Karen B.

April 18, 2023

@Guppysnail You must be one amazing fish mom! I’ve had Dior and Chanel for over a year, no spawning. They barely tolerate each other. They prefer to school with my Glowlight tetra (rather funny to witness)

Sometimes my female just swim still and my male slap her on the face with his tail… is it courting behavior?! 😅 @tolstoy21

April 14, 2023

On 4/13/2023 at 11:32 PM, Comradovich said:

@Karen B.

Scrubbing Pad: What you're looking for is basically Scotch-Brite Pads. They're green, rectangular, and come in boxes of 8-10. Main thing is to get a pad that isn't treated with oven cleaner or soap. Here's an Amazon link for reference.

As far as containers, you could use smaller tupperware or the like. The only thing with a smaller container is that you want to set up several, as it can crash faster on you with less surface area to contaminate with disease or chemical contaminants. Good rule of thumb with small cultures is to treat it like you would a nano-tank. Check it regularly so you catch anything going wrong early enough to fix it. That is the rule I broke with my 5.5G getting planaria. Had I caught that earlier, I probably would've lost less shrimp, scuds and snails. Check regularly, check often.

When I raise something like vinegar eels, for example, I like to start up several bottles of them at the same time. If any one bottle goes wrong, I've got spares to keep the colonies going. And since I just got eggs laid, I'm honestly kicking myself for getting rid of the vinegar eels instead of keeping them after the Scarlet Badis passed. Looks like I'll be scouring aquabid or ebay for another colony sooner rather than later. And this thread gave me just enough info on grindal worms to add them to my shopping list.

Thank you so much for your explanation! So if I understand correctly, I use the pad as the substrate instead of the coconut coir?

@Mr Gumby

April 14, 2023

Greetings!

I am about to receive my culture of grindal worms for my little pigs… er I mean pea puffers! The silly things won’t eat bloodworms, what a pain. I want to switch between snails and worms.

So… I am looking for any tips and tricks. I did read on the internet but there seem to be many ways, some even talk about using TOTES… I must admit I was hoping to use much smaller container. What size would you recommend? I have 7 pea puffers.

I am a bit confused about your use of scubbing pad… maybe because english is not my main language? What kind of scrubbing pad? When/how do you use it?

If I use a tupperware, put a few holes in the lid, cover said lid with stocking, am I safe vs fruit flies and others insects or the paper tower route is better?

I read coconut coir is to be used. And feed some quick oat or damp piece of bread every other day. And use some plastic grid for the worms to gather on. Am I understanding the process correctly?

@Mr Gumby @Guppysnail

March 23, 2023

On 3/20/2023 at 10:20 AM, Guppysnail said:

I’m sorry Gandalf is struggling. I recently went through this decision as I have several times in the past so I will share my recent experience to give you an example of how I made the decision.
My last guppy boy who was stunted growth because he was caught in a planter when he was born. He was 2 years old. He began developing a tumor along his spine. His favorite things were being tank boss no matter how big other fry in the tank were. He lived in a fry grow out because he liked to be boss and I did not want him getting picked on by big kids.
Everyday he spent at least 5 minutes furiously swimming upstream in front of filter outflows and would swim laps about the tank most of the day.
He started resting a lot on leaves but still did his favorite things. I knew he was wearing down when he stopped chasing the flow but waited as he was still active. This lasted almost 2 months though I could see him slowing further and further.
Last week he swam from his perch and could only stay aloft a little while before tiring and settling on the substrate. He was a spit fire scooting along the floor still bossing the Cory fry while he ate. I knew then it was time. He struggled to get aloft though he managed it was clear to me his life quality at that point was not what he enjoyed and I put him to rest to ease his suffering.
I hope this helps give a clear picture of how I make these hard decisions. Big hugs it’s very hard to say goodbye to a friend.

Thank you for sharing your last experience and so sorry you had to go through such a rough time too. It never get easier, eh?

Based on your comments and others, I will wait. He still swims and has life in him. I will make sure to extra spoil him as well and pay attention to any signs that will appear…

On 3/20/2023 at 10:41 AM, Miska said:

When it comes to any animal for me, if it is fish or dog or cat, my question is "if it were me, what would I want?"

If he's just resting a lot- well I would want that, even if I am not feeling my best. But if I was having trouble breathing, having trouble doing anything, and hurt very badly, I would want it to be over.

I put my mini dachshund down last summer, and it was hard, every pet is a friend. Even (and sometimes especially) a betta that you hung with every day.

There is no right answer, just the answer that is right for you, and your own process. That is mine.

Thank you so much for your words. It helps knowing other people out there understand.

March 23, 2023

On 3/20/2023 at 2:15 AM, Odd Duck said:

This is never an easy choice to make, even in an obvious situation. This is far from an obvious decision for Gandalf. Those masses are not enough by themselves to tip the balance since they don’t seem to be affecting his swimming much at this point. His behavior may be a bit borderline but it could be for other reasons than the masses. For sure, only you can make a decision like that because you know him best.

