Sarina

@Milliardo Peacecraft I know! I study this stuff in my free time because I find it so fascinating. Plants are truly incredible 😊

Well, underwater plants may flower, but that is not usually how they reproduce because they function essentially the same as plants that grow above water. Most aquatic plants available in the aquarium trade are created by tissue culture cloning. This is a method of taking a tiny sample of a plant and placing it in a sterile environment with lots of hormones that cause the plant to create clones of itself. You can purchase these plants in their tissue culture form in sealed cups, or you can buy them as adult plants after they have been removed from the tissue culture and have grown out to their full size. Usually this happens in large greenhouses in hydroponics systems, with the foliage out of the water for faster growth and less algae management. Most house plants are created this way, as well, which is why there are some aroids (like types of pothos) that do not flower at all anymore. These plants can really only be created by cloning. Tissue culture cloning is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most energy efficient way to cultivate new plants. It is also one of the reasons that so many variegated plants exist. Variegation occurs when a genetic mutation causes portions of the plant to lack chlorophyll, or have variables in chlorophyll that can display varying shades of green, yellow, cream, and white. Plant genetics are a whole deep dive waiting to happen, so I won't get too nerdy on you, but essentially very few plants are cultivated from seeds these days. In the wild, a lot of plants reproduce by cloning, as well. Any plant that creates pups is essentially cloning itself, which is what a lot of crypts, swords, and grasses tend to do. Even plants like anubias will create pups that will then break off and reattach to a different location depending on water flow. Plants that have a chance to flower above the water line may produce seeds, but germination can be difficult if the environment is not quite right or there aren't enough pollinators to create viable seeds. In short, flowering is only one way that a plant can reproduce, and it isn't always the most reliable.

Neon tetras and otocinclus are both fish that heavily rely on consistent water parameters. In small aquariums, it becomes more difficult to maintain consistent parameters due to the small water volume. I actually don't recommend either of these species for an aquarium smaller than 10 gallons just because it is incredibly difficult to keep them healthy in anything smaller. Plants can thrive in a variety of conditions that can be detrimental to fish, so just because your plants are healthy does not mean that the environment is ideal for certain species of fish. Testing your water is going to be a good place to start.

In order to help you, we need some more information. Please provide the following: Disease Help Requirements To ensure the best level of help, please include the following: A Picture of the fish with decent clarity of the disease. Water Parameters: pH Nitrates Hardness Nitrite Ammonia KH/Buffer Water Temperature

@Jesse L Turbo Start may be unnecessary, just keep an eye on water parameters and do a water change if you see anything alarming. You can also treat with a dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia. The smell usually dissipates within a day or two if I throw some activated carbon in. This is actually one of the few instances where I will use activated carbon, it is really good at absorbing gross smells.

Nerite snails and amano shrimp both tolerate salt very well, but your plants may not appreciate it. You can also do a round of Maracyn and Ich-X together in the style of a med trio treatment without the ParaCleanse. This would prevent her injuries from developing a bacterial or fungal infection, and it will be safe for your inverts and plants.

Rotten egg smell is an indicator of hydrogen sulfide, but what I would be more concerned about is the potential for an ammonia spike due to a mass die off of bacteria. Bacteria that thrives in an anaerobic or anoxic environment will die when they are exposed to too much oxygen at once, which does have the potential to cause bad odor. I think the most likely scenario is that you just released some gnarly-smelling phenols into the water, which the carbon will take care of. Phenols are naturally produced by decaying matter, especially plant matter, and are the primary reason that an aquarium will smell bad. Occasionally this will happen to one of my blackwater tanks if I uproot a plant because of the botanicals that decay naturally and fall into the substrate.

Hey everyone, long time no post! We are kind of short-staffed at the store right now, so I've been working a lot and haven't had much free time to hang out here. As a side note, if you're interested in working at a fish store and you're near Plano, TX, let me know 😉 If you've got egg crate kicking around like I normally do, this test kit rack will probably cost you nothing. I did put some clear mylar on the bottom to keep the tubes from falling out, but you could just as easily just put another piece of egg crate offset under the bottom panel. Everything is just stuck together with super glue and I cut the egg crate with wire cutters. I'll eventually put a handle on it or something to make it easier to carry, but it's not that difficult to pick it up by the sides, either. Feel free to use, improve upon, and mix up this idea. Hopefully it helps someone out!

Eh if you don't already have some kicking around, don't bother buying bottled bacteria. The used tank water will probably do roughly the same thing. Scrape the glass in an established tank and you'll get plenty of bacterial starter lol. As for the amount of water, you could do 2/3rds for sure.

If you have a cycled tank, remove some water from your 5 gallon (maybe 2 gallons or so) and add some water from an established aquarium and see if that helps. Honestly 5ppm ammonia is a lot for initial cycle. I usually recommend aiming for 2ppm because ammonia higher than that can actually stall the bacterial growth.

Like a couple inches long and mostly flat. I don't know a ton about them, but I've seen them before in other people's tanks and they are known to be great algae eaters 😊

Freshwater limpet! It's a friend, don't worry 😊

The test shows at least 80ppm nitrates, though.

Probably low oxygen if its after a water change, then. Could also just be the change in general that did it, sometimes you can shock their system if they were weakened by high nitrates. I would think that you would have seen a change in your fish, too, though.

Oof those nitrates are high.

Mine go to the top when there's an ammonia spike or not enough oxygen... Might want to check your water just in case.

I'd still like to see a peer-reviewed article supporting your claims, because if I'm wrong I want to know about it. However, I have been searching for a good while at this point and can find absolutely nothing about ammonia binders being harmful during an initial cycle. I did find a thread from another forum basically stating that this is simply false info that's been circulated by word of mouth.

Right, but if it saves a fish from ammonia poisoning - temporarily - why would you discourage it? If it won't crash the cycle (even if it prolongs the process a bit) I don't see the harm in taking precautions.

I would like to see actual evidence to contribute to the idea that the ammonia is unavailable to bacteria, because I do not believe that is the case. Prime converts ammonia to ammonium, which nitrosoma can still metabolize.

It doesn't take much to hatch mystery snails. Here's a great instructional article about it 😊

Using prime to detoxify ammonia temporarily removes stress from fish and allows the bacteria to handle the ammonia before the prime wears off. I don't understand why you would discourage someone from making the water safe for their livestock during an ammonia spike, even a mild one.

Lower light or more water changes, however your AR is likely stretching because it's not getting enough light. AR also takes a ridiculously long time to get established and it definitely needs root tabs or a nutrient rich substrate. If it's been in your tank less than 3 weeks, just be patient and let it whine and cry about being moved. It'll snap out of it and look pretty eventually.

Dose some prime to detoxify and leave it alone. Your bacteria will take it from there 😊

He looks like my veiltail boy! He has the same blue flash over his gold parts. Absolutely beautiful.

Probably just blackout until it dies and the shrimp eat it.