genuine_red

I have 9 ember tatras in a 10 gallon tank that shoal. I had 15 green neons in a 12 gallon tank that truly schooled. I think if they shoal or school depends on the type of fish and if the width of the tank allows space for that behavior. 10 gallon dimensions: 19.5 in wide x 12 in tall x 9.5 in deep 12 gallon dimensions: 23.5 in wide x 15 in tall x 8 in deep (I found this strangely proportioned tank that fit perfectly on my 9 in deep fireplace mantle.)

Gasp! You do have to rinse Stratum, but not Eco Complete! Now I remember why it was in a ziploc. Months ago it was being used in a tank I was cycling. The Mopani driftwood in the tank kept getting that white fungus. I know that's normal, but it was extreme, like an inch thick. I kept removing it and scrubbing it clean, but it kept happening. I finally broke down the entire tank and soaked the wood in bleach water for about a month until it finally stopped stinking and getting the fungus. Then I let it soak a couple more weeks in clean water. Also, when I broke down that tank, I drained the Eco Complete and put it in the ziploc to be used for some other project. That stuff is expensive! I didn't reuse it on that tank rebuild because of the negative association. I changed to Stratum. So that Eco Complete was only drained (not rinsed) when it came from that fungus-tainted water months ago. It just never occurred to me that it could be a problem. <<Forehead slap!>> I don't know if that alone was it, or if adding the still-chlorinated water created a perfect storm. I had thought green neons were sensitive, but these guys had come through so much unscathed, I just took for granted their toughness. BTW, the third dwarf chain loach showed up, so that means the only fish affected were the green neons. Man, that hurts. Those poor little things. I'm so going to miss their schooling, the loaches chasing each other through that beautiful blue cloud. Thank you so much to everyone who responded to this post. Even though it was a tragedy, I hope it maybe helps someone else before they make the same mistake.

I changed the theme (see the bottom of every page). I switched if from "ACO 2 (Default)" to "ACO". I did that because of a suggestion about a different problem. I don't know if that made any difference, but it suddenly started working.

Thanks, I finally got it to work. Like magic!

Today I lost all but six of the fish in my 12 gallon tank. All 15 green neons went literally belly-up within 3 minutes as I watched in horror. I'm also missing one of my three dwarf chain loaches. So that's 16 of 22 of my treasured fish. Here's what happened. I purchased three sword plants from an online seller that I've bought from many times. They were the usual gloriously beautiful and healthy plants I've come to expect from this seller. Regardless of that, I'm still not stupid enough to not wash the plants, which I do by cleaning them under running water, trimming any questionable leaves and roots, then letting them soak in clean water. I didn't use any cleaning products, just water. I really don't think the plants were the culprit. Before planting them, I pulled up all the plants they were replacing, then did a thorough tank cleaning/water change. I did a gravel vac, removed about 2/3 of the water, and cleaned the HOB filter in the used tank water as always. I then planted the new plants and added some old Eco Complete to cover the roots*. All fish were lively as I cleaned, and curious about the new plants. * (This was extra substrate that had been rinsed a few months ago but not used. It was sealed in a ziplock bag with most of the air pressed out. It may be important to note that it's not the same substrate used in the rest of that tank--Fluval Stratum.) Then I refilled about seven of the eight displaced gallons with tap water (which I always use) with my python hose. (At this point, the fish were still okay, playing in the incoming water stream.) I could not immediately access my dechlorinator during the refilling (it was in a bathroom that was in use), but I thought "What the heck, I remember a YouTuber saying he doesn't put in the dechlorinator until after a refill and he doesn't have any problem." I mean, it was only about seven gallons ... Then the horror ensued. I turned off the tap and when I came back in the room, I discovered one green neon swimming upside down then another then six then ten then all of them. I immediately retrieved the dechlorinator and added it to the water. There were about five of the neons still twitching, which I gathered as quickly as I could and ran them to my very clean plant grow-out tank. They didn't make it either. I'm just heartbroken. I've had those beautiful little things for about 10 months, never losing one of them. I got them through a stubborn bout of ich, made drastic changes to the aquascape in their tank, and they were not bothered by the cyanobacteria outbreak last month that cleared up quickly with the use of a UV sterilizer. I don't know if the old substrate could have been tainted or moldy. It looks and smells fine. In total I only used about 1/2 cup of it. If it wasn't that, could it have been the chlorine? Neither the dead fish or the survivors (two dwarf chain loaches and four honey gouramis) look to have red gills. Poor little things. I haven't flushed them yet and some of them are still bright colored and their eyes are still lit blue. This morning I was excited to add my new plants to fill out the blank areas of that aquarium. Now I just wast to break it down.

Did this ever get figured out? I'm having the exact same thing. Posting from my android phone.

Great pearl gourami! I love how gouramis poke poke poke with those feeler things!

Happy Labor Day!

Thanks for the info and resources! The article sounds like I need a chemist lol. I'll stick with the easy green for now and try the excel after my water change tomorrow. (The green-fuzzy has about doubled since the pic I took yesterday!) I may also try not feeding that tank for a couple of days so the fish will "eat their salad," as I once heard it called. Fingers crossed one of these things will work!

