xXInkedPhoenixX

Ha! Super cool! It looks JUST LIKE a hang on side breeder box I use, the air pump isn't super strong of course so it just exchanges out the water. Neat!

Congratulations! How fun!!! Baby shrimp are so cute!

Welcome to the forum! Great tank!

I think you'll have better results with Easy Green and you should read at least a little nitrate when you start using it.

@dasaltemelosguy thanks for that! I think I'm going to try another soak in Seltzer water tonight. The algae has progressed to being a little darker but stubbornly hanging on to the leaf. I would like to see what a second soak does, sadly though I won't have alkaline water available this time but I will keep that in mind. I think if it doesn't work the 2nd time I'll just be cutting off the affected leaves.

Well then it seems maybe you have the balance in a way that there is no Nitrate which isn't necessarily a bad thing then, the plants just soak it all up. How are the plants looking? They getting enough? I would have expected a little Nitrate if you're dosing ferts. But awesome your betta and shrimp are thriving!

I'm always so appreciative that my little rescue Invictus made it out of his ordeal alive and not only that, seemingly a very normal Betta! He's totally deserving of his home on my kitchen counter. He's always so excited to see action around him, my cats, me, etc. Sometimes he flares when I'm nearby I think to get my attention. Anyway. He's so pretty. Checking on the Medieval tank this morniing the Lone White Guppy still around. It's still a mystery as to what was going on with the Grass Guppies and I'm not leaving out the possibility that Valere did some damage to them but I've never seen him do it. Only briefly chase, however I'm aware he can stalk at night. I guess I'll find out when the 5 Platinum Guppies (yes holding at 5! yay!) get put into the tank. I really want friends for Lone White Guppy. He looks so sad hanging out only occassionally with the tetras and just kind of "moping". I'm not used to a guppy being so inactive. He's not sick, he gets excited enough at feeding time and moves normall. I just think he's bored. Also very hard to take pictures of: Here is Valere where he likes to hang, in the area of the corner Subwassertang shelf- all the fish like hanging out on or under it. Valere was sleeping on it last night. It's growing out nicely too. The Embers like to hang out under it: And then of course gratuitous pictures of Punk 😍:

I like the tank too, it's pretty great. :-)

Melafix in the water? I would. Then dose with the salt. I read up on Kordon and it does say it's effective with parasites and bacteria, so you could add that too if you felt comfortable doing so! At least in the meantime you can be treating while waiting for the vet.

Good luck! I hope the vet can help!

Wellllll unfortunately they are different. Methelyne Blue is for fungal/bacteria infection and Malachite is for parasitic infection. I'd also not ever use Melafix. Anything with fix in it isn't a great med (API), they are oil based and often do more harm than good. I'd just stick to salt if I had nothing else.

I would go with the salt and methelyne blue like colu advised above. You may need to contact a vet as was said for additional more effective meds.

IME (always different schools of thought) You're going to want to see at least a little nitrate and no nitrite/ammonia. I like my kh to be in the middling zone but some fish keepers don't care too much about kh. However, kh will help with ph stability in the end. A tank with no kh may be prone to ph swings.

Skin/scale loss is not unusual. So if you didn't kill the columnaris when the first fish died that had the more obvious symptoms the disease still lives in the tank. Columnaris can sometimes be hard to diagnose when it's not showing that "cotton mouth" look. I had an outbreak that I am 98% was columnaris but the "cotton" part of the disease never reared it's ugly head. Per the internet symptoms can be: Frayed and ragged fins Ulcers on skin Epidermal loss White or cloudy patches Fungus like patches Mucus (head, gills, dorsal) Color change in gills, light or dark brown Columnaris is notoriously hard and sometimes very long to treat. I could be wrong but if the tank wasn't treated for it, it's probably still lurking.

Looks like cottonmouth disease in the pictures aka columnaris. This is NOT an easy disease to treat. @Colu 's thread for treatment of diseases and maybe Colu can give further recommendations. Here's the link to the disease treatment thread: The Most Effective Treatments of Commonly-Posted Diseases https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/15673-the-most-effective-treatments-of-commonly-posted-diseases/

Well with what I remember of the test colors on the ACO bottle, that looks like the results of a very new, uncycled tank.

