laritheloud

I love Leon the Lobster. 😭 It reminds me so very much of the one time my parents bought live lobsters to cook when I was a child. I got extremely attached to our lobster and wanted to keep him as a pet. Made me a super sad little girl to cook him. Can't say I've changed much since those days. I still love inverts!

First of all, I'm so excited to watch this tank grow with you! Second of all, your cat is gorgeous and I want to snuggle that cat that hates everyone but you. 🤣

I'm trying to think about what else could be happening. Sometimes fish just flash and water changes can aggravate it OR alleviate it. My fish all scratch an itch occasionally, but they've all been through multiple parasite treatments and there are no parasites in the tank. Some flashing isn't a concern, but if it is constant flashing that won't stop and you're noticing most of the fish in the tank doing it, then it's something else. Did you remove any of the old substrate when you added the gravel? That could definitely disturb your filter bed, and it's a pretty big change for a small fish. He might be feeling a little stressed out from the changes in his tank and needs to adjust. I think maybe, at this point, you should provide some nice clean water and let him rest. Make sure the water parameters are stable and that he is eating and pooping normally and give him a little bit of a break. Also, make sure that when you add salt to the tank that you calculate how much you remove with water changes and don't add back too much. If you added a tablespoon, then do a 25% water change, you should only add 1/4 tablespoon back.

How much was he flashing? Was it constant or was it just once a day or so? Do you run CO2 in the tank by any chance?

I have a marbled blue and yellow plakat betta headed my way in early January. I'll let you know if he retains his beautiful colors! As far as Alien Bettas, all I know is that they're a wild-type hybrid and absolutely stunning to look at. Get a lid for your tank because wilds and wild hybrids are great jumpers. You can probably source them on Aquabid through a transhipper, but I know of a few reputable shops that also carry them.

If you're doing partial water changes (about 25% to 30%) when you change your aquarium water, it really shouldn't affect your fish at all. It'd be a gradual change in parameters that way and hardly any different than what they're accustomed to. I wouldn't worry too much about it. That said, my municipal water swings from an extreme GH of 0-1 to a GH of 12 depending on the well/aquifer we draw from throughout the year, and when my GH drops I just add some wondershells to my tanks to maintain some mineral content.

This thread reinforced my plans to use a 20 gallon long quarantine tank for my future pleco (and not a 10 gallon). Nearly cycled and ready, lol!!!

@PineSong has a similar quarantine routine to mine, but I do a second round of Paracleanse at the end. Quarantine ends up at around 5 to 6 weeks for me since I go through full parasite treatments now.

Hi there, the picture didn't come through. Can you try uploading again?

I always find the nitrite phase takes at least twice as long to get through as the ammonia phase, even with squeezing sponges into the new tank.

I do not combine Expel P/Levamisole with the other 3 meds, but on livebearers or wildcaught fish, I think it's a good idea to add it as a quarantine med before adding to the display. It's an ordeal to put the display tanks through when an infestation is suspected. 😞 To elaborate, I do a week of General Cure (or Paracleanse), rest the fish, administer Levamisole round 1, water change, General cure round 2, water change, then continue with two more rounds of levamisole before clearing the fish from quarantine. I don't use antibiotics or Ich meds unless I see a reason to use them.

Yes!!! I suspected which shop it was when Hobbit alluded to it in another thread. I typically frequent 2 LFSs near me, and the one Hobbit takes her fish is the one I go to a little less frequently but who I would absolutely trust to take any fish I've bred or can no longer take care of myself. Small local shop who accepts and sells mostly locally-bred fish. Selection is hit-or-miss, but the fish are always very healthy. I have wanted blue platies for a long time, though, so I'm really hoping I can take on some of Hobbit's babies next time I'm up that way!

This actually could be Epistylis if it's not responding to ich treatment alone. You can try a different Ich med (like Kordon Rid-Ich) and administer kanaplex or maracyn 2 in your fish's food. Use a scoop of antibiotic + a scoop of Seachem Focus and soak in food to medicate the feed, refrigerate and feed ONLY the medicated food for 7 to 10 days. @Colu can give you more detailed treatment instructions!

Good to know! I use a Fluval 407 for my 55g!

I'm on the verge of going to this LFS and picking up those blue platies myself. Just waiting for the 20 gallon to cycle...

Thank you, that means a lot to me. It was a rough month but I think we're finally through the other side. ❤️

Final toll. Lost a few fish early on in treatment (Rainbows). My Colombian Ramshorn and two adult rabbit snails did not make it. I was delighted to find that after a month of almost no activity, my remaining adult rabbit snail ate today, and climbed the glass again. The baby rabbit snails that I could find are doing fine, as well as all the small ramshorns, pond snails, and malaysian trumpets. Japanese trapdoor snails and nerite snails both went through treatment completely unaffected. Shrimp slowed down a little with the first round, but didn't even flinch with subsequent rounds. All healthy fish were totally unbothered. My 10 gallon endler tank looks to be back to normal. The "Big Guy" Endler who looks maybe-female is back to full health, eating vigorously, and plumping up again. My 55 gallon tank went through a 9 day antibiotic treatment in food along with levamisole. The bleeding gill plate I noticed is completely gone as well as the stringy poop. The tank looks like it's starting to thrive again. If the rainbows start to struggle again, I will move them to my 20 gallon tank where they'll live out their lives away from the bigger fish. I'm fiiiiinally feeling a bit more at-ease and at-peace with my tanks again, and looking forward to seeing what happy surprises this hobby will continue to bring. Warning still stands to proceed with caution when dosing a tank with pet snails (especially those in the apple snail family), because there is a chance they'll suffer for it.