Make certain he has plenty of filtration without much current. Could you put a sponge filter over the outflow of the HOB to slow down the current but keep the biofiltration benefits? I like packing them with sponge blocks cut to fit for max biofiltration. I don’t see any resting spots for him up high. Do you have a way to provide that for him? I would consider adding low dose salt for easier osmoregulation. One tablespoon aquarium salt per 10 gallons.

If he continues to deteriorate, then you’ll know when he’s ready. Until then, just make sure you’re doing what you can to keep him comfortable.

Thank you for your answer.
Gandalf has floating plants and a floating log. I had removed it to clean it and forgot to put it back.
Some people say sponge filter is enough so I tought it was ok. No matter how much I pack my filter with sponge and filter moss, I always find the current too strong.

On 3/20/2023 at 9:52 AM, Bev C said:

my heart goes out to you that is a hard to decision to make i have been there with my bristolnose pelco Marvin. he was hurt but he was not well .. he was my favorite in the tank i tried everything i could do and even ask for advice here in the forum i finally drove to my pet store 2 hours with him and ask their advice eventually it came to letting him go all i can say is try all you can do and make him comfortable,, if it comes down to the rough decision do not bet yourself up with fish keeping guilt ,, will keep you in my prayers i waited 2 months and missed a bristolnose and have another one name Barney

So sorry for Marvin. A lot of people do mot understand jow much we care and love our wet pet. I hope Barney is helping you mending your heart. One thing for sure, Marvin was one loved pleco

March 23, 2023

On 3/19/2023 at 1:59 PM, Lennie said:

I had a white guinea pig called Gandalf. It was so hard to see him pass away. Now seeing your beautiful fish called Gandalf, It made me remember of my lil one.

It is always hard to say a goodbye to our friends. Hope people here may help you to make the best decision.

@Odd Duck, would you like to share your opinion?

So sorry for the passing of your guinea pig. We love our pets so very much. Thank you for your kind words

On 3/19/2023 at 2:20 PM, Pepere said:

It is an incredibly tough decision. In the wild there would be no one to gently euthanize him.

By the same token in the wild there would likely be a predator to take advantage of the situation…

I would suspect clove oil would be less stressful than being chased and eaten…

There is definitely no easy answer…

Thank you for your words. It’s such a tough decision

March 19, 2023

I have a betta, my beautiful Gandalf, that has been growing tumors for the last few months. I’ve had him since october 2021. He has always been active, swimming, curious. He was always scouting his tank and stopping by pretty much every plant to make sure nothing moved, etc. He hated whenever I would move anything in his aquarium or clean it. With time I only just filled back the evaporated water once every 2-3 weeks, as well as 50% wc every 2 months. He is in a planted heated 10 gallons with a HOB Aqueon 20 filter and sponge filter.

Lately his tumors have been growing. His behavior has changed also. Most of the time he rests at the bottom of the tank, wedge between plants or between the glass and a plant. That’s something he has never done before. Then he swims around a bit, takes a gulp of air, and goes back down. I removed his snail because he would get super upset if it was on the front glass. I also stopped the HoB filter to reduce the flow. He still eats, but isn’t as eager as he once was.

I have a hard time making up my mind. Clearly he isn’t as happy and healthy as he once was. But should I euthanize him right now? I hate knowing he might be suffering. I wouldn’t want to prolong it just for my own sake… nor would I want to have the feeling he is unwell so I am just « getting rid » of him instead of letting him enjoy his life as stress free as possible.

March 16, 2023

On 3/15/2023 at 8:07 PM, laritheloud said:

My marble betta developed very bad tumors along his face, behind his gill plate, and in the stomach area. As long as he was still interested in food I cared for him. When it was clear he could no longer swim or eat, I knew it was time. It's rough -- they're so personable, all of these fish are! I just wish breeding and supply chain practices really kept the health of these animals in mind and not just looks.

I'm having a hard time justifying getting any more 'fancy' domestically bred labyrinth fish at this point, though my male honey is still doing well (almost two years in the tank now!). If I were to get more, I'd go for the bigger species of gourami that are closer to their wild coloration, like a three-spot gourami, moonlight gourami, pearl gourami. For now I'm really happy with the cichlids I'm keeping (don't have too many, most are small species except for my electric blue acara), so my focus has shifted a little bit.

I agree with you. And for some reason I can’t keep shrimps - so I gave up.

I will only have 1 honey gourami left. I got her at the same time as Daliah. I am not too sure what I will do. A different centerpiece fish? More gourami? But the pecking order will have to be re-established… and the gourami that will be left is my dominant one.

