Torrey

I grew up in various parts of NC, with intermittent escapes elsewhere. Got to WA via meso & s. america, with a decade stint in the Land of Entrapment in between. No false advertising there, the Land of Entrapment calls everyone back home, eventually.

I have used both, to verify the results. Last fall I got to low nitrates by going down to microdosing the ferts.... only the T4' has consistently had zero nitrates (it's a miracle of the plants). Now, after htis last flare, all tanks are low nitrates and shrimp tank is consistently zero nitrates except the 4 hour window of light right after I dose ferts. Looking at what you have posted elsewhere, I am thinking the cupped/furled new growth indicates magnesium deficiency? And shrimp and snails digging everything up indicates they are hungry. So I am first full week into feeding the shrimp and snails every day instead of every other day, and nitrates this morning *before* I dosed ferts were 5 ppm. 0 ammonia and nitrites still. API validated Co-op strips.

This sounds very similar to the land we bought from the German family in northern Whatcom. Goats are wonderful at eliminating the invasives, as they pull it out, roots and all. Especially if you get them eating it before it goes to seed!

Ah, yes. In my nearly decade of living there I never did understand why anyone introduced either the Himalayan or the English version, when salmon berries, black currant, huckleberry, native blackberrries, bilberries, bunchberries, crowberries, chokecherries, elderberries, golden currants, fairy bell, gooseberries, Indian Strawberries, cloudberries, salal, saskatoon berries, thimbleberries, and a host of other utterly delicious berries that didn't attempt to peel all your skin off. We cleared our 20 acres and reclaimed the apple orchard by painting the base of the thorny bushes with blackstrap molasses and let the goats loose to rip them up by the roots and eat them all gone. Took 2 years to eliminate even the most determined runners from coming back. Your Royal Wedding is gorgeous! Do you harvest and eat the seeds?

Oh my goodness, this is amazing!!!! Way more fun than my collab with my college professor over O-chem and an easier way to identify molecules from written formulas. This is truly impressive, useful, and I look forward to following more research. Of course, this now puts your research in the arena of replicability, to validate the results. And thanks to the clear and simple directions, it should be fairly simple for many of us to validate your findings. I already loved the forum and knew I had found my "home". This validates that knowledge!

I never replaced my crushed coral when I lived in WA, I just added more as the minerals dissolved in the water. I have found in the past (and may need to start up again as our water authority has changed something that lowered the KH out of the tap, but our GH is still over 300+) when I lived in states with lower KH, that keeping a Rubbermaid trashcan full of water for water changes, with an airstone and crushed coral in it, kept my water parameters much more stable. The airstone allows offgassing so CO2 isn't affecting pH, the crushed coral in a filter sock with the airstone underneath it dissolves the minerals, and the water is stabilized before doing the water change. It makes dechlorination easier, too. Currently, I have one tank (nano for shrimp) that I had gotten stable (and uses ZeroWater + Salty Shrimp)) but I had a flare that prevented regular maintenance and now I am losing plants... so there is an imbalance in a tank that is over 2 years established... it happens. My first clue something was wrong, was zero nitrates, followed by no new algae growth anywhere, followed by plants melting (that were established months ago). I'm making small changes, only one change every 3 to 6 weeks, until everything is back in balance, and then once homeostasis is regained I'll get the rest of the shrimp from the breeder. Slow is the fastest route to success. Try to be patient, give yourself a little grace because it is physically impossible to know what you don't know (I managed to underfeed my shrimp and snail tank during my flare, so now I have to restabilize... who knew?) and the day any of us quits learning is when the casket needs to be ordered. I really like Cory's videos on seasoned tanks versus cycled tanks, because they explain the difference and the impact on stability. If KH is identified as part of the problem, try a Rubbermaid trashcan on wheels to pretreat & prestabilize your water. No need to remove "spent" crushed coral, just top off the filter sock if it's in the filter (and make sure the water can't bypass the filter sock) or add fresh to the substrate. And until you find the homeostasis sweet spot, the tank and beneficial bacteria will appreciate only one change at a time: Water change *or* clean a filter Clean one layer of filtration, not all layers Only one change for a couple of weeks to monitor how it affects stability (meaning don't start the Rubbermaid trashcan *and* SeaChem buffer at the same time. Try one, give it 3 to 6 weeks, see what happens) Or, as my momma used to say, "Patience is a virtue, virtue is a Grace, Grace is a little girl who wouldn't wash her face" Patience is hard for me, too.... Planted tanks made waiting for fish infinitely much easier.... as did embracing snails.

