Minanora
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Posts posted by Minanora
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On 12/27/2021 at 6:45 PM, KittenFishMom said:
I'm very new. I have a lot of fun trying to figure out the acronyms and vocabulary that the people who know the answers to my questions use. I am getting there, but when a bunch are used in the same paragraph, I can get rather lost.
Open book here! All of us are, I'm sure!
No questions are invalid, and we're all happy to elaborate if you need any clarification at all. Truly.
I've asked questions with my arms and legs flailing in the air as I panic about the well being of my tiny fishies. Lol. Sometimes all logic can escape me. I'm an emotional creature. >.<
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I agree with @PineSong regarding testing daily during quarantine/treatment.
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On 12/27/2021 at 1:57 PM, PineSong said:
I may be mistaken and I may also be confusing the effect of Maracyn and Maracyn 2 on my tank.
I used Maracyn as a QT med for all new fish when I first got my community tank, and that tank did not yet have a well-established cycle so I could not say it headed south so much as maybe it seemed I got nowhere for a long time in cycling it.
But I have used Maracyn 2 in my QT tank which has been set up and cycled since late July or August and has a ton of plants in it, too, and have had nitrates out the wazoo day after day when there is only 1-2 fish in the tank after weeks of being no increase in nitrates with 5 larger fish. This has happened twice.
And to be clear, I don't consider the impact on the cycle a reason to not use these meds--just a reminder to test water daily as what you know/are familiar with about your tank water may change when they are in use.
I should be more specific in my statements. Maracyn, in my experience, doesn't totally wipe out a healthy bacterial colony. It will dampen it. That's the reason I build up my bacteria by over growing with that heightened "bio-load" doses of ammonia.
The thing about it in a quarantine to remember as well, you're probably not going to have a "full load" of fish per aquarium volume. IE, fully stocked. So I imagine that a standard fishless cycle would be fine for getting a strong bacterial culture going. That would withstand the shock of meds.
My success could also have to do with my pH and temperatures. But I've never thought about it that much. I maintain at about 7.8 these days.
I just know that I set up my quarantine tank a few days ago... again... Long story there! But I dosed the 10G at a 10G rate, then once the nitrites fall, I'll dose it again at the 20G rate, and add stability at a double dose as well. I added a "micro" sponge filter that will eventually go into my shrimp tank, and those fake plants and pineapple house. After that sponge is seeded, I'll switch it out for the one that's in the shrimp tank now, after sanitizing it, and repeat step 1 and 2 and keep it there. I do keep the quarantine tank colder (room temp) until I need it for fish. Then I put it at 74 with a 100 watt heater; If I didn't mention, my quarantine/hospital tank is a 10G.
I try to always have a quarantine tank set up. Makes me feel prepared. Sorry about my poor communication... Like I said, I spend half of my time in my head, not realizing that other people can't read/see what I'm thinking. 😛
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On 12/27/2021 at 9:48 AM, lefty o said:
this was the 2nd annual xmas tree drag race.
I still should have known about it before this! I would have never thought someone could keep a tree tied down to their car while turning a 7 second quarter mile. Impressive is an understatement. Festive, and impressive... festpresive? Regardless, the smell of pine and fir must be an interesting addition to the smell fuel, burning rubber, and bleach.
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So cute! Congratulations! Looks fantastic. Babies are always exciting!
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Merry Fishmas everyone! Hope everyone has a great new year!
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I did not know this existed.... Best holiday joy yet!!! Awesome 😂
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On 12/27/2021 at 3:34 AM, Fish Folk said:
I totally understand how hard this sort of decision is. I’m a dad too. We’re blessed with three beautiful boys, and they’re so precious.
Culling is a very personal decision. It’s easier when you’re culling for health or if you have a tank to let culls go wild. I separated out 20+ wild-gene guppies dropped in my mutt guppy tank, and gave them to a kid we know. He was thrilled! Others I toss over in a full tank and just let go wild till I need them for food, for LFS feeder stocking, etc. And sometimes I feed to large fish. Keeps big fish healthy, and it’s nature’s way. I pull out sick fish or unwanted males as soon as I can tell they’re not the colors I want. It takes at least 6x weeks for me to tell.
