laritheloud

Agreed with all of this. I have a tetra that's had mild popeye unilaterally for as long as we've had her (a few months), and it hasn't gotten worse. She's been through a round of antibiotics and has had salt treatments, and her eye has never gotten worse, nor has it spread to other animals. We figure it was physical injury from the LFS, or from initial transfer into our tank. Our water quality has been kept up since then and I just keep a watch on her to make sure she doesn't get worse.

I'm going to politely disagree with using aged water. I think there are plenty of fish keepers who use water straight from the tap (such as with a Python hose) to fill a tank. Popeye is caused by physical injury or infection, and I don't think taking water straight from the sink has anything to do it.

Question, my water is 8.0 to 8.2 ph, 10-12 dGH and 10-12 dKH... on paper this seems to be ideal for Cardinal Shrimp, right? Are there other minerals I would need to be aware of? I actually see these guys at my LFS pretty often, and it'd probably make most sense for me to pick them up there for my 10 gallon. Guess it's time I tried some more thorough research.

I was wrestling with whether to bother with a background for my 55 gallon. Maybe I'll leave it off.

I'm really interested in trying cardinal shrimp out, since my water is harder and alkaline. A future project, maybe...

so did you mix raw garlic in to the gel/water mix? I'd love to try this! I have Soilent Green, Community Plus and Igapo Explorer so far.

Ah, well 🤣 Have you tried wild-caught dwarf gourami? I heard they are much more like honey gouramis is size and disposition. Maybe you'll have more success with them if you can get ahold of them.

You bred dwarf gouramis? Amazing! Locally bred and proven healthy stock is so valuable when DGIV is so rampant!

Completely agree re: that source. I've perused his site before, and I dislike his apparent biases and lack of stringent methodology. He presents himself as a scientist and as an authority, but many of his 'replicable' experiments are not rigorously designed and tested. It's deceptive for the untrained eye and it's how misinformation campaigns take hold. It makes it hard for novices to approach and understand without being able to question his claims. I think it's interesting to read his perspective and arguments, but it's best to take what he writes with a grain of salt and a hefty dose of skepticism. It would be fair to fact-check him and cross reference other sources and perspectives. Caveat -- this is me speaking with a background in research methods, statistics, and study design. I don't have any degrees in biochemistry, but I do know what a strong study should look like.

I've given in a try before, but no dice. Also, sad news, but one of my mystery snails appears to be unwell. Hasn't moved much in two days, moved very sluggishly a few inches yesterday and hasn't moved since. Only opens up slightly during "air baths" and isn't dead yet. My other two snails are very active and doing fine, so I'm not sure what happened. I'm checking on him twice a day to make sure he's still alive. We'll see.

I gave up fighting it and just let it make its course, lol. If I have it, I have it... and I trim off whatever leaves I see that have it bad. It's not really getting any worse from where it is, but I can't eradicate it completely. Oh well.

I rinsed mine for 15 to 20 minutes until i thought there were no more particles, and I still got them through the bag. It's insane! In any case, I tried it once and I decided not to stick with it. I have some activated carbon in reserve 'just in case' I gotta medicate and remove it from the water quickly.

Am I using Purigen wrong? I was never pleased with what it did for us. Mostly, it just added white resinous powdery particles to my water. 😞 I'm glad it worked for you, but man, it definitely didn't polish the water like I wanted!

I have an aqueon clip-on light for my 10 gallon, a finnex 24/7 planted+ on my 29 gallon, and I purchased a fluval 3.0 for my 55 gallon. I think it depends on your budget and your needs. The Finnex 24/7 planted+ will totally work, but I think it's a bit more finicky and less straightforward to program than the Fluval 3.0. I think the ease and customizability of the Fluval sells it for me.

Now why didn't I think of that? THANK YOU!

Also I want to add -- I'm looking to create a low-maintenance planted aquarium with my 55. I love the plant life in my 29 gallon but I'm frustrated by how the stem plants get uprooted, and it kind of freaks me out a little to get liberal with trimming (I have an irrational anxiety that I'll crash the cycle if I trim too many plants). So my goal is low-tech, low-to-medium-light, easy to care for plants and floaters that will manage itself once they settle.

your tanks are stunningly gorgeous!!! I love them so much! I have a question, though. Did you bother to boil that massive piece of driftwood? I 100% do not have pots big enough to boil something that huge

Thank you for all the help and suggestions, everyone. I'm still waiting for my aquarium stand to get delivered, but once it's here, I'm going to get started on a layout! This is really sweet of you to say, ARMYVET. Thank you for the encouragement. I still have to assemble some hardscape materials, but maybe I'll take a day out of the week or the weekend to go scouting around at local landscaping stone yards and aquarium stores for driftwood. Fingers crossed I can put together something really lovely to look at!

All right, I have a tentative plan: 4 x Pearl Gouramis (OR 2 x Moonlight Gouramis) 1 school of medium schooling fish (Blackline Rasboras x 10 or 15? Harlequin Rasboras? Celebes Rainbowfish? Furcata Rainbowfish?) OR Some Platies/Swordtails 4 Keyhole Cichlids (OR 2 Electric Blue Acaras) 1 or 2 Small Plecos (the size of a bristlenose, checking out L092 or similar)

I would try a gram negative antibiotic like kanaplex, as @Colu advised. Maracyn only covers gram positive infections.

If the pearl isn't working out, I'd try honey gouramis or thicklipped gouramis. I have a female thicklip with my honeys and she is wonderful. ETA: I *will* say she chases tetras away from her morsels of food, but that's as far as it ever goes. And my tetras are voracious chompers and they've earned the little bit of chasing she does. 🤣

I keep my QT tank cycled (with snails) and I have lots of floating plants, so I feed after the first 24 hours and throughout treatment while monitoring my parameters. I don't have the heart to stop feeding unless I feel they need the digestive rest -- and I routinely leave Sundays as a fasting day for all my tanks.

If I were to go with rams, I'd choose Bolivian and not German Blue. German rams are gorgeous but I know they are fragile and like it extremely warm. I was looking at Kribensis and I love their color and behavior, but if I get a pair (which I'd love), I did hear it's luck of the draw whether they would aggress against the entire tank or not. Basically I have to assess how much risk I'm willing to take on. I think I'm leaning most towards Acaras, Rainbow Cichlids, or Keyholes at this time, but I know I'm also going to waffle and change my mind a lot between now and actually purchasing my fish! Discus are SO stunning, and I love to watch them at my LFS. I know they are sensitive, though, and I have harder water. I'm not sure I can provide them a good environment if their preference is softer water!

I mean, my fish are fine after using purigen for a month and a half. I'm not sure why it kept releasing powdery white resin particles, and I've since replaced it with regular old fine filter floss. If you use an activated carbon filter it will remove the tannins from the water, and I know that is totally safe and won't release any powdered resin into the water column.

Either Purigen or Carbon will work to remove tannins from the water. I've tried Purigen and I actually don't like it very much -- it keeps releasing powdery white resin particles into the water, in my experience, even after rinsing extremely vigorously.