My water did not cloud, but I used straight Levamisole HCL and not Expel-P. I've run all my tanks through it after a vague... something... started wasting my fish. The wasting symptoms are now gone from my tanks 1 month later so I have to trust it did something to help.

@andieb sounds like you have a good start! Try to get one or two more females. Your wild type looks male to my eye, and I think it would explain a lot of this behavior. Sounds like two males trying to win dominance, and she is gravid and ready. I think the only reason I got away with two males and one female in one tank for 8 months was because my female gold honey was not matured enough to breed yet. I think she's finally almost there, but we got her extremely little. Good luck, I hope your female goldie recovers. They are such sweet fish!

I honestly doubt it is something of huge concern. Sometimes neocaridina species can be a little sensitive with a tank/parameter shift. The way I lost the fewest shrimp (I actually lost none from that batch) was to buy them from another hobbyist and drip acclimate over a couple of hours. I also purchased a few from my LFS, and a couple of those did die over the first three weeks or so. I wouldn't be terribly concerned about it unless your entire population dies off. It took about a month for my shrimp to berry and breed in my tank, but once they started, they took off. Focus on smaller water changes if you can for a little while and wait and see. Changing something/messing with parameters might do a little more harm than good for them. I don't really know much about CO2 in shrimp tanks because I keep my neocaridina in a low-tech setup, but if you're not pushing the limits, it's probably okay. BUT on the tanks where I do run CO2, I err on the side of caution and don't go anywhere near the max threshold of CO2 injection, and I'm still very pleased with the growth and lushness of my plants. If it's a newer setup, you could try something like glasgarten bacter ae to encourage biofilm growth and feed the shrimp.

I also want to add the caveat that I'm 100% not an expert on sexing -- I spent months asking around and trying to find images that looked like my wild-type 'female' (because I really believed he was a female FOREVER), but nearly everyone I found, from the folks at the LFS to people on specialized forums, would tell me they think he's a male. He doesn't behave quite like my dominant male, but he also looks quite different from my actual wild-type female. The only other possibilities are that there is another colorway of female wild type honey gouramis with a higher color intensity, OR subdominant males behave and take on 'female' duller coloration in the presence of more dominant males. Regardless, I agree that something else is going on with your sick female and I really hope you can help her out. I think the best first step at this point is to separate her into a new tank or with a tank divider and see if she can rest a little bit. Try another round of general cure in the meantime and see how it goes.

Is this screencap your wild type 'female'? Fair warning, wild-types are tough to sex. Like. Super tough. Two males do the 'mating dance' as a show of dominance. Is it a frantic dance or is it a bit slower? Dominance will include 'nipping' toward the tail end. Here are my two wild types for reference. Female, this is the most she ever colors: Sub-Dominant Male:

What's the size of the tank? I will tell you, I haven't had any good fortune adding salt to tanks for gouramis. Most have either not responded or responded... not great. I'm not totally certain what's going on with her just from your description and your video. It is definitely possible she's stressed from being at the bottom of the heirarchy, and you'd have two solutions for that. The first would be to place her in her own tank away from the pair. The second would be to get more honey gouramis and expand the group; most gouramis thrive better when there are more of them. If you have the room in your tank you could try adding one to three more to your trio. As far as stringy poop, this is a common symptom in gouramis when they're overeating. Is it more mucusy and white with nothing in it, or is it clumps of poop separated by filament? Because of it's the latter, I'd say cut back on feeding a little bit. They sure do love to eat. Since she's eating, if you choose to dose antibiotics, I would add it to food. I've had tremendously good luck feeding antibiotics to my fish. That way there is no chance of the medicine hurting anything else in your tank. EDIT: Wait, I just noticed you posted two videos, @andieb. I see the problem. You have two male honey gouramis and only one female. They're both chasing her and she's stressed from being outnumbered. She also looks extremely gravid.

Mine are Java Loaches/Black Kuhli Loaches (Pangio Oblonga). Maybe that subspecies/colorway is just insane like that 😂 EDIT to add: They do chill out and worm around the substrate sometimes, and they love hiding out in the skull castle my son insisted on putting in the tank. There's a coconut hut, sponge filter, and driftwood, too, so no lack of places to hide.

Thanks @lmhicks101, I actually haven't medicated the tank yet. I just got them on Saturday. I've been changing the water frequently because for the first time since I fishlessly cycled the tank in August to September (as a quarantine), I've been noticing small amounts of non-zero nitrites. I've been changing 25% of the aquarium water on an every-other-day schedule because it takes that long to build up to around 0.25ppm. I noticed a mildly elevated nitrite level two days ago and started to change the water to keep them safe. Very frustrating for me, because I had a group of 3 thicklip gouramis in the tank with no issues, followed by a honey gourami, and now the tank is struggling to keep up with 4 kuhlis. That said, I'm not sure if they're actually stressed or if they're just Like This, because I drop small amounts of food in for them every other day and don't seem to be gasping.