KittenFishMom
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Posts posted by KittenFishMom
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@Odd Duck Monitoring the kuhli loaches is like holding a angry oiled snake, but I will do my best.
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@Odd Duck I looked closer at the tank and realized I never got around to adding the lava stone to that tank. (life got in the way.) I think the fuzziness is from the speed of the fish, just blurry. I have seen the fish stop a few time, but not for very long.I never noticed anything fuzzy. I will finish the treatment. I don't know how to tell if I need to repeat the treatment.
There are tons of plants, including loads of java moss on the bottom of the tank, so they can hide in lots of places. If they feel safer hiding under something heavy, I'm sure they will. I won't put lava rock or dragon stone in the tank with them. Thanks for your help.
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@Guppysnail and everyone else:
I got some freeze dried Tubifex worms to feed my cory fry. Problem is getting the cube stuck to the glass close enough to the bottom for them to find it. I find if I don't get it to stick well, it float merrily away, to be found in the filter media. If I don't get it low enough, the snails find it before the fry do.
The new RAZZLE DAZZLE trick? Wet the chunk and stick it to a dull butter knife or the back of a spoon and put it worm side up on the bottom of the tank. (The crowd goes wild, but they are fish, so you can't hear them, oh well) Now I no longer have to stand on tippy toe and soak my short sleeve to get in stuck to the side in the deep tank. No more watching the worm float off toward the filter.
When the fry have licked it clean, it can go wait next to the tank until you feel like giving them another treat. Put it close to the glass when feeding, so you can inspect the fish as they all gather round, even the little ones.
Note: thrift stores sell a mish mash of use flatware cheep. No need to sink you own flatware.
P.S. @Cory You might like to add this trick to your description of the freeze dried Tubifex worms ACO sells.
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All the fish in the tank are acting very normal. I almost never see the kuhli loaches eat, so I don't know if they are refusing food. There is nothing "less active" about them. I am hoping it is some scrapes, but I will do a full treatment, just in case. I don't know how to guess if they will need a second treatment.
If I see them all out tonight in their corner of the tank, I will try to slip a frozen bbs ice cube back there without them noticing. I am pretty sure they will show interest in that if they find it before the other fish do.
Also, if they are frightened, they tend to completely disappear for some time. I don't think they would all be swimming in lazy loops if they were stressed.
I heard recently that zoo animals that pace tend to cover the same distance as their wild counter parts do in a day. This may just be what these fish are programmed to do to find enough food.
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@nabokovfan87 I am doing the treatment. first water change lastnight.
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@Chick-In-Of-TheSea and @Colu The only sharp thing in the tank is java moss on a metal grid from ACO. It has been there since my first ACO order. I bent it to put it over the dip in the driftwood. There is lava rock, but I am pretty sure it has all been tumbled. it is rounded like pebbles, only bigger, all curved, nothing straight or pointed. There are bio rings here and there. I have some big stone air stone in taller glass ponds. Nothing new in months. Maybe it got traps under an air stone?
@nabokovfan87 That is the way these loaches act when they are not hiding. Swimming in loopy circles. Another thing they tend to do is "toboggin" though the plants. They build up speed as they enter the plant. then stop swimming and straighten out and drop and slide though the plants. Sometimes staying where they drift to a stop, other times doing it over and over again. Kind of like kids on a "slip n' slide" in the summer. The plant are very soft with small leaves. Maybe like diving into a pile of raked fall leaves. The plants are much too soft for it to be flashing. Something that is fun when they are looping to pull a dropper of live bbs in their path. Their head stops like they hit a wall and they body doesn't. It tend to swim past the head and flip the fish around. I think if it was stress behavior, they wouldn't stop short for the bbs. These guys will sleep, draped over a filter, or in a plant, but it seems like if they are awake and out, they are swimming in a loopy manner together.
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@Colu and @nabokovfan87 and @Odd Duck and @Chick-In-Of-TheSea and everyone else, My husband caught the kuhli loaches on a video and 2 photos. Sorry the glass is so dirty.
What does it look like to you?
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Your tank is beautiful.
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Did I mention that I bought 5 pounds? There are a lot of pieces. I'm hoping it helps tanks cycle.
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@AllFishNoBrakes Thanks! Salt is a dispersant, so it breaks up muddy/soil. That is why it is bad for plants in high concentrations.
