Lama

15 gallon column tank with 7.2 pH, 0 ammonia and nitrites, 20 ppm nitrates, KH 3, GH 6. Tank currently houses 5+Corydora, 9+cherry shrimp, and two Ottocinclus. Hope to put some ember tetra and maybe our Betta fish in eventually. We’ve been feeding small cubes of repashy (community and solient green) daily. The tank is cloudy today. I test the tank daily since it has the fry in it. Last water change was a week ago and that was due to higher nitrates. We were in the process of moving fish in in stages, when the Corydora decided to start breeding. Now we have some fry in the tank and they are about 1-2 weeks old. I was wondering how I go about vacuuming in the tank…or do I just forgo that for the time being? There is a definite layer of mulm and leaves breaking down on the bottom in addition to brown algae. It’s sort of killing me to not get in there but also don’t want to kill the fry. Also, when might we be able to put other fish like the ember tetra in the tank (right now they are on week two of quarantine)? At some point, I plan on thinning out the shrimp and Corydora to keep from overstocking.

Newish 15 gallon tank set up; since May. Still has lots of brown algae, but there is also this whitish fluffy stuff growing on the pogostemon stellatus octopus. The white stuff also has grown on the glass. Other plants include dwarf lily (second bulb as first one rotted), Monte Carlo, water sprite, golden Anubis, and tropica crypt. Sponge filter, 7.2 pH, 0 Ammonia and Nitrites, and 20 Nitrates. Kh 3, GH 6. The water is cloudy today. Led light that came with the Aqueon tank and is set for a 6 hour timer. I’m wondering what it might be and if I need to take a proactive approach to it?

10 gallon quarantine tank pH 7.2 ammonia .25 (it’s cycling after med treatment) nitrite 0 nitrate 5 KH 3 Temp 78 lots of floating stem plants, and java fern, bare bottom, 4 shrimp, possible some baby bladder snails which came in on plants, small sponge filter, we use R/O water and add Equalibrium for minerals, minimal decoration After getting these 10 ember tetra from Petco last week, we put the med trio in the day after they arrived. We lost two; one on day 2 and one on day 3. Performed a series of water changes to get the meds out; 50% one day, 25%, day after and 25% two days after (since the fish appeared to be struggling, hanging at surface, gasping, etc.). I realized I should have given them more time to be able to acclimate before medicating (thanks to info given on this forum). Now they seem to be doing great and I am wondering how to proceed. Do we 1) treat prophylacticly one of the meds (1st week Maracyn, 2nd week ich X, third week paracleanse) per week or 2) try treating all at once again, or 3) just treat with para cleanse and observe for several weeks without treating antibiotic or antifungal, unless needed. I realize some of this is probably a personal preference type of thing, but would appreciate input from more seasoned aquarists. I just worry about stressing them with meds again and also want to proceed the most efficient way as it is difficult to wait to add to show tank. 😉

Thanks for all the ideas! I do not have a power head…just got into the hobby last year. I do have it set up with an air stone to keep the bubbles on the smaller side; initially when I considered blocking off the tube in some way, I figured it would cause “glugging”. So my first experiment was to remove the green tube and see if that would solve the problem. The Otos can’t get down into the filter (inside the sponge), the widest part of their bodies get stuck in the cap (where the airline tubing and airstone connect). My thought was with the green tube gone, once they discover they can’t fit, they will at least be able to work them selves out in multiple directions vs. having to back themselves up the green tube. Hopefully it won’t be a problem anymore, but good to have something else I can try. Maybe this is a stupid question, but what might be the consequence of not having enough lift? Not enough surface agitation? Poor circulation? I’ve also seen (in an aquarium coop video) there is a way to attach/stack another sponge filter to the top of the bottom one. Would this solve the lift issue…if I notice problems?

jwcarlson, thanks for your input! I wasn’t sure if it would affect airflow if I were to put foam in the tube and opted to try removing the tube. I will keep it in mind as an option going forward. As for food supply, I don’t think that they are struggling for food but, perhaps there is a certain flavor of algae they might be in search of? I also wondered if they are interested in the current the airflow provides? It’s a heavily planted tank with Java moss, sword plants, Anubias, and a couple varieties of stem plants. There are also several natural rock caves to hide in/around. I also toss algae wafers and Repashi solient green in when I see the previous feeding is consumed usually every other day). Tank mates are 7 harlequin rasboras, 5 Corydora habrosus, and 5 baby cherry shrimp. There are also some bladder snails. 7.6 pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 20 ppm nitrates. GH 5.

