mapleleaf218

I never noticed a smell from the aquaclear sponges (maybe except for a faint smell of plastic), but I don’t think boiling them is a good idea since they are plastic and may cause them to flake off tiny pieces when placed in the water and/or deteriorate faster. I would just rinse them thoroughly in hot tap water and maybe disinfect them with hydrogen peroxide if you’re worried. What kind of smell is it exactly? Plastic odor or like something rotting? I know that the co-op coarse sponges have a heavy plastic smell to them, but I’m not sure about the aquarclear.

Was doing a water change a few days ago and thought my platies had babies again... ... but it turned out to be just a stray piece of tan fish poop 😂 (a bit disappointing, not gonna lie)

Good to know! I learned something new today 😄

I believe prime breaks down after 48 hrs, so in theory you could wait 48 hrs until you put the next dose of ich x. I guess this would work if you were using it for the med trio, since you have to let the fish soak in the med bath for a week. However, if you were using ich x to treat an active case of ich, you would have to do a water change every 24 hrs and add another dose of ich x, which means you can't wait 48 hrs for the prime to break down. Edit: came across this, so apparently using prime with ich x is fine?

I was thinking of getting some snails to help aerate the substrate (0.5-1mm size sand) in my tank, and read that malaysian trumpet snails could help with that, since they burrow into the substrate a lot. Are they the only type of snails that burrow, or do other types do so too? I'm planning to put them in a 10 gal planted tank with platys. Any thoughts, comments, or advice?

Thanks! I will look into those I’m not trying to breed my platys right now. I actually did some research about bacopa caroliniana and dwarf aquarium lily so I’m considering to get them. Are there any notable differences (besides the appearance) between the lilies you suggested?

Any suggestions for plants for a 10 gal platy tank? (the platys are still in qt right now so the 10 gal is empty) This is my first time trying out a planted tank. I was thinking of maybe more leafy/bushy low light plants that provides more cover, since the females get chased around so much. Currently in the 10 gal, I have anubias barteri, anubias goldcoin, some val, java fern and windelov java fern, which have all been there for almost 5 months (though both types of the java ferns aren't doing so well). I use Easy Green and Easy Root Tabs for the val, and I have Caribsea Super Naturals Crystal River sand for substrate, which I believe is considered coarse sand. Edit: I forgot to mention that I have a relatively high pH that goes into the early 8.0 (I don't koow if that matters much with plants)

I have a question about the death of some of my goldfish in the past. I had a common goldfish, fantail, and oranda that all died with a bent back, and I still am not quite sure why they became like that. At first, I thought it was nitrate poisoning (or a shock from a drastic change in nitrates), but doing small water changes didn’t help. I did a little bit more research, and apparently it also could’ve been fish tb?? Now, here’s my problem: the main tank that those goldfish died in has been empty for over 8 months now, and has live plants in it right now. I plan to add several platies (which I am treating in my quarantine tank right now) to this tank in several months time, and now I am not so sure about it because I didn’t do a thorough cleaning (sterilizing everything) of the main tank after the fish died. If those goldfish actually had fish tb, then do you think the disease would still be present in the tank after it being empty for almost a year? Should I completely clean out the main tank and sterilize everything and restart the cycle just to be safe? I am hesitating to do so because my live plants have just started taking off, and I don’t want to disturb my substrate-planted plants too much.

Hello there! Just discovered this amazing forum a few months ago and decided to finally make an account and join in with the fun. I have kept several goldfish over the past years, including one common goldfish that I have kept since my childhood and somehow lived up to 9 years in a 2 gallon tank 🤷‍♀️ (his color faded completely though), as well as a fantail and oranda goldfish. I consider myself a beginner to this hobby, and am excited to learn more about fish in this forum! Last year, I started keeping live plants (ferts = easy green & easy root tabs) in my main 10 gal tank (which is empty right now): two anubias (barteri and goldcoin), windelov & regular java fern, and vallisneria. There was lots of melt back from all of my java ferns, and the vallisneria is finally starting to take off after about 4 months. The windelov is not doing so well, but the regular java fern is growing slow and steady. I have several small pieces of driftwood for the anubias and java fern to attach to. Before melt back: After melt back & new leaves/runners (~4 months later): Recently, I decided to do something different from goldfish and got platies! I have 3 females and 1 male. This is my first time quarantining fish and using meds, so any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated! As of now, I have just finished the 5-day treatment for Paracleanse (in a quarantine tank), and am in the two-week resting period before the second treatment of Paracleanse. At the beginning I was planning to do the med trio, but I observed lots of flashing from the platies so I thought it would be better to deal with the parasites first. Now, the platies have white spots on their fins (which are presumably ich), and I was wondering if I should start the Ich-X treatment immediately, or if I should wait until after two weeks, since I have just finished the Paracleanse treatment and they need a rest from meds.