xXInkedPhoenixX

Poor Otos. This one's head looks a bit inflamed, how does the underside look? The one parameter you left out was Ammonia, got any?

You know I thought you were correct, but then when I google image baby mystery snails I am doubting. Hatchling Mysteries look like they have points too! Since I've never had any babies personally I wouldn't be able to say.

Those snails are very pretty, I've not seen them in person anywhere, very cool. I sure do hope those black specks are viable snails for you. I don't let my Mystery snails breed so it's fun to watch others try their hand at it! I like your taste in aquarium decor too 🙂 My Buddha is currently taking a break from underwater activities, a couple of weeks ago it got hit with a rainbow from a window crystal. (I change things around)

All my more rare plants (ones that aren't easily found, not necessarily unheard of) have come from Etsy, including my red root floaters. I don't run heat or use ferts and granted they may not be as prolific as others who use them however I have plenty of babies floating and they do well.

Oh wow, didn't know about that, you have a picture of the potential egg layer? It's fun watching your little snail hatching thread, I hope you're able to get some babies!

I would very highly recommend Seachem Stability for your situation and Seachem Prime. Both have saved me. I looked it up and it appears available in Australia.

Oh and if you do use aquarium salt do realize that it stays in the water column. So if you treat your 20 L with the appropriate dose of aquarium salt, when you do your water change, say you removed 2L, only put back in 2L worth of a dose of salt.

There are sadly a lot of things some sales people won't give you the education on - some truly seem to only want to make a buck or worse yet they truly have no clue- however what they don't realize is that they're not doing their business any good as people will try something like this, lose all their fish and quit the hobby. I get it, it's very disheartening. Personally, I would stop trying to chase PH that could be causing some of the stress here. You might want to see if you can get your hands on some crushed coral, if your pH goes too low the acid will eat at the coral and bring the pH back up- this is a very slow process but more stable than the chemicals however you can put that aside for now. Just focus on keeping the water clean and treated. I'd probably do partial daily water changes. Treat the tank with aquarium salt. If you can isolate your sick betta in a hospital tank (no need for a new tank just a decent container will do (lots of youtube stuff on that as well). If the other fish are showing signs of illness or you suspect they might have something you could treat the whole tank but it could be harder on your plants which you are trying to establish. What kinds of plants are you trying to grow? Do post a picture, it helps us help you. Sadly yes keeping certain medications on hand is pretty much necessary, emergencies never seem to happen when there's somewhere you can go get them. I don't know what is available to you in Australia but if you go on the aquarium co-ops website Cory has a med trio he recommends and it pretty much covers everything you could potentially get in a tank (plus always have aquarium salt) I know you feel like you're over your head, trust me, we've all been there over one thing or another in this hobby whether at the beginning or in the middle. It happens. Don't give up. I'm headed to bed here in Cali but I hope others chime in and give their advice as well.

Aww, yes fish-in cycling is very rough. Hopefully we can help get you through this. Bettas in my experience are not as hardy through this process so it might be rough. This is likely why your fish is sick. You are correct at this point all you can do is keep an eye on things. Sorry you were misled. The reason I asked about temperature is that some sites actually recommend lowering water temp, some people keep their betta tanks at around 80 degrees F they recommend lowering to between 75-77 as it's harder for the bacteria to flourish, so I was wondering. I don't use a heater my tanks typically run between 75 and 80 all by themselves. Do you have access to any products that have beneficial bacteria? A quick start liquid of some kind? I use Seachem Stability for example. I have successfully started tanks with this method. You're going to want some way to test ammonia. I highly recommend partial water changes over FULL water changes, you might crash your developing cycle if you clean too much, which is weird I know. Get yourself a couple other foods. If you have access to frozen blood worms bettas are usually big fans. You might need to feed Mr Sicky by hand (I use tweezers), just a few. Variety is good for fish so they get all the nutrients, and bettas are notorious for being picky. We want him to eat. Aquarium salt will also be your friend make sure you get some of that. Do yourself a favor, whichever way you learn best, google or youtube search FISH IN CYCLING for lots more helpful info. We want the "NITGROGEN CYCLE" TO HAPPEN, this is a great video from Cory at the Co-op

Hi there Garrett. I'll admit I have no personal experience but they are such gorgeous fish. I JUST watched KGTropicals YouTube video that might be of interest to you if you haven't seen it.

Here is a helpful video from Aquarium Co-op with Irene, at about 3 mins 40 seconds in she talks about "cottonmouth" https://youtu.be/RSG9M7lgzG8

Hi there, it definitely looks like what you suspect. I'm sorry. Is your betta in the tank with the others? I might recommend finding a hospital tank situation for him to better treat him. I've never treated for it before, so I cannot speak from experience. My understanding is though it looks like a fungus it's actually a bacterial infection. Do you test your water? Can you advise what your water parameters are and temperature? I probably wouldn't do one hundred percent water changes that potentially could be stressful for everyone- but smaller water changes might be beneficial- as water quality will play into this. Do you feed a variety of food? Temperature can play into this as well. Tell us a little more about your situation if you can. If indeed this is columnaris you are going to need an antibiotic (like Maracyn).

