xXInkedPhoenixX

I second @lefty o's motion. We all have done it and we all understand how you feel about it.

Yeah I read an article recently about the blue and red lighting because I was looking for a houseplant grow light, one seems more beneficial than the other seems like you should have a combo which I guess is why I didn't bother choosing either! 😄 I like my 9 ok, it's a beautiful tank (both the 9 and 15) I actually like the stock lighting a lot- but I'm skeptical about it's filtering abilities. I've had more fish illness in that tank than any other tank and I maintain it just as much as I do my other very healthy tanks (some of which are bigger, some smaller). I hotrodded it with aftermarket stuff but switched it back to some of the original. Replaced the original pump (which for the 9 wore out quickly and was junk IMO). Replaced the stock sponges with more porous, added bio rings and coral and even a small sponge filter. The tank always tests well with all the bad stuff being 0 and the nitrates in the 10-20 range but fish keep mysteriously dying off. Just finished a round of Kanaplex/Furan2 and crossing my fingers. Plan on upgrading the sponge in there with a bigger sponge. I probably shouldn't blame the tank but I can't think of any other reason it would happen. The plants grow well I can certainly give it that. My Hillstream seems to love the flow from the pump (most people complain the pump is too strong but mine is baffled by a sculpture). I chose a pump that had variable flow but in the end it seems high flow works best with this tank. I like how different the tank looks and it's very sleek. I really want it to work out. You have any issues with yours?

My Otos like the uplift tube on my sponge filters as well as sitting between the base and sponge so they're usually ok in there (good algae usually for them) unless they are stuck by the airline or some other obstruction. Glad your tank is on the mend, will be a lot of work but of course worth it.

Beautiful tank! I have the 9 and the stock lighting seems to do fine with plants. Never thought of using pink/purple. I ran through the whole color range and landed on the orange just because it made everything in my tank look nicer but I may have to play with that more!

I can't wait to see the moss grow out!!! (I suck at growing it so I like to see others do it successfully)

It very well can be what @Brandon p says it is as the "wounds" look more like what internet pictures depict. You have options for treatment- some is soaking food in medication. See the information site I found on causes and treatment, along with pic: https://tropical-fish-keeping.com/tag/sepsis

We all make mistakes that's for sure. I'll admit to having added too many fish at one time when I started in the hobby to a recently cycled tank, it caused an outbreak of Ich and my cycle ended up restarting. Everyone made it through treatment but it didn't make me feel any less bad about doing what I did. But neither you nor I had intentions of causing harm- we just didn't know better. The snail is probably not a QT problem- most people don't QT them or shrimp. You might need to make sure any meds you put in the Nano be invert safe. I cannot tell from your pics what the white spots look like but if it looks like the white spots on the Oto pic I'll attach to this post then it's likely Ich. Ich x is not safe for all inverts per the company but I think some have used it with shrimp however I can't speak to that. So you might consider pulling your shrimp and snail OR pull all the fish into the hospital tank. If you choose to QT your shrimp/snail in the hospital tank I'd recommend putting a plant/rock some things from your tank for them- the shrimp will need the stability but the snail should be fine. (I have snails in QT right now because I'm treating a tank). But maybe someone can speak to whether they'd be ok with the IchX in the tank. I just pull my snails out of an abundance of caution. Maybe @Colu can speak to that.

OK, minding my own business after tank maintenance sat down to lunch in front of my tanks. I have 10 Harlequins. I noticed one was upside down under a plant leaf...I thought oh no I have a dying Harlie. As I grabbed the floating breeder and approached I saw it right itself and swim normally. It's done that many times since I started watching, I caught a quick pick but my apologies it's from my tablet so the quality is terrible (phone too far away and didn't want to spook them). The Harlequin seems to shiver/shake upside down then right itself. Is this the male or the female doing this? Anybody have experience?

Wow! Mystery! I'm thinking you might be dealing with something other than nipping but that's only a guess on my part. The CPD doesn't appear to have had its fins nipped and that's a weird place to have an injury unless of course like you said it got stuck like the Hatchet, it's possible- but strange it's in the same place for both of them. What I'm wondering is...it's an 8 gallon tank, you did a fishless cycle but you say everyone was QT at once were they all put in the tank at once after cycling? I ask because maybe with the ammonia readings it did something to your cycle? Or have you been able to take inventory and spot all your inhabitants? Could something be rotting in the tank? I'm going to leave the illness speculation to @Colu because I'm really not sure if it's injury or illness but it is very interesting. Something is up.

I hope so too!

I agree with Colu, and totally my bad I had missed the "mouth" fungus/columnaris for maracyn. Won't hurt lil hatchet to leave it in as Colu said and just add in the Ich-X. My apologies!

Really the ones you have are similar to that only muted in their colors- irridescent.

The phrase "strange but beautiful" applies to these fish for me.

Per the Aquarium Co-Op page they can be used together. but you can absolutely follow @Colu's advice and drain the tank if you're comfortable with that.

Those adults are so beautiful, love the colors.

Ummmm, really @Fish Folk you're surprised by this? Baby maker master?

Yep, I agree with @ADMWNDSR83 I have pretty hard water from city tap too. Not off the chart but it's not soft by any stretch.

Hi Troy, Honestly if I were in your shoes I wouldn't chase the pH but a transition is in order. You could do as you suggested you could, bring some water from your parents and then when doing water change one, use 75% parents water, 25% yours. Next time 50/50, then 25/75 etc. I did this with some Otos in QT recently I asked to take some of the LFS's water and put them in there with 75% LFS water 25% mine, over the coming days I just kept changing out water (all mine not lfs water though) and eventually of course it probably was all mine. So you can try it that way too. There are ways to adjust hardness if it's really necessary but pH shouldn't be an issue in the long run especially if you're keeping species that don't require it.

The salt will help keep any bacterial infection at bay. I didn't see any fuzz/fungus on your pic at first but on second look there might be some. You can stick with the salt but if you think meds are needed- Aquarium Co-op recommends edited:Ich X (previously recommended Maracyn but is better for fungus that is columnaris related here is the AC page: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/fish-fungus

If you think they might need a little help staying at the top of the tank consider putting them in a floating breeder or similar in your QT tank until he swims a little better.

Hi, welcome to the forum! Poor little Hatchet! If I were in your shoes the most important thing for an injured fish is very very clean water. The concern here is bacterial infections from the wounds. This can be mitigated with aquarium salt, dose QT tank accordingly, if doing water changes you I'm sure know to dose salt only according to how much water you changed. Monitor and hopefully they will heal fine. If they show signs of other illness (fungus etc) then you can treat accordingly. Also to avoid further incidents (you may have done this) make sure there is enough clearance between filters/rocks/decor and aquarium wall for all of your fish to safely pass through.

This is seriously fascinating stuff (the color changing) I'm glad you're able to document like you do and capture those images. So very interesting!

Personally that's my favorite way of doing things. 🙂 It'll look even better as things grow.

Very nice! Looks very natural.

No joke, they certainly do NOT seem to know, but I can see where that would be a hard thing to prove since probably years of research/following fish like these in the wild and seeing what results is probably the only way to get even near an answer, but very interesting! So your adults have no signs of prior eye spots? No pattern or color left behind?