I’ve also found that varying their diet does wonders for their colors and development.
I dig it. I can hardly wait to have my outdoor tubs to help.
I had one with a curved spine, tried to put her to sleep... I'm sure I just got her drunk instead. I had to put her back in the tank. Not sure if she made it after that, I haven't seen one with a curved spine since though.
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On 12/27/2021 at 3:39 AM, Guppysnail said:
I use a cheese grater for frozen bloodworms for the ones to little for the worm. I find when I do that they color up noticeably quicker. I also grind any frozen food and feed live bbs but the frozen bloodworms are what works for quick color in my kids.
This is genius. I'm also going to try this. I recently had a baby die because he choked on a bloodworm... I was shocked. Vacuumed out all the rest right after that.
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I'm not the best communicator... I'm often in my own head. Possibly more than half of the time.
I was mainly referring to adding ammonia. I use fritz fishless fuel and that's my tried and true for cycling a sterile quarantine. I have added safe start, or stability, before, and it did speed it up a bit. But I don't use seeded media from other tanks in my quarantine just because I like to have a "clean slate" for fish with a weakened immune system.
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Maracyn doesn't kill an established bacterial culture. I'm a fan of the peroxide dip for plants now. I've quarantined plants for many weeks then unknowingly introduced hydra into my tanks as they didn't show up in the tanks until several months later.
I started my 10G quarantine with fishless fuel at a dose for a 20G, with extra sponge blocks in the bottom, a clean filter, an extra sponge filter, fake plants, and a ridiculous pineapple hide decoration. I let it sit for 3 weeks. and then fed it at the same 20G dose. it could take any beating I threw at it. Until I had 108 babies in that volume.... then it was battle royale! 😛
Guppies are a pita to quarantine. I nuke them. They can take it, especially early on. Pet store ones are the absolute worst and I quarantine them for at least a month in the same parameters as my display tank. I always start with the Co-op med trio. Then I tend to wind up adding another course of maracyn, and paracleanse. at week 2. and then have to keep dosing for a week. That's just my experience. I fight with every guppy addition I ever have, private breeder or not. I would definitely not add any other fish into a quarantine set. It's just too difficult to track progression. And with less tolerant fish, they don't appreciate the excessive doses of meds. I'm obsessed with guppies btw. :)
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Welcome! Team White Cloud here. They're so lovely and hardy. I appreciate your research and time spent preparing. Looking forward to seeing the progression of your journey!
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On 12/26/2021 at 7:55 PM, Fish Folk said:
I may give to my LFS to sell as “feeder guppies.” Or feed to my ravenous Acaras…
Ah. Ty. I've been thinking that giving them to my LFS will be my solution. When do you make the call? I'm at 10 weeks on my oldest fry, most are decently colored up, but there are a few that are lagging, a mix of females and males. The longer I wait, the better the ones with color look, but I see minimal change. I've started really diversifying their food, daily, and I see more change, so I'm not sure where I should say "Ok you're food, sorry bro/mam".
I'm also a mom, and it kills me to knowingly sentence any child to death. I can smash gophers, mice, rats, oppsumes; tag deer, boar, turkey, quail. But give up on my little fishies.... nope. 🤣
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She's quite pregnant! I would venture to guess that you'll have fry within the next week. Once a female has had fry, and has fully set her sperm stores, she will look quite pregnant all of the time, even after giving birth. I find that young guppy females don't look this way as much as older ones. Older, meaning over 5 months old. Once they hit around this age, they look pregnant all the time if they have a supply of materials. They can store sacks for up to 6 months, and have up to 6 broods after leaving contact with a male host.
I recommend marking the calendar once she drops fry. Once she does, expect her to drop again anywhere between 21 and 30 days. I track all of my females "cycles".
Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing photos of the brood! ❤️
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So what do you do with your "cullings"? I'm having a hard time with this.
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I hope that everyone had a great holiday!
