Torrey

ORD 😍😍😍😍

ORD I showed up for the last 12 minutes 😍

Gandalf is gorgeous, his coloring is good, his fins and tails look fine. I'm willing to bet he has finished growing, and finally hit sexual maturity, so he's got to test his testosterone out on somebody... lucky nerite!😅 It's obvious you interact with him a lot, and keep a clean tank environment. If you get worried, you can try not cleaning the glass behind one of the clumps of plants. Then the nerite will have a dedicated food source that isn't front and center for Gandalf to obsess over. Personally, I don't see any obsessive behaviors or anything else of concern. Keep monitoring, and enjoy the entertainment!

I am so sorry @Ms. Fancy Fish 😢

ORD ❤️ You are not alone in sometimes taking more than one attempt. The first night, I didn't realize it would give you the word/game over if you didn't get it right on the 6th try, so I have answered a couple times I needed 2x attempts, because I will purposefully close down and start over now after attempt #5, lol. If I hadn't gotten it right, I would have been starting over here, too. Wordle guessed in 5/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=yfpveeh 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟨🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle @FlyingFishKeeper I see what you did there! I have one for you and @Cory to enjoy. https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=lcxrdxaafq And finally todays: Wordle guessed in 2/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=ovilxt ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle

I look forward to these so much. Discovered last night my vision isn't quite good enough to play on my phone, so I thanked my kids for getting me a computer, lol Wordle guessed in 3/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=oszujy ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle

So, I caught the shrimp unplanting a few of the recently planted trimmings... Apparently, the shrimp like more floating plants to hang on to, while grabbing things out of the uplift tube for the UGF.

1. I think a repeat of the April Fool's/St Nermy's Day TOUS Scapes, and voting would be cool. 2. Maybe a search option in the forum to identify the most frequently asked questions (top 5?) and see who comes up with best answer/solution? 3. Rewrite directions in the hobby! All of us have at least one story of an error we have made, because we either... didn't read the directions... didn't follow the instructions... or didn't fully understand the directions. Imagine an alternative set of directions to follow! Imagine how much more compassionate we can be, if we try to improve on written directions! We can select judges, or utilize the vote method.

Looks like disturbed mosquito larvae. Great fish food! Mosquito larvae go through multiple stages of growth. Some species have as few as 3 stages if I remember correctly? Others have more, and they don't look like that until the last 72 hours before they emerge as mosquitoes.

I have truly found my home. I spent the past week playing with new editing software to figure out how to apply my psychology/vagal nerve knowledge for interrupting trauma responses into sound, by using 4 different channels to generate a "binaural beat" of an ever slowing heart beat (starts at 120 bpm>standard bpm of panic attack ==> decreases to 60 bpm) hidden under the sounds of wind and windchimes. I need to upgrade my system to get the results I am really aiming for, but the overall response has been positive. Now, I can go geek on someone else's work😁

Cory, thank you and Irene so much for the reminder to double check the basics. Just because a hammer fixed a similar presentation the last 5 times, doesn't mean a hammer is the right tool this time. Sometimes, a grounding probe to test for stray current is what is needed.

Yay internet for making this a fabulous example of information overload/ crossing pieces of information! Photosynthesis (when plants are utilizing sunlight to convert nitrates into sugars for growth) requires: 1. Light (the photo period) 2. Nutrients (macros & micros) 3. CO2 The amount of growth is determined by whatever resource is the limiting factor. "Peak photosynthesis" is like everything else in the hobby: it depends. When all of the plants needs are met, and nutrients are balanced, we can identify peak photosynthesis by the plant pearling (releasing tiny bubbles of oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis. At night, plants consume oxygen and release CO2) My tiny Back2theRoots tank starts pearling 45 minutes after the lights turn on. My spouse's 4' tank only shows pearling on the days I dose with ferts. Some of my other tanks with dimmer lights and low light plants never pearl. The 4 hour mark that people reference comes from some tests that Dr Diana Walstad references in her book on planted tank ecology. Her tests indicated that low tech tanks will passively reach maximum CO2 saturation levels 4 hours after the lights go off (indicating 4 hours is the perfect length of the dark siesta), and plants use up the available CO2 in a passive system in 4 hours (so 4 hours after the lights turn on, the plants have maximized their ability to outcompete algae, and lights should be turned off to allow CO2 levels to rise again. TL/DR: add plant ferts when plant lights first come on, so plants can use the ferts. Feed early enough that the plants are able to consume fish waste before the CO2 in a passive system (not actively adding CO2) is depleted and limits photosynthesis ability. @Martin replacing the carbon carbons with sponge will save you money long term, and improve water quality exponentially. To see the spikes people are referring to, you can test about every 15 to 30 minutes for a day, and you will see the ammonia and then nitrite levels go up after a feeding. You can see the same for nitrates after you add ferts. Continuing to test every 30 minutes will show you how long it takes the plants and bacteria to remove the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Weekly testing won't catch those spikes Some people invest in Apex monitoring systems to have access to that data, and fine tune their feeding, maintenance, and even CO2 injection I am low tech, and used to test every hour for the first 24 hours after adding new fish (to alleviate my OCD and fear for the fish). Now, I have tested enough that I recognize the signs of my tank not being balanced. Everyone has given you great information, and I don't like to overwhelm. I would start with replacing the HOB premade carbon filters with a sponge/ sponges in the HOB. Easy way is to put sponge between the current carbon filter and the back, and give the sponge 2 weeks to start growing bacteria. Then replace the carbon with more sponge. You can see my HOB that filters water into my breeder box. I just finished up a QT and needed to use the carbon filter for 48 hours. I seeded the sponge in a different tank, and I have a rectangle of sponge the water comes through at the bottom, then it goes through media (3 different pores per inch of sponges), and then it goes through the large white rectangle of sponge [with smaller ppi] that came with the HOB originally. The sponge is the foundation for the beneficial bacteria to grow on. The disposable carbon filters are throwing away the beneficial bacteria every time they are replaced. Therefore, the system is never "balanced". Does that help explain in a way that makes sense?

