KittenFishMom

@MattyM Here is my earlier post. Someone mentioned "green killer" and when I went to Amazon, I found a small, inexpensive light to put in an HOB.

Oh we have piles of crushed lime stone that was never on the road or driveway to fill pot holes. I would use stuff that had been driven over. A lot of stones in the local creeks/streams have one side that is white from calcium. Those might give up the calcium. There is a big limestone deposit here. Most wells have very hard water. When ever I make soup. I use an acid, like wine or tomatoes or even vinegar to help get the calcium out of the bones and into the broth. I could scrub (no soap) those bones and put them in the sun, away from raccoons and such to get them ready for the tank. The mice such in the north eat antlers for calcium. That is why it is so had to find dropped antlers in the spring.

@TOtrees Thanks for all the useful info. Around here driveways and roads that are not paved are topped with crushed lime stone. I wonder if a low Ph would free up calcium for snails? Maybe tossing in some cooked and cleaned soup bones would do the trick. They are softer when cooked. Note: This would be to feed 3 smaller goldfish in a 20 gallon tank. This isn't on the scale to sell or anything.

I have started knitting again. I like this hat, from Raverly.com. I wondered if anyone has customized it to look like a neon tetra or and other living fish? I figure a goldfish or even a koi might be easy. Before I start charting things out, I thought I would see if the forum had anything in their knitting files. And yes, all my yarn holders are over stocked. Thank goodness you don't need to feed yarn.]

My cloudy bacteria bloom is still clouding the water. I took out a clogged sheet of filter media from the HOB and added half a sheet of filter from a cycled tank. I also added an IAL. I tested the water this morning after move a plant and the Ammonia looked like 0, nitrates were about 10 and nitrites were close to one. The fish are acting very normal. The trap door snails had closed their doors (might have been due to water or yoyo loaches). I will test the water again in a few hours. I am feeding the fish and hoping the cycle with clear the water soon. I have 3 cycled, over stocked guppy tanks. I could move some fish from the cloudy tank to an over stocked tank, but that feels like it would stress the fish, and not fix the cloudiness. I could add a second HOB with a UV light in it, but I think the tank will stabilize better with out UV killing good and bad bacteria. Any thoughts or ideas? (I promise not to over clean a dirty tank in the future !) >>>>@each and every: I forgot to add the link to my first post. The tanks is about 8 weeks old. I believe it is a bacteria bloom from over cleaning. Thank to @MattyM I have been reading his thread. and it seems to be confirming everything. I have been adding Stability, but will hold off. After being mostly away for 4 months, and having the over stocked guppy tanks, it is likely I am over feeding this one. We got the UV filter on the well fixed. Once the water checks out clean, we will be slowly transitioning back to well water from store bought spring water, and everything will probably change again. Once the guppies go, things should start to settle down.

I have started setting aside some of my bladder and ram's horn snails in a bucket with substrate on the bottom and an air stone and a chunk of driftwood for the friend that took my goldfish. I feed them a pick of fish food now and then and algae wafers and plant trimmings. They are doing well, laying lots of eggs. I wanted to set up a small aquarium for them so she can hove them on a dresser, where her dogs won't tip them over. What would be a good minimum size tank for the snails? Do you think the snails would benefit from some fish in the water? The plan would be that she could feed the goldfish live food now and them to supplement their dry food. This would be an ongoing source of food. Any thoughts?

I'm had time to watch my neon tetras more closely and have noticed one is missing an eye. It seems fine in all other aspects, swimming in the school, finding and eating food. What is apt to cause and eye to go missing? Should I do anything about it? Thanks.

When I first got my banana plant it sat obediently on the bottom. Now it is floating around the tank as it it doesn't have a care in the world. Is this a sign of a problem, like rot in the plant, or do I need to secure it in some way? Thanks

@TeeJay I use crushed coral and/or wonder shells because the pH tends to be low to very low and the female guppies are always "under construction" and need extra calcium. In the past, I have had female guppies develop bent spines and assumed it was lack of calcium. Once the guppies are gone, I will probably use much less of the wonder shells. @_Eric_ I think it is bacteria, not algae. From what everyone says, I think it will sort itself out over time. I don't think I need the Green Killer. I did see a UV light on line for $17 to put in a filter. I wouldn't want that in my filter where my good bacteria are living, but I could put it in an empty HOB if the cloudiness doesn't clear. This is not a display tank. The fish in the tank, neon tetras, corys, a male betta and 2 yoyo loaches all seem comfortable in cloudy water. So I will keep adding Stability and see how it goes. @Flumpweesel I have clothes all over the bedroom and bacteria all over the tank. Seems about right. I will keep adding stability or maybe some "7' let the tank work on sorting itself out and see how it goes. The fish seem happy and active. I just gave them some frozen bloodworms and they chowed down on them.

