Kathy F

My 17 year old has Natural Killer Cell functional deficiency due to his partial 7q monosomy genetic syndrome and we have kept aquariums for years. I have had one set up near his hospital bed for 2 years now with no issue. He doesn't do the maintenance due to his disabilities but we have not had any incidences. Always a good idea to wash your hands when you care for any animals fecal output and fish do poop in the water so yes, I do wash my hands after they have been in the aquarium but hand washing precautions are universal for all animals not just fish. If you are really concerned you can talk to your doctor directly about it and get their input. Your doctor is really your best source for information in regards to health impacts of your various life activities.

In regards to OP I find that Omega One foods have the best meeting point in regards to three criteria I have; easy to find (most places carry the line), good ingredients (not as many filler and uses whole ingredients instead of fish meal), price point (usually only a dollar or two more then cheaper brands like Aqueon or Tetra). I haven't used NLS tropical foods but I have used their goldfish pellets and algae wafers with success.

I had planned to use Swiss tropicals corner matten filter in my 75 gallon but wound up setting up in the middle of the room instead and for that application I prefer the regular sponge filter. The appeal of a corner matten filter against the wall is because I use black backgrounds on my goldfish tank and a black corner matten filter would have blended in quite well with the background. I have no desire for the regular matten filter because I find them unappealing visually but I'm sure for a ulitarian tank they would be awesome. Rachel O'Leary did a video on a corner matten filter she installed if you want to look it up. Also I remember watching a video of Simply Betta setting up a regular matten filter for some of her tanks.

I swear I read something about this once but I can't recall the details. The issue was specific to pearlscales and I don't keep them so I didn't pay much attention. Your best bet is try a goldfish specific group or forum. Maybe message Gary Hater on Facebook (long time goldfish breeder) to see if he has insight.

I bought a whole box of tubes after I broke one of the tubes. This is what I bought Amazon.com : API REPLACEMENT TEST TUBES WITH CAPS For Any Aquarium Test Kit Including API Freshwater Master Test Kit 24-Count Box : Aquarium Test Kits : Pet Supplies Each tank had its own set of test tubes. I switched to Aquarium Coop test strips once they started making their own strips. I'm so glad I made the switch because I find I test a lot more then I used to so I'm catching problems quicker. I hated using the master test kit because it took 10 minutes to test one tank, now I can test all my tanks in 10 minutes with the test strips. Aquarium Water Test Kits for Tanks with Freshwater Fish & Live Plants – Aquarium Co-Op (aquariumcoop.com) It did take me a few tries to get the hang of the test strips but now it is second nature.

So sorry, if he died that quickly then he wasn't savable because it had already advanced too far. Dropsy is tricky because it has so many causes some causes are treatable some aren't.

I have treated dropsy successfully twice; This routine has successfully cured a lionchu and a guppy. I can't guarantee it will work in your situation because dropsy is a symptom with multiple causes so results will differ depending on the actual disease process taking place. I do a combo of epsom salt, metroprazole infused fish food and Kanaplex. I use a very weak dilution of epsom salt in the main tank. I will keep the epsom salt in there three days and then slowly phase it out over the next three days. They get Kanaplex at the concentration recommended on the package but I do large water changes every single day so their tank needs to be retreated every day despite the manufacturer saying to retreat every 48 hours also I ignore the package on longevity of treatment and treat for 10-14 days. The medicated fish flakes are given over a 6 day period twice daily. Basically lots of clean water, 2 prong attack to address multiple possible causes of dropsy and epsom salt to ease the swelling but just for the first few days. I am sure other experienced fish keepers have their own methods of treatment this is just what has been successful for me.

I would definitely try frozen blood worms, very few things in my fish room can resist bloodworms. Frozen Dapnia is another favorite but it doesn't cause nearly the same level of feeding response as bloodworms. Not sure if it is the color or the smell but bloodworms has been irresitable for everything I keep. Bloodworms got my gold laser corydoras eating again after the stress of shipping. Another option is to soak the food in garlic to make it more enticing. I agree with treating for parasites. A good all around parasite med that doesn't need to be ingested is API General Cure/Fritz ParaClense (same med just different brands). I had glodanios ship in with internal parasites 2 weeks back and the meds started working right away, the sunken bellies slowly disappeared over a 3 day period.

