Just Renee

Yes! Props to Betsy! So I am using the med trio anyways because the guppies I got from the same ebay seller are not right. One female has a tiny little cotton tuft on her belly and a male is doing the shimmy thing at the top of the tank and appears to have something hanging out of his whatever the fish term for rectum is despite having water that looks and tests perfect, is kept warm and they've been eating well with good food. I did increase the temp a little bit, to about 81 because I read that is supposed to help? I did a 50% water change and then added all of the meds. So we shall see what happens.

Hi Betsy, that betta is so cute! Poor little guy. Here is a picture of Ezekiel taken just now. When I got Tony (if you know what the names are referencing, shout out!) from Petco, he was immediately flaring his fins out without issue, where as Ezekiel still hasn’t fully extended his fins, especially the dorsal fin... like it only opens part way. So after I cycled my first tank with Tony, I noticed the tips of his fins were black and then those black bits melted away. He’s slowly growing them back. When I saw Ezekiels black fin edges, I assumed it was the same thing, beginning of fin rot. Maybe not?

Wow, that looks great already! Good luck with the plants, Hobby Doc!

LOL! Ok, I promise right here, right now, that if it grows into Audrey, I will happily mail you a cutting. 😉

Update! It has kept itself submerged for, like, 3 days now and there's a big leaf growing so I think good is overcoming evil. Thank god.

Thank you! I haven't done anything yet, just letting him chill in his new tank. He is opening his fins a bit more, but they're still not right and the black bits on the end of the tail look exactly like my first betta when he started getting fin rot (from being my unintentional fish-in cycle guinea pig). I guess I figured the quicker I jumped on it, the better and I now have a little cheap hospital tank setup ready to go if I need it. I have the med trio coming but it doesn't get here until Tuesday. I went to Petco and just bought a medium size pet carrier for reptiles because they didn't have any made for fish but it looks like it will hold water, so Ok. I bought a teensy weensy little heater for it too because... the internet said so? It was like 6 dollars, so whatever. I have a teensy little sponge filter coming because it seems like if I need to medicate a fish, I shouldn't rely on doing water changes to clean the water? If I don't end up needing it now, I think I'll just set it up in my 20 gallon tank to get it juicy with the bacteria I worked so hard to get and that way it can work properly for a hospital tank if I ever do need it? I'm just making this up as I go, someone feel free to tell me if this is all just me being dumb. I am prone to that.

Oh wow, that's an idea. How much salt would work for a salt bath?

I did read about using salt for fin rot, unfortunately, I have a LOT of plants and they're equally as important to me as the fish. I don't have a quarantine tank because I'm so new at this and frankly, my old house is just too small for another setup, even a small one (aka 'my husband may kill me if I try to setup another tank at this point'). So, I am going to try the Maracyn since it's already on the way and if that doesn't help, I'll try Maracyn 2. I emailed the seller, they said give him a day or two which makes sense but it's obvious to me he can't or just won't open his top fin nor has he fully opened his tail fin. There is definitely something wrong there but it would be great if just nice, clean warm water helps, at least I have the meds on the way if it doesn't. He's so beautiful, like a little real life painting.

I am by no means any kind of expert, I am as new as they come. However, I have this all over the leaves on my new tank and I think its brown algae, aka diatoms? Supposed to be pretty common with new tanks and once everything matures and starts filling in, it will go away on its own usually... I think? It also looks like snail poops, which is good because I think snails eat brown algae. Ok, that's a lot of "I think" going on so definitely take it with a giant grain of salt. 🙂

Ok Isaac, that makes sense. It's actually stayed on the substrate for a day now and has an obvious tiny little leaf growing so I'm going to give it one more chance, if it floats again, it's out. I'll just buy another one at some point. Thanks!

I purchased a new betta from a breeder with very good reviews on ebay. I received him today, no issues with shipping and he looked fine from the moment I unpacked him except his dorsal fin and the top of his tail just will not open. He's swimming around and acting normally except he does seem to be hiding more than my older betta did at the beginning. The only other symptom I think I'm seeing is the beginning of fin rot on his tail fin. I just ordered the medication trio suggested by Aquarium Co-op but the more I look into fin rot, the more it seems Maracyn won't help, that perhaps I need Maracyn 2? Should I wait for the med trio or order some Maracyn 2 from Amazon? If so, will Maracyn 2 crash my cycle since it's a broad spectrum abx? 20 gallon newly cycled tank. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites are 0, Nitrates are 0-20, temp is 79. Thanks for the help!

Isaac, where were you during all my chemistry classes? That was a great explanation and makes perfect sense. Thank you!

Another question, because you guys are amazing! Why does my kh keep trying to drop to zero? I haven't removed the bag of crushed coral in my filter, it's still there. What causes kh to decrease? I don't know why my water is so hard with a kh so low... my water also comes out of the tap fairly acidic, 6.5 using the API 5 in 1 strip. Since adding the crushed coral, I'm up to 7, barely.