I have a JoAnn's in walking distance, and I get the "20% off total purchase" coupons on my phone... so that the week after Christmas I can buy the silicone trays, lol. Originally I bought them to freeze individual serving sizes of turtle food (6 different recipes we rotate through to avoid nutritional deficiencies), now I'll be getting different ones for Repashy, lol

I'm reading through asking "moss growing is unwanted???" Moss is a filter plant, @Linda4fish as long as you have flow I don't think the moss will decrease water quality by growing on the sponge filter. I could be wrong, but many of my sponge filters have plants growing on them. It's kind of a win-win, and increases the attractiveness of the filter imo

I snortled over the technical difficulties explanation 😆 Looking good! I have to have a comfortable seating area near all my tanks. The first week of new fish is typically my butt parked on the closest bench or chair, while I channel my inner sloth observing the new inhabitants. As they adjust to my face, I gradually move the chair closer, and eventually add feeding while sitting in the chair and resting my hand on the rim. Needless to say, I coordinate new additions with times I can get away with doing nothing else for a week or two 🤣

My experience has been that seeding tanks with microflora allows best fry growth and reduces disordered eating in fish. Example: seed a 10 gallon tank with snails, and get lots of plant growth for hiding. Allow snails time to breed in tank (4 to 6 weeks of heavy feeding to maximize breeding, keep testing water parameters & keep stable). Add pea puffers. Very rarely will they gorge themselves to death, or even to constipation. However, set up the same tank, and add the murder beans first, they will hunt down every snail added even when full. Bettas are the same way... My fry go into smaller, floating containers for the first few weeks, and get fed every 2 hours around the clock the first week (like babies) and water changes *if* I don't have a well prepared tank with tiny microfauna already established and waiting. My fry who are able to go straight into a container with microfauna don't do the gorge thing. The fry who I feed every 2 hours won't [generally] do the gorge thing, until I miss a feeding. Then scarcity mindset kicks in, and they become more competitive over food and will eat more than they actually need.

I just want to know where you got your jugs/what kind of jugs? System looks pretty awesome, if I can ever get my shelves/rack from Costco🤦‍♂️ I priced out everything, and even with the $100 jump in price, it's still cheaper than DIY. But. $$$

I have had great success with pearlweed, and cyperus helferi. I don't use CO2, and my lighting on the majority of my tanks is either a shoplight, or a submersible LED white light from Walmart. I love my AquaSky, don't get me wrong. I just can't afford that kind of light on 13 tanks.😬 Neither the cyperus nor the pearlweed are officially carpeting plants. The pearlweed requires regular trimming, and is easy to propagate: just let it float for a couple of weeks until there are roots on multiple sections, and then carefully cut so there are at least 2 pairs of leaves on each *rooted* section, and cover the roots. In a month, it will be ready to trim again, if you want. Alternative method is to stick the stems in a piece of sponge glued to a rock or a plant weight. The pearlweed will grow all over the sponge, covering it like a topiary in the aquarium. The cyperus looks like an extremely dwarf sword, or a larger dwarf hairgrass, and puts off new rosettes as it grows. It doesn't require as much light as the hairgrass, and maintains a gorgeous, rich green. My shrimp love it and the ramshorns only eat injured or dying plants. My pH is ~7.8, so I have to be careful about which iron supplements I use. Seattle_Aquarist and Mmiller helped me step up my plant game enormously this past year. Finally, aquariums go through specific growth stages. That many changes will knock the system back to the awkward teen stage. Be patient, try to document a change you make with pictures, and only change one thing at a time. Our aquariums are a lifelong science experiment, lol. If we don't control for confounding parameters, we never actually learn what works in our tank, with our water. Look at the algae and cyanobacteria issues Cory had with Ladybird's tank due to a change in water parameters with the move. Change 1 thing (like lights) and it can take 3 to 6 weeks to identify all the "symptoms" after the change. If more than one thing was changed, it gets almost impossible to discern what was correlational and what was causational. Welcome to the forum!

