CJs Aquatics

It looks more like a deficiency of some kind to me then an algae but it’s hard to tell based on the picture. I would dial in the lighting and ferts first and foremost. New growth is usually a good sign

I think the tank would be large enough for the loaches to establish territories. They can be a bit scrappy in my experience but it has rarely led to high undo stress or any real damage, unless your a snail, small enough to fit in there mouth, or they just woke up on the wrong side of the rock. Speaking of, line of sight breaks, hides, (places that each fish can escape to if they are being bullied) and making sure to target feed each species and keep them full would resolve most issues in most cases. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible with proper preparation and monitoring.

This is a highly debated, very advanced topic in my opinion. I guess in simplest terms, anaerobic bacteria as I’ve understood it is bacteria that doesn’t need oxygen to grow and colonize. I would assume it’s present in deep enough substrates/ possibly in plenum set ups, very niche aquaria. I am far from an expert on the topic as it can get very scientific however I have been led to believe it does utilize nitrates for some processes. Fact check this with the forum however this has been my simple understanding and I wanted to at least address your question. The tank looks great by the way, hope this helps some…

@nabokovfan87 that’s a pretty cool video

interested in hearing what people have to say

I’ve done spirulina flakes, and algae wafers with spirulina as well as the sera tabs and they like all 3

I’m no expert on this topic but I would assume most species would work. I would double check with others on the forum but I think most would be safe as long as parameters are monitored and enough food is prevalent.

Thank you @Cory and @Colu I’ll let them sit in the meds overnight then tomorrow start taking the advice listed, I love this pet puffer so I’m hoping for the best, I appreciate you both

I’m lost @Colu I’ve been through so much in my fish keeping journey but I was not prepared for tonight’s adventure. I left for the day for a family gathering, before I left a tank was fine, when I got home, a pet fish has one of his eyes completely clouded over. Tested the water and checked the equipment everything seemed normal. No signs of fighting with the other inhabitants, literally nothing has changed except foods. I gravel vac’d up debris, added in the dechlorinated water to fill it back up, then hit the tank with the med trio bc I don’t know what else to do. Over the course of 6-8 hrs a fish went from completely 100% healthy to one eye looking blind and some apparent cloudiness starting in the other one. I had some kana on the way for another issue and to just restock I just don’t know what direction to take I guess bc I don’t know the cause. Best honest guess, another fish had a mark from sparing, perhaps sent out an infection to this one? I added vitachem in case it was a deficiency and the med trio, is there anything else i can do?

Hey all, with the med trio, is it less effective letting them soak in it rather then doing the recommended water change daily and reading of full dosage of meds or the same? Second question can kanaplex be used with it safely or is it not recommended? Thanks in advanced Redosing not reading***

Wonderful chatting with you earlier, love the topic and love the species and look forward to what everyone has to say, I’ll try to keep things brief… I tried a few types of caves as I heard they are a cave spawner and they seemed to like right fitting, open ended pvc the best cut to approx 6 in, although this one is checking out a larger longer piece. (Sorry for the algae) offered them many size caves both open and closed, this one was in the uplift tube of a coop sponge filter, never showed breeding activity in it but loved to hang out there it’s a relatively heavily planted 10 gallon running an undergravel filter with a deep layered substrate however I have had them in different set ups, it wasn’t until this one I saw eggs but it may have been bc they were finally mature enough. This pic is to show a potted anubias I have in the tank that I had to bring over from there last tank bc they loved laying in it so much, when I can’t find them I look here first you can vaguely see 2 of them in there currently.as far as feeding goes, I feed a varied diet, many many options. Mine don’t seem to care for blanched vegetables, there favorite foods are protein rich, carnivore pellets and they do well with larger sizes as shown in this picture. They graze on the algae all day or at least appear too but really get active when new foods are introduced, sometimes I feed flakes or nano pellets or wafers also but it’s important it gets to the bottom bc they don’t seem to travel up for the food they wait for it to hit the substrate. typical breeding behavior looks like this, very similar to plecos they breed in caves and are egg layers, then the female is kicked out and the male fans the eggs to keep them from growing fungus. I’ve seen eggs twice, relatively small clutches and haven’t for quite a while and neighter time saw any fry so this is as far as I’ve gotten. I’m hopeful I will be able to breed and successfully raise this peaceful fish, they are super fun to watch.