I posted this on my journal but thought I'd share it here too, just caught my Betta, Invictus sleeping on his Betta leaf with his Nerite snail, Curlyque. These two actually do pal around, well Invictus does seem enamoured with Curlyque not sure if she cares or not but certainly seems so here! (he usually sleeps in his tunnel, so this is nice to see)

Ok I'm sorry, this is stupid cute. My rescue Betta Invictus sleeping on a plastic betta leaf with his Nerite snail, Curlyque. 🥰

I LOVE my Subwassertang. It's such a neat plant for so many reasons.

Welcome back @Taco Playz! Been a minute, but what a neat animal to be focusing on! They are so cool! All my tanks doing great, gained probably one since you were on last but NO MORE!!!

@Lennie that's the hard part about talking about personal experience with Betta in community tanks. Some work and some don't. They are literally each VERY different fish. Some work well with other fish, some absolutely don't, some are just questionable. But you are correct. If you really want a tank with a BETTA as a centerpiece fish you HAVE TO have a back up plan. Either confirm with whoever you're getting it from you can return/exchange (and this isn't always something you can do or even want to if you get attached) OR have a 5 gallon tank on standby for that fish to move into and go with plan B (no betta in the community tank). And I agree with the shrimp. To me the point of a community tank is that, a community- everyone is peaceful and gets along.

@Lennie I have a Betta and 5 male Endlers in my Fluval Flex9 (along with 1x Nerite and 1x Hillstream) and they get along swimmingly. Pun intended. The only downside to Betta in community tanks is temperature and aggression (either from Betta or other fish to the Betta). Betta in order to thrive should be kept in higher temps, which can be incompatible with species like Corycats for example. This is a HUGE consideration when wanting a Betta as the centerpiece. And always add a Betta last to a community to cut down on territorial behavior.

Aww bummer, unfortunately not uncommon. HA! That's awesome! Yeah that's why I'm not sure I'd show it to my Betta who are in community tanks. Though some sites say it can help reduce aggression. Again I think that depends on the personality of the fish.

That's probably a tough one for a "creeping" plant which I take to mean some sort of carpeting plant or similar. Most need higher light in my experience though maybe someone else has an idea. Personally I'd put a low light plant like an Anubias nana petite, theoretically it can creep by growing extentions. They are hardy, small leaved and beautiful.

So I'd made a purchase at a big box store but ended up not needing the items- instead of getting the money back I purchased a couple of different things I thought I could use. One of which is a Betta mirror. Now a lot of you know I have rescued some Betta and I have a resident Betta. I've seen these things around --even @Cory and his store sell them on their website. My Nay Thoughts: I'm struggling as to whether I should even use it though. My instincts in the past have been that something like this would only stress a Betta out and not in a helpful way (though you are only supposed to use them for a VERY limited amount of time). That it might make them more aggressive if they are in a community tank. Or make them even more frustrated if they're alone. I also have felt people only used them for their own entertainment or picture taking time, or meaning well but not knowing whether it's good for them or not. My Yay Thoughts: I had a local breeder in another forum (though I'm not breeding) say that it's beneficial when trying to get male/female Betta to spawn, showing the male a mirror will bring out the the protective side of the male and will have less aggression towards the female. This made sense. Other sites say it can alleviate boredom. Some say this sort of brief temporary "stress" can help a Betta (some say it helps rid a Betta of self-afflicted fin nipping so I thought about you @Chick-In-Of-TheSea and Gepetto). I also saw that some sites say it can alleviate constipation though I wasn't sure how other than tensing muscles even in humans can help pass a 💩. One thing we Betta keepers know FOR SURE is that every Betta is VERY different so maybe it's beneficial for some but definitely not for others. They are individuals with different needs. What are your thoughts community? Anyone with EXPERIENCE using mirrors and what are your observations.