KentFishFanUK

Couldn't see anything on any of the others. I think it's eating but it's hard to tell with the Oto's maybe she's not and just laying on leaves or glass whatever to rest? Columnaris sounds scary! I've heard it mentioned before but don't really know what it is or how to diagnose/treat it, could you point me to where best to read up about it?

Water parameters were good last time I checked but will test if I get time tomorrow morning as about to go to work. Don't think anything is picking on them or any reason to be stressed, not that I've seen anyway and my tank is pretty peaceful. I have three Oto's and I'm pretty sure this is my original one that is older and bigger than the other two but would have to double check to be sure. The patch neatly surrounds where the base of her dorsal fin is. Thanks for your help!

One of my Otocinclus seems to have developed this sort of white or faded patch on its back and I have no idea what it is. It doesn't seem like furry or fungus-y if that makes sense it's not raised or inflamed just a change in colour. What do I do? Hopefully the pics are good enough to see what I mean, luckily she was posing right near the glass for the pics.

Actually I have gotten two replacements already, interestingly they seem to stick together more than the original three had. The two new ones, or at least one of them, seems much more outgoing, even occasionally swimming along with the neon tetras it seems which is funny to see. Also, I found one nibbling at the repashy food! Yay success haha hopefully the other new one and the original one who is much bigger will catch on soon.

Welcome! UK too here, what part of the country you in?

If you only need small numbers of BBS then I have a hobby branded artemia breeding dish that works really well for me. When I set up my tank I had a bunch of different copepods appear, soon after adding a few male Endlers they went to town and ate all the copepods so that's something the adults at least seem to love! Also I think moina are a bit smaller than daphnia and supposedly a bit hardier so that might be a good option.

If you are on the fence about shrimp - I originally wasn't interested in them as thought I didn't really like them but eventually decided to get some cherry shrimp anyway to add to the clean up crew/general biodiversity/eco system or whatever is the correct term - I subsequently discovered I really like watching them and love the colour they add so now I think a shrimp only tank would actually be awesome. If there was a way to make different colour cherry shrimp only breed with their own colour line I'd love a multicoloured shrimp tank!

My tap water is about 8.4 pH but in my tank with Tropica aqua soil powder, driftwood and plants it seems to level out about 7.4. I tend to do only small water changes as don't want to change it too much at one time.

If I was going to choose one for $10 it would have to be number 9, looks kind of purple and I don't know of any small fish with that colour. Number 4 looks awesome too though.

Even with the slow moving water I can't quite wrap my head around it, is the oxygen supposed to be depleted by the denitrifying bacteria before it reaches the anoxic bacteria? That sort of makes sense, except that in order for the oxygen to be depleted you'd need enough bacteria consuming it but in order to do that it would need enough ammonia/nitrites to use up all the oxygen wouldn't it? Which then makes even more nitrates so it would almost seem counter productive. I suppose given time and very stable conditions, enough surface area for the denitrifying bacteria and then enough surface area for the anoxic bacteria it would all reach a balance but doesn't sound simple at all, especially when compared with plants that could essentially do the same thing. Maybe I just need to read this Dr. Novak person haha

Thanks for that info! Will add them to my fishy shopping list Hopefully! Though now I feel a little bad I haven't given them the right conditions to breed haha

I don't have any experience or opinions about anoxic filtration, it's an exciting idea to me but I've never quite understood how it could practically be achieved. In order for it to work presumably you have to get the water containing the nitrates to the denitrifying bacteria right? How is this possible without also introducing oxygen? I suppose theoretically a system could be devised where the water travels through the filter/sump and the oxygen gets used up by the nitrifying bacteria before it reaches the denitrifying bacteria and then gets oxygenated again as it gets pumped back into the tank but it would take a lot of "dialling in" with flow and surface area etc surely? If I understand it correctly if too much oxygenated water reaches the denitrifying bacteria it would kill it off and you would need to re-establish it all again from the start? Just seems like too many variables to be worth attempting it but I'm probably missing something. I certainly don't understand how deep sand beds etc work, in my head logically either the water is moving through it which means too much oxygen or not moving through it which means the nitrates won't reach it to be filtered out? Or at least if the water is moving through it slow enough to become deoxygenated it would also be too slow to filter out nitrates very quickly. Is there another way of removing oxygen that I'm missing? Or like can nitrates travel through the substrate independent of the water somehow?