Welcome John Henry! I have a sister not too far outside of Nashville, beautiful country. May you connect with other Nashville Nerms in here, somewhere there is a thread "Where are you from" to locate folks closer to your zip code. Plus, there's the forum and Member's Only live streams, so no need to feel alone. Good to read you in here!

Welcome to the forum!!! You'll start noticing a lot of the same folx from the YouTube channel in here, and vice versa. Little jokes like Patient Spouse™ will show up in both places, and you'll start to figure which YouTube name matches which person in here. I have found the forum to be incredibly supportive and helpful, and a delightful escape from *waves hands* Look forward to seeing your tanks!!!

@Marc we have folx who drive down from another state (5 hour drive) to make our Quarterly auction. We make sure the NMAS and CAS auctions are different months, and some of our members drive up to Colorado. Our meetings are center of the state, so some folx have a 40 minute drive, and others have a 4 hour drive. We organize on FB so the bar-b-q feeds the long distance members. Average drive is 2.5 hours. Totally worth it for a once a month meeting with fellow nerms! Especially now that so many of us have Co-op gear, it's easy to find everyone when we meet at a park. Even brand newbies find us, lol

I'm only 2,500 feet lower, but thanks to *waves hands* we already had record low humidty resulting in a record fire season, and now record highs. My endlersthat escaped my catching attempts last summer overwintered okay... and are now disliking the heat. My spouse likes the folding dog pool, said they would even allow me to get one... if our porch was bigger.... I look forward to following this!

As my bettas got older, they appreciated more heavily planted tanks for more resting areas (those long fins get heavy), and more microfauna to hunt. I don't know how old C.T. is, most male bettas are sold between 6 to 18 months depending on supplier, and bettas in well planted tanks tend to live longest at 3 to 5 years.

If you go more than once, I can all but guarantee you'll develop IRL friends who love fish. I made friends that I now trust in my home, even through the pandemic. They masked and helped out when I had my strokes due to covid. I'm sure you'll find some friends, too. And plants, lol. One of my NMAS friends calls me when he trims his tanks now.

I'm all over the place with music tastes. Today's playlist: And this one just makes me happy, lol

Depends on species, and depends on whether breeding is a goal. A lot of species wait to breed until the rainy/monsoon season to ensure sufficient food for fry. That means cooler water will trigger spawning behavior. Just the right amount of stress (temperature changes, etc) help keep all animals more robust (stronger, healthier, more resilient) but too much stress induces disease, and every *individual* has different thresholds of stress tolerance. My fish (endlers & danios right now) thrive in some pretty extreme temperature ranges, but my bettas couldn't tolerate a 1 F drop in temp without showing health problems a few days later. So, watch and listen to your fish, and see what your fish need. I measure the differences, write it down (temp, pH, nitrates, nitrites, TDS, GH & KH) and then if any fish show distress afterwards, I can start looking for a pattern. I would recommend starting a journal, until you get more in tune with your fish (it takes time... kind of like getting in sync with a newborn... but completely different species, lol)

I typically bring a trio of endlers: 1 proven male, 1 proven female, and one virgin female. Scuds, frogbit, and my red ramshorns have also been a hit, as well as blackworms, pogostemon, and hornwort. Should have Blue Dreams to start bringing in by this fall.

Wordle guessed in 3/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=okzpd 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Wordle guessed in 5/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=nsvid ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Wordle guessed in 3/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=zffsdc ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟨🟨 ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Wordle guessed in 4/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=hoiyli ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Building off your theme: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=zogkymw

I think you are freely offering an experience, and for it to be sustainable you need to do what works for you and brings you joy. I can't get in here everyday, so I would be a pretty big hypocrite if I was going to ask you to do something I can't do. I'm really not big on hypocrisy. Life is going to keep getting more and more interesting as we all keep adjusting to an ever changing world and environment. In other words, my input is the same I gave Cory regarding videos and livestreams: Do whatever brings you joy, and your joy will be contagious. Personally, the past 2 years taught me to be more particular about what I am going to give energy to, and joy is at the top of the list.

