocinclus After Dark For a lighter switch to my recent posts: I have a clip on light that is pointed at the baby nitrate experiment plants (spider and pothos). Since I don't have anymore outlets to plug in a timer (which is ok this isn't a bright light) it gives me a pleasant view into the Oto tank at night before I turn the light off. They are more active when the lights are off and have their hiding places during the day. I like to watch their little silhouettes dancing across the tank, occassionally sticking to the sides. Looks like moonlight to me. Saw one of the Cocama and one of the Vitattus under the bamboo roots and I thought it made for a pretty picture:

@Beardedbillygoat1975 In the short time I've been keeping live bearers I'd have to agree with you. I am a little bit concerned about too much harassment. So daily I try and sit and watch the tank for at least a minute or two and see especially if anyone is singled out in particular. I realize even without that (so far) all that chasing and male posturing would be similar to a Betta having 24/7 access to a mirror or in a divided tank with a "hated enemy". It can't do much to extend their lifespans.

What a mess! It's good you're sharing your experience- it really does help others. And yes, that's fish keeping for you.

Wow! What a crazy water situation you have! I've not dealt with stress Ich yet but apparently it is a whole other monster! Keep us updated- the medicated food sounds like it might be doing the trick eh?

Because I have a thing against feeding my animals live foods, I feed frozen and freeze dried. I've mentioned in another post my cats are on a raw food diet and some of it is freeze dried raw (along with frozen raw- thawed of course). As most of us do, I rotate through foods throughout the week. I use Hikari freeze dried Tubifex (which my fish love) and Omega freeze dried bloodworms (they seem to stay in bigger pieces with the Omega brand for some reason). I used to also feed freeze dried to my Betta (Daphnia, etc, but no more Bettas for me). Despite popular belief freeze dried foods are very nutritous retaining 90% of their original content. It keeps longer, and it can be easier than some foods to portion out and can be crushed for smaller fish etc. Like with most live foods I guess it can be "rich" which is why for bettas they call it a "treat". But since I rotate foods and have 8 or 9 different ones, they get it rarely enough that I've never seen issues.

I did miss that number, make sure ammonia/nitrite is at 0. I've never been successful at keeping shimp at all but @H.K.Luterman is correct- after the tank is truly cycled add the middle dwellers first and let them establish before adding anyone else. Do small doses as larger amounts of fish in quick succession can crash a new tank very easily. This will give you a chance to start a QT tank for your next inhabitants...if they are shrimp or otos gives the QT a chance to form some biofilm- or even better you can put things in your tank that will grow it and then you'd place them in the QT for them to eat off of and cycle the QT as well!

Hi. If this is a newer tank I would STRONGLY advise you to get your middle dwellers in there first before you get Otos. Wait till the tank is a bit more established. When that happens I'd also get more than 3.

I have 6 Otocinclus O.Cocama and part of the reason I got them is others told me that they were endangered in the wild. While I'd rather not encourage wild caught endangered fish at the same time they were already there- so are they in my hands as someone who seems to be pretty good at Otocinclus or do I let someone who doesn't know them get them because they are rather cool looking? I find it a shame that the home country isn't doing more to protect them, I have no power there. It creates a big dilemma in my mind. Per Wikipedia "The zebra oto is listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List due to its limited range and overexploitation for the aquarium trade. Additionally, it is not protected in any part of its range, nor is it listed on CITES. The species has a decreasing population trend in the wild." My goal is to try and get them to breed in hopes to trade with other Tiger Oto keepers for genetic diversity and maybe help fuel at least the local aquarium trade. Maybe demand can drop, maybe I can create a hearty aquarium fish, maybe it could help the wild fish in the future.

@jwcarlson I think you're right, I'm remembering it in reverse. I will strike that sentence! 🙃 Your KH is massive! 😲 I would continue doing the medicated feeding.