Here is my sweet Gandalf. He still eats and swims but is more often resting at the bottom then he used to. I just hope it’s nothing I have done, you know? I didn’t change his water every week, did I neglect something? Was it because his snail stressed him (he hated his snail so much. I moved it eventually as to not cause Gandalf too much stress)? So many questions…

March 16, 2023

On 3/15/2023 at 4:05 PM, laritheloud said:

Oof. Looks like an internal infection or a tumor. Personally, I’ve never had success with medically treating these kinds of things. If I were you I’d give the sweet fish supportive care and feed/change water as normal; likely the condition is not contagious if no one else in the tank has a problem. Let them live out their little lives for as long as they will.

you CAN try to treat, but in my experience, it is more stress than it is worth and the outcome rarely improves. You’re allowing the fish to live happily and that’s what counts — gouramis are often the luck of the draw when it comes to longevity and health. I only have one honey gourami and one thicklip left at this point, and it was nothing I did wrong — they are simply from a supply chain that doesn’t raise them up with health and longevity in mind.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news!

Thank you. It hits hard as my betta also has a tumor.

@Colu @laritheloud When do you know it’s time to say good bye to a fish? It’s hard to judge their quality of life…

March 15, 2023

Greetings! I was wondering if someone could help me. (Maybe @laritheloud as you know so much about gourami).

2 days ago I noticed this bump on my honey gourami’s side. It’s near the fin. The other honey gourami, the school of chili rasboras and the 15 false julii corydoras all looks fine.

It’s a female, she still swims, eats and poops normally.

Any idea of what it might be? How to treat it? Should I place her in quarantine?

30 gallons community planted tank. 0/0/30. Temp 75. Ph 6.6, Gh hard(About 200 on aquarium coop strips), kh low (about 40). No chlorine/chloramine. HOB filter and sponge filter.

February 4, 2023

It was a cozy afternoon, weather at a comfortable -50 outside. I had nothing planned so apparently I found nothing better to do then knock my automatic feeder into my 30 gallons community tank. All its content was spilled (a mix of various food including flakes, pellets, etc.)

Within half an hour, I had a bucket filled with 1/4 of the soiled water and the rest was fast dripped acclimated from another aquarium. I moved my chili rasboras and my 2 honey gourami inside, as well as some rocks, driftwood, plants.

Then began the nightmare to catch all my corydoras (accidentally injured one. Feeling so bad) and move them inside the 5 gallons bucket as well as the heater and the sponge filter.

I am wondering what dhould be the next steps.

1 - A lot of food got burried into the substrate when I unrooted plants, tried to catch fish, moved decor/driftwood, etc. Must I get rid of it and replace it? I did vacuum it but as I said, food got under/mixed in. I am afraid if too much food is left, it will rot and create ammonia or gas pocket.

2 - should I leave the fish in the 5 gallons bucket (2 honey gourami, 12 chili rasboras, 16 corydoras) in the 5 gallons bucket and do heavy daily WC or should I scatter them around in my fishroom?

3 - should the injured cory be separated or as they are already stressed, just put a lot of catappa leaves in the bucket?

4 - What are the steps to get my aquarium back running? Do daily large WC? If I keep my HoB filter running, will it stay cycled or should I start the cycle all over?

I welcome any tips, suggestions, recommandations and pity party.

January 24, 2023

On 1/24/2023 at 10:54 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Here is the update on Geppetto.

Saturday -

Today:

Not wanting to dump a bunch of medication in at once and not know what worked, I was planning on doing a phased treatment. So this is just 1 T salt per 5 gal. Plus the usual tannins from the almond leaves.

@Karen B. how is your betta doing? Did you see the question about your parameters?

So glad your fish is improving!

Here is Gandalf, in his aquarium

@Colu

sorry it took me so long to reply.

0/0/0

pH 7

temp 78f

gh 300

kh 40

No chlorine.

He has been in this tank for over a year, same parameters

January 24, 2023

@Lennie @Jennifer V @Theplatymaster

I made some changes according to your suggestions. Still not perfect but more plants!

The white stuff are the aquarium coop root tabs. I squish them but I can’t put my hands in the water so it’s harder with the tools and they keep resurfacing 😭

January 23, 2023

@Jennifer V @Theplatymaster

Floating plants hate me. Well, a lot of plants do. Life java fern. Can’t get it to grow for the life of me 😡

My other problem is when I pack too much plants, leaves that touch each other tend to rot… I am not too sure why?

Thank you for the suggestions!

January 23, 2023

Greetings

I should be getting 6 pea puffers for my 20 high this week. The aquarium is cycled but I finished the actual setup only today.

What do you guy think? Any improvement I should make? Keep in mind the plants are not fully grown/established yet.

