Emma

Well, unfortunately I'm only just now getting back to this - I had knee surgery! Since I knew I wouldn't be able to try your recommendation @Colu, I've had her in a 5 gallon tank with slightly salty water (2 tablespoons/5 gallons). Surprisingly, six weeks later, she's still around and still very sassy! She's lost some body condition, but this next week I'll be off crutches and I'll (finally) be able to give this a try. Thanks for the advice!

I concur, I've had my 29 gallon running on a medium sponge filter and a nano air pump for over a year and it's doing great. I do have a small hang on back as well, but that's mostly for the water flow and sound. The sponge definitely seems to be doing most of the work.

The preschool tank I take care of has a lively school of serpae tetras, and the last several visits this particular female is looking extremely round. This time I noticed her vent is looking swollen? She's bright, alert, eats well, beats the crap out of the other fish, no buoyancy problems, and the water parameters are good. Is she just very full of eggs, or should I be worried about that vent? Thanks! -Emma

Thank you, everyone! I'm in California. Since I have no idea how it even got in my tank, I euthanized. If it is uroblaniulus carolinensis I don't think they're found around here, or at least a quick google didn't confirm those are in my area. It was hanging out on my marimo, and certainly quite a surprise. I have put some aspen cones in my tank recently, maybe that's where it came from. But I did boil them first!

I found what I’m pretty darn sure is a millipede in my tank. Is this a thing? Should I be concerned?? 🤔 It’s roughly an inch long and it’s hard to see but it does appear to have two pairs of legs per segment so I’m fairly certain it’s a millipede.

That’s really interesting! I only have 8 shrimp total so while it sucks it’s not an enormous loss. If I lose them all, I’ll probably wait six months and try again. But I have ich-x and a set up quarantine tank, so it’s no harm seeing if I can save the one I’ve found so far. But I’m definitely interested in your results, as I plan to have more tanks and more shrimp, someday.

Okay thanks, @Tihshho, @Ken. I have it separated in QT. Should I start with some salt or jump straight into meds? I have ich-x on hand, but I can pick up something else.

Just spotted a cherry shrimp with a fuzzy green addition to its rostrum. I couldn’t see anything elsewhere on its body, but the carapace does look generally dull and worse than it should. Any chance this is treatable? Or should I catch it out and euthanize?

Thanks for recommendations! I had been shying away from livebearers exactly because they multiply. I have no idea whatsoever what I would do with any extra. Maybe with something bigger for population control.

It's just the algae! It'll go away once everything's acclimated. I have a photo from several months ago (also during an ugly phase...). I added a pleco, knowing it would eat up my amazon swords, and I figured it wouldn't bother me. Turns out it did, so I pulled those out and added water wisteria instead, along with a couple of crypts. I pulled out the water sprite, too.

Hello! My name is Emma and I've been keeping fish since I was a toddler. I've only ever had one tank at a time, but I find a lot of joy in the hobby. Currently at home I have a heavily planted 29 gallon aquarium, with lots of pothos and a small as tree growing out the back. I just swapped out about half the plants in there, so we're going through an ugly phase while I re-balance everything 🙃. I've got harlequin rasboras, lamp-eye tetras, paleatus cories, otos, a clown pleco, a plakat betta, amano and cherry shrimp, one nerite snail, and a huge army of madagascar trumpet snails all living in harmony in there. I have also recently taken over care of the 50 gallon tank at my daughter's preschool. Currently it has one pictus catfish and one 10" sailfin pleco. I'll be seeking permission from the preschool to rehome the pleco for sure, and maybe the pictus as well. The rest of the inhabitants didn't survive covid (as no-one was allowed into the building to care for the fish 😔). I've thrown in a few windelov java ferns I had spare, but if anyone has suggestions for hardy, low maintenance "set and forget" fish for a tropical community tank that would be wonderful. I'm hoping to future-proof the tank as much as I can! -Emma

Thank you, that looks right! Now to find a bigger home for it 😄

I have just taken on caring for a 50 gallon tank at my daughter's pre-school. There's a huge pleco in there, at least 11-12" long, and I'm afraid to say I've never had a pleco before! I'm assuming it will need to find a new, bigger home, but to start with I have no idea what kind it is. Can anyone ID it for me?