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Irene

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Posts posted by Irene

    Other Pets

    in Off Topic General

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Eric Newton said:

    Not exactly pets... here are the dogs my partner and I raised for the Guide Dog Foundation.  The middle two are working guides.  The one on the left is in training. The little yellow lab is being raised to be a service dog for America's Vet Dogs and is the only one still at home.  It was a rare visit and moment to see them all together again.

    That's so cool! I want to help raise service dogs someday, but gotta wait till my kids are older and I have more free time.

    • Like 1

    Keeping Fish in the Wake of Columnaris

    in Diseases

    Posted

    I'm sorry to hear that! Columnaris is a tough disease to get rid of. Here are the notes I took in the past when I faced it. I'm not sure if I ever got rid of it, so please don't take any of these as the bulletproof solution.

    Source #1: Cory from Aquarium Co-Op

    • Use Ich-X (or salt if you have no plants) to get rid of the fungus, and then use erythromycin to treat any bacterial infections setting into the open wounds until the mucus coat grows back.

    Source #2: Jnb7284 from My Aquarium Club 

    Source #3: Ian Sterling from FishLab

     

    • Thanks 1

    How I Dealt with Livebearer Disease 3x This Year

    in Diseases

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, tuculover said:

    Irene,

    How did you decide to dose the levamisole? I have an endler that is doing exactly what you described. He's been in the tank for two weeks now but only just showing signs in the last two days. All the others are doing well, including some new fry. But this guy likes to hang out on the bottom until the food comes out. Then he perks up for a bit, chases the girls and finally hangs on the gravel again. I added some more crushed coral thinking it could be a mineral issue but I have some levamisole I could try as well.

    Thanks!

    I was actually researching livebearer disease and came upon Greg's website. The measuring spoon makes it so easy to dose, so definitely check out the information on his page for more info: http://www.selectaquatics.com/Levamisole.htm.

    I also made a video about my experiences with dosing levamisole and the exact recipe I used: 

     

    How I Dealt with Livebearer Disease 3x This Year

    in Diseases

    Posted

    Recently, Aquarium Co-Op released a video and blog article on livebearer disease, so I figured I'd share my actual, real-world experiences with facing this disease in the past year. My natural tap water has 8.0 pH, 3 dGH, and 3dKH - which means I have fairly soft water and high pH.

    1) Balloon Mollies

    Unbeknownst to me, these Petco balloon mollies were born and raised in brackish water (a common practice among overseas fish farms where fresh drinking water isn't cheap). I put them in quarantine with the quarantine med trio, and they were very lively and ate well. One month into quarantine, I suddenly discovered a female molly was floating with her head downwards and her fins/tail were covered in a cotton-y, white fungus. I treated her with Level 2 concentration of salt (see this article on how to dose salt), which is 1 Tbsp salt per 2 gallons. The fungus went away and she started swimming and eating again. One week after starting salt treatment, the fungus started coming back again on her fins, so I increased to Level 3 concentration at 1 Tbsp salt per 1 gallon. (My Christmas moss was not happy with the salinity level, but it eventually recovered.)  After watching Cory's care video on fancy mollies, I realized that the mollies lacked the minerals normally found in brackish water, so I also added Seachem Equilibrium. She made a full recovery. Later I moved the adults to a hospital tank with aquarium salt and Seachem Equilibrium, and I raised their fry in full fresh water with no added salt or minerals. Five months later, the juveniles are still doing well.

    Untitled1.png.da838dac6887b43f90362ac297904c76.png

    Figure 1. Day 1 versus Day 11 of salt treatment for female balloon molly

    2) Ender's Livebearers

    I wanted to breed some endlers, but my local fish stores were only selling males. I brought them home, put them through the quarantine meds, and eventually put them in my main display tank. Then I noticed an endler was resting on a plant leaf and not playing with his fellow brothers. He passed away, and then a week or so later another tired endler started resting on a plant leaf and he also passed away. Thinking it might be worms, I dosed the whole tank with two treatments of API General Cure (separated by 2-3 weeks to deal with any remaining eggs). Unfortunately, it still didn't stop the deaths. Then I bought some levamisole (and the handy measuring spoon) from Greg Sage at selectaquatics.com to treat for roundworms. I dosed the whole tank twice again (separated by 2 weeks), and finally the endlers were happy and healthy.

