laritheloud

Wow! I heard that Fenbendazole COULD kill off snails, but this is good to know for those dire situations in the future. Thank you!

Oh, I don't actually know how to mix it with food! I think you could probably use Seachem Focus to bind it, and feed only the medicated worms for at least a few weeks. I don't know how long or how often you would have to feed for the meds to be effective. I followed the instructions on the included packet and just dumped it in the water with the aquarium lights off. I know @Irene at Girl Talks Fish on youtube talked about her experience treating endlers with levamisole. You might want to check that video out and others. As long as you dose a safe amount for your water volume (lots of guides from Greg Sage and right on the box for Expel P) you shouldn't have issues. Just an FYI, I did not have a visible active infection and did two rounds of this only for quarantined wild caught fish and quarantined livebearers just in case. I hope your tank makes it through, and good luck!

I had mystery snails, nerite snails, and pest snails. I also have amano shrimp and blue dream shrimp. All of them were exposed to treatment and none of them were harmed. One of my blue dreams even berried through the treatment!

Levamisole HCL is safe for snails and shrimp if you dose it at the right levels. Greg Sage at Select Aquatics has dosage guidance, or you could get Fritz Expel-P. You will probably need to do about 3 rounds one week apart. Fenbendazole will kill snails, and that's the one you don't want to use with inverts in your tank. EDIT: I used Levamisole in my quarantine tank with snails and none of them were harmed.

My fish flash occasionally with no other symptoms and no apparent decline or change in behavior. I am always tempted to treat when I see flashing, but most of the time, it seems to be nothing.

For what it's worth, I never ever put aquarium stuff in the dishwasher. The only things we use in our dishwasher are utensils (except for knives) and dishes. Everything else is hand-wash in this house. Thank you so much for the tip, though! I'll use vinegar whenever I want to do a cleaning next time, just to be safe.

@Kilrkitty08 Yep, exactly what @xXInkedPhoenixX said! I use it mostly for inverts (shrimp/snails) to reach some food without it getting lost to the substrate gravel. It's also a convenient place to put blanched veggies for feeding and easy clean up. Also, UPDATE: I rinsed the dish a second time, made sure it was dry, and stuck it in my aquarium. No ill effects. Found a berried blue dream shrimp waddling around today.

Honey gouramis, sparkling gouramis, or licorice gouramis. The latter two gouramis max out at around 5 years, honeys have the potential to live longer with good care. I would put a maximum of two honeys in a ten gallon, but make sure they have a friend or other fish in the tank to entertain them, because they are quite social fish. I do not recommend dwarf gouramis because the stock available right now is not very healthy and prone to Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus. I have heard it is difficult to keep dwarf gouramis alive for longer than a year due to their fragile health. If you can source wild caught dwarf gouramis, they are much hardier and sweeter in disposition, similar to a honey gourami in shape and temperament.

I have only Diamond Tetras and they grow to be on the larger side for tetras. My biggest males sit at around two-and-a-half inches. I definitely agree there's some variation between species. I don't want to indicate to anybody that I think these fish are semi-aggressive because my diamonds are truly 'peaceful' and non-combative with every fish that isn't their own species. They have never bothered the other fish in my tank, and they're actually rather meek around them. I'd also call them skittish fish, because they're the first to hide when I stick my hands in the tank. But man... their social behavior with one another can get very rough, especially during breeding.

Tetras can be wild. I think sometimes they can fool you into thinking they're semi-aggressive. Part of the issue, I've found, is when they're the 'biggest fish' in the tank. They have nothing that will encourage them to school or temper their behavior. My diamonds, for instance, were really railing on each other (and always breeding) before I added honey and thicklipped gouramis to my 29 gallon tank. Now that the gouramis are in, they are much more tame and school more often; but then again, their numbers have also 'accidentally' nearly doubled from 6 tetras to 11 due to all the breeding they do in my tank.

My first thought -- is it breeding behavior? Have you noticed any chasing of females by the largest, most aggressive male? I don't have cardinal tetras, but I have Diamond Tetras, and the 'alpha' male at the top of the pecking order will beat on the lesser males when he's in a breeding mood.

