KatFish
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Posts posted by KatFish
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On 9/21/2022 at 5:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
I definitely can relate. I spend off days editing audio / video for the fun of it, whenever I find a project that actually is interesting. I don't have the setup I used to, but spending the time to calibrate everything has really given my eyes (and ears) the training to see things a specific way. Light, ambient light, colors, it all varies and definitely messes with your eyes and interpretation. The easiest thing for me is to compare two things and then discerne between those two selection. I think we can all relate to how "fine" of a scale some of these tests can be. "Is it more orange or turning red, etc."
I always struggle with some tests and often I have to re-test because I just struggle with it.
I don't use flash because it messes with the colors too much. I would recommend always having the color test and the chart in the same shot, even on a white piece of paper works and helps also. Use a flashlight instead of a flash if you need more light because that you can keep common. Flash isn't precise and can skew things based on how the phone reads the object. I also tend to mess with the iso / white balance just to make sure it looks like what I'm seeing in person.
BUT.... after all this, if you still have issues, I go to a colorblind simulator (usually top result on google with those two words), and then I'll remove blue or red or green based on whatever test I'm looking at. Some tests are also easier to see black and white as well.
All useful tools! Hopefully that helps 🙂PH: Looks like ~8.1
Ammonia: ~5.0 ppm
Nitrite: ~2 ppm (more purple than blue, but the clarity (opaqueness) of the purple would indicate higher value, doesn't seem very high, but hard to tell)
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm (perfect)thank you very much for the idea about the paper and the chart! I wrote it down on a sticky note and put it in my test kit for next time!
and yeah- I normally use a flashlight when I read the tests on my own, Honestly I don't know why I didn't think to just grab my flashlight to take the pictures too haha. I think I've gotten used to the convince of technology.
I definitely do make my artwork (and my tech) more accessible for me to use. Like, I will spend hours color mixing skin tones for my art and still not be happy with it because I can't end up seeing the highlight shades 😅
thankfully when I do my abstract art, it doesn't matter when I just throw neons and rainbows on a pallette!
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On 9/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, Guppysnail said:
For guppies java moss is not the best. Guppy grass, water sprite, hornwort a some Java ferns or anubias from a big box in a tube. Anything you can throw in the tank but let it float at the top. The fry are born and as soon as they manage to learn to swim they go to the top. Mine hide at the edge at the water line. Adults have a hard time seeing them I guess. Heck even just getting plastic plants and pulling the base off so they float is fine. Java works best IMO for egg fry that hang on the floor when they hatch.
Thank you so much! I still have a bunch of silk/plastic plants (I bought this like big bulk box on sale- and I bought it for one type of plant)
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On 9/20/2022 at 7:47 PM, Pepere said:
I have always aced the color blind tests whenever I have taken them…
Some of the API master test kit gradations leave me wondering…
discerning between 40 ppm and 80 ppm Nitrate is guesswork to me. But that is ok because anything over 40, am anting to do a water change regardless to lower… And the difference between 40 and 20 ppm are easy enough…
Same story with Nitrites above 1 ppm…. And ammonia between 2 ppm and 4 ppmbut again, I am likely doing a water change at those levels if there are fish in the tank…
I used to ace all those online color tests, and then I went into the eye doctor this year...
I got absolutely bamboozled by similar shades of color, it drove me bonkers!
I do art for a living- I can't not see different shades, you know??
Hearing the nice doctor lady tell me that "No, this is in fact green, and the other is blue" made me re-evaluate everything a little 🤣-
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On 9/21/2022 at 1:03 PM, Guppysnail said:
I dislike net breeders. I actually dislike all breeders but I have several 🙄 Guppy babies often get through the net. I use plants also. I know it’s hard not to get excited and want to save every baby. By the third batch the bathroom sink is looking ideal as extra water space to hold babies because the first batch is not big enough to rehome quite yet.
I strongly encourage new guppy breeders to have plants and floating plants so you don’t get overwhelmed right away. Trust me and thousands of other guppy folks looking for bulk outlets for guppy babies. You will get enough unless you are set up for line breeding and need bulk. I gave a few to a friend. 4 months later she wanted me to take a bunch 🤣. She just did plants.
If you go the breeder box route the ziss from ACO is my preference.Thank you again for the advice @Guppysnail! I was looking at the plants on ACO but they're out of the java moss (since that seems to be what a lot of breeders use for the fry)
I have my fake silk plants in there, but obviously live is better.
Since ACO is out of java moss, would something like their Octopus or Amazon Sword work?
Or do I need to go to my LFS to specifically get java moss? -
I'm looking between the net breeder and the Ziss Breeder box. Obviously aside from the jump in price- is there any difference in quality / QoL for the fry?
