xXInkedPhoenixX

Now you mentioned moving to the 10 gallon recently. How recently was that? When you move a plant to another tank despite some of the familar stuff you put in there with it, you should expect some die off as it has to adjust- and obviously the water parameters in this tank is not the same as the other tank they were in. For example: you live in Alaska and fly to Hawaii- that's quite a difference in climate/conditions. The plants are responding to it. Did the plants do ok before?

Hi there. You won't get any mean from this forum so be comfortable asking questions, no question is dumb. First stop doing this Equilibrium thing- this raises your GH/water harness. You will find adding chems to bring something up or down isn't the best way to do it- it's just a temporary fix that sometimes also causes problems. Now, to bring it down start doing small 10-20% water changes, every day if you're ok with that, nothing too crazy so it won't stress the fish. After about a week test the water and see if that did the trick. THEN, look into buying a bag of crushed coral- this will be a buffer, the low pH is acidic and start to break down the coral which will then bring the pH up SLOWLY. You'll only need a handful or so either in the substrate or if you have a hang on back filter it's best to put it in there.

Yours is way cooler than mine. I have a small stack of papers at work. Sometimes I google origami to see if there is one for the category I'm thinking. I never do anything too complex. They're kind of like balloon animals at work. Did this Pikachu for a coworker and the cat is for his girlfriend.

Oh my gosh that's great!!! He is so beautiful.

Hi. They should be fine, just keep an eye on things. From what I hear they can be very food aggressive- otherwise peaceful. So as long as there's plenty to eat they should be ok. I'd only be worried about the Otos if anyone.

Nah @Hobbit, @Isaac M is just an old soul. 🙂

I was thinking your 3rd plant is some sort of background plant (tall), possible a species of Rotala but @Fish Folk is probably right.

Hi there! The red plant appears to be Alternanthera Reineckii. Red plants are more difficult to grow "optimally" without high tech or co2 but they do grow, just not as red.

I really hope it isn't what I think it is, I'm not sure he needs to fast if it is, might help him to take food if he's willing. You can try feeding him a pea if it is bloat, but raised scales in my experience is a bad bad sign in Bettas. I regret delaying the treatment for mine when I thought at first he was just constipated, so I'm betting you could try doing both.

Oh crap, that looks like pineconing my friend. GTS and start treating ASAP.

What are your water parameters like?

Well my only other thought is they could be hydra or some other sort of parasite since you've been having so many issues. Ich is parasite but I don't know if meds specifically for them kills other things. I'm wondering if you need to do your water change but then do a general parasitic treatment on the tank.

@Isaac M haha that's it thanks Isaac I was trying to remember what that break in lighting was called in the hobby. I think I might need a siesta myself....

Wow! That's so crazy! But so cool! You have a pic?

@Fishdude whoa Immaculate conception. How long ago are we talking this neglect? Could the egg ridden with a more recently added plant??

Hi there. Very sorry about your losses with Ich. Since you're only asking about what the white spots could be- not sure they have anything to do with the Ich (I've treated ich twice and never saw this). Could it be limpets? Google image search- they are hard shelled critters so would be hard to get off the glass.

Ah, hoodlighting (like small LED) isn't usually that intense so it should be fine for your fish and totally feasible that you can see if that helps your algae problem. Since though you don't have high tech lighting you could try the dimmer, a small 10 dollar investment- there are several out there I just find this one in particular easier to dial in so to speak, just make sure you have the kind of hood that has the wiring/adapter that can accomodate it. https://www.amazon.com/NICREW-Aquarium-Dimmer-Switch-24-Volt/dp/B07F33H26V/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=nicrew+light+dimmer&qid=1626405278&sr=8-3

It can certainly help, and I've seen plenty of peole deal with algae that way. If you have the right lighting it won't scare your fish as a lot of high tech stuff slowly goes on and slowly off. I actually added a dimmer dial to my lights (they could be programmed for less light intensity- I'm just too lazy to do it), that helped me. I just dialed back until I saw little algae growth but my plants are happy. My lights are on from 0845 to 1830 with a moonlight on until 1930.

The short answer to that is, they CAN.

I have a wonky schedule. I work nights so on those days when I get up around noon I feed everybody (tank wise). Their lights are obviously already on but the ambient lights around them have been off but for the light from a semi-distant sliding door- once the kitchen lights come up everybody knows what time it is. On my days off (I get 3 but only 2 of those days I am a "day walker") I feed them after their lights come up which is 0845 (I only turn on kitchen lights after their lights come on so again, everybody knows what time it is). My cats have to deal with my schedule too but in all honesty I think it's actually good for them to be guessing at times. I only feed the aquatics 1x a day and not very much actually. Which is probably why I stopped doing a fasting day though I'm sure it'd be fine if I did. I won't go into what I feed but I have a good variety of foods and they go into rotation.