I need to add to this: My plants appreciate the daily ferts as long as I remember to increase ferts to accommodate the increased growth! I also heavily feed my fish (yet ammonia, nitrites and nitrates stay at zero, and dosing only gets nitrates up to 15 ppm to 20 ppm tops, and I almost lost all of my red plants in my Scapes from Scraps pico tank because I was underfeeding the shrimp and snails....😅 My recommendation is TEST after dosing, see if anything is moving. Watch plants. Don't change more than one parameter/month, so you know if the change in behavior (snails/inverts) and/or change in growth (plants) is related.

Do you have a breeder box? Or, do you have plastic canvas mesh to make a breeder box? When we are stressed, we aren't going to be able to calmly give best care. Water quality in the 55 gallon appears to be testing well, and has established beneficial bacteria... I suspect stress from the flow, plus rough surface, have been contributing to deteriorating fins. I'm thinking a very larger breeder box (bought or homemade) to reduce the water flow would be a huge help. Partially cover he bottom with some moss, or hornwort/guppy grass in a pinch. Max depth 6 inches. Cover the other half of the bottom of the breeder box with Indian Almond leaves. Place the heater under the breeder box to ensure his water is sufficiently warm (hopefully this will create cooler spots for white clouds). Place an airstone under the heater to help the warm water rise and to protect your heater. This will buy you some time to get the new tank set up for your betta. Your tap water sounds like it has a lot of chloramine. It may be worth using distilled water and only filling the new 10 gallon for your betta halfway until fins of healed. You can mix 1/2 distilled with 1/2 55 gallon tank water, and ghost feed the new tank until you aren't detecting ammonia or nitrites. Half-way filled will also make any meds you need to use last longer (most give dosing per 5 gallons or 10 gallons. Measure 5 gallons into the tank, then put a piece of masking tape there so you know where 5 gallons is as water evaporates and you do water changes). You can also take water directly from the 55 gallon (a gallon at a time) and fill the new 10 gallon halfway for an immediate treatment tank. I would boil some Indian almond leaves (let them cool) and just use those as the substrate. Add the cooled water to the new tank as well, to maximize therapeutic relief. Feed lightly, and watch that he eats all the food. At this point, with a seeded sponge filter, it's going to be healthier for all parties involved if he eats less at a time, but eats more often of highest quality food you can afford to get. Whichever method will help lower your stress, is the best option.

After watching the first little bit of Chris and Cory on FB, Chris left out the two band I grew up with... like literally. Half these guys were in my first wedding in 1990, and I have stayed in touch with Steve (he's The Godfather to twin niblings).... so to cheer me up after learning one of my heroes has a major flaw I wasn't expecting, I've been going through my YouTube collection of their songs (all my original vinyls with Danny Gallant's artwork were destroyed in the housefire....) So right now followed by I think COC did better without Phil's ego.

Do you have a microscope you can attach to your phone camera, like this? That helps with identification, and ruling out a lot of organisms.

::bump:: so someone who is more pea puffer savvy can see. I only know that they are born with non-determinate gender until they get to a certain size, and I don't remember how body shape/markings/coloration change once they hit maturity and start secreting hormones for gender determination (and suppress any other fish from becoming male...) I never bred puffers, so I don't know what an eggy female would look like (which also means I can't separate the potential for eggs, versus potential for parasites, versus potential for tumor). I'm sorry I couldn't be more help!

I am sure one of the goldfish aficionados in here will help you out. Just wanted to say they are lovely, and I really like the Coliseum motif!

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Some snails, especially nerites, can tolerate the *low* medical level of salt. That being said, I think you would see improvement if he went to the smaller tank with less flow (sponge filter is perfect), with a lot of Indian Almond leaves, and start with 1 tbs/3 gallons of aquarium salt. Bump up the live and frozen foods, and see what he looks like at the end of the week. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish#:~:text=1 Tbsp Salt per 3,small cup of water first. Dim lights, lower the stress, and eliminate rough services and strong flow can do a lot of wonders for a fish who wants to be healthy and is struggling with too many stressors and not enough cellular support. This has been my first approach with my bettas for years, and was effective as long as they were still eating. There is peer-reviewed research about IAL boosting the betta immune system.