I've found that I struggle to be away from my fish for more than 24 hours. I dream about them, I think about them, I share photos of them with family who give no cents about my hobby, and then think about how I can set up another arlo system to watch my tanks...
I love my fish, shrimp, and my snails. Coming home to everyone being happy, albeit hungry, and healthy was the greatest relief.
I'm pretty sure I worry more about my fish than my own child. 🤣
We left on Friday morning; I changed the water on the fry tank. Did a 90% water change over the course of 3 hours, fed everyone, dosed meds in the female guppy tank (I've had several issues in there). Did my final dose of "No Planaria" on the 75... Death to hydra! Fed the shrimp a special "Christmas" treat. Came home to find everyone happy, like I said. We'll be going away again for three days in February. I'm more confident now.
However.......... I got federal jury duty summons on Friday! For the same Friday that we're supposed to leave, to the opposite end of the state.... So yeah I may be stuck doing my "once in a lifetime" federal jury duty. Hooofriigginboohooray. -_-
Mind you I've been summoned for normal jury duty, 5 times since I was eligible.... Husband, only once! He's older than me and STILL hasn't ever been summoned for federal!
Anyway, I'm super excited to read about my shrimps reproductive cycle. I get to have "broods"! As a huge Zagara/swarm/bee fan, I love the word brood. Being able to have a legit brood of my own, well, I mean, my lovely little orange ladies.... Brings me great joy! I don't get to have bees yet... our county ordinance is ridiculous... or I would have already been hosting bees at the 83 acres.
I had a female that had columnaris, she's 100% cured. I had another female that had something going on, not sure what... but she was haggard looking, THIN, tattered, loss of color, looked like she may have parasites, or ich, or columnaris.... I couldn't figure it out.... so I had treated the tank with kanamycin and jungle fizz for the other girl, but the one was still haggard, so I did a double up and dosed paracleanse, maracyn and ich-x. Everyone is tip-top now. The haggard girl is putting on weight, tail looks great, color has returned. she's still thin but things are looking up!
However in the 75, I'm starting to think that Mim the swordtail has dropsy... early stages... I'm not sure because her behaviour is fine, and I hadn't seen her in over 24 hours so maybe I'm just paranoid. If I feel the same tomorrow I'll move her and treat her accordingly.
Meanwhile, my plants are a jungle! Just letting everything grow out for a minute; it's interesting to look at and honestly I can start a lot of cuttings in a hurry this way. Plus, the fish have been eating some off the new growth, which I can appreciate to an extent. Yeah I want the tankes to look "perfect" but really, I care more about my fish kids being happy. ^_^
Happy Holidays, merry Christmas, and happy new year!
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I love this thread. You have the most fun projects! I have mutts that after a single cross have spots. Not sure if it's because of my Lyretail or if they've gone more "wild" type.
I'm not doing any more mutt project work until February; that way, when they're about 2 months old I can have outdoor tubs with minimal heat at night. Which will also be great for my garden and seed starts! Plants love those nitrates!
I look forward to seeing your next update!
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On 12/24/2021 at 2:26 AM, Atitagain said:
Congrats on the upcoming babies! Looking really good 👍
Thank you! Another female berried up as of this morning, too! My chances for babies increased! Huzzah! Such a grand surprise! I wasn't expecting them to breed for at least a few more months.
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Micro update! I'm laying in bed and so excited that I had to post.
@Atitagain 5.5 has been stable still. I did my first water change using the shrimp mineral. I did add some soft water to the mix but much, much less. 1/10th. I siphoned just under half the tank. I let my water sit over night before. The water temp was 61.. And their tank is at 76. So I added the water with a drip made of air line and a flow control valve. Worked very well.
As of today..... One of my females is berried!!!!!! 🦐💚🥳
I'm so excited! I hope the babies make it to hatching! Still one great Christmas present. See photo, she's on the sponge filter. Other photo of my mildly crazy water change setup. It's a work in progress.
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Good to know about the filters and good idea!
I use a 407 on my 75. One tip is that the grey lever on the intake/outfall connection is actually flow adjustment. I have mine set at about 50% most of the time.
