BAT

I learned that you should not keep an LED light on a tank with no lid - even for a few days. My light stopped working and when i turned it over I noticed moisture in it. Is there any way to salvage it? Or should i just toss it?

Has anyone used cuttlebones for calcium? I go through the wonder shells pretty quick to keep enough calcium in the tank for my snails. I had read a few sites about using cuttlebones and am wondering if anyone has any experience?

@Meowtroidis this the potomac valley club?

Thanks @Katherine and @Guppysnail! For my education - which way does the shell grow? Ie which end is the new shell growth on?

@colu has a recipe to put mix kanaplex with food. I have attached the image.i agree @GisheryGoodnessvery unlikely to have been the heater. I don’t think this was your fault. I also have had good luck with aquarium salt. Aquarium coop has good salt directions https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish?_pos=1&_sid=dcc5936ed&_ss=r I have found it makes the antibiotics even more effective. I now keep aquarium salt in my 10g betta tank at all times. I have no plants in it. Good luck!

Is this ridge/impression normal for my mystery snail Bluey? It is active and has doubled its size. I keep a small wonder shell in the 20g at all times.

@monadont despair. My bettas has had a few bouts of fin rot while I figured out how best to care for him. His fins were tattered before I left for vacation after his last episode and when I returned 2.5 wks later they had grown back! I am a believer in having some salt in the tank at all times. My betta lives in a 10g tank with artificial decor.

Can I add algae wafers and other food to help my mystery snail?

Despite @Cory and others extolling the virtues of pest snails I could not bring myself to embrace them….until now. After a year of picking out any and all that ever popped up, I came home after 3 weeks away to the cleanest tank I have ever seen. In my absence (friends fed fish every other day), the pest snails stepped up to the plate and wiped the aquarium clean of the brown algae that had been slowly creeping back into the tank. So clean that the gravel now sparkles! I am converted. Pest snails are my friends.

My betta sometimes has a bump in this area. I now use daphnia in the diet to help him poop regularly.

@Zac I had a similar problem Does it smell like rotten eggs? I have read about hydrogen sulfide collecting under gravel and bubbles rising from gravel I started gravel vacuuming in spots where there no plants.

Hi Nerms, I have been getting algae buildup in plant leaves. I have a mystery snail in 20G long. Should I get a shrimp or nerite snail or both to help with cleaning?

Beautiful!

Hi @faded.mallard this almost looks like an erosion of scales/ulcer. I have had this happen with my betta (also same color). I am asking @Colu if maybe you should use kanaplex or another antibiotic.

I also really like the Fluval bug bites. I alternate that with the Hikari pellets and also frozen bloodworms, daphnia, and brine shrimp. besides raising your own brine shrimp, where do people get live foods? And which kinds?

I have been treating my betta for fin rot. I was using kanamycin and salt (1 tbsp: 1 gallon) and then added Maracyn 2 because I read that minocycline can be synergistic with kanamycin for possible resistance. This fish has been treated twice in past 8 mos with kanamycin. The temp is 81F. Water parameters 0 amm/0 nitrite/ 10-15 nitrate anyway, i noticed white spots on his side today. See pic. Should i treat for ich? Unfortunately i leave on vacation tomorrow. So dont have anyone to remove the water and retreat when i am gone.

Well, it seems the light is too long to clamp on the 20g long! Here it is w brackets

It may be that I haven’t installed the brackets correctly. Let me go back and try again. I will keep you all posted. Thank you!

I bought the Finnex from AC. I like it but it’s hard to get the light to get good spread. See pic. I think it’s bc it sits directly above the lid. I couldnt figure out how to use the brackets in the rimmed 20g long. Any ideas or thoughts?

the recent test strips were negative - meaning 0 nitrate and 0 nitrite. now I wonder if they were accurate. has anyone had that happen? but I know that there had been nitrite in the water weeks ago (by both test strips and the API kit)

Just when i thought i was alone… i have had the same problems! Thanks for the tips!

Hi Nerms, my betta has fin rot (I think). Not sure cause. I have been checking the water parameters with AC test strips and all parameters were low to zero. The tank had cycled bc I had a nitrite spike at end of June that passed. I kept 1 tbsp to 1 gallon salt in the water with the fish. I didn’t change the water for 3 wks bc the test strips were negative. Then I changed and took salt concentration down. Over past 2 weeks I have noticed his lower fin getting more ragged. I started ichX and kanaplex Saturday. And I restarted the salt to move the concentration back up. I have been changing water every two days. Added IAL. He made bubble nests with it. Today nitrate was 20; nitrite and ammonia were 0. Before water change. see pic he is eating well but seems frenetic which is the sign I use to notice something is off. I started treatment when I saw a little erosion and he was frenetic when I come up to tank Do you think there was a nitrate spike that I missed? anything else to do?

Thanks Nerms!

@Colui checked the temp with a probe thermometer - and its 80/81 degrees.

I thought I saw in a previous youtube video (either girltalksfish or AC maybe) a trick of leaving the plants in their holder, putting a root tab in the wool and letting them acclimate to the new tank for a bit. 1. Has anyone else done this? 2. If so, how long before I take the plant out of the holder? Thanks! Beth