This is where betta keeping gets frustrating. The filters that take out meds make it worse, and the filters that don't take out meds can suffer from the antibiotics. And once a fish is injured (stress, physical injury, illness) it is even more vulnerable to ammonia and nitrites, and that crystal clear water becomes even more important. Any of us who have kept fish for any length of time will be here at least once. The more fish we keep, the odds increase of having this happen. Which means don't beat yourself up. Do you have a sponge filter now? And were you able to do Colu's medicated food? When I was still keeping bettas, and far too frequently when I was breeding bettas, I relied on salt (1 TBS/3 gallons) and tannins from IAL (I couldn't see the back of the tank) plus medicated foods to heal up show and breeding fish. If fins started to show ragged edges, I was doing 25% water changes 2xdaily. I managed to save most who went down this road, *and* it's a lot of work and a lot of water changes. I only use sponges in HOB, and predominantly keep UGF plus sponge filters in every tank (fry grow outs don't have UGF). I don't use carbon unless I am removing meds from a tank. I have learned, over the course of decades, my fish stay healthier if I overplant. For bettas, that means a lot of emergents that like warmer water (cyprus, dracaena, pothos) plus sturdy floaters and plants that like your water *and* like heat (val and a lot of swords are actually pretty good). Right now, your betta needs clean water. Probably needs 20% to 30% water change morning and night, and just boil IAL so you can keep a glass bottle of the tea to keep adding as medicine. As little water flow as possible, and as fine a mist of oxygen bubbles in the water as possible (Ziss airstone is good, or the black airstone at the box stores that is advertised as "super fine bubbles"). Finer mist means more dissolved oxygen, easier for the betta to breathe. Warm water, like 82 to 85 F. If you didn't notice a difference with the maracyn, I wouldn't use it again yet. Try extremely good hygiene, and a light gravel vac/clean the bottom an hour after each meal. Look for quality fresh foods. If you have a porch, put a bowl of tank water on the porch with a few floating plants or an IAL leaf. You should have wrigglers (mosquito larvae) in a few days. Great protein for bettas, only feed 2 to 4 at a time via a pipette. Baby brine shrimp are great for supporting healing. If you can't hatch your own, buy frozen *baby* brine shrimp. Look for frozen daphnia, as well. Blood worms (frozen) and either live or frozen blackworms will also help. It is very important to clean out any leftovers, and poop, 1 to 2 hours after the feeding, to keep the water quality from making the fins worse. Keep the lights dim, and make sure there are enough IAL in the tank the betta can rearrange them into hiding places. Take out *anything* the feels even remotely rough to your fingers. I don't even keep milfoil in with sick bettas. Everything in the tank with the betta needs to be softer than cotton balls, as the new growth in the fins will be as delicate as burn tissue. Nets can even tear up the bettas new fins, I made a "net" out of old t-shirt material that had been repeatedly rinsed in distilled water alternated with old tank water. My last bettas I taught to swim into my hands, so they were never netted. My bettas in the 90's were sturdier than the bettas I have had in the past 5 years. Wild bettas are less forgiving of water parameters, but are much more resilient against illness as long as their water parameters are stable. I am sorry you and your betta are struggling. I will not lie and promise any results. I will tell you the better the water chemistry, the more plants in the tank, the less stress, the better your chances for seeing a recovery.

Looks like a pogostemon to me😁

My endlers also love them, and my success with danio fry is probably increased because I keep my fry tanks in healthy parameters for a wide variety or microflora... including seed shrimp. Congratulations!

I grew up with my GrandRed (my mom's da) teaching me how to build ponds with concrete and rocks, and how to use vinegar to treat the concrete so it wouldn't leach lime.... How to care for goldfish, how to catch catfish at Kerr Lake, how to catch minnows and crawdads at the creek. My parents got their first fish tank when my mom got pregnant to explain where babies came from. A few guppies, a trio of Swords, and a trio of black mollies taught me that babies make the belly get big, and make moms bigger than dads🤣 I learned a gonopodium was necessary to get them pregnant. And when my mom brought my baby sister home, my parents (and aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighborhood friends) learned that the fish taught me to expect multiples, which shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone since my Auntie had given birth to twins. My greeting to my baby sister was a hard stare at my mom and dad, and: "where are the rest of them?"😅😲🤣

I keep snails and scuds together. So far they have been ideal companions. I even replicated one of Tanner's sealed paludariums, and they ate the plants that didn't make it, and functioned as population control for one another... however, my goal for my actual scud tanks is to *increase* the population, so I throw in more food as soon as I see food is depleted. Carrots and biofilm seem to be their favorite foods, and they also eat snail shells.

I just found Cory's under the membership tab, and was sad to see a couple of people complain that they are "only here for the videos".... I hope that they continue to be offered in both places, I am honestly getting tired of a minority dictating what is available for the majority. Plus, I really enjoy watching Cory have fun! Compersion is the happiness that keeps me going each day. https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=hcrfs was a delight! Took me 6 tries, lol. Thank you so much @Cory!!! Wordle guessed in 4/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=odfqri ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Here's a word for you @FlyingFishKeeper https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=weldcmw

ORD🤣 Seriously, not wrong though!!!