@rockfisher That is a thought. maybe feeding the fish would help the tank cycle. I'm sure the fish would not mind. I am also dosing with Seachem Stability. I could swap sponge filters with another tank. I wonder if guppy fry can sneak into this tank hidden in a sponge filter? I spent the afternoon and evening gathering seaweed form the lake for soil improvement, and my mind is a bit blurry.

The water is cloudier. The nitrates are up to 10. Nitrites and ammonia are still at 0 each. I didn't feed them yesterday. The fish look happy, but hungry. They keep looking at me saying "You are late with the food." I will look through my options for something low on nitrogen/protein to give them tonight. Any other ideas or suggestions?

@Beardedbillygoat1975 yes, I normally only clean one filter (sponge or HOB) with a water change. but the over stocked guppies have been requiring lots of water changes, and I was neglecting this tank that was happily humming along. The sponge filter looked filmy, and the HOB was running slow, and the gravel needed cleaning, I should not have done it all at once. Boy it did need it, the water in the bucket smelled pretty strong. I will call the fish store and try to get more guppies out the door tomorrow.

Thanks, I can do nothing, it is one of my super powers. My female guppies are plumping up on an extra side dish of baby brine shrimp. I can't wait to get the to the fish store ! Then to start thinning out the school of males. Thank you so much for all your help !!!!!

I have a very large sponge filter that I did squeeze out. I don't use charcoal in my tanks. I put the filter sheet that was clogged and slowing the HOB's water flow in a "holding bowl" of tank water. I could drop it back in the tank if you think it would be a helpful source of good bacteria. I was going to move the used filter sheet from the bowl to the plant water bucket outside in the morning. I also added a new intake filter because the one I had was very large and with the large sponge filter it was taking up a lot of space. I did a lot of gravel vacuuming, and that took out more water than usual. I will add some Stability and 7 tonight to see how that booster the cycle. I also have an air stone tucked in the HOB. I'm not sure what you meant about the polishing filter. Do you think I should take the water polishing filter out of the HOB and just let it float in the tank for a day or 2? On the good side, the fish are all acting happy and normal. I fed them very lightly tonight.

The colors were all closer to 0 tan to the next color up. They got food yesterday. Maybe they were eating what I stirred up, and did eat as much of the food I put in?

I just changed my water a day or 2 ago, today the water is cloudy. Ammonia = 0 Nitrate = 0 Nitrite = 0 (GH)ppm is off the scale, above 300 (KH)ppm = 40 pH = 6.8 heater is working, temp felt right. I can get a temp, but would guess 77-78, like usual. It is a 10 gallon tank. It is the same spring water from the same store we have been buying for water changes since February. I changed the filter and squeezer the sponge filter during the water change because the HOB was very slow do to gunk build up. I also vacuumed the gravel. The parms look good. I noticed it looked cloudy last night and added a water polishing filter at the front of the HOB filter, just as the water discharges. I just changed both the general filter and the polishing filter, before I started typing. The tank has 3 (I think female) corys about 10 neon tetras, 2 young yoyoy loachs and a male betta. The substrate is standard size over pebbles plus some crushed coral and wonder shells now and then. I can see part of one in the front of the tank. Several live plants. I added the loaches last week, everything else has been there for 4 or more weeks. The tank has acted fully cycled since I added the active sponge filter the first week. It's been a long day. I don't know why I came home to this cloudy tank. What would cause the cloudiness with the parms being 0, 0, 0? Did the cycle take a hit and is just catching up? Do I just let it run and let the mechanical filter clean up the water, or do I do a water change?