See, this is good. I have a high KH So I have no clue how to work these KH balancers. Crushed coral works by dissolving slowly in acid, right? So if you don't have any acids in the water/the ph isn't threatening to downswing, it won't do much. EDIT to add: Cuttlebone is also a great option!

Unless you are looking to add livebearers to your tank (platies, guppies, mollies, endlers, swordtails) and want them to breed, I personally would not try to change the kH. You have some buffer and your shrimp, once they settle, will do fine with that level of alkalinity. Follow a regular water change schedule and monitor parameters. You're going to plant the tank, and a lot of planted tanks thrive in a lower kH level. Anything that you use to raise the kH in your tank (like crushed coral in the filter/substrate) will also raise your pH and GH over time. I know Wonder Shells can add calcium and other great minerals to the water for snails and shrimp, but they will raise your gH over time. Again, I don't think you really have to do this unless you want to raise livebearers! For feeding shrimp and growing biofilm in the tank, I like using a little bit of GlassGarten Bacter AE (dose WAY LESS than the container says) two times weekly and supplement their algae diets with Shrimp King shrimp food. Bamboo shrimp are filter feeders so they like powdered granules in the water column.

GOSH! He (she?) has grown! What a cutie! (and you never bother me, I'm always happy to talk fishies)

WELCOME! @Krys is the fish mom of a very tiny pea puffer, and I know how many here are fans of those little guys!

Hm. My test strips never register chlorine in my tap, and I've wondered if it's the test strip that's off or if my water treatment plant is different (I have no clue and my town is very small/doesn't post reports online). All other parameters on my Co-Op test strips are in line with my API test kit, so it's usually pretty accurate for me.

It's on my list to check out the next time I'm in Lancaster County

I wish my tetras would take care of my tetra problem for me 🤣

I would check with your fish store. I don't have breeding livebearers yet, but I plan to keep and breed a platy strain in my 55 gallon, and I think I'll be selling my extras. I'm also finding it very unreliable to depend on fish to prey on fry or eggs. I have a very prolific school of Diamond Tetras, and in the four months I've kept them they have nearly doubled the school from 6 to 11 fish even WITH three honey gouramis and one thicklipped gourami in the tank with them. I keep finding more and more fry... Bioload seems all right so far as my nitrates are under control and I'm not adding any more stock to that tank. Sigh.

I love my coffeefolia only because it seems to love my tank. It's one of my best-looking anubias I have, but Barteri or Nana Petite are not far behind.

Close! 2 hours from my location.... but of course there's the NY traffic to contend with. It's a bit too much of a hassle to try it out in any case!

That's really sad. I wish I could have seen those shops. I've heard great things from another member here about a shop up in Bucks County near Peddler's Village, but that's a bit of a hike for me (especially since I have small kids). I know of a few shops in Delaware and across 322 in Pennsylvania, but none of them have had the selection or stock of Aquarium Center so I always go back. Definitely follow their facebook because they update there consistently, and often have more stock than what is listed. If I'm looking for something specific I'll give them a call first.

Wow, you're extremely local to me, and it's surreal to see all these places I recognize. I haven't been to Echelon Mall in ages, but it became a ghost town the last time I checked it out. I now shop at Aquarium Center all the time, and it's my main store (I'm down in Salem County) due to proximity and really good selection. Hi, Neighbor!

How long have these fish been in the tank together? It's hard to know without more information about how they look, how they're behaving, and what your water parameters are.

I don't know about anything else, but I find honey gouramis delightful to keep and healthy. They are not susceptible to Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus like Trichogaster Lalia (powder blue dwarf gouramis, dwarf gouramis, neon blue dwarf gouramis, flame dwarf gouramis, etc). Just make sure you get true Trichogaster Chuna and not the thicklipped gourami (they need at least 15 gallons and grow to be larger) which is often labeled in stores as a Sunset Gourami. Some shop clerks will mis-identify a juvenile thicklip as a juvenile honey. They look quite different once you're sure of the differences. Gouramis will do okay by themselves. If you get two male honeys, they may squabble a little bit in a 10 gallon but they aren't really violent, they just chase, for the most part. Two females or a male and a female might be a little better but you'll miss out on the bright colors if you go for two females.