Because if it's worth the money for the Ziss, I don't mind dropping the money, but I also want to be sure that it's worth it, you know?
My only experience with breeding is my accidental breeding of mystery snails- So I just want to be sure I give the lieutenant and her babies the best.
If my calculations are right- since I got her on the 3rd of Sept, that means she's been preggo for 19 days (oops on my part- thankfully, I only found the tiny spoon last monday, after I fed her)
To all the people who breed fish, do you have any reccomendations on the Ziss vs the net breeder? -
On 9/21/2022 at 11:31 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:
If she is preggo, I'd probably feed her more than once a week for her babies to get more nutrients. It's hard work making babies!
I absolutely will!
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On 9/21/2022 at 2:06 AM, Flumpweesel said:
Honestly I don't worry about the exact numbers but if they look more than I want I change water. Any sign of ammonia or nitrite I do a change and like @Pepere anything looking darker than 40 Nitrate .
I've been in the same boat with goldfish and one of the fish has severe fin rot from the ammonia burn. I was water changing before work each morning and often again when I got home from work to keep the ammonia down, turned into the longest cycle ever because I couldn't leave it to let the bacteria kick in.
If you have a spare filter set it up in a bucket full of dirty tank water and leave that to cycle then when media has established it's bacteria swap it with the media in the tank you can even readd the now cycled bucket water.
It might speed up the process a bit.
That's a smart idea! I'll give that a shot, thank you so much!
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On 9/20/2022 at 7:48 PM, Guppysnail said:
She appears both pregnant and pleasantly plump. Some of my girls carry a touch forward like that. Congratulations 🎊
Thank you so much for the help!
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Also- @Guppysnail can I get your advice on if my guppy is just a chubby little lady, or if she's pregnant?
She's a single guppy, due to the loss of the group when I bought them from my LFS- and she was the only survivor.
But I've only been feeding her about once or twice a week with this tiny brine shrimp spoon I got (i got it from a "hatch your sea dragon kit!" that was a bust haha, but the spoons been useful!)
I use one spoonful when I feed her- and she's been pooping, but I don't see her tummy ever shrinking. she's just been getting more... chubby.
I've added a few pictures since she moves around a lot- so I hope these help
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On 9/20/2022 at 6:21 PM, flyingcow said:
If this is a fish in cycle, I wouldn't worry one bit about the pH, but that ammonia level is pretty much an emergency. 50% water change to start with and test again tomorrow. Not the end of the world, but action now is warranted.
Yeah I've been tackling the ammonia levels with 50% water changes every day.
I think what happened was, when the HOB on my old tank made us think it leaked (because further testing has proven no leaks) even when I tried to save some of the old water- it ended up having to restart the cycle.
😮💨 Live and learn, you know? Now I'm just tackling ammonia burns as I lower the levels and get things back on track.
that's why I'm doing the tests as often as I am, so I can keep a record.
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I think my Mystery snails laid eggs!
It cant be the lieutenant, because guppies are live bearers- so they're like.... tiny fish-
Ironically, I don't think I've ever seen the mystery snails ever lay a clutch 😂 more just appear!
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On 9/18/2022 at 3:47 AM, Flumpweesel said:
Mine would knock everything over, plants were a none starter, unless you really enjoy replanting things.
You probably have time as they are still rather small. I got away with some fake plants that had very heavy weights at the bottom and big drift wood that couldn't fall over
I have these like... flat marble things from the dollar store that I bought because they were bigger than their mouth, and all night I can just hear the *clink, clink, clink* of them moving around the marbles 🤣
Part of me is tempted just to buy a pack of ping pong balls, just to see what happens. But yeah, I ended up moving the pot when they started wiggling around it and it was shifting.
Also- I don't know why I didn't think of this- but clearly my logic failed me.
Basil plants don't like Aquarium salt- who knew 🤷♀️ ( /j )-
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On 9/20/2022 at 4:03 PM, Flumpweesel said:
pH 8
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 1
Ammonia 4
This is your goldfish fish in cycle isn't it?
If so I would be doing a massive water change just based on the ammonia for me it needs to stay as low as possible but definitely below one all the time to stop damage.
I would suggest only testing ammonia for awhile as it's presence alone is going to make you have to do water change and you'll be testing a lot so this will save you some money if you only need to replace the ammonia bottles down the road a bit when the other tests are more important when the cycle kicks in.
So when you see low or no ammonia start testing the other things again.
If you are still only half filling your tank you may want to re think that as filling it all the way up will dilute the waste a little more.