@Aaron Hanson I added 1/2 cup water, after chopping up the mess and started microwaving at 30 second (with a lid) between stirring. As it warmed up, the chunks started melting and it seems to have turned out well. I let it sit until solid and it gracefully slide out of the bowl into the zip loc bag. I put some bits that stuck to the bowl in the tank with the smaller female guppies and they went to town on it. I put the fork that I used to stir it in with the big females, and they liked pecking it off the fork. It held together and didn't foul the water. I gave the corys a few tidbits because they are laying eggs when I change the water. (using room temp bottled, because our well is being fixed. I am sure the 2 peppered corys are female, and I don't think they can breed with the dotted one that I think might be female too. Tomorrow I will cut the bowlful of Rapeshy into little cubes and wrap and freeze them. I will probably send it frozen to the LFS that is taking my female guppies to keep the in good condition after the stress of the move. I need to build my 55 gallon tank and get rid of the female guppies before I think about breeding or buying any fish. I did buy 2 dwarf chain loaches at a big box store. Their max size is 2.5 inches. When I got them settled into the planted 10 gallon tank, they magically turn into YOYO loaches with a max size of 6 inches. I called the big box store and they said they were the same price and the clerk gets them mixed up. They said they could give me store credit if I bring in the receipt, but agreed with me that it will be very hard to catch them in a planted tank. I'm hoping they stay small until the 55 tank is ready, or that the LFS will take them if I can catch them. My husband brought home some small tanks from the second hand store for isolation tanks. Turns out the kitten has decided to hang out in one of the tanks and become my "newest catfish". I'll try to get photos tomorrow. It's time for bed before I start doing water changes in my sleep. Thanks for all the fish ... I mean all the help and support. @Aaron Hanson I added 1/2 cup water, after chopping up the mess and started microwaving at 30 second (with a lid) between stirring. As it warmed up, the chunks started melting and it seems to have turned out well. I let it sit until solid and it gracefully slide out of the bowl into the zip loc bag. I put some bits that stuck to the bowl in the tank with the smaller female guppies and they went to town on it. I put the fork that I used to stir it in with the big females, and they liked pecking it off the fork. It held together and didn't foul the water. I gave the corys a few tidbits because they are laying eggs when I change the water. (using room temp bottled, because our well is being fixed. I am sure the 2 peppered corys are female, and I don't think they can breed with the dotted one that I think might be female too. Tomorrow I will cut the bowlful of Rapeshy into little cubes and wrap and freeze them. I will probably send it frozen to the LFS that is taking my female guppies to keep the in good condition after the stress of the move. I need to build my 55 gallon tank and get rid of the female guppies before I think about breeding or buying any fish. I did buy 2 dwarf chain loaches at a big box store. Their max size is 2.5 inches. When I got them settled into the planted 10 gallon tank, they magically turn into YOYO loaches with a max size of 6 inches. I called the big box store and they said they were the same price and the clerk gets them mixed up. They said they could give me store credit if I bring in the receipt, but agreed with me that it will be very hard to catch them in a planted tank. I'm hoping they stay small until the 55 tank is ready, or that the LFS will take them if I can catch them. My husband brought home some small tanks from the second hand store for isolation tanks. Turns out the kitten has decided to hang out in one of the tanks and become my "newest catfish". I'll try to get photos tomorrow. It's time for bed before I start doing water changes in my sleep. Thanks for all the fish ... I mean all the help and support.

I agree with everyone that a 1:3 of powder to water would have worked much better than my 1:3 of water to powder. I just wasn't tuned in, now I am trying to salvage something from the messed up batch. I will put it in a bowl and add hot water and microwave and see what I can come up with. (When putting away food after dinner, if something wasn't popular my grandmother would wink at me and say "should we toss it tonight, or put it in the fridge and wait a week to toss it?")

I messed up and reversed the ratio. I didn't want to try to work with less than 1/4 cup boiling water, so I used a lot more powder than I would have liked to, because I flipped the ratio. I'm trying to find the best way to save the 1/2 powder I mixed1/4 cup of boiling water. I think I will add about a cup of water and slowly heat and stir and heat and stir in the microwave and see if I can get it hot enough to melt without covering the inside of the microwave with fish food smelling splatters. I will cover it. If it splatters in the microwave, we might be in the market for a new microwave. This type "spawn and grown" has a strong sent to it.

I am think of maybe renting a female for month or so from the fish store if I want a batch of fry. I think if I return her in good health, I could avoid have females giving birth once or twice a day. I am guessing I was getting close to 2 batches of new fry from medium to large females every day at the beginning of July. they were spread over 5 10 gallon tanks. I kept removing more plants, and every time I looked there were more tiny fry. I think it was the duck weed that was hiding them. I didn't think duck weed counted as fry hideouts.