I recommend lubing the seals with a silicone lubricant rather than a petroleum based. I use food grade silicone lube myself but I use it on my kegs and other brewing seals also. A little goes a long way.
The canister holds just over a gallon of water. Just for reference.
I still have mixed feelings about the 407... But the more I use it the more I like it.
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@Atitagain Everything has been good with the 5.5; doing the first water change tomorrow using the Salty Shrimp, Shrimp Mineral GH/KH with my RO. Previously I mixed RO water with tap water but my TDS was a bit high from that. I also had to mix my tap half-ish hard water with half-ish soft water. Just not ideal. We're at almost 2 weeks with the shrimp 5.5, so it's hard to say. I had to make the emergency tank setup because of the hydra and crazy pH crash in the 2.6. Blessing in disguise, truly.
The PSO was just a placeholder for the Taiwan Lily. It's just a group of cuttings from my sons 20G. There's just so much of it.... I've never had any issues with spreading it between tanks due to it's fast growth rate. I will be pulling it out once the Taiwan Lily fills in more. The otos love the PSO, but the corydora love the lily.
I love my driftwood. I'll be sad if I have to remove all of the moss because of the weird off-gassing it seems to have.... I'm still at a loss for how it's impacting the health of the tank, if it is at all. It makes me nervous at the least.
The guppies.... They're the easiest and yet somehow the most difficult fish to keep for me. It's like a beautiful tornado.
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Welcome! Very cool setup. What do you have in your tanks besides Rascel?
Hoping that Rascal feels better soon.
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Truly amazing! They're all so lovely! I feel your frustration with selecting breeding candidates. It's sometimes worse than a game of Russian roulette! Having to wait for months to see the results... So far you're winning. I am in love with your progress. It's a pleasure to read on.
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The last week has been a bit crazy. I'm just taking the little victories. Things have been a bit crazy.
Shrimp cube.... Hydras headquarters and now there's issues with the pump that came with it. I am treating it with "no planaria". Glad I waited for so long and never put shrimp in it! I actually love them in the 5.5G. The plants are growing in well. I ordered 10 shrimp, received 14. I lost one within 24 hours. It's been over a week now, most of them have molted and everyone is happy. I love my orange shrimps so much! I can hardly wait to move their home out of the bathroom... but I do enjoy them in there... I love that they're the last thing I see before bed, and the first thing I see in the morning.
Mac turned into a pinecone in a 24 hour period. I tried to save him but he passed very quickly. Misty also passed away out of nowhere. All water parameters totally fine in both tanks. Little blue boy passed out of nowhere as well, I assume from stress but I honestly have no idea. I'm just beside myself with those losses.
Also, I've learned that moss loves to hold onto waste. I have been fighting with my christmas moss off-gassing what seems to be hydrogen sulfide gas... or something similar I assume. If I move my moss it smells like the tank farted prime. So I'm not sure how I feel about that or what is the best action to take now. The only reason why I haven't removed all of the moss is because all of my baby swordtails love it and I'm sure that without my moss the rasboras would have eaten all of the swordtail fry.
Like I said, I love my little shrimp.... And yes, I know my master bathroom backsplash screams "progressive 1965 home". Eventually it will be remodeled, the guest bathroom was further forward in the line. We're the second owners here. I love our humble home. But... We may move into another home to gain rental history for this home... which means I'll have an actual fish room.... So, I can dream.
The baby swordtails, well, first generation, there's a new batch as of Thursday! They're like miniatures of their parents. They're so cute....
It's bedtime though...
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Staurogyne repens: Contemplating its Fate...
in Plants, Algae, and Fertilizers
Posted
@Zenzo is spot on.
My experience with the rockwool has been great. I actually bought some Val that was in this same format; from co-op. I left it in the cup to quarantine, then just left it in the cup, for several weeks, in quarantine, and only added its babies into the main tank! Most of the babies grew out from the cervices' of the rockwool, through the black cup slits. I always left my potted plants in their pots while I let them quarantine and melt/regrow.