This is the Goldfish tank, Yeah. throughout the water changes during the week we've been adding more water to get back up to the top ( mainly just to watch the HOB to see if it's gonna overflow on us again haha) after today's water change, we finally got the water to about 3/4ths-ish full to the top. I would say there's a good... maybe two and a half inches of air from the lid.
I did steep some almond leaves in my dechlorinated water and throw that in, to help lower the ph- since I know that 8 is getting too high for goldfish.
I didn't put in the actual leaves- mostly because I was kinda worried they'd eat the leaves- they already tried to eat the basil plant.
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On 9/20/2022 at 2:37 PM, Blaha said:
My thoughts:
PH 8-8.2
nitrate 0-5
nitrite 0.5-1
ammonia 2-4
That's comparing how they look on screen to the chart I'm holding. If you post it with the chart it could be easier for consistent lighting, but this hopefully is pretty close.
A tip that may or may not be useful in your case: If you can take pics and have a way to put a grayscale filter on them, would that help? I'm not entirely sure how colorblindness works, but if it works that could save you some stress maybeI didn't even think about adding the chart! Of course-
The top one is with the flash, and the bottom without. I've tried it with the grayscale, and sadly even then still trying to compare them isn't helpful for me haha.
I might need to my actual editing stuff instead of just my phone- so I'll try that instead.
anyway! Here's the picture of the chart!
Chart w/ FlashChart w/o Flash:
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I wasn't exactly sure whether to put this in the Diseases section or not- so pardon me if I made a mistake!
But I need help reading the color of my results from my Freshwater test kit. I'm just colorblind enough that the shades of color aren't different for me at certain levels.
I took pictures of them with and without flash, so I hope this helps!
If I need to redo any tests for you to get better pictures or something, please let me know, I am more than happy to do so!High Range pH:
Nitrate:
Nitrite:
Ammonia:
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On 9/17/2022 at 7:16 PM, Colu said:
I would also add some aquarium salt 1 table for 1 gallons will provent methemoglobin toxicity by blocking nitrite adsorption though the fish Gill's and the salt will help to relieve stress on your fish kidneys caused by ammonia poisoning @Swampbones
Should I pre-dissolve it in dechlorinated water or just let it into the tank?
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On 9/17/2022 at 4:25 PM, Flumpweesel said:
Just be mindful of those stacked pots goldfish can be a bit thuggish with decor and that might make a mess if they knock it down.
Love the basil bet it will smell amazing. Using them to grow things is the really cool thing with hang on backs. They are a relatively new thing in they shops here so I've never run one.
Oh really?? I've seen the comets moving the moving the substrate (which is why I decided not to do a planted tank bottom, haha) becuase I knew they were foragers, but I never knew that!
I will absolutely keep an eye on it.
Personally, I wasn't 100% set on the placement of it inside the tank anyway, but I didn't want to keep stressing the fish out by fiddling with stuff after doing a big water change, you know?
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On 9/17/2022 at 5:37 PM, Colu said:
What would be doing with ammonia at 8ppm nitrite at 0.5 is 50% water changes twice a day and you can dose seachem prime up to 5times the recommended dose in emergency to help detoxify any ammonia or nitrites ammonia at that will kill your fish is water levels always that low or is it because your doing a water change if it is I would recommend filling you tank up to the top and I would recommend using a canister filter with goldfish I use a fluval 307external canister filter and a ziss 300f bubble filter for my 12 in fish that works well for me not detectable ammonia or nitrites and low nitrate 10ppm in short term large twice daily water changes till your ammonia and nitrite constantly stay at zero is what needed @Swampbones
I currently have 3 sponge filters and a HOB that came with the original 10g kit that claims to filter up to 20g.
But I am doing daily water changes.
The current reason as for why I don't have the water all the way to the top, is because it seems like the HOB overflows with the cartridge it recommends you use.
The water goes right up to the very tippy top of the HOB- and this is before me putting in the basil plant.
I put in the plant to help block the water flow, and give the natural nitrogen cycle help like ACO's guides and videos recommend with live plants. Same thing with the terracotta pot. It has seeds growing inside of it, soaking up the water through the pot.
Once my local garden center opens back up- because they close up once august ends- I will buy another terracotta pot, and then be able to raise the water level.
I hope by that time however, I have been able to think of a better way to work on the aquaponics set up, for the tank, to make this a non-issue.
Thank you for your advice on the medication- I couldn't remember what the name of the product was I was looking for, it's in my shopping list to get once my family gets some more money.
For now, it's twice daily water changes, and active monitoring. -
On 9/17/2022 at 4:26 PM, DiscusLover said:
Yea your tank is way to small to fit 2 goldfish. You do know how big they get right?
