jwcarlson

Everytime I look it seems like they've doubled in number...

I know it's 'funny' to talk about just doing something and asking for forgiveness, but just in case someone takes that advice seriously... please don't do that. A roommate doesn't really have a say in what you do... a spouse does (or at least should). You can get to the point where the agreement is such that you can basically do whatever you want with your hobbies. But just taking that into your own hands without being upfront and honest is not right.

I have a Tidal and I'm not a fan. The Aquaclears that I have, I do like them better. But everything has its drawbacks. I thought I'd like having the pump in the tank on the Tidal and it might be one of the dumbest things I've ever dealt with. It's impossible to get it apart and back together. The cord never stays where it is supposed to. And it draws like 95% of the water it pumps comes through the skimmer, not the lower intake tube. In fact, I'm not sure it would really be appreciably different if it didn't have the tube at all. My biggest complaint is that any tiny amount of debris jams up the Tidal and tearing it apart to get to the impeller is a task that really upsets me. The Aquaclears will also have this issue, but it seems less often (and with less maintenance). And the Aquaclear you can pop the pump off without being up to your armpit in water. Also the Tidal's twist out leveling thing behind the tank will fall out everytime you bump it. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

It's not uncommon at all to see a 10 gallon with sponge bob decor and they want $100 for it. Also, frequently, tanks that clearly need resealed asking new/retail pricing for it. It's not really worth paying attention to it, honestly. I don't know if it's a regional thing or not, but I can't even get people to pick up free stuff when I'm giving it away. I added two bedrooms to our basement and as a result kind of lost the place for our 100# heavybag that has basically never been used. So, I put it up on Facebook for free. 4 or 5 people and pickup instructions for some of them 2-3 times and FINALLY someone actually showed up and grabbed it. There's people that spent more time going back/forth about the freaking thing than just driving over here and letting me throw it in the back of their car. I even put it out in the driveway so they could just grab it anytime without me being involved at all. *shrug* It's such a pain and I don't even sell anything on there, I just give away usable stuff when I'm cleaning up things.

Shrimp are pretty good clean ups. If you're worried about snail over population, a nerite or two would work well.

I've got 12 of these and they're pretty interesting to watch. The sparring gets pretty aggressive for something with such small of a mouth and being not very big. The males is almost jet black too, it's hard to see them against a black background. Good luck with them!

I remember hearing someone talk about pectoral fin and barbel erosion on corydora fry on bare bottoms. But I haven't experienced anything like that. Not sure about your fish, but I agree that it is probably something related to decor or being spooked. That rock interface looks perfect for a wisker to get snipped off in.

My wife broke my glass lid today. I was siphoning glass out and picked up the pleco cave to get under it. Apparently this guys date with the female in the tank a couple of days ago went well. Just laid them on the bottom instead of the top. 😄 Or at least I thought they're supposed to lay them on the top. Maybe I'm the wrong one.

What's on the bottom of the tank?

Have you kept any cherry shrimp yet? Otherwise, if it's got to be a fish... celestial pearl danios are pretty neat if there's enough plants to make them feel secure. And I breed them in far harder/higher pH water than you have. You might even get some passive breeding with them.

That's wild to me, I have rock hard water and I have never cleaned an air stone. Ziss or otherwise. Occasionally the actual "stone" type ones get crumbly. But I've never had to mess with one otherwise. Now, I've only been using Ziss stones for a little over two years. So take that for what it's worth. My biggest complaint with air stones is they constantly fall off when I'm cleaning filters.

It's really difficult to say what might have caused the problem. Do you have any pictures? Sometimes that might help. I'm only bringing this up because no one else has yet, but this is a great example of why quarantine is very important. If you'd have QT'd the new fish and they died in QT... no big deal as that's what QT is for. If you QT'd and you still lost fish in the existing tank then at least you'd know that it was just a timing thing. But having it happen in your main tank right after adding new fish and seemingly spread an issue to other fish makes it really hard to pinpoint on account of all of the variables here. I'm not trying to pile on or anything, this is just a good example of how it complicates troubleshooting issues when you don't QT. Small fish can have very small problems that are exceedingly difficult to see, so I'd suggest taking a good long look at everyone left in the tank.

I would think it's difficult to clean them, but maybe a vinegar soak would help dissolve any minerals. But if it's little micro-pieces of mulm it seems like that might be really hard to remove.

You could probably cut some of your own if you're patient enough. Otherwise might be more time/cost effective to buy new air stones?

I'd argue that you already did intentionally breed them.

Mine seem to like to lay eggs on each other. And on the assassin snails. And any other slow moving surfaces. 😄

API's website says it's shrimp/snail safe. Other than possibly dosing too much, it seems like most other water conditioners. It makes some interesting claims about reducing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate by 20-60 ppm each.

Maybe/probably. Usually it goes away with time and you'll be left with the more typical biofilm "scum" covering of the glass. Snails and a variety of fish will eat biofilm.

There's some sort of algae or algae type thing that grows on the glass that kind of stands off of it and will move with the water current. It's not hydra, but it looks like a really small version of that. It will wipe off with a paper towel if you're worried.

I have noticed that in my tanks with nerites that the bladder snails disappear (or nearly so) over time. Assassin snails will keep them in check, but in tanks with HOBs, it's a losing battle. I think the nerites just outcompete them. I removed the assassins from my discus tank (which is full of bladder snails) and there's a flush of bladder snails again. So they were doing something.

Tons of water changes. Antibiotics... and eventually a couple of hydrogen peroxide applications directly to the wounds and that seemed to be what really helped push them over the top. Fish was not cooperating for pics, but I think it's good enough to see how much better the wounds are now. The solid turquoise is also improved, a little bit of his pattern is re-growing. It may take months and he will probably always carry a scar there. But it's remained closed. I don't see myself ever doing discus again. I do not feel I have made as many errors with the fish requisite with the amount of problems I have had with the fish. For example, I now have another fish that's fading... not eating. Very skinny, losing its uprightness. It's really frustrating and I would say not anywhere near worth it. For every issue I resolve there's another one or two that pop up. I'm going to move them to a 125 sooner or later. Perhaps that will make things better... or it will be the little stressor that pushes the whole ball of wax over the edge.

I have an A. hongsloi male in a community tank and yesterday after water change he was displaying and doing his dancing (there's no female in there). Turns out he was showing off for one of the corydoras. 🤣

This is exactly what they're doing. They're trying to get you to take a closer look so they can latch onto your face.

The *used* media wasn't included, but he did have tons of boxes of cartridges that I threw away.

It depends a ton on where you live. I know a guy out in NY and he can just go find sumps seemingly at will for really good prices. There was one sump once on FB near me. There's lots of factors. I had a friend from high school contact me a year and some change ago offering to sell his 125, 90, 55, 46 bowfront, a couple 29s, a bunch of stands and filters and lights for $350. It was a great deal, but all of the filters were trash and I didn't bother trying to deal with them once I realized that. The lids in this case were also bad. But you're right, sometimes you can find a 'package' of equipment, but my experience is that it's just not worth it.