Chlo

After doing a water change today, I noticed that one of my platies has a white bump over it's eye. It's hard to see but I don't believe it is fuzzy like fungus. I only noticed it after I added water back into my tank so I think it appeared recently. (In the pictures her belly is kinda big because she ate a little too much recently) pH 8 Nitrates 10-20 Hardness 17 dGH Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 KH/Buffer 6 dKH Water Temperature 76 F

I tried feeding at night, it was mostly successful, because two of the platies found out about the food. I think I'll also try using powdered food. Do you guys think it's normal that one of the cories is smaller than the others? When I got them they were all the same size, three of them have grown pretty big but that one is still small and fairly skinny

Yeah, they also will eat anything. I've seen all of them try to eat their own poop lol

Oh ok I've had them for a few weeks now (I think) and they have been getting fatter/bigger, but one of them is pretty skinny for some reason (and I've seen him get food). His spine is also kinda bent or something for some reason, but he swims normally and everything.

Ok, I'll try that tonight. Do you guys know any foods that the cories would really like? I've tried hikari sinking wafers, shrimp pellets, brine shrimp, and flakes (which they will eat if I push them down to the bottom). Would frozen bloodworms be good? I've tried feeding it once and they didn't really notice it, but they were also new to the tank and probably stressed.

Oh ok, should the room be dark too? Because when I feed them in the morning the tank light isn't on but the room light is

I have 5 panda cories with 5 platies in a 20 gallon. It's really hard to feed the cories, because the platies always steal the food. I've tried putting floating foods in one corner and a sinking pellet in another, but the cories don't really seem to notice the food that much (they just swim past it) and the platies always find it (plus my tank is pretty open). If the cories do notice the food and take a couple bites (which is rare), the platies will find it and will nip the cories if they try to get another bite. The platies always end up overfed and so I've had to fast the tank a few times a week. I've tried feeding a lot of different foods and soaking the sinking pellets or shrimp pellets so that the cories can just eat it off the bottom, but it has to land right in front of them for them to notice it. Any suggestions?

Ooh yeah, how do they decide when to have the babies, or it just like whenever?

Oh ok, I also found another fry that somehow escaped the breeder box and started swimming towards the other platies (!!!) but thankfully I saved it. I don't have any male platies, just 5 females, but hopefully I will get more babies sometime.

I'm not sure if Mango (the platy) is done giving birth, her belly is smaller I think. I only found one fry, but she may have given birth to more before but the platies ate them. Should I just keep her in the breeder box longer in case? Also how often should I feed the fry? It hasn't really eaten the food I gave it yet, but hopefully it will later. Bad news.....Mango ate the one fry😭😥 It swam through the separator and she just ate it. I hope she will give birth to more but i'm not sure if she will. Should I keep her in the breeder box or let her in the tank? If she has more fry do you think the chances it will survive will be better in the breeder box or tank?

Oh wait I think one of the breeder boxes has a separator, maybe I'll use that

Yeah, it's really cool that she gave birth, I just hope the fry will survive! Is it normal for the fry to sit at the bottom of the breeder box? I also put in some first bites, but it doesn't seem to be eating. Also, I don't think you sent a link, but I'll look up the article on the co op website!

Oh ok. My platy is in a breeder box right now, but will she eat her babies after she gives birth to more? I have another box with the fry I found.

Oh ok thanks, I just tried to put in some crushed flakes but it's not really eating. Do you know when the platy will give birth to more? Should I keep her in the breeding box? One more question, I don't have a fry tank set up, and I can't really set one up bc my tap has ammonia and I can't cycle it that fast. So is it fine to keep the fry in a breeder box for a while and then release them into the tank?

I didn't know one of my platies is pregnant, but just yesterday I saw fry eyes inside her belly. Right now I just saved one fry that was laying at the bottom of the tank, but I don't have a breeder box. Right now I have it in a net at the top of the tank, and my mom is running out to get food and a breeder box. How long can the fry survive without food?? Should I keep the platy in a breeder box? When will she give birth to more babies?? Please help!

Update: I just realized I tested my water AFTER my water change on saturday (well, I'm pretty sure I did, I can't remember anymore!!) But anyways, I tested my water yesterday and here are the results: The one on the left is the betta tank I added a picture of here, the middle is my other betta tank without plants, and the one on the right is the 20 gallon. You can see that the 20 gallon is more of a brighter yellow than the other tests. But, the two betta tanks are definitely more yellow than when I tested a few days ago. So maybe the bacteria is just catching up?

I guess I wanted to lower the pH because it is kind of high for bettas? But I guess I don't really need to do that, because I bought my betta locally. I also wanted to darken the water because my betta doesn't really like the light that much and is calmer when it is darker, but now I don't really need to turn on the light because there aren't any plants. I've thought about doing that, but the only wood I can find is pretty expensive and I would kind of need to redecorate my tank if I used wood.

I'm thinking about changing one of my betta tanks to a sponge filter, maybe if I do get one I can run it in the 20 gallon. I'm not sure if I will get one, because I've been trying to put peat moss in my internal filter to lower the pH, and I don't know how that would work if I used a sponge filter. Also, yeah, the anacharis was growing better in my other betta tank when it had plants, but it seemed to not grow well in the fluval tank (maybe too much light not enough fertilizer???) I think I might have needed to put root tabs too, maybe. The part that I buried in the gravel seemed to die. I do have frogbit which has grown fine for me, but my snails keep eating some of it...but I moved some to my 20 gallon to grow more in there and then transfer some more back to the tank.

My nitrates do increase, recently when I did a water change it was 10-20 ppm. I also tested my tap water for nitrates before, and it was zero. I guess it makes sense that the bacteria is having a hard time processing the waste from my betta and two snails, plus from the tap water. Should I add prime everyday then to detoxify the ammonia until it reaches zero? Is there anything I can do to speed it up if it is not finished cycling?

Here is the tank with plants, it used to have more but I moved some of the plants to the 20 gallon so I added some fake plants. Also, when I compared the tests for my two tanks this one was maybe faintly a tiny bit more green than my other tank, but I also hadn't waited the full 5 minutes yet. Also, I recently added another snail to this tank, so maybe that could have caused an ammonia spike???

Oh whoops, I missed all of your other responses, lol. I don't have a ton of plants in one of my tanks, and the other doesn't have any. My pH is 8, which I heard is bad because ammonia is more toxic at a higher pH. I have tried looking at the results in different lighting, but I'm pretty sure it's faintly green. I also just tested my 20 gallon, and it turned out a little more yellow, so I don't think it is a false positive.

Oooh, I actually tested my tap water without using water conditioner, not with it. I also use prime. Maybe the test is showing ammonium, but why would it show it after it has been a week since I did a water change? Shouldn't the bacteria have already processed it? I'll also try to test my water after my next water change.

I don't think my substrate increases ammonia, there are no nitrites and some nitrates, and one of them has plants and the other doesn't.

Hi, I have a quick question: My two betta tanks are cycled, but I always seem to see 0-0.25 ammonia when I test the water. It also kind of depends on the lighting, in some brighter lights it looks more yellow and in others more green (but I'm pretty sure it is reading 0.25). Does this mean both tanks are not fully cycled? They finished around a month ago. My tap water has 1 ppm ammonia but I tested before I did a water change, not after. Could this be caused by the test kit?? I have the api one.

Ok