Yes. My family and I are well aware. We live in an 18x60 mobile home in a mobile home park.
when the county tax rate for where I live is no longer 8.5% on major assets like a home- maybe then we actually qualify for a loan to buy a real home with a backyard for me to give the Comet Goldfish the space they deserve.
I appreciate your advice, but this comment was unnecessary.
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9/17/2022
I've been making small updates to the tank, as I try to make the best living situation for the two comet goldfish- Crabbe and Goyle.
I did a huge water change after learning about the possible ammonia burns on Crabbe, and while I was waiting for my boiling water to cool down I took my new basil plant and did my best to remove as much dirt from it's root tangled mess as possible (The roots were literally so bunched up from top to bottom of the nursery pot) and put it in my HOB filter.
I was planning on putting it in the Terracotta pot, but it was too tall. So I found some seeds from this DIY herb garden kit and I took the kit apart and put it all in my pot- then stuck it in the tank.
I don't know if the seeds will survive. I didn't really know that those DIY kits had an expiration date until I saw it on the box, so... shrug.I live for the thrill of experiments anyhow.
I just wish I could stop fiddling with the basil plant 😩 The more I keep messing with it, the more of the dirt that is stuck in the massive root clump comes out!
It's annoying!
But I keep fiddling with it to try and make the plant sit up straight!
I'm going bug nuts, friends. -
Tank update-
Thank you so much @DiscusLover for the article! I did a big water change on my tank, and that helped out a ton.
The water is already so much clearer!
Here's a picture of the tank in general- and yes, I stuffed a basil plant in my HOB filter 🤣, I have seeds in the terracotta pot as an experiment- (but honestly, they came from a kit that had an expiration date from like... 4 years ago, so... I don't exactly have any hopes of the seeds survival.)Also- I realized that (before I added the basil plant) my HOB's filter had a carbon thingy in it. sighs
So am I going to have to redose my tank? It's only been a few minutes since I put in the dose.
Advice would be appreciated. -
On 9/17/2022 at 1:18 PM, DiscusLover said:
I do not think its because of them fighting nor I think its a cut I believe its because of your ammonia is so high plus your nitrite which both are extremely harmful to fish. https://www.thesprucepets.com/treat-fish-for-ammonia-burns-2925396 Most likely ammonia burns
Thank you!
this is a really helpful article!-
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Parameters: (and please ignore the cloudy water in the tank- The nitrogen cycle got re-kicked off when my old tank leaked, and I put them in a new one, so I'm dealing with the algae bloom)
Temp: 68*F
Ammonia- (scarily high) at 8ppm
Nitrate- 20ppm
pH- 7.4
Nitrite- .05ppm
I have been doing 50% water changes everyday on the tank, to help fight off the algae bloom.
Here's a question for you all-
Can goldfish bite each other, or give each other what looks like cuts?
Because they haven't been showing complete hostile behaviors- I don't see signs of fin damage, or them being on separate sides of the tank.
But when I first got a close up look at Crabbe, it looked like he had a coloration spot, and I thought it was just because he was growing.
But now with this "cut" I'm not so sure.
I put maracyn into the tank, as well as some stress coat.
Here's what Crabbe's "cuts" look like.
This is the one that I think is the coloration:
And this is the one I think is the bite/cut:Do I need to separate Crabbe and Goyle?
Is there a different type of medication I can use to stop the "cut"?
Or am I just being paranoid and this is a coloration?
I've only dealt with Tropical fish before, and my accidental owning of mystery snails- so goldfish (pun intended) dropped me into the deep end!
Thank you so much! -
On 9/14/2022 at 3:14 PM, Flumpweesel said:
I believe there is but I never figured it out with mine . I found guides on line but they never seemed to fit with my fish.
They used to chase each other but it was always fairly playful and always seemed like friends when they settled down
Yeah, I'm having the same issue with those guides too.
Swampbones' newest adventure into everything fish
in General Discussion
Posted
9/24/22
as of today, The Lieutenant is no longer a chubby little lady. I woke up to bid her a good morning and congratulations on her babies- however, instead the Lieutenant and I had a long debate about cannibalism and how it is frowned upon in most societies.
The Lieutenant did not seem to care.
In good news however, our mysterious colony of Mystery Snails have been breeding happily! Look at this very large clutch I saw the snail depositing! a rare picture indeed friends!
While I mourn the loss of the fry, I mostly shrug it off. I had a feeling that she would eat them in her stress of being a single mother.
We live and learn, and thank a generous friend here on the forums for sending me their mutt guppies to help give the Lieutenant her army once more!
😅 Well, at least there's the snails!