As for guppies, my experience has been slightly different. I had mass die off of guppies that were shipped but the ones I bought locally were fairly robust. I'm not entirely sure if difference was due to water differences or the stress of shipping that lead to the deaths. Either way IME the best chance of success is to buy from a LFS that quarantines before selling the fish that way the LFS takes the loss and sells the healthy fish that are already aclimated to your local water. I have done an all male guppy tank and it was beautiful and everyone did great (after I started sourcing local guppies SIP the guppies that were shipped in). I also have the male guppies in now with females and again everyone is doing great but male guppies are sexually aggressive so if you do a mix of male and female I would do 1 male for every 2-3 females to spread that male attention out over several females. Babies will survive in the adult tank if you give them enough hiding places which is what I do. The slow babies become food which is a good thing because they replicate like rabbits so you definitely want some of them to be picked off to keep the population down. I actually prefer the all male tank set up because it is less hassle and you don't have to deal with babies but both set ups worked for me. Also for new arrivals make sure you check for diseases and if anything dies automatic water change, dead bodies foul water incredibly quick. Good luck. I don't keep shrimp, I have considered them in the past but after looking up care requirements it was definitely more then I wanted to do. Up to you if you want to take that on but I will not and have run into a similar issue with my kiddo. We have a glofish tank for my son but if I let him get what he really wanted it would have been a saltwater clownfish tank. Mommy was definitely not signing up for the whole RO/DI, salt mixing maintenance that goes into maintaining a clownfish tank. Sorry kiddo, but you will have to visit Nemo and Marlin at the pet store instead.

Algae Wafers - I just spent a lot of time researching this because I only just started keeping algae eating fish (borneo spotted & otos). I about drove myself crazy today trying to find an algae wafer that was mainly vegatarian and not some wafer shaped fish meal conglomeration. I finally settled on New Life Spectrum Algaemax Wafers, no clue if it is any good but the ingredient list at least didn't start out with heavy protein for a primarily vegetarian fish. I had been feeding Top Fin algae wafers currently but they have way too much protein in them IMO although the fish did adore them. Goldfish - My fave is Omega One Goldfish sinking pellets & Fluval Vegetarian pellets, I mix them and feed 50/50 Fry - Hikari Fancy Guppy, Hikari First Bites Livebearers - Hikari Fancy Guppy, Fluval Bug Bites Tropical Flakes, Sera Spiralina tabs (primarily buy for the mollies but the guppies and gourami swarm the tabs as well) Betta - I use floating ZooMed betta pellets because he is almost completely blind. I make sure to make a clinking noise when I drop the pellets in and drop in the same place and the fact they are bright red makes it easier to find for him. Before he went blind my fave was Omega One Betta Buffet but that is too hard for him to locate with poor vision especially since they are slow sinking so tend to move around. Glofish - Hikari Fancy Guppy, Fluval Bug Bites Tropical Flakes Corydoras - I'm still working on finding a good dry food for them. The Tetra Cory Wafers our LFS recommended completely blows my cories won't eat it and the ingredients aren't the greatest anyway. My cories primarily survive off frozen foods, Repashy Community Plus and leftover fish food from the other fish in the tank. Also feed a lot of Repashy (my faves so far are Super Gold and Soilent Green) as well as frozen food. Also I primarily feed the Repashy Community Plus to my cories but I was pleasantly suprised to find that my older fry nibble at it as well.

I prep and store the Repashy in tupperware containers that go through the dishwasher, been doing that for 18-24 months with no real issues.

I love Repashy for my goldfish but the rest of my fish the results have been more mixed. I used to feed Repashy because the livebearers wouldn't out compete the corydoras for the food but they have since decided it is delicious and now there is nothing I can throw in the tanks that they will not swarm and keep the corydoras from eating; I'm back to feeding very heavily to make sure some food makes it to the bottom again. I'm thinking about hiding some under the Amazon Sword where the cories hide out to see if they will actually get a crack at it before the devouring horde descend.

When my giant betta died, I turned the tank into a male guppy tank. They are colorful and active. Shrimp would be cool also but I wasn't in the mood to set up an RO/DI system to do it properly. I have always wanted to do a shell dweller tank or a pea puffer tank also and both set ups would work in a 10 gallon although not sure about the plants with the shell dwellers. I have also always wanted to do a school of ember tetras or celestial pearl danios with a school of pygmy corydoras. There are so many possilibilities I'm sure others could chime in with other stocking ideas.