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@AllFishNoBrakes Sounds like a nightmare for your drains. I'll start socking and scrubbing in a bucket until it is warm enough to use the hose outside. I bet salt would be useful in the water. It make cleaning muddy potatoes a snap. I'll be very careful to use aquarium safe salt and rise it extra well.
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I bought some dragon stone for my tanks. I have never used it before. Do I need to do anything to it before putting it in my tanks? Anything I need to be careful about?
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Thank you so much for explaining that it shows up at times of stress. I was blaming myself for not quarantining the hillstream loaches.
@Colu I stopped moving fish when I saw the patches.
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@Colu I bought enough Rx to dose the 55 tank, rather than try to catch the kuhli loach. They are not out yet today, but I will continue to try to get a photo.
I can turn the temp down in all the tanks. I have not been careful about washing my hands between tanks. I was also transffering corys from the 55 to 1 of the 15 until I saw the patches on the kuhli loach. then I stoppped, but the nets was in both tanks multiple times.
What would be a good temp to aim at? I have hillstream loaches and neon tetras and peppered cory fry in with the kuhli loach in the 55 tank. Dream blue shrimp and 2 or 3 cory fry in a 10 gallon tank, corys and a betta in one 15 tank and corys in another 15 gallon tank. all have snails.
Should I tell the breeder who is taking my corys and who sold me the hillstreams? I think it came from the hillstreams. I got them the day she picked up cory fry. I don't want to blame her if it didn't come from her. I also don't want her to be caught by surprise if it came from my tanks.
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@nabokovfan87 The wound is not fuzzy or protruding. The loaches don't have scales. So I wondered if that would effect the dosing. I have aquarium salt. It is 12:30 am. I think I will wait until morning when I am more awake, and less likely to get something mixed up. Also, I might get a photo, or hear from other folks.
Thanks for taking time to answer this. Now I can head to bed.
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I like feeding sinking algae wafers in the back of the tank while I soak the above mentioned dry foods in a little tank water to get it to sink and be softer for them to bite. Putting the wafers in the back is to draw the snails away from where I feed the corys. Otherwise the snails cover the cory's food with their big FOOTs and the corys can not get at it.
I also freeze newly hatched bbs with small substrate stones in the cubes so they sinks and stays on the bottom for the corys. I find using multiple stone keeps the bbs from melting off and floating. I also like to let the tray sit on the count a few minutes before freezing. This results in a layer of water to help protect the bbs from freezer burn.
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I haven't been able to get a photo. The black kuhli loach won't stop swimming. I think it has Columnaris because it has small pale patches on its back that are bigger than ich dots and are in-line with the skin. The black Kuhli loach is very active, like the other 2, and has been since I spotted the patches about 2 am with a flashlight.
Current water parms:
temp 73
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
hardness (GH)ppm 75< x < 150
buffer (KH)ppm 40
ph 6.6
Before water change hardness and buffer close to 0, ph < 6.4
I use RO/DI water with equilibrium and alkaline buffer and acid buffer dissolved in the water.
Tank size 55 gallon, heavily planted with organic potting soil under sand cap.
3 HOB, 3 air stones and a large sponge filter.
I cleaned upper filters in 3 HOBs and intake filter in one in hopes to keep tank cycled.
7 neon adult tetras, 3 young hillstream loaches, 3 adult kuhli loaches, LOTS of snails. ramshorn, bladder, mystery.
The tank got cloudy about a week ago, about 2 weeks after adding the hillstream loaches. I removed a large soft piece of driftwood and added an HOB with floss to help clear the water.
I didn't quarantine the hillstream loaches because their breeder thought they would do better in the big tank rather than a 10 gallon QT and hadn't had new fish in a long time.
I found the Jungle fizz tablets, but the kanaplex was not in my fish Rx tote. I have ordered more from Amazon, that will arrive Tuesday. I will keep looking for mine while the other ships.
Should I start the jungle fizz now or wait to get a photo for more accurate diagnosis?
Please let me know what you think. @Colu and @nabokovfan87 and anyone else who might know how to better ID
P.S. I added 10 or so IALs after the water change, spread out over the tank.