I don’t have a photo of this, but have had two incidents of our Otocinclus going into the tube for the sponge filter and getting themselves wedged into the cap where the airline attaches. After the second occurrence in two weeks, I decided to remove the green plastic tube from the top and am hoping this doesn’t happen anymore. Might there be some other actions I can take to help prevent this problem? We have a size large Aquarium Coop filter in a 20 gallon planted tank. The Otocinclus seem to be ok so far; immediately after, I observed red scrapes on the fish around their head and gills. But the redness has improved and it seems to be eating (full belly) and flitting around normally.

Tobyroo, sorry for my delayed response. I also tried the med trio (two rounds of it) and Maracyn 2. The white bumps didn’t really change much after treatment; they got somewhat smaller and I never observed the fuzziness following treatment. However, there are still small white bumps visible. Only 3 of our 7 rasboras developed this condition and it never seemed to spread. I think we treated them last fall (not sure of the timing) and the rasboras are still doing well; eating, exploring, schooling, and sparing. It seems what I’ve read about this sort of thing, it could possibly just be some sort of callous? But the general consensus (from what I’ve seen) seems to be that it has happened to other rasboras and they don’t seem to affect the health of the fish themselves.

We are on a well and the water out of the ground is pretty hard; 14 KH and 13 GH with a pH of 7.2. I wanted to first take a water sample to the county for testing to make sure of what exactly contains. On a previous topic I had posted, someone told me I could mix in well water, but with caution. As an example, their well water is very high in CO2. I suppose the water should have been tested before we got an aquarium (since we use the water for ourselves), but out of sight, out of mind. I had previously seen the white fuzzy stuff on the mopani wood and thought that it may be the same thing growing on the stems and roots now. I was hoping it might be from that! The shrimp are well fed (for sure) and they come running when we put the Repashi community blend food in the tank every couple of days. Thanks for all the input, Del! I really appreciate it!

Well, GH is at 3…I haven’t tracked down Equalibrium locally yet. I was told that I could buy mineralized water from the store and add it into the water when I do water changes to bring the mineral content up. I believe we have some other sort of algae that is fuzzy and not green (maybe white or gray?). The fuzzy algae started up last week when I ran Maracyn and ich-X, or at least that’s when I noticed it. It’s on the stems and roots of plants. The med routine is also why the nitrates are so low, since we had to do water changes with the ich-x. We are treating the rasboras for suspected mouth fungus. It feels like there is a lot going on in our little tank! I have posted in the disease section for help with the rasboras. It’s technically supposed to be my son’s tank; his priority has been the shrimp. When I suggested a beta, he was not fully on board since they can have sort of a mean reputation. I agree it would help give the tank an extra pop. He does like the idea of kuhli loaches! And so far the shrimp seem to be doing well. They’ve been growing and molting.

Parameters are good as of now. I use RO water. 6.8 pH, 0 ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, 4 KH. I use easy green, root tabs, and flourish excel for plants. Not sure if KH should be higher for the invertebrates.

Oh! I had thought about maybe adding Amano shrimp, since I had read that the Amanos are better at algae clean up. The Nerites, so far, don’t seem to be keeping up with algae on the plants. I let the back side of the tank grow stuff and the Nerites tend to hang out back there mostly. The cherry shrimp seem to make their rounds on various plants of the tanks. But the moneywort (especially) is growing some brown algae. Also, this is the second batch of Nerites since the first ones expired; unfortunately they were subjected to our tank cycling (before I knew about that process). These Nerites are pretty but, they don’t seem very active; they fall from the glass side and then we have to flip them over since they can’t right themselves on our substrate. The river snails seem great though! Would the Cherry shrimp would get the brown algae if we have more of them working? Kuhli loaches are interesting to us too!

Also, we currently have a HOB filter and preset heater which came with the aquarium kit. But I will be switching to a sponge filter soon. I also want to get a better heater so we can make adjustments if necessary.

I am not getting any new fish yet, but instead am trying to plan ahead. We have a 15 gallon columnar planted tank. It has Fluval stratum substrate, Nikko rocks for several caves, and a piece of wood. It is cycled. As of now, we have 7 Harlequin Rasboras, 3 Corydora hasbrosus, 3 cherry shrimp, and several snails (Nerite and river). I was wanting to get some more corys eventually. And I was thinking it would be nice to have some Otocinclus to help with algae on plants. How many more Corys and how many Otocinclus would our tank comfortably be able to house? We change water every week to two weeks and keep an eye on the parameters frequently/sometimes daily (since we are new to this hobby).

