Zac

I’ve glued mine to driftwood with no problem. As long as you keep the glue to the bottom and don’t cover it there shouldn’t be an issue

Salt is the first thing that I think of. With plants I put 1 TBSP per 10 gallons. Is the rhizome healthy?

You’d be better off using RO water that’s re-mineralized probably

If it’s only been 2 weeks it’s probably normal melting. If it continues then you can reevaluate

Me too. I add 2-3x the dose twice per week. Each time I dose I should be adding no more than 10ppm. Which is why I’m a bit puzzled as to why I’m at 40 when floating plants are nitrate busters. The co-op test strips said 10 but I don’t really trust those. Also I’ve read about api kits being inaccurate. I’ll test again in a couple days since there’s no immediate emergency and see where I’m at. Maybe I’ll cut the doses by half and dose twice per week or something

Right. All I have are some snails, 6 Khuli loaches, an opaline gourami, and 4 Amano shrimp. I feed once a day and once every other day I’ll drop a small amount of repashy in the tank. Bio load is fairly small and plant mass is far more than fish mass. I have a fair amount of anubias and the surface is covered with frogbit and duckweed, I have some crypts and valisneria too. I think I’ll be okay. I do 20% water changes weekly and I’m usually fighting to keep it up. So I’m fairly positive they’ll be able to take it down within a week. I just know to add less ferts next time

Here’s the diluted test. Looks to be between 10-20. I’m guessing the original one was around 40. Although I know anything up to 80 is safe, 40ish is a bit higher than I’d like it. I do have a lot of floating plants though so I’ll probably wait a week before dosing any ferts and see what happens. I thought I had a good schedule going but I guess I’ve been dosing too much😅

Hey all, what would you say this reading is? I was thinking 30ish. It’s a little darker in person

I think it should be able to grow on the soil as long as it’s damp and humid. You might be able to put some outside as well

I would. A low KH is a risk for pH crashes

Wondershell only adds GH. Crushed coral increases pH and KH. Crushed coral only adds a little bit calcium I think. It mainly replenishes the buffer system in the water to prevent pH crashes. I’d say if you want calcium wondershell is a better choice. If you haven’t been experiencing any pH stability issues your KH should be fine. Mine hovers around 5-6 and I don’t have any issues. If it’s below 3 you may want to add coral as well

Thank you!

I was bored and felt like posting some pictures of Larry that no one asked for😄

Hey all, I’d like to put some Cory’s into my tank with Larry my opaline gourami. However I’m a bit hesitant because he’s been very aggressive towards his own reflection. Like…really aggressive. This is pretty new behavior I’ve noticed over the past week or so. He’s really healthy though. He’ll still eat and stuff but he’s always at the same spot throwing hands with his reflection. He’s by himself right now in a 29 gallon planted tank with snails and a couple Amano shrimp. My worry is that if I add cory cats he’ll start acting aggressive towards those guys. What are your thoughts?

If separation doesn’t help he may need treatment of some sort. But without any other symptoms other than lethargy it’s hard to say. Are your pH and hardness within a normal range?

That sucks I’m sorry. Maybe remove what had the glue on it if you’re able to and hope for the best. Some people say wait well past the cure time just to be safe. Like a few days past

I think their’s is more of a preventative measure if you’re dosing all 3 meds in the trip and are unsure of what disease you’re dealing with. I only did one dose of Maracyn with the same instructions and kept my water clean and all was good for me

Test strips are okay but liquid test kits are more accurate. It could be stress from bullying that lead to some sort of disease. I’d try a tank divider first if you’re sure there’s no water quality issues. They may need separation

You could do some shrimp at most. You can’t really keep any fish in a 5 gallon. Maybe 6 ruby or ember tetras but that’s it

Hey all, My opaline gourami Larry seems to have an injury on his head (see photos below) Ammonia is 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate <40ppm Ph 6.6 This seemed to have happened overnight. I’ve noticed it for a couple days now. It doesn’t seem to be HITH. It almost looks like a lump (rather than erosion) and my waters very clean. He’s all alone in the tank other than one guppy fry I couldn’t catch and a small Amano shrimp somewhere. My guess is maybe he scrapped his head trying to eat one of those tho guys. He behaves very normal, eats great. I feed him omega 1 flakes, pellets, frozen brine shrimp, sometimes repashy, and once a week I give him some of a deshelled pea to prevent constipation. He’s very active and making bubble nests every night almost. He’s even started to make bubbles on the outer rims of the tank. He seems very healthy to me. So far if only added a double dose of API stress coat yesterday to help repair damaged tissue in case it is an injury. It doesn’t look infected or like HITH. I’d be surprised if it was because there’s no stress factors that I can think of in the tank or in the surrounding environment. Any advice on what this could be or what should do would be appreciated

Could you provide an image of the fish? You could always put a tank divider in as a temporary solution

You can boil it for like 30 seconds and then put it in ice water. This process is called blanching. You can do it with other veggies too

It looks like black beard algae to me. But it’s weird they’re melting so much even with the algae on it. My suggestion would be spot treating with excel and maybe adding some root tabs

Thank you! They do get a little larger (5-6inches from what I understand). That’s another reason I wanted to get rid of the guppies. He’d have more space that way. He’s in a 29 gallon currently with lots of plants. He’s always darting to the front of the tank when I stand up, he’s always exploring, etc. I’m going to limit stocking to make sure he has enough room for himself. I’m going to end up getting some sort of bottom dwellers and potentially a small school of peaceful tetras. I’m a little hesitant on the tetras but I’m not too worried about getting bottom feeders since they’ll be out of his way mostly If I have the space I will probably get a 40 gallon but as long as my current tank is lightly stocked I don’t foresee any issues. Especially if he doesn’t get any bigger than 5inches

Hey all, Just wanted to share a before and after photo of Larry my opaline gourami I got from pet smart (I usually don’t buy from there but I was impulsive😅). This is a before photo at the beginning of July when I first got him. He was a little beat up when I got him. Also brought ich into the tank and then a bacterial bloom caused a secondary bacterial infection. He was in a tank with guppies but recently I’ve gotten rid of the guppies as there was nipping and aggression going on (plus I want to try some new fish soon anyways). There’s just a couple guppy fry left unless Larry eats them…Anyways it’s been a wild ride. A whole tank rescape, disease, guppy aggression, etc. I also added some smaller Amano shrimp against my better judgement because I thought they were big enough and he ate them…oops…guess I’ll have to order large ones next time. This is him today: His fins have grown out and he’s very energetic, curious, and always making bubble nests. He’s definitely living his best life. I’m sure all those tasty Amano shrimp gave him lots of nutrients😅 Eventually I’m going to add either Khuli loaches or corys (haven’t decided yet) and some non aggressive tetras or cherry barbs. Hopefully Larry will be able to love a long and healthy life 🙂