Arkis

I looked into suggested desinfection of the aquarium but I can't do it. There is thriving colony of snails which I do not want to loose but most importantly the whole aquarium is fully grown and I do not want the plants to die and start all over again. I will try to leave the aquarium running for a few months. Then I will buy one neon tetra like a "canary in the mine". If the tetra survives for few months I can tell the bacteria is gone.

Even on the website you postel it says "Filtration/Flow Rate: Prefers well-filtered water with a strong flow rate". Acaras are very sensitive to nitrates and overall water quality. In unfiltered aquarium I can't get such nice levels like with a canister filter thus it would be really hard to keep them. Well, not with daily water changes but that's not what I want to do. Also the temp are lower than they would like to be in.

Hello, I am starting a (200 litres / 53 gallons). I want an Amazonian biotope but without active filtration. I have lots of plants, moss and active soil which should maintain the chemical cleaning in good levels. The aquarium has no heater and no filtration. The only accessory is LED light for plants. What south american fish could be thriving in these conditions? The temperature is around 21°C (70°F) in winter and 26-28°C (79°F-81°F) in summer (during temp peaks). Right now there are only snails and Corydoras in the aquarium. I am not sure if I want for example one pair of some medium-big fish or a school of smaller fish. Both options are possible and I will choose only by the looks and needs of the fish. I was looking on some Akara blue fish but they are not really hardy (they are very much dependable on the quality of the water) and they need warmer water. Thank you for your suggestions.

Update after few months. All fish except Corydoras Aeneus are dead. I sent two dead fish to the laboratory and they found Pleistophora hyphessobryconis on the Hasemania and Ramirezi. Unfortunately it is untreatable. Now I have empty aquarium with just snails and Corydoras Aeneus. I do not know when I can put new fish to the aquarium. If the aquarium was empty the bacteria would die in 2-3 months because they would not have a breeding ground. But the Corydoras are all looking fine and I do not know if they are immune to this bacteria or if the spread is much slower in them.

To be honest I have never put salt in the aquarium because I am afraid for Corys. After reading some articles this amount should be fine. So after today's water change I will add 130 grams of salt (man, that feels like a lot but I did the conversions multiple times - the aquarium is 200l but there is a lot of stones and wood so I count it as 150l).

So, we are in the second half of the treatment. Yesterday I found dead Hasemania. There are 4 more Hasemanias that looks sick (are tilted while resting and only when alerted/fed they get straight. They also have white patches on them (not fungus). It looks like it is under the skin. That, in combination with the white lips, is indicator of cottonmouth (Columnaris bacteria). So I think we found out what is killing the fish. The Sera Baktopur direct should kill this bacteria, but because we tried to treat the aquarium with eSHA products before, the bacteria might be more resilient today. So the treatment maybe will have to be prolonged.

Patrick: There are some pretty good scapers in here. I think somebody from our country was like top 20 in some worldwide competition month or two ago but I am not focusing much on it. Honestly I wouldn't even call our aquarium "aquascaping". It's just two roots connected and the lava stones connected so the fish have caves and crevices they can hide in.

Thanks a lot for the explanation. I believe you meant Bactopur direct, not active. I found on the sera website that it has that active agent. I ordered 24pcs package today. Hope it will help. I will keep you updated. Thanks a lot once more.

Today in the morning I found the third Ramirezi and He's not looking good. Compared to the other two he is dark, the orange "forehead" is almost without color and dark. He lost some weight (hasn't been eating for last 2 days and does not want to eat today either). He also have little bit bulged eyes and is rapidly breathing. I uploaded some photos and videos on imgur. https://imgur.com/a/r9Sxy7w

Keeg: I will make some water changes. Also I am using Seachem Purigen (which is out of filter while using medications) and it should absorb medications. Unfortunately I am from Czechia (central Europe) and these medications are not sold here. But I found what active substances your suggested medication use and there are some alternatives. Problem is that the alternatives are made for humans so I have no clue about dosing it to aquarium. Also one of the medication is only for prescription in my country so no luck with that. Colu: I heard about Sera baktopur but in the shop they told me it will kill most of bacteria in the aquarium (even the good ones) so it's like starting a fresh aquarium from the beginning. But I think I have to do it or else I will loose all the fish. I think there is no chlorine in the water. When doing water changes I am adding Seachem Prime and the water is rested at least 6 hours. The tests I am using have the lowest value of <0,8 mg/L of Chlorine (There is no 0 on the chart.). I always have that lowest value. PS: If you like the Rams, check this photo from last week of them keeping the eggs. 🙂They spawned for second time and it got eaten again. We have hatchery at home but on the internet we found that first 3-4 spawns should not be kept because they are not used to breeding because of age (eggs can be bad or the male is not fertilizing eggs properly).

Hello, I really need help with our aquarium. In June we settled new south american 200l aquarium. After 3-4 weeks we added first fish (20x Hasemania nana, 8x Corydoras panda) and snails (Planorbarius corneus) to it. All the parameters were looking good. In this state we planned to get 4x Ramirezi Electric Blue but they were out of stock at that time. Unfortunatelly after around 2 weeks in the Corydoras started to die. There were no symptoms on them. No red gills, no holes and the poop looked normal. They just stopped swimming, started to lay on the ground and then they just died. One by one, around 4-7 days apart. In the end we ended up with only 2 Pandas. We had no clue what caused it and the seller (breeder) told us that sometimes it happens to them that they are too sensitive. So he told us to get Corydoras aeneus that they are much more hardy. So we bought 10 Corydoras aeneus from him and 4 Ramirezi el. Blue and everything was okay from then. After another month I have noticed that some of the Hasemania nana started to hide. They got separated from the school and hid behind the rocks or plants. While feeding them I noticed that they have some "pimple" on their mouth. I got an advice that I should immediately get eSha 2000 and eSha Exit and start to add it daily to water according to manual. Two weeks in, the medication seems to do nothing. The pimple on the mouth was gone and it was replaced by a hole. So after telling this to the breeder he suggested to get eSha Hexamita instead of eSha 2000. After 3 more weeks of applying eSha Hexamita and eSha Exit it seems to not help. So far 4 Hasemania nana and 1 Ramirezi have died and I am desperate for help. Second Ramirezi has started to hide today and is really pale and heavy breathing. I think he will not last long. The worst thing is that to this day I have no clue what is killing the fish in the aquarium. Only the Corydoras looks normal. The two Pandas started to school with Aeneuses and are fine. But the Hasemanias and Ramirezis are slowly dieing. If somebody can help me I would be really gratefull. The water parameters are NO2: 0 ppm NO3: 20-30 ppm chlorine: less than 8 ppm (there is no 0 in the result sheet) tempterature: 25-26°C water hardness: around 1,2 mmol/l (about 6,5 °dH) pH: 6.5 but the medication lowered it. Usually it is around 7-7.5 Greetings, Jan from Czechia.