Yeah, I unfortunately learned about the cory needing a school after I bought her (him? whatever) but this tank is too small to add more, I think. Especially because this type gets like 2.5 inches... eek too big for more than 1 I think. I have a 20 gallon I'm starting to stock, I may move her there with some buddies.

Thanks Isaac, that means a lot! I definitely got interested in aquariums 50% for the plants and 50% for the fish, so a heavily planted tank was my goal from the get go. Parameters for the small tank is: Fluval Edge 6 gallons NH3 - 0 NO2 - 0 now NO3 is 20 after dosing with easy green, yay! pH - 6.5 - 7 Kh - fluctuates between 0 and 40 Gh - off the charts, immediately goes to 180 on my test strip and never anything less. temp is 78. I have fluval stratum and some root tabs under the stem plants. Tony the a-hole betta, a single cory (trili-something), 4 yellow cherry shrimp and 2 nerite snails. When I set this tank back up, I had to get a new light, so I got the one made for a Fluval Edge 12 gallon because it was supposed to be better for the plants, the original one for the 6 gallon was supposedly too weak. I bumped up the light from 8 hours to 9 to try to make the plants happier... I did that about a week or so ago. The only other thing I can think of is that I set up a little baffle made from a soda bottle to reduce the flow from the filter.

Yes, there is clearly something decomposing inside it. When I squeeze it, air comes out and then a milky substance comes out. It's gross, evil and I am tempted to call a young priest and an old priest.

I'm glad I checked back in before heading to bed! Thanks Isaac, that is a great explanation and makes a lot of sense. The ph thing is worrisome as I already have slightly acidic water and am using crushed coral in my filter to add to the kh (which wants to be 0) and bring up the ph a bit. It appears to be hovering at 7 now with the crushed coral. Anywho, thanks, I feel like this all makes a lot more sense than all the mixed info I was finding online.

Thanks, James! Unfortunately, there isn't a way to dim the light on the Fluval Edge which is extremely annoying. I had to buy a separate timer because it didn't even have one of those. I do like that I was able to take those pictures from above the plants though, having the glass on top is pretty handy, when it's not a total nuisance.

Ok, thank you. I hope it stops floating to the top at some point!

Here are some more pictures. First, my phone is being FAR too generous with the color green... they look much more anemic and pale in real life. First is the baby's tears, they grow and grow but look funky and pale. Then the scarlet temple that came from one of those gel culture packages from Petsmart and I don't know if they have ever really grown any new leaves... they just exist and look... sad. And then my amazon sword that super struggled until I gave it a root tab and now it appears to be bouncing back. You can see more scarlet temple next to it that looks super sad.

So I have just dismal looking leaves that are anemic looking and pale. The water sprite that is directly under the light appears scorched but I don't think my light is that strong so I don't know what the heck is the deal there. I have a sword in the back that slowly looks to be coming back now that I gave it a root tab a couple of weeks ago. The baby's tears is doing the best and growing a lot but it just looks very pale compared to pictures I've seen online. Everything just looks... sad.

Hi James, Thanks! Yes, I mean Nitrates with an A. My tanks are cycled, I am always showing 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites now. I have what I think is a large number of plants in both tanks, some slow growing and some fast growing. I assumed the fast growing plants were using up all the nitrates which is why it is usually showing 0? Please excuse the dirty glass, ugh, clean the glass before taking a picture, Renee!

There is so much conflicting info online regarding water changes. I've been trying to hedge my bets by just doing weekly 25% water changes instead of 50% because it just seems so disruptive to change out so much water. I'm always nervous I'm going to mess with the balance I'm trying to create every time I do a water change. I also rarely ever show nitrates because I started out with plants in the tank from the get go (at least, I think that's why I don't have nitrates?). Now I'm looking up info on why my plants look rough in my little 6 gallon tank and I think it's a nitrate problem. I just tested the water again (using API 5 in 1 test strips) and still no nitrates. So I have a couple of questions I hope someone can help me with. 1. Do I need to change out any % of water if my nitrates are 0 and I can't identify any other reason the water needs to be changed (fish look good, other parameters look good, etc). Should I wait until my nitrates go up to change the water? Why AM I changing water if my nitrates are 0 anyways, what am I trying to remove? 2. Does dosing with Easy Green add to my nitrates or is that something that needs to build up organically from the life in the tank? Thanks. I have been looking up a lot and trying to learn but I'm still just very confused on the water change thing. Edit: I have very hard water, like my little 5 in 1 strip always just maxes out immediately. Does that affect the need for water changes, like will all that hard water just build up from topping off over and over instead of removing with a water change?

Thanks! I'm still low-key nervous it's satan spawn though. Can you tell if those are roots or beginner leaves? I can't figure out if the part that's sprouting should be down in the substrate or up toward the light. Not that it matters, it keeps filling with gas and floating back up after a day or so.

Ok, this bulb is still being weird. It has roots or stems growing from it, I can't tell which. It keeps floating to the top of the tank and it is still squishy. Is this thing viable or is it growing the spawn of satan?