I had read about the scar tissue/blister idea as well. But after some time I observed the spots having a fuzzy appearance and decided to medicate. Hopefully, the meds help and it goes away!

Ok, I did complete a dose of ich-X and Maracyn; following dosing instructions on the package Day 1-5. I will do a second round.

Yes, at one point, near the end of the month of August, I did observe the fuzzy appearance on a couple of their mouths. I didn’t get a photo then. This photo was taken this morning and I had a difficult time getting it….they don’t hold still long. No fuzziness now though, just small white bumps on a couple fish.

Hello. We have a 15 gallon planted tank with 7 harlequin rasboras, 3 Corydora hasbrosus, 3 cherry shrimp, and several snails. I would appreciate advice on treatment of the rasboras. Several of them started having trouble with white bumps by and on their mouths. They and the shrimp were the original inhabitants of the tank and unfortunately went through the tank cycling (before I knew a thing about water chemistry!). They survived and seemed fine for a couple weeks or so until I noticed the white spots on some of their mouths. At that time they also were glass surfing a lot, despite normal water parameters. I treated the tank with a course of ich-x, ParaCleanse, and Maracyn; the five day course. But the some of them still have smaller white spots. The glass surfing has stopped and they seem happy. My next thought was to set up a hospital tank (I just now am gathering items for) and try dosing with salt. But I was also wondering, if I should just continue dosing with ich-x or a combination of ich-x and Maracyn to see if I can get the spots to go away completely? Yesterday was day 5 of the meds trio treatment. The corys are relatively new to the tank and I worry about overtaxing their systems and that is why I was considering trying salt next with the rasboras in a hospital tank. Any advice is valued greatly. pH 6.8, KH 4, 0 nitrites, ammonia and nitrates. The highest levels (on different days) while cycling were: 7.8 pH, .5 ppm ammonia, 2 ppm nitrites, and 5ppm nitrates.

You are right, Tihshho, we do only have a RO unit and not an RO/DI unit. I had wondered it it might be beneficial to mix well water (pre-softener) with RO water; that ability could be useful, especially if we decided to get more tanks. I tested the parameters of our well water (drawn from an outdoor spigot) along with the GH and KH. It showed 0 ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. As for any contaminants, I couldn’t say and have thought to take a sample in for testing at the county office. A larger storage tank for reserve RO water would be luxurious! I have recently learned about making sure to provide fertilizers for the plants, thanks to aquarium co-op videos. We now have easy green and root tabs to work into the regimen. I really never realized all that caring for an aquarium entails. I do enjoy it and it has been fun to get into with my son.

Hello all! My son and I forayed into this world of aquarium keeping in June of this year. We set up a 15 gallon columnar tank with a HOB filter (with a surface skimmer we added later), preset heater, Niko rock for caves, Fluval stratum substrate, several types of plants. We currently have 7 harlequin rasboras, 3 cherry shrimp, three Nerite snails, and two river snails that came in on some duckweed we tried (we’ve since removed the duckweed as it was complicated to deal with while using the skimmer). We’ve been learning as we go and have made some mistakes along the way. However, we’ve also had some successes. I have been wondering what my best option for water in the health of our tank and it’s flora and fauna might be. We are on softened well water but, have access to RO water (we have two gallon tanks and a pumped system). I’ve been using the RO water in the aquarium since I figured the salts in the softened water would not be good for the plants. It is somewhat of a process to do water changes since I have to save up water if we need to do a water change of any substance. My understanding is RO water has minerals and elements removed from it, which may not be optimal for plants or invertebrates. The well water seems to have a lot of iron in it; I have not measured it in any way, just based on how it stains things orange. This is not uncommon in northern IN. Currently the GH in the tank measures at 5, the KH is at 3, and the pH is 7.0. From the RO faucet the GH is 1, KH is 1, and pH is 7.6. From the well (before softening), the KH is 14, the GH is 13, and pH is 7.2. My questions are: Is RO water the best option for use in our aquarium? Will the lack of hardness in the water adversely affect the invertebrates? (The shrimp seem to be molting and growing so far). As for pH in the aquarium, it has vacillated between 6.6 (in the very beginning before fish were added) and 7.8. Most frequently it is around 7.2. How much pH fluctuation do the inhabitants of the tank tolerate (last week it measured 7.8 and today it is at 7.0)? The rasboras have been glass surfing a lot and I’m wondering if it’s the pH fluctuations. We are anxiously looking to add 6 special ordered Corydora Hasbrosus sometime soon. We want to make sure we are set up for success. I greatly appreciate all and any input!