xXInkedPhoenixX

Hahaha yeah husband is in trouuuubbbbbllllleeeee!!!

I can say from experience, Otos don't eat BBA, hair algae or string algae- well if they do I've never seen a dent in this sort of algae in tanks I've had with it. I've always resorted to manual removal and adjusting elements of the tank. Hair algae is a tough one (so is BBA)

I'm wondering if the krill has enough fiber. Maybe try feeding peas if you have them or something like an algae wafer or repashy when you separate them.

@Odd Duck, I'm with you, I only have ever fed 1x a day. Which is probaby why I quit doing a fasting day but I'm sure that would be fine too.

I'm not sure the fish are going to help you with the BBA and may only pick at the other algaes. If you want to see what they will pick at I'd say every other day is a good place to start.

Whoa quite the set up, how big is the tank?

Looks really good @ange!

Ah yep all of that likely not helping your situation: Snail death Disturbing substrate due to snail death (if you don't normally disturb said substrate) Root tabs. Adding plants. All of these things can do it and this combination definitely did. Your good bacteria is unable to keep up with the spikes so it's kind of like cycling again. No worries, this happens. Everyone does this differently- if it were ME, I would do daily small water changes 25% at least depending on test (maybe not cleaning the substrate or ONLY cleaning a small portion each day). It's kind of like a small fish-in cycle. You'll get over this, just don't make any further changes until you're over the hump. Oh and don't squeeze out the filters until after you get through it- Hopefully they're nice and bacteria-y 🙃

Hi @ChanMan welcome to the forum. Bettas are not easy fish to keep and are rather delicate when it comes to health issues. First, whenever something is wrong, test your water- it's ok you already changed it and forgot, do it now. When you post here post what the test results are (some people just said their water "tested fine" but that isn't always the case, it might be a window into what is really going on), that helps us help you diagnose what's going on. Secondly, Are there any physical signs on your Betta that would indicate a change...fins wearing away, tears, cloudy eyes, scales that stick up, discolorations, lumps or bumps. Thirdly, the behavior which you've told us about. Hanging out at the bottom of the tank, or gasping for air at the top (is he doing this?) is NEVER good. What are you keeping your tank at? Bettas do best at 80-82 degrees. What is your filtration? Have you done anything to this tank recently and how old is it? These sorts of things will help the forum get you sorted out.

@BAT any time you change something in your tank this can happen. Your ammonia is also too high, both ammonia and nitrite should be 0. How old is the tank my friend what are you using for filtration.

Unless our friend @Colu pipes up with something different.... I don't think trying Epsom soaks is a bad idea here. Have you been feeding anything different? Other than dropsy which you'd probably notice my first inclination especially with guppies is overeating and constipation. Can you up the fiber in their diet and maybe feed a little less?

Well the tank is beautiful first of all. Honestly I've never seen it done but it would be a cool experiment to black out the bottom of the tank along the outside and see if that helps. If I were in your position I'd probably treat the tank again after completing that blackout. Then you'll have to let us know how it goes.

Aww @AndreaW he's a beautiful fish. I'm no Pleco expert (though I've never kept one, I do love them) but he does appear to be a sort of Common- there's probably a proper name. It does appear to me that he has a malformation in his front area like you've pointed out and he looks as if he's slightly curved downward so maybe he cannot suction. I'd suspect he wedges himself into places to feel more natural (especially if it's up against the glass) and for some protection- though I feel like that's normal for any fish such as this (my Otos wedge themselves into awkward spots all the time). If he's alive and not sick he's obviously eating something though wouldn't it be cool for you to know what and when? As I often say if you're not eating or pooping you aren't living. He appears to be doing both and looking good doing it.

Have you tried emailing fluval?

Love it @Mattlikesfish36! They look great, welcome to the community!

I run low tech tanks with no heaters. Caveat for me is I keep my house a little warmer because I prefer it that way myself. My thermostat is generally at 72 this time of year and the rooms my aquariums are kept have a space heater set between 76-78 depending on my mood. With that in mind the rooms my tanks are in that sit side by side do have different climes one is often significantly cooler than the other. My coldest tank sits next to an indoor thermometer that read 73 this morning and my other tanks sit in a room (same brand thermometer) that was 75 this morning. My 5 tanks last tested at 75.6, 75.9, 77.7, 76.3, 76.1....recently I'd turned off the heater in the house (it's the time of year it can't decide if it's winter or spring) and I'd forgotten to turn it back on at night. The house was a lot cooler in the morning (though the space heater in the rooms was still on it was the only source of heat). The tanks went down in temp of course the lowest to 73.8. This is a tank that I have Otocinclus Vittatus and at the time housed my Harlequin Rasboras. Nobody in this or any of the tanks were negatively effected. Part of this I think is due in part to them being used to natural fluctuations in temperature as every living creature generally does throughout the day. If they had been used to heaters and say I forgot to plug one back in or one broke it may have been an issue. This is why I never use them- it's one less thing for me to worry about and my fish do well. Of course there are exceptions, Discus, Bettas off the top of my head I would absolutely use a heater for- so choosing the right inhabitants also play a part. I knew what kind of tanks I wanted to run so I chose inhabitants that could tolerate a wide range of temperatures. I thank Cory for his video about no heaters....even after having seen that and done my research I got a bit peeved when I lost all but one of my first batch of Otos and the fish store employee told me the reason they died was because my tank was too cold. It's the same temperatures today and the batch I got from a different store still lives there and has bred. It made me feel bad at the time though I also knew better. Shaming your customers into buying something they ultimately don't need is bad practice. Like I said though, always exceptions- but I wouldn't have tanks any other way.