    Untitled2.png.a67cacbb3f06b6845b180cb2558a1e5a.png

    Figure 2. Endler's livebearer with parasitic infection, showing signs of lethargy and pale coloration

    3) Dwarf Platies

    I purchased these platies from another local fish store and gave them the quarantine med trio, and within 3 days, one female died. Her body looked perfectly healthy, and she had been active and eating well just a few hours before her sudden death. I put the quarantine tank through two rounds of API General Cure and levamisole dewormers. Another female died just as I was finishing up the last treatment, and she had no symptoms either. I had originally added some Seachem Equilibrium after the first female died, but because of all the water changes I was doing while dosing the deworming medications, the mineral content was low again. After added 2 Tbsp of Equilibrium to the 10 gallon tub, the water turned slightly brownish-orange and I measured around 22 dGH. Whoops, that's way high! I guess the estimated dosing instructions on the back of the bottle aren't exactly accurate. Thankfully, I haven't lost another platy in several weeks now, so I believe these platies were also originally raised in brackish water and were dying from lack of minerals. The good news is that one of my females gave birth to nearly 30 fry. I promptly scooped up all the fry and transferred them to a grow-out tank with only fresh water. 

    Untitled3.jpg.73f1262f8b84861936a3c7e37247f4e4.jpg

    Figure 3. Happy birthday to the new platy babies I caught from the quarantine tank 🎉

    • Like 1

    Other Pets

    in Off Topic General

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Danny said:

    A cat’s life described in one word, lazy!

    Your cats are sooo cute! 😻 My husband's allergic to them, so I have to get my kitty fix through Instagram and YouTube.

    • Like 2

    How I'm Treating Fin Rot in my Betta

    in Diseases

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, Lizzie Block said:

    Thanks, Irene! We've been making so much progress, I couldn't come to terms with the idea of leaving him here in PA, so he's coming with us to Washington along with Jimmy's Mata mata turtle 😂 This fish is going to be a world traveler!! 

    No way, that's so cool! Haha, you'll have to share their traveling adventures here as well. 

    • Like 1

    Hi, I'm Irene 😀

    in Introductions & Greetings

    Posted

    48 minutes ago, Lizzie Block said:

    Irene! Your tank is awesome, love your big bunch of java fern in the right hand corner! Sweet 🙂

    Thanks! I bought it from Greg Sage, the rare livebearer breeder/seller in our area, and it's perfect for hiding my sponge filter. 😁

    800 Gallon Build Thread

    in Photos, Videos & Journals

    Posted · Edited by Irene
    forgot to add the quote

     

    1 hour ago, JimmyGimbal said:

    Am I getting in this and planting it or what!? just don't leave ladybird in there while i'm in there.. she freaks me out. haha

    Lol, Jimmy! I wouldn't want those sharp teeth around me either... 

    • Like 1

    Hi, I'm Irene 😀

    in Introductions & Greetings

    Posted

    Hi, I'm Irene, and I work as a Content Strategist at Aquarium Co-Op where I write blog posts, make videos, and create all sorts of marketing content! I got into fish keeping because my son became interested in my friend's Glofish tank. That friend offered to buy him a betta fish for his birthday, so I decided to some research on bettas. We ended up getting our first family aquarium, I started getting more fish, and eventually I began a YouTube channel called Girl Talks Fish to help beginners learn from my mistakes. Because we don't have a lot of space in our home, I'm mostly interested in nano fish and planted tanks. I currently have a 20-gallon planted community tank, 10-gallon breeding tank, and a 10-gallon plastic tub for quarantining new fish and doing experiments.

    Irene's display tank.jpg

    • Like 10
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