My fancies are in an unheated tank but b/w the lights and 2 HOB filters, it actually runs hotter then my other tanks; Currently running at 79 degrees. They are fine and acting normal (some of them I have had for 3 years so I know their normal behaviors) so I have left the temp alone. If they started acting distressed I would attempt to cool things down. Weather here is starting to cool so in another month or two their tank should naturally drop into the low 70s and not hit mid 70s until April or so. As far as growth rates, I will say that one inch baby ranchu I picked up 2 months ago has trippled and is now a 3 inch fish and the 3 inch fish I bought in spring are about to hit the 5 inch mark so they are growing rapidly. I'm also doing frequent water changes 75% every 4 days to maintain water parameters.

Honestly, they will be more established when they start sending out more baby plants to multiple areas and it won't easily uproot when doing tank maintenance. Definitely take a few months or more though. Micros chain sword is incredibly easy to uproot. American vallisenria is my preference because it holds down better and you can trim it to the length you want kind of like you would your lawn.

They really dwell on the glass in my aquarium but borneo spotted loaches have been great in my 40 breeder. I haven't had any issues with my Julii Corydoras either but my planted aquarium is well established and I made sure there is a large bare area of sand for them btbh they tend to hang out in the planted section. Probably the best solution is just to allow your tank and plants to mature and then add a bottom dweller; It will give you something to look forward to later.

I have 4 ranchu and 3 lionchu who hoover that stuff up. I dump it in their tank at night and by morning it is completely gone.

I only really talk about it if I show them my tanks. Otherwise it doesn't really come up too much. I don't have high expectations for understanding. My sister called my Amazon Swords weeds, ouch but I do joke around with my family anytime they complain about their dogs chewing things up or pooping somewhere they aren't supposed to I always say "Funny, my fish are so well behaved they never leave their tanks."

Thanks, I decided to try San Francisco Bay Gum Drops Variety pack - Mix of Brine Shrimp, Bloodworms and Vegetable blister packs shaped like gum drops. I haven't fed any of it yet but I was impressed with the packaging it comes in a nice styrofoam container and the frozen portions are larger which is cool because I defrost first then split the defrosted portions b/w the tanks.

I spent around $200 on glofish for my son's tank (12 glotetras & 14 glodanios). He also just had to have the orange laser corydoras which are also pricey (nearly 100 for 8 of them). My son heard the word glow and his eyes lit up about the corys and after that I couldn't persuade him with something more common like albino or pygmy cories. Yeah, there are $300 worth of fish in his 29 gallon tank. The irony is when I started this tank I thought it would be cheap because it was a 29 gallon and my son wanted small fish, boy was I wrong.

Buying a 1-2 packages of frozen food is going way too quick. In my area, there is a big box store that sells San Francisco Bay bulk frozen boxes. Any particular favorites you have from San Francisco Bay? Currently feed Emerald Entree, Hikari bloodworms, Hikari brine shrimp and Hikari daphnia. Which frozen foods do you buy in bulk online? (We can't name stores but I know how to google so if you give the product details I can take it from there). In case it matters my fish I have currently are cory cats, mollies & fry, guppies & fry, fancy goldfish, glodanios, glotetras, otos and borneo suckers.

My Sister and BIL in Baton Rouge were extremely fortunate no house damage. They left to stay with us so they didn't ride out the hurricane.

I have used Caribsea Naturals sand. I have never rinsed it but I have also used it more as a top off in an established aquarium every 6 months before putting down root tabs. Also have the Caribsea Naturals gravel but I would rinse that because it comes prettty dusty.

I have a 5 gallon with a betta. He has a nerite snail and that is it. Even when he was young and active he never messed with the snail. He did hover near it the first day or two but that was it. If you do a nerite I only suggest getting one because if you get two or more they get busy and start laying unsightly eggs all over the tank.

When I was 7 I wanted fish, I don't know why but I did. My Dad got me a 10 gallon bought everything for it but a heater. The fish died overnight when it got too cold. Tried again with a heater and this time they survived (tank, decor & all fish came from Walmart this was several decades ago when they had a sizeable small pet section). I kept fish until my early 20's when I stopped going to Uni and working full time was just too much. Got back into it briefly once but quit because my marriage was falling apart and I had a 4 year old that needed me. Then got back into it again 3 years ago and have stuck with it. I started fish keeping again for my teenager but he showed no interest so then it became my tank. After 18 months he did start showing interest so now we have my tanks and his one tank which he watches from his bed.