Green streamers hung down from the ceiling like seaweed or plants then get a party light that reflects like water! Hang paper fish from the ceiling which I'm sure all of the above you can find at a party store! Pin the tail on the Betta fish Get a kiddie pool, fill it with water and fish themed party favors in lieu of a pinata you can have kids fish for prizes with fishnets! I know he's 1 but still that'd be fun lol!

Everyone is different- though most of us can agree Quarantining is something that shouldn't be skipped (unless you're getting fish from a reliable source- however even then fish can get sick) I keep fish in QT for a minimum of a month, if they've been sick- longer. But I don't treat with medication unless they need it. The answer is: whatever YOU are comfortable with.

Lee, I see the white patch is it fuzzy at all? Do you see anything similar on other fish in the tank? I can't tell from the pic entirely but if it's not fuzzy and just a white patch on this one fish it's possible it's an abrasion maybe even from the Ich episode- when the fish may have been trying to rub up against something due to an irritation and it's healing. I'd just keep an eye on it. At most put Aquarium Salt in the tank to keep any bacterial infection at bay.

Soooo I believe your math @Odd Duck. 3.8ml. I changed out a little water based on that (but far less based on math). Do I leave it for a few days and do a water change and dose again?

@Colu they're not really eating the commercial foods I've given them. I'm just cleaning the vast majority of it up every day. I've not witnessed them in the bowl. I even went as far as smooshing up some of the Repashy I feed them up and spreading some of it on the substrate. Can I not just put it in the water column or does that not work? At least for now I think I need to dose in the water column until I can come up with a better plan. I don't have a scale so I found this from another forum, granted it's for planaria/hydra treatment in a shrimp tankk but being as how they can be more sensitive to treatments I think this is a good plan since I don't have a scale to measure out as tiny amount as I think I need and dose 5ml (I have droppers for that) out of 100ml of water with the fenbendazole in it. I'm not sure about dosing every 12hrs though, I might go 24. This is what I found: 1)buy Fenbendazole (Panacur, Safe-guard) 2)Mix 1 bag (1g) with 100 mL of drinking water. Shake VIGORIOUSLY! There will always be undissolved Fenbendazole settling on the bottom. The point of shaking is to make a saturated solution of Fenbendazole.3) You will need to save the solution in a bottle for future treatment.Dosing1) DOSE is 0.1 g/10 gallons every 12 hours (prefer at night).2) Use a SYRINGE to draw 10 mL of the solution (contain 0.1 g) and inject to your 10-gallon tank. If you have a 20-gallon tank, draw 20 mL of solution and so on.3) Dose every 12 hours until all hydra and planaria are gone. Usually after 3 doses.4) Do a 25% water change if you feel necessary. I don’t normally do that but my shrimps are still healthy and breed fast. I personally used a pestle to crush up the granules to a fine powder before adding the water.

Ok you two @Odd Duck @Colu, since I didn't have the medication immediately available to went ahead and dosed the 3rd and final Kanaplex today in the tank. I ended up at the feed store because it happened to be on my way out of town today. No Panacur C around anywhere but same med different brand. There are three 1 gram packets. It's a 5.5 gallon tank with about half a gallon worth of stuff in it so about 5 gallons net. 1. How much 2. How often 3. How long Please and thank you. 🙃

Ok, thank you @Odd Duckand @Colu. I'll see what an aquarium store has today, have to go to the feed store tomorrow.

Meds that I do not have keep getting brought up, any alternative to that one @Odd Duckand @Colu?? This med is sold out everywhere I looked.

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank (from the 3 Gallon QT) Today I decided to move the 3 Vittatus that have been in QT to the Parent tank. They are 3 very feisty little ones including the female I wanted to make sure got through and she did. Funny thing is, I'll probably never see them again because other than Momma Oto I very rarely see many of my Otos in the Parent tank- which now seems empty because the Harlequins are gone and hang out with the Black Neons now (they are doing well btw). Though I lost a Cocama today which was very sad, it was nice to release them into their new (and much better) world. The 3 gallon was decommissioned in a way as there are no other inhabitants now but for plants and wood from the Cocama Hotel I'm not putting back for a bit. I got out a now spare submersible 7" light with suction cups and attached that to the side of the 3 gallon- putting it on the stand under the Parent Tank. Thankfully the light also has its own built in timer since I'm low on outlets it's a good thing. So I guess for now I have a little spare plant tank.