I decided to try to makes a batch of Repashy many months ago using a table spoon of boiling water and 3 tables spoons of Repashy. It didn't work out at all. Last night I misread the bottle and thought it was 1 part boiling water to 2 to 3 parts powder. Now I see it is the other way around. It needs more help than I know how to give it. Last night I brought 1/4 cup water to a boil in a glass measuring cup and added a1/2 cup Repashy powder, I could not stir it and it was very crumbly. I tried added some more boiling water from a coffee mug until I could sort of stir it. and turned it out on a plate. It didn't hold together. I patted it some and stuck it in the fridge overnight in a zip loc bag. This morning it was still crumbly. I put a small chunk in my 2 female guppy tanks. They ate at it, and it also seemed to foul the water some. Anyone have any advice for rescuing this batch? I was thinking of adding some more water and hanging the zip loc bag in a pot of simmering or boiling water. I was toying with trying to microwave it, but I think I would get hot spots, even with it turning on the turn table. I could steam it in my pressure cooker/insta-pot in a bowl uncovered, or with a plate on top. I think the oven would dry it out too much. I have 3 un-opened 6 oz bottles in different types of Rapeshy, so I really would like to get the hang of making it. I was hoping the larger batch would work better and I could freeze it. I'm a pretty good cook, but I never make Jello or jelly. My chicken broth always jells. I would love to "fix" this messed up batch and have better success with future batch

@PineSong It might be because they are young, but I don't see aggression at this point. I watch the tanks a lot, look for fish activity that means a fish of the oppositive sex is in the tank. They are easy to spot. either a bunch of males are trying to "sniff the belly" of a female (in the male tank) or a male is following a female all over the tank.(in a female tank). The males haven't shown much interest in the other males yet. I haven't added many plants yet because I want me or the bettas to see if there are any fry appearing in any tank. The males have 3 large sponge filters and a few plants. The smaller females have an Amazon sword plant(I hope fry cant hide there) and a large sponge filter and an intake filter. The large females have a pile of chewed up IALs thanks to the snails, a very small, low water sprite, a sponge filter and a ceramic bridge. There are no floating plants anywhere, so I hope that slow the populations down to a near stop. each tank has a male betta to hunt for fry, but I have been told that not all bettas will hunt fry. It will be such a relief to see that last of the females go. I so enjoyed watching the fry appear and grow. I just don't have the energy to find them pet all homes. I will miss the males. There are so many colors and designs on them. An orange one with a big top fin loves to bask on the betta leaf hammock and dream he is a betta.

I use sponge filters, HOB(s), and extra air stones, driftwood, and plants, except in the female guppy tanks. I check water parms close to daily. (If everything looks good, I am apt to skip the day after a water change). I tend to change 30%, even more for my over stock guppies. I vac the gravel and squeeze out the sponge filters during most water changes. I have snails, and make sure they get fed sinking wafers or algae wafers and the prune the plants too. If there is a jump in the snail population, I cut back a little on all the food I am feeding. I tend to use less expensive sheets of filter media in the HOB that I cut to size and toss in a bucket for plant water once media looks dirty or the flow drops, and replace with new media. (I rotate plant water buckets so one is getting new filter media as one is running low on nutrients and going to be empties of the old HOB filters, replacing water as I use it on plants.) With the over stocked guppies, I am doing more water changes than I would like to. We are buying spring water in gallon jugs as the improvements to the well are being finished. It complicates water changes, and ups the cost for fish I would like to rehome. It does keep the to-be-rehomed fish healthy and the house smelling clean. The males that were born while Mom was sick are becoming stunning adults. I need to figure out how to thin out the male crowd, and how to make enough room for the handsome ones I can't part with. The females have to go. I might get some in the future, but I am overwhelmed right now.

When I took the guppies to the LFS it took all my will power not to buy some female flagfish. I really miss the one I lost while Mom was sick. I am trying to wait until I get my 55 gallon tank up and cycled before I buy any more fish. It is hard going to the fish store and not buying anything.

The LFS said he would take more female guppies later this week, and hopeful the last of females in a week or 2. I'm going to keep some males in a 10 or 15 gallon tank. The rest will go to the fish LFS. I have been looking at over stocked guppies for so long, I'm not sure what a good stocking level for male guppies would be. How many male only guppies would you put in a 10 or 15 gallon tank? Now that I have split the males from the females, I have noticed how much less the males eat. I will probable add some clean up crew snails and maybe some shrimp or cleaning crew fish. I look forward to hearing from you.