ArtemisCai

I'm a noob but I have 5 Hillstream loaches. I have a HoB and also a sponge filter. I keep the tank between 70-72 degree F. I have sand substrate with lots of rocks and plants. I have 3 fans, 1 small one that runs almost continuously. I just purchased a lot more rocks that I will be setting outside in the sun in water so they grow algae. I will then be doing a continuous rock swap with the ones in the tank so they have a nice supply of algae to graze on.

I do not have anywhere to get cycled media from. I do not know anyone who had fish. My Fritzyme is not expired. I will try putting it in the filter. I will order some Seachem Safe and continue with water changes if the nitrite and ammonia are still present. Thank you!

Thank you, I do have Co-op coarse sponge in my HoB. I put it in for the first time the day I replaced the poly pad. I also bought the ammonia filter pad from Co-op. I added that yesterday when I did my water change. I'm hoping it scrubs out the ammonia. I have hard water here. My pH, GH, KH and TDS are on the high range.

Hello Fish Friends, I made a noob mistake. So my new 37 gal. planted tank cycled in about just over 3.5 weeks. I did a fishless, planted cycle. My parameters were good, plants had new growth, I had algae, everything was great! I added fish snails and shrimp, everything was still great. A few days later added some Hillstream loaches and everything was going along swimmingly. I took some filter media out of my HoB to hurriedly jump-start a quarantine tank because I had a fish arriving through the mail that I was not expecting ( long story, my previous post tells the tale. https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/15305-frustrating-experience-ordering-fish-online/?tab=comments#comment-126385 ). Still everything is going good, my water parameters are stable, everything was as good as I could hope it would be. This is when I made a noob mistake. My water was cloudy and I had never changed the filter media in my HoB and it was looking pretty nasty. I figured that putting clean media in it might clear up the water. I thought it would be fine since I still have the sponge filter sponge and a large intake sponge with good bacteria on it in my tank. I did not clean the HoB at all, just replaced the media, but that was enough to get something off. A couple of days after that I started getting small spikes of ammonia and nitrites. So far I have not had ammonia over 0.25 or nitrites over 0.50 and my nitrates have been between 10-20. I have done water changes everyday since the ammonia and nitrite presented. I added Fritzyme 7 during 2 of the water changes. Still everyday, I have ammonia and nitrites. Am I doing the right thing by doing water changes everyday? I didn't add Fritzyme 7 when I did today's 50% water change because after the last two times I added it, it didn't really seem to help. Am I doing the right thing doing water changes everyday? Am I making it worse? I'm not sure what to do.

https://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-scitulus

I'm probably just going to have to wait until he is bigger like @Colu said.

I was making my assumption off of the information on loaches.com https://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-ctenocephalus I do see what you are saying. Especially about his dorsal fin. I was just thinking that maybe because he is still so young, the color has not shown up on his dorsal fin yet. Is that possible? I'm a noob, what do I know. lol It was particularly this section where it mentions the tail markings: "The dorsal fin has bold pale blue markings, and the caudal fin has bold horizontal pale blue stripes with black lines between them. The caudal pattern in G. scitulus has vertical breaks in the horizontal pattern, and the dorsal is normally lacking any blue spotting." Roomba's tail looks a lot like the picture and the description of Gastromyzon ctenocephalus. His tail has solid lines, without breaks. Also, you can't really tell from the photos, but in the tank they look pale blue. Is it possible he could be a half breed? Does that even happen?

Welcome to the forum!

I'm also new to the forum. Welcome!

We have Hoover, Kirby, Dyson, Eureka, Shark and now Roomba. My granddaughters have named all of my Shimp, "Shrimpy" and all of the snails "Snaily". 😄

We have named him Roomba to go along with our vacuum theme.

I'm pretty sure after getting a better picture of him this evening that he is Gastromyzon ctenocephalus. He fits the description to a T.

I got a better look at my new mystery loach in the quarantine tank and I think it is possibly Gastromyzon ctenocephalus. It matches the description and photos on this site https://www.loaches.com/species-index/gastromyzon-ctenocephalus I may be way off because I'm a Noob Nerm, but all signs seem to be pointing to this being the one. Any thoughts? Story of how I got him/her is in my other post : https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/15305-frustrating-experience-ordering-fish-online/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-126781 He is really small slightly over an inch, so I am guessing he is young.

Yeah, I was just discussing this with my Husband and daughter-in-law today. I told them them I will probably wait until cooler months before ordering any more livestock online. It is just too hot here. I'm not willing to take that risk again.

This actually made me laugh out loud. 🤣