Goldie Blue

I'd take them out, and leave them out if I go that route. Except for the ramshorn. I read it can take forever for it to leave a tank, sometimes never, and I am fine with that but I really don't want to do it unless I have to. Just want to know if anyone has positive stories of mystery snails eating the hydra.

I hated mine, and only had it up and running a few months. You have to either rig up or buy props to keep the lid up. The pump that comes with it is junk. Cleaning behind the plastic wall in the back is not fun, it's very difficult to keep clean. The light in it blew out within the first two weeks. Definitely go with a traditional tank, I am not a fan of any of these all in one style tanks.

Buckle up for a fun read. About two weeks ago I discovered that my canister filter (the only filter) in my 20 long was unplugged for at least 9 days, possibly longer. Because the air stone was running full speed, I never thought anything was amiss. My parameters were somehow absolutely perfect, I am guessing because the tank is basically a jungle of plants. I have no idea how this happened, but thankfully things were mostly okay. But a few days ago I noticed some small hydra in the tank, hanging on my crypts. That is my most pressing issue at the moment, but I also have an explosion of teeny tiny ramshorn snails that hitched a ride in that I do not want in my tank. Tank is stocked with 1 betta, about 9 adult mystery snails, 1 nerite, and dozens of neocaridina shrimp, with new babies just about every week. It seems like mystery snails will eat hydra. I've watched a few videos, Lav's Snails said hers eradicated her hydra infestation. I ordered some Panacur-C (fenbendazole, powder packet form) the moment I saw the hydra, which came in today. So the question is, would you trust the mystery snails to eat them (it doesn't seem to be a massive infestation of hydra at this point), or dose the tank with the fenbendazole? My main concern is my baby shrimp being eaten by the hydra, but I see dozens of babies in there right now. But I am terrified of medications wiping out my tank. If dosing is suggested, can I have exact dose instructions please? It is a 20 gallon tank. I know I would need to take my nerite and mystery snails out, will the fenben kill these ramshorns (hopefully)?

I have never tried Activ-Flora substrate, I use Super Naturals sand in my girls tank as well, it's all she has ever had in there. I have read that no black sand is safe for axie's...I have Aqua Natural Galaxy Black sand in one of my bettas tanks, and it's gorgeous, I would LOVE to put it in Bubbles tank but I won't risk it. Apparently this particular sand has quartz in it and even though it's really fine, it's very sharp like tiny splinters to an axie 😞 I think we are just pretty limited to either bare bottom or a few of the CaribSea sands that are guaranteed safe unfortunately.

They can carry salmonella. They also have a slime coat themselves, I am not sure if the slimy stuff in there is from her body or something else.

I know a few of us here keep axolotls, today I cut my finger pretty good while cleaning her tank items. They get slimy stuff all over them, so I like to clean the plastic suction cups etc, and was right in the middle of that with slimy goo all over my hands when it happened. I cleaned out with soap, hydrogen peroxide, then bactine and neosporin with a band aid. Should I be worried? I know the bacteria in axolotl tanks is different than fish tanks, and I read a horror story on Reddit once that scared me pretty good.

What are the species? Your first post looked so much like my ghost mantis, I assumed it was a praying mantis!

Another praying mantis keeper! Yay! This is Boogie, she is my beautiful Orchid mantis. She has been with me since L2, she is almost a year and a half old (which is OLD for a mantis!) I also have two ghost mantis but apparently no pictures of them (I'll fix that), but have you ever seen a Peruvian Dragon mantis? I got two, one has passed away, this little one is doing well though. VERY inactive, literally never moves lol. And baby Carolina's coming out of one of my oothecas. I raise those, the rest I keep for myself 🙂

I picked one of those up for the 307 in my axolotl tank, and like @Pepere have it pointing up. I have liked both my 207 and 307, so I think the 407 with spray bar is a much better fit for my tank. My white clouds like to swim in the spray bar I have with the Eheim that I am replacing, but the ember tetras hate it. I wasn't able to get it at the right angle like I can with the Fluval spray bar, so it kind of just blew things around on the right side of the tank, and everyone mostly hangs out on the left lol, so I think they'll be happier about the replacement as well.

My 55 is (currently) my biggest tank. After a lot of thought, I am going to exchange it for a Fluval 407. I have the 207 and 307 on other tanks, and so far (knock on wood) have had no issues with it. It's much easier to maintain than this stupid Eheim I have. I borrowed a cycled second filter from a friend until I can swap this out later today. Yeah this was another reason I am deciding to just take it back, I'd have to spend more money just to get it to hopefully not be too strong in the tank. Once my friend said she had a filter I could borrow for a day or two it gave me more wiggle room. I was seriously not prepared for how giant this fx4 is!!! I appreciate all your help everyone! Why do tank emergencies always happen at night or on a weekend when everything is closed? 🤣

After a stressful night of my Eheim 350 classic filter leaking all over the place, I am done with this thing once and for all. The connector pieces on it have broken not once, not twice, but SIX times now in the year and a half I have had it. I picked up a Fluval fx4 today, I knew they were big, but unboxing this thing is making me question if it's too much for my 55 gallon? I have white clouds, ember tetras, a pleco, a ton of cherry shrimp, and a lot of snails. The filter intake on this thing is massive, and it will suck everything up if I don't get a prefilter sponge or something on it. I am seeing some stuff on Amazon and Etsy, but please chime in if you have ideas for me. Since my Eheim is literally on life support sitting in a bucket, I'd like to try to either go buy or rig something today if possible!

I am not entirely sure what they will end up looking like, right now kind of brown and gold maybe? Here is a pic of the babies so far, and not sure if this is the mom or dad but they both have the same colorings. I love the shrimp choo-choo train lol. The parasnailing is something I was not prepared for, they are honestly so smart and fast, they know when I put veggies and food in and the parents will BOOK IT to the spot by parasnailing down.

Thankfully we are all on the mend now, and thankfully we didn't have snails in our throats 🤣 I've hatched about 7 clutches so far, the first babies are getting SO big, it has been a really fun experience to watch!

I had a doozy of a nightmare last night! We've been sick with some kind of upper respiratory crud for two weeks or so, and my son came down with it as we were getting better. He had white veins and spots on his throat, which oddly enough he does not have strep. I kept checking his throat with a flashlight each day to make sure he wasn't getting any worse. I recently had the pleasure of my mystery snails laying fertile eggs, a few of the clutches hatched and we have been watching them grow in the tank. Cue the nightmare. I had a VERY realistic dream that I was looking in my sons throat with flashlight, and his tonsils and throat were covered with mystery snail eggs. I yelled for my husband to come look, and by the time he got there they were hatching and teeny baby mystery snails were crawling around in his throat and mouth. Literally one of THE most disturbing and disgusting dreams I have ever had in my life.

Unfortunately her fish passed away overnight. Thank you for all the help though, now I know what dropsy looks like and I hope I never have to deal with it in my fish keeping.