Hi there, welcome from California! Post a pic we love to see tanks! 🙂

@Fish Folk Wow! Thanks very much that's all super interesting. I sadly couldn't play your phone video (my browser doesn't support it, it said) but I get the idea. The rinsing video is interesting as well. I'm sure sometimes people don't consider that you do have to care for live foods as well, changing water, not letting them suffocate. Very cool, thanks for the education! Your fish are always so nice to see, and the Angels playing Lady and the Tramp for a minute was very cute. Got a smart and handsome kid there too! Cheers. 🙂

I totally understand vendor trust but I guess what I'm more getting at is, what do these vendors do to "ensure" the live food isn't carrying any bad stuff. Is there some sort of lab culture, medication treatments, cleansings or such one should ask a vendor about? Or maybe how the live food is raised?

And do tell, how does one know if said worms are "well prepared"?

@Brandy I agree parasites are a big consideration with wild caught fish. I will never know now if my first batch had one, again no signs of it (not that it means anything). My second batch already had Ich that I noticed of course as soon as I released them into the quarantine tank (don't ask me why I didn't see it before). I treated them with Paraguard- they did REALLY well. Paraguard took care of the Ich and likely any other parasites that came with them- like I said they all made it through. (and now I have lots of little babies and didn't even do it on purpose)

I learned the hard way myself. As has been mentioned I have since learned it wasn't necessarily anything *I* did- these are wild caught fish, often not fed enough- once they go past the point of starvation they will often still eat (all 6 of my first batch ate like crazy, didn't stop 5 of them from dying within a week of getting them- and btw they all had rounded bellies when I got them) and were ALL active and no signs of illness - but once their gut has experienced the starvation it doesn't matter how much they eat- they will likely still not survive. So despite you being careful about picking Otos (round bellies) they still only have part of a chance. My 2nd batch, from a different fish store- all made it and I ended up having to treat them for Ich. I've found once you're past a month you're pretty safe to say you have some permanent pets. Don't give up on Otos if that's what you wanted. They are SUPER cool.

If it's not harmful, I totally agree with some of the others- that stuff is NEAT!!!! I'd leave it.

@Patrick_G as well you should! 'Cause that's how it feels to me, lol!

@Kristen they look like bloodworms to me. They could have hitchhiked in on a plant or substrate. If I'm correct, bloodworms are not harmful to your shrimp or snails. Some of your fish if you have them may seek them out to eat so if you have those you can leave them in the tank. The internet says that sometimes they show up more often in low flow situations. If you want to get rid of them or reduce any explosion of population vacuuming more often and turning up the flow on your filtration for a while may help. That would also mean you want to avoid overfeeding so they don't have anything to eat.

Hi Rachel-loves-plants. I think there will always be times the other tank inhabitants aren't big fans of medications. It's possible you could have overdosed but it could have been your plant variety or any number of other factors. Every indicaton online says that Furan is safe with plants and invertebrates. Personally when I can I remove the more sensitive types from the tank and quarantine them (mostly the invertebrates but I've been known to move my moss balls or my Subwassertang- to me as a human nothing worse than that icky feeling when you've been sick, haven't eaten much and on flu medications- always makes me feel worse. I haven't used Furan 2 YET, it's in my emergency first aid fish kit. I fully plan to use it if need be. I have used other medications though, most notably meds for Ich, I've used both ParaGuard and API Super Ick- both worked great- but I can also tell you that maybe part of the reason it did is that I colored outside the lines and did water changes every day despite the directions THEN redosed. I think that really helped my fish and the other plant inhabitants. It's like getting fresh sheets when you're sick. It feels nicer doesn't it? Just my 2 cents and it worked for me. Also, I think turning up the aggitation in tanks when medicating is also a must. (bubblers, sponge filters, HOB, adding airstones)- as long as your fish don't seem more stressed by that. It's your tank, go with your gut. You might find someone else could recommend a different med. You could do this again, by the book and everything will turn out just fine.

Oh my dear if you've never been here you ABSOLUTELY must see the Sequoia National Park (or the redwoods of some kind, Muir Woods is along your route but you may need to make a reservation to visit, the trees are smaller but you'll get the idea). The big trees grow nowhere else on earth. My Belgian friends were most impressed and weren't even into the "out of doors". If you're near San Jose you can pop into the Winchester Mystery House and take a tour, I've done it several times and it's always very interesting if you like that sort of thing. In San Francisco go to Ghiradelli Square and get yourself some chocolate and ice cream, that's a short walk from the Wharf. Visit China Town and Little Italy (pizza!!!!! I prefer Tony's Coal Fired Pizza off Washington SQ for a lunch bite) (right within walking distance from each other and close to Coit Tower and a beautiful park where the wild parrots live). Fog City Diner is a great place to have dinner and people watch- but there are so many other wonderful places to poke your head in. I'm not much of a Napa guide as it's notorious Wine Country and I don't drink so I can't help you there- but make sure you drive along the coast, it's very pretty. Mt Shasta is just a beautiful area, always wanted to see the caves but haven't gotten around to that yet. You should have lots of fun!

I'm central CA, in the middle of this hot mess.

@LaurieinIA you won't be sorry about the albino Cory, they are pretty darn awesome.