Scott Stevenson

Hey sorry I havent been around but in a very belated response, I'll just update the situation and start by saying that diet and water quality was never a issue. I don't have a current photo but the goldfish in question has completely recovered the "tumor" disintegrated and fell away, this coincided with a complete color change of the fish, It is now 100% white.

I keep my substrate a good 2 inches and never had issue. hope things work out better for you.

I know this is off on a tangent, but I'm trying to understand the floating root tabs, part of this story. I've used root tabs in the past without putting holes in them. never had a floating root tab. Is the tank bare bottom, is the layer of substrate very thin or did you maybe not bury them very deep? This is not me trying to be judgmental, just trying to understand.

Interesting. does carbon than do a good job of removing chlorine and chloramine? I run water straight from the tap into my tanks and then use water conditioner and that seems to work fine, but I know my town "messes" with the water in the spring/summer and I have been considering setting up some type of water holding/conditioning tank for the summer.

Ok cool, I knew carbon did not absorb the bacteria, but I thought that maybe it absorbed the ammonia to a point that BB would not have a chance to colonize the tank.

I use mechanical and biological filtration and have a solid understanding of the nitrogen cycle, but I am trying to understand how things work if I were to set up a tank with carbon filtration. I have no plans to start using carbon filtration and am just trying to add to my knowledge base. Is it even possible for a tank to be cycled using a carbon filter and can live plants do well in a carbon filter situation? Would ferts even be effective or would the carbon just neutralize them?

got a few khuli loaches just yesterday, poured the bag into a container through a net took the net and dumped the loaches into their new tank. I put the net back into a container that had a bit of of water and went to open the next bag, went to get the net again and realized there was still a loach wiggling in the net. Not as dramatic as the rest of your stories, gut the situation is relatable.

Judging by the feedback, I'll give it a go. If it doesn't work out I'll dump the pygmies in a different tank.

Reading up on Otos and Pygmy cories it looks like max temperature is 74 degrees. has anyone had success keeping either of these species at slightly higher temps, specifically 76/77 degrees? I'm wanting to possibly keep both with Platys in the nearish future.

BN or BNP - bushy nosed plecos

@Jennifer V...although Maybe at some point Ill set up an experiment tank and see what I can find to introduce that way.

Ill probably just work with the brown that I have and try to work towards green

@PineSongwas there a point when you noticed that you went from brown diatom to green or has your experience always been with the green kind? My main tank is well cycled and has 3 albino BN plecos in it, no algae issues there. I have two tanks that are low-key cycled and with out fish at the moment. One of them has pest snails helping to keep the cycle going and some plants. The other has Pothos and some mulm (bare bottom), no algae issues to speak of in either of them. I started a qt a couple months ago. it gets indirect sunlight and I ghost feed it. I for sure have algae in that one (which as I said before is not an issue to me). I assume cycling is beginning per the algae. I'm going to get some otos to put in there and toss in some pest snails. I would love to go from the brown to green. I like the idea of the blanched spinach to promote greening. Oh I also easy green my tanks except the qt

I don't have a algae problem and the algae I do have is fine with me, but would love if I could get it to be that healthy, vibrant looking green algae. How do I go from newbie brown to that SWANKY green stuff?

oh boy, i have multiple Seiryu rocks, some surely 5lbs or more sitting on a bare bottom, old 40g tank right now. I plan on putting gravel in within the next couple months, but now im worried.