January 20, 2023

My betta’s fin looks abnormal on two places (its tail and abdominal fin). It’s been going on for a few weeks now. I have not noticed any change in his behavior, he eats and swims normally. To me it looks like he might have injured himself and the fins fused in a weird way, but it also look like small bumps so I am skeptical. Anyone could help, please?

thanks!

January 9, 2023

On 1/9/2023 at 2:28 PM, Guppysnail said:

Use Reverse Respiration for the plants. Soak in seltzer in the dark completely submerged for 9 - 12 hours and then they are safe to return to the tank. This will eliminate any aerobic or aneroid bacteria as well as parasites.
The fish there is no guarantee. I keep sick fish quarantined for 1-2 months after treatment if it was a serious illness or parasite.

I a going to sound stupid but I am native from Québec and speak french so I am not entirely sure what is refered as seltzer water? Is it Perrier? I did look around a little bit, so from what I understand it’s carbonated water? Is it different from sparkling water?

January 9, 2023

Greetings!

I bought 13 glowlight tetras and started them on quarantine med trio. 2 days later, I noticed one was poorly. He had white patched on each side of its head. I asked here about a treatment and @Colu gave me a solution, sadly I didn’t have the meds, so I went for a full cours of Maracyn. The sick fish was dead the next day, however, the remaining ones seem to be ok (knock on wood!) so far after 2 and 1/2 days.

Once the treatment is done, I will wait a week, do a WC, and start over the quarantine med trio but minus the maracyn.

After that week, I will wait 2 more weeks. At that time, will the fish AND the plants are safe to transfer in my community tank? The plants are also meant to be scattered around many aquarium but I want to wait until it’s 100% safe to do so.

January 6, 2023

Greetings

I bought 13 glowing tetra 2 days ago at my lfs. They seemed ok, all of them but one are schooling and swimming around, exploring. But one is always down by the sponge filter.

I treated them with the quarantine med trio right at the start. Today I noticed one of the fish has 2 white patches on each side of its head, but they do not seem joined at the top. I also have a hard time seeing if it’s fuzzy or not.

Should I put him in a separate tank? Or, as it is my quarantine tank and they just started, should I go with the full treatment in case it may be contagious? I have paraclease, maracyn, ich-x, expel-p and few other meds.

January 4, 2023

Greetings!

I just wanted to nerd out and to show my newest fish addition. It took me forever to decide but here are my 13 glowlight Tetra that will join my pair of apistogramma cacatuoides in their 20 long once their quarantine is over.

I did buy more than I was aiming for (10) but there was 13 at the petstore and couldn’t just leave these 3 behind!!

This aquarium has been running empty with plants for a couple of months. The sponge filter was in it the whole time. The HOB is filled with seeded media that were in other aquariums for weeks. I also used prime, stability and fritz complete so hopefully the tank cycle can deal with such a high number of fish added at once. Of course I will monitor daily and start the med trio asap. I always get so paranoid when adding new fish, especially from a petshop and because my quarantine tank is close to all my other tank.

Please don’t mind the plants, I am growing them.

And you? Any new fish addiction you would like to share?

December 31, 2022

On 12/31/2022 at 12:48 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

I had glowlights ages ago! Imo very under appreciated tetra

They are a beautiful rosy pink on the lateral line and mine developed a cinnamon red body. They can be a bit flighty at first but I don’t remember them ever breaching the water. Doesn’t mean they won’t.

Also I think the preference for darker substrate is more a suggestion. They do look good in a heavily planted tank with soil, but any substrate will do.

Thank you! I love pink and my 20 long is well planted (I think?) so I really hope they will enjoy.

Here is the tank right when I set it up. Now plants need to establish themselves and grow.

December 31, 2022

I think I (almost) made up my mind.

As ditter fish with my pair of apistogramma cacatuoides, I would like 10 glowlight tetra.

Anyone has any? Are they as pink (🥰) as they appear? Are they jumpy (as my 20 gallons doesn’t have a cover)

I read they prefer dark substrate… mine is more riverbed type… is that ok?

Thank!

December 22, 2022

On 12/22/2022 at 2:44 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Might be an egg bound female or could be pineconing.

Thanks! I sure hope it’s that and nothing bad. But I still can’t explain the discoloration of the tail?

December 21, 2022

Greetings

I was watching my Chili Rasboras when I noticed one of them seems to have a discoloration on its tail and seem much more bloated then the others.
Any of you know what it could be?

I am about to go on holiday - is it safe to leave the fish in my community tank?

Please do not mind the water, I was feeding them chopped bloodworms.

Thank you!

December 16, 2022

Greetings!

I want to clean my betta aquarium - including moving the driftwood which has a lot of mulm under/around. So inevitably, a lot will be disturbed and float in the water for a while.

I am always scared when a lot of gunk cloud the water that it will affect the fish. In this case, should I move my betta temporarily in a small container and give some times for the water to clear/the mulm to settle down? Or will it stress the fish abd do more harm than the water will?

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