I have three nano tanks (two 10 gals, one 12 gal). One 10 gal houses mainly guppies, the other houses mainly ember tetras. The 12 gal houses a mix of green neons, honey gouramis, and dwarf chain loaches. I used both petrified wood (stone) and mopani driftwood in the 12 gal. I also used mopani in the other tanks along with some seiryu stone, which is mostly used to prop up the wood and create retaining walls. I'm more of a wood person than stone. As for plants, I have various anubias, buce, crypts, and java fern in every tank (the basics) and I've also had good luck with rotala indica. I don't use c02 and I have medium strength LED lights. One super-easy plant that's outstanding for adding pinky-orange tones without c02 or high lights is dwarf aquarium lily. They're also in all my tanks. Good luck with your nano!

@Dice, if all the plants in the tank are from the same shipment, they're kinda already quarantining??

I wonder if trimming it short would work. Aquascaping YouTubers often trim carpeting plants and say that trimming encourages growth.

Wow! That is a huge difference! My water is very hard, but I don't know if that means I don't need ferts as often or more or less light, or maybe hardness isn't a factor ... I have three nano display tanks (10-12 gal) that get water changes at least once a week. The algae is now minimal in two of them. I think that's because I cut off most of the affected leaves. The other tank now has a type of green, furry stuff on the wood and substrate (see first pic). I've pulled the wood completely out and scrubbed it clean and picked out affected substrate, but it keeps coming back. I probably shouldn't be so picky since the aquarium looks great from a distance (see second pic) ... but I AM picky and that stuff is spreading. I'm going to try Seachem Flourish Excel. If full tank treatment doesn't work, I'll try spot treating. I really don't want to uproot my aquascape again to scrub the wood. The third and fourth pics are my tanks where algae is now minimal.

The first tank I put my new val in, it got thick and tall immediately. But I broke that tank down and moved the gorgeous val to a taller tank where it melted and has not come back particularly well. When the leaves get about 10 inches, they melt and float away. The plants always have new leaves coming in, but as soon as they get tall, they melt. It's been about eight months, but I'm waiting it out.

I spot treated hydrogen peroxide from a pipette on completely submerged plants and had great success, with the BBA turning red within 24 hours. SO, I confidently used it liberally on plants in another tank with disastrous consequences. Within 24 hours, the BBA was killed, along with one third of the fish and all four of the nerite snails. In another disaster, I pulled all plants with BBA and--again confidently--soaked them in straight peroxide for 5 minutes, then left them in clean water. Within 24 hours, every plant had melted. What was I thinking? I lost several anubias, buce, and crypts, all of which were fairly expensive. Lesson learned, (except I may spot treat in tiny doses on affected plants). I would love to learn how to avoid BBA altogether. It's difficult to determine what causes any type of algae since it's a mix of lighting (my lights are all on timers), ferts, and water parameters. And every tank suffers from different types/combinations of algae. In fact, the only tank with no algae is my plant qt tank, which runs no filter ... and also has no fish.

Beautiful tanks! Looks like you're having good luck with your plants. I couldn't keep bacopa alive either.

I've been aquascaping and keeping fish for a little over a year. I've been through several fish (unfortunately), many plants, a few tanks, and much equipment as I learn. All of my tanks have been nano, which I NOW know are quite time consuming if I want them clean, healthy, and beautiful. I admit my tanks are overstocked, but I do the upkeep to compensate. I currently have three planted tanks and one plant grow-out/quarantine tank. All tanks are running Seachem Tidal 35 HOB filters and airstones, and I do water changes at least weekly. Two of the tank lights are Hygger LEDs (cooler tone) and one is a Nicrew LED (warmer tone), and all are on timers for eight hours daily. Easy Green is dosed with each water change. Tank 1: 10 gallon Dennerle rimless cube, heavily planted, 4 blue tuxedo guppies, 3 home-bred black moscow guppies (all current guppies are male), 3 snow white rice fish, 3 Amano shrimp, and 2 pygmy cories. Tank 2: 12 gallon Aquatop rimless (tall, wide, narrow to fit on my fireplace mantle), fairly heavily planted, 15 green neons, 4 honey gouramis, 3 dwarf chain loaches, 4 nerite snails. Tank 3: 10 gallon Waterbox rimless, heavily planted, 9 ember tetras, 3 golden white cloud mountain minnows, 3 Amano shrimp. My tanks are stocked so heavily because the fish were consolidated from three additional nano tanks I no longer run. The rice fish have proven to be the most difficult to keep alive--10 of the original 13 have died from some wasting parasite disease or for unknown reasons. I love playful fish, so my favorites of those I have are the guppies, ember tetras, and dwarf chain loaches. I find plants more difficult to keep healthy and growing, even though I've stuck with beginner plants. Since I won't run co2 or super expensive lights on such small tanks, my plant choices are limited. I use Fluval Stratum for planting media, temp for all tanks is 76-78, water has high ph, extremely low kh, 0 nitrites, nitrates run around 20-40, and water hardness measures off the charts. I have managed to kill such easy plants as water sprite and guppy grass (GUPPY GRASS!). I've experienced brown diatom algae and cyanobacteria, and continue to battle green hair algae and BBA. I do keep trying new things and learning, so the frustration is worth it--especially when the room lights are out and the aquariums sparkle like jewels. I'm attaching pics of each tank. Some plants and inhabitants have changed since these were taken, but you'll get the general idea. As much as I love the nano aquariums, I'm going to trade up to a 40 gallon breeder. Aside from considerably less time spent on upkeep, the larger tank will give me more space to try some different, larger plants, and maybe co2. Other Things: I live in a 120-year-old Victorian house in Historic Old Louisville. I have a large collection of vintage and antique Steiff (stuffed animals made in Germany). And I make room boxes, which are like doll houses, but are single rooms or settings like a shop or garden--and are created within a box or other enclosed item. So that's me.