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@nabokovfan87 I just added an extra HOB with sponge in the back and floss in the front. I have had problems with the floss getting tangled in the impeller, so I'm hoping the sponge will protect the impeller.
I'm going to start cycling a bare bottom tank to hold fish that the breeder will be taking. She will only take what is caught before she gets here, and it could take a few days to get most in the 55 tank. It could take a few years to get all of them 8-)
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@nabokovfan87 Luckily the water parms are doing well. just a touch of ammonia if I clean too many filters at once, but with stability and prime it is gone the next day. I took out one piece of wood because it was starting to get softer spots. It might be the wood, I will give it a close look. Now that you mention it I remember the tank going cloudy when I first added the wood. It did clear up.
I did add 3 tiny, bust hillstream loaches. maybe they are working on the wood. I remember noticing some algae on the wood a while back.
I hate to take that curved wood out, but if the murkiness doesn't clear, I will try take it out and see if it helps, or if the wood is rotting.
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You might be a nerm if you test all your tanks and check the CARE forum before you eat breakfast.
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Quick update: I think the water does not look healthy, but there are fresh cory eggs all over the glass, so I am guessing that the corys are not bothered by the murky water.
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@Theplatymaster The new filter is stronger, but I covered the output with a knee high nylon and it looks pretty gross this morning. I think I need to move the fry out if I ever want to see the back of the tank. (the tank is only 13.5 inch front to back). I'm really not looking for "drinking water" clear water, but this doesn't look healthy to me.
I could unplug the HOBs for a few hours and see if it gets better or worse. I have 3 air stones and a sponge filter, so there would be lots of oxygen in the water.
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@Mary W. I put a knee high nylon over my siphon to protect the fry. maybe I should stuff the tube with floss instead. I could even siphon out buckets of water and return them to the tank. I have polishing filter sponge, but I think it would clog too fast to be worth the effort.
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The sponge filters and HOB sponges are filling with muddy mulm much faster than before. I'm trying not to clean more than half in a tank in 24 hours, but it is amazing how cloudy the water is getting and how much gunk is in each filter I clean. I'm starting to think it is the cory fry and youth digging in the sand, stirring everything up looking for food. I have ACO sponge filters, and HOB filters with pre-filters and the media replaced with more sponges plus nitrogen sponges. Those tanks are Walstad tanks, meaning there is potting soil under a sand cap. You can not gravel vacuum the bottom. I did a 20 gallon change on the 55 yesterday and it looks so murky today. I have cleaned all the mechanical filter spaced an hour or so apart and have Stability, Prime, and Turbo Start 700 on hand, in case I lose the cycle.
Hopefully the breeder will come this weekend and take more fry and adults. I have to catch them before she gets here. I think I have moved almost all the fry out of the shrimp tank and into the 15 gallon tank. The 55 gallon tank is very heavily planted and full of fry and adults. I'm afraid I will need to set up another tank to hold those fry so I can start catching them a few days ahead of time.
I am thinking I may try setting up a temporary 15 gallon bare bottom tank with fake plants to put the adults and fry in over several days before the breeder comes for them. Then I can remove everything when the time comes to catch the fish. I have never gotten a bare bottom tank to cycle. I really worry about cory toxins in the water when I am netting them. I have had some luck trapping fry in a water bottle trap, but I don't take my eyes off it once I put it in the tank. I bait it with frozen hatched brine shrimp. and pull the trap as soon as one fish panics.
All thoughts and advice on any of this is very welcome.
Would love to hear from @Streetwise or @lefty o or @CorydorasEthan or @nabokovfan87 or @TeeJay or @Guppysnail or @Cinnebuns or @Chick-In-Of-TheSea or anyone with experience with Walstad tanks, bare bottom tank or Corys.
I think one of my black kuhli loaches has Columnaris
in Diseases
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@Odd Duck I was looking over the tank again and I think I figured it out. I have 2 in rough round domed stone air stones that sit in the deep glass 'ponds" in my tank. They have a rather sharp edge when the dome meets the flat bottom. I put a bio ring under them so they would not sit flat against the glass. I wanted water to circulate around them. I bet the kuhli went under one and had trouble finding his way back out. They have both been replaced by plastic Never clog air stones. I'll finish the full medication plan.
It is funny how can look at an air stone and only see it as an air stone, when really it is a rough sharp stone too.