My wife has lost count of how many cheap/free second hand tanks I have stored in our shed and I like it that way 😂 Think I could get a fish room built without her noticing? Haha

Thanks! I think I prefer the lotus too, will it do ok if I keep cutting off the large stems? Where I'm thinking of having it I could probably allow one floating pad but any more would block out too much light, it is a 20 gallon tall but lots of other plants in there too. Would it thrive long term with only one pad and keep putting out underwater leaves? Also it's hard to get a sense of scale from the pics, if it was in the corner of the tank how much 'floor space' would it take up? TIA ☺️ Now that's the sort of tip you don't hear everywhere! Definitely going to try this. Minus the singing part, noone wants to hear my singing myself especially 😂 I'll report back how it goes when I try it, though I'm half expecting the tweezers to end up part of the feature after I accidentally glue them in place 🤣

Thanks for the interest peeps! So far no real change that I've noticed that just like you guys have experienced there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the bloated looking ones - in fact I think they have also grown the most out of all of them and tend to be the 'sassiest' out of them. Maybe they are dominant females and have full bellies from eggs or something? I do find random non viable eggs occasionally in my tank, I didn't think it was from the neons but could be. I've had them for 4 months now and they've been like it since the beginning so I've kind of decided to just not worry about it, if it 'spreads' and the slender ones start getting it too then I will have to rethink my plan. As for meds the place I get them from deworms and quarantines them before he allows them to go on sale, not sure what else I can do here as in the UK and the meds we can get aren't the same. Like I think I can get ich-x but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't do anything as I haven't seen any ich symptoms. Can't get maracyn for example (well I can order it from the US apparently but it will cost me like £50 inc. shipping and that's for like 4 small sachets of it, then I have no idea about import regulations and whether it would even get past customs). So yeah I'm basically winging it with no ill affect so far (to my knowledge). Keep me posted about your tetras if anything changes or you figure anything out! Especially if you treat with anything that works 🙂

Thanks guys! I think maybe my surfaces were too dry and that's why it didn't stick? Maybe I was also using too much, was only a small amount but probably more than a "tiny dab". Will try again next time. I scored a free java fern from the store when I picked up a couple new oto's (along with two new types of fish food - in my defence I really did need the cat food I went in for 😅) so might try it with that next! Now to really derail the thread, do you have experience with either red tiger lotus or dwarf lily? Trying to decide if I want to give them a go in my community tank or in my project tanks when I have them set up. Not sure of they play nice with the other plants though or if they take much maintenance etc. @Clovis sorry for the hijacking and the tangents - it's all good info and relevant I promise!

Ironically I listen to co-op podcasts whilst mowing the lawn haha! In fact the podcasts get me through a bunch of chores I don't otherwise enjoy and always put off (pretty sure I have ADHD at this point). I love the way that any question about Cory or the Co-op can almost always be answered with "there's a video for that"

Wait you talked with Diana Walstad about your walstad tank?? That's awesome she's like a celebrity in our world haha I didn't know she gave personal advice on people's tanks. Got to love our hobby! Awesome pics by the way

Thanks! Well the ones I saw were just sort of floating about on the substrate not stuck to leaves or anything and were white with some fungus on them but they look about the right size and only started appearing after I added the Oto's so I think they are the culprit. Could instead be the neon tetras but didn't look right from the pictures I saw of those. In a sunny window yeah, only just started it so can't even tell what algae is growing yet but knowing my luck it will just get covered in hair algae! I don't think I've had green spot algae in my tank, I've had what looks similar but nothing that's even remotely difficult to get off the glass, my algae just wipes off nice and easy. Bit of a tangent here but I also have what I assume is some sort of hair algae but growing in like large patches and stays quite short and looks soft and I always think if there was a way to cultivate it specifically it would make a great carpet - one third or so of my huge eye sore filter is covered in it and it improves the look of it immensely haha

Sorry another question if I may! (Also a fan of MD here btw!) Is there a trick to using gorilla glue? I was attempting to glue a small anubias to a small piece of slate and I just could not get it to stick, like at all, ended up tying it again but I really want to master gluing as I prefer the end result and I have a small stock of driftwood that I plan to stick lots of anubias etc to when I have my fish room built. But my first attempt was a total fail!

Amazing! Definitely copying you, ordering some plastic canvas asap. Thanks!

Random question, what so otocinclus eggs look like? I keep seeing random non viable eggs appear in the tank and not sure who they are coming from, they seem like singly laid and not stuck to anything, also seem quite large to my eyes. Not a huge amount maybe found half a dozen or so over a couple weeks

Nice! I would say bathtub too but then I think if I tried that it would be grounds for divorce haha. Just a thought, seachem flourish excel (co op has their one too right? Easy carbo?) I'm sure I read somewhere that the main ingredient is used as a disinfectant in other fields - theoretically could we use that to disinfect/clean it then rinse it really well? Would be small amounts left I'd imagine that shouldn't be a big deal right seeing as we can literally dose it direct to the tank?

Yeah this was my original plan but I'm now thinking I might have to try and supplement, especially if I replace the two I lost Good to know, makes me feel a bit better about going from 3 to 1 Tried soilent green a bunch and couldn't seem to get them interested (my panda corys love it however) but might order some super green and try some veggies too Ooh my replies have been merged, is that a new feature? I like it

I will have to try some zucchini or green beans next then! Probably a long shot but is there a way to cultivate the correct type of algae? I've started trying to grow some algae on rocks to rotate in and out but how do I even know it's growing the right types? I hadn't given any meds but I'm pretty sure the guy I buy most of my fish from does it when he gets them in. I had wondered about internal parasites, hopefully the one I have left doesn't have them as he isn't skinny at all. Should I risk getting a couple more so I have three of them again?