Hey all, I have a few questions: I’m terrible with dosing so I’m hoping someone can make this simple for me… 1. How much salt do I need to add to a 10 gallon tank for the optimal raising of baby brine shrimp to adulthood? (Preferably in Tablespoons) 2. How much salt do I need to add when changing water? (Preferably in Tablespoons) 3. How much and how often do I feed spirulina powder? anything else I should know or any other tips gladly appreciated thanks…

If that’s a worm of some sort inhabiting the tank I’ve never seen one like it, interested to see what someone more well versed has to say. Side note, in my experience loaches and puffers handle any snail problems I run into, the problem ends up being not enough snails lol

Interested in peoples answer to this question as I’ve just recently started with repashy foods

Im sorry to hear about your loss. Let me start off by saying your being proactive about this rough situation and I’m sure many myself included can empathize from experience. It is almost impossible to 100% determine even with symptoms livebearer illnesses as there could be so many causes, even experienced keepers struggle from time to time. With that being said I would start off by taking an inventory of the tank. List everything, for example: glass tank, rock substrate (inert) potted anubias, SpongeBob pineapple decor, sponge filter, fluval 3.0 light, heater etc….after you have your list I would go through it and list anything dosed or fed as well. Has anything changed recently since you’ve seen the issues? Next step would be test the water and check parameters to see if anything is off. Is it a new tank or has it been set up? From there I would make sure my equipment is functioning properly example: heater didn’t malfunction, filter is working. Is the food your feeding different, new or expired? There’s so many variables within our control but even more outside of it. If everything is checking out it’s possible that they carried the illness since you’ve had them, or were just old or something stressed them, or other, and perhaps it’s just an isolated set of incidences. Salt is a good treatment for a wide range of things , so is the med trio (that’s what I use). How are the other inhabitants, it’s important to monitor. I use a system of checks and balances or rather process of elimination to make sure I didn’t do something first then I move on to the next step which is meds. I’m sorry this is long your situation just really hits home for me, I hope something in here might help. As far as specific meds if you’ve chosen salt, the coop website has dosing instructions which may help as well as some info on meds that treat a wide range of things that could be physically effecting the inhabitants of the tank.

It would depend on the amount your feeding. How many tanks and how heavily stocked as well as how many times, and how much your time is worth. There’s a lot of factors involved although I think it’s a cool experiment. I think it would be dependent upon the person and what they feed. May be possible to generalize though I’m curious to peoples answers as well, I can say in my case the brine doesn’t go as far as the dry goods foods based on the price however I do feed it and rotate it in often.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it unless it’s altering your parameters drastically or you absolutely hate looking at it, it actually has been said to carry some beneficial properties as well. Water changes help a lot, I’ve also heard of people using carbon to remove tannins, I would assume it’s short term shrimp safe although I would fact check that just to be sure as I’ve never done it personally.

Jabba puffed up, not the best picture quality but it was cool to see

Hard to tell from pic, 1st picture looks like uneaten food that is rotting to me, it could be algae as well though, second pic looks like the start of a form of hair or BBA those are my best guesses

Stare down Jabba Other Dragon Puffer in photo (still unnamed) -3rd is hiding and noticeably more timid -they are eating snails and this one is starting to show interest in food other then live the other needs more time -2 platies left of 8 so I’m assuming the puffers got them they were very interested in them - interaction has been minimal they are aware of each other and some very very mild sparing over cave but other then that they stay in there sections of the tank when not hunting snails or exploring

I kind of want a breeding pair of something small for my empty 10 like bettas or hillstream loaches, but have also considered doing a little diy and setting up a live food culture of some sort (probably adult brine shrimp) and getting it to auto feed some of my other tanks. No idea what direction I’m going basically every tank I see right now I daydream about bc I have an empty one 😅

I’ll preface by saying this is not based on scientific evidence but only years of experience growing plants in my own hard water. My educated guess would say they probably have a harder time with it, however I would follow that up by saying it’s been negligible for me. They grow like crazy when there specific needs are catered too regardless of the water. Root feeders need a ton of nutrients at the roots, column feeders benefit from nutrients dosed in the water, and there’s “almost” no such thing as enough light for most of the plants you listed. I would focus on dialing in the nutrients and lighting rather then remanufacturing the water itself. There’s always going to be plants we struggle with but lastly bc you mentioned it, my swords were days away from death, I all but gave up, then I pulled them, planted them in pots with dirt and clay based substrate capped with sand, and now they easily fill up a 40 gallon they are so big, so small adjustments can yield large results, I hope this helps.

Update: I could not find the meds listed so I ran a 5 day treatment of Maracyn and ick x together. I medicated daily after approx a 30% water change. 5 days of this seemed to really clear everything up, the effected female is back to 100% however there is one in there that still has a patch of whatever it is behind the head. My question is, is it safe to continue the daily treatments, the bottle says 5 days so I figured I would ask the professionals… should I continue the treatment?

“Jabba” Unnamed Dragon Puffer 1 Unnamed Dragon Puffer 2

Yes I had one “Jabba” he’s very large and I acquired 2 more. They are currently all hidden in there, my plan is to journal using pictures and try to document things as they progress, I’ll try to get a good picture of them tomorrow if they will let me