Hi all...sooo I got the Fluval Flex on my past days off. I haven't even unboxed it. I didn't expect the box, which is HUGE, to be so LIGHTWEIGHT. So in order to convince myself I perused the reviews on Amazon of which there are just about 1.5 thousand. You all know most of it isn't helpful but the truth is very often in the middle somewhere. Now here are my concerns. The tank would sit on a very sturdy solid wood desk which in turn should be totally flat and even- I understand with these tanks because they have no frame it's super important to make sure they sit on a level surface or they will warp and seals can start to leak. I read a few nightmare reviews about finding beloved fish in a waterless tank and though I KNOW this can happen with any tank it's probably a lot more possible with a frameless- the rest of my tanks have frames (Aqueon water boxes essentially). Reviews complained about the thinness of the glass- and easy cracking. Anyone have anything to say to this? The other thing is, this is already a tank that's over 100 bucks- which do NOT get me wrong I have no problems with that in and of itself- I'm willing to and can afford to spend- BUT I'm going to have to do so many mods to this tank which are probably going to cost me about 50 bucks by themselves (because I want the stuff that's made for it, I'm not a fan of duct tape and jimmy rigging when I can avoid it- I like things to look and operate nicely- not saying a good rig is a bad thing). My brain is starting to think I'm better off just buying a standard sized water box, lid and sponge filter- the only reason I don't really want to is the space is limited and a tank like the Flex or similar have a nice footprint (square not rectangle) but still allow for a decent amount of space. Opinions? Thoughts? Other all in one tank recommendations? @SheWhoConquers @mountaintoppufferkeeper @Beardedbillygoat1975 @Stef @KAYLON.NICHOLS @James Black @BriannesFishFam

The story is on my profile in a nutshell but in my life I absolutely KNOW some animals have picked ME. Since we're speaking of fish I'll stay on that channel (cause I have lots of these stories). My current female betta TOTALLY picked me. I decided to turn a QT tank into a shrimp tank(as you do), that epically failed- so Betta tank. I had my heart broken with the last 2 Bettas I had the one in my profile pic, Kimono was my favorite Betta I've had, he was super beautiful and so chill- unfortunately he came down with dropsy and well.... So I online ordered a giant galaxy koi female shipped to me who failed to thrive so.... 😞 (this is not typical for me I've had several Bettas, but at this point I thought that was it, no more Bettas- but you know how THAT goes...) I thought, ok, I'll go to the big box store and at least "rescue" a Betta. It was a Monday, I picked the store that I know has a very big display of them, went right to it. NOT ONE Betta was on the display, just the random "Betta Buddies" (various plants and anubias attached to rocks). I thought it was odd but it was Monday and the big box store has frequent sales- plus maybe they didn't get a shipment. Already making plans to drive to the next big box to check I saw the "GloFish" brand Bettas on the display next to the giant regular display. I've heard murmurs about glow fish and people have their opinions about them so lets not get into the debate here however lets be fair and call them "controversial" in the pet trade. I never bothered to form an opinion myself, but never thought I'd be interested in a glowing fish- I like regular fish just fine and thought it was a silly concept. (just for the record these particular fish are the 'born beautiful" -company motto- meaning they're born with color not injected) Anyhow I thought, meh, sure I'll just "LOOK" how many of us have said that huh? God they looked SO very sad. I mean don't they usually in these stores? - but this was worse- never seen them look so bad. There was about a dozen. It was as if these particular Bettas were suffering from the fact that everyone over 5yo just passed them by and as if they had been in the store for weeks and not cared for or fed- certainly hope this is NOT true. Most of the males looked as if they were on the brink of death. I was looking for a girl as I said and I saw a bit of red and saw "female" sticker on the side. I gingerly picked up the container- and there she was. She came right up to the front and danced, not in the typical puffy Betta sort of way, but as in a "Hi! Please take me home with you!" Her strange glow-green eyes I could tell were looking right at my face. I've never had that happen with a Betta fish- an instant connection- usually I stand in the aisle with 3 attentive contenders and narrow it down. There was a spark between us I can't explain. So in my hand she stayed while I picked out a few more plants and a piece of wood. Went up to the front to pay, the clerk having asked the usual questions about finding everything, I said yes including a new friend though I hadn't planned on a GloBetta, she said oh (in a negative way), the regular Bettas were just taken off the shelf for cleaning and pointed behind her, and made it rather clear for a box store clerk her opinion was negative and that it'd be ok to put this GloFish back and pick a regular Betta. I told her that I was already attached to this one and am going home with her. While I walked out to my car to head home her name came to me instantly- nothing was more fitting for this bright highlighter yellow fish with glowing green eyes and red fins- nothing was better than what actually did happen between us. Spark. She's been the best Betta fish, no, the BEST FISH, I've ever had so far in all categories and it's not because she's a GloFish, but of who she is- I wouldn't have gotten her if things had played out different- so I'm very glad they didn't.

My container garden loves it, the dirtier the better.

This is a really, really, really hard one. I may have cured my Betta of it (pine coning left but he was still misshapen), BUT the treatment may have caused other internal failures and he never recovered. There are lots of treatments on youtube and I can't tell you how many I watched. I did epsom salt baths and aquarium salt in his tank, water changes and melafix I believe. Treatment was very obviously hard on him. I wish you all sorts of luck and hope you can help your Betta pull through. 😞

@DSH OUTDOORS's answer: muskrat is sort of overlooked here. Racoons yes can be quite the terror on ponds, but MUSKRATS are semi aquatic well, rats, that eat ALL of the things you mentioned (plants included) and are much more dexterous underwater than a racoon. They also eat living and dead things from bugs, to fish, to frogs EVEN raccoons. Don't underestimate that possibility. I googled it, they can be found in New Jersey.