jwcarlson

It's tough to tell from the gif, but were they acting upset or lethargic or anything? Seems like they're moving normally to me? Maybe they were happy? Some fish really seem to like water changes.

In a small quantity of water you have a decent surface area for gas exchange in a cup, for instance. Something like a barrel might have a lot more surface area, but it's got a lot smaller ratio of gallons per unit of surface area. This is just a random example, mind you and I don't think it's this complex, but the goal is that the entrained gases find their way "out" and it happens much more quickly with aeration.

I grew out my discus fry using two double stacked, large ACO sponge filters. I eventually added a Tidal 100 (or something like that, I can't remember the number) and reduced down to one single, large ACO sponge filter so that I have a seeded filter to use if I ever end up needing one. I think you'll be fine with what you're planning.

Did you stir up something they're trying to eat?

I'd recommend aerating with an air stone as opposed to just sitting. It may not make a huge difference with a smaller pH shift, but when heating it will heat more evenly and efficiently. And it will "age" or degas faster with actual aeration. I use a power head in one of my barrels because I didn't have great aeration options awhile back. But it works fine so I've just kept using it even after putting in an air header in that room.

It still automatically links to their website. *shrug*

I'm not sure that Aqua Huna is a coop affiliate anymore? Dan's Fish is the only one listed on the Live Fish page on the website.

My real advice would be to put your fish in, monitor the water (change water as needed), and do a fish-in cycle. 🙂

Interesting regarding the UV sterilizer. I hadn't thought of that. I run them in my discus tank and initial fry tank, but not in any of the breeding setups. That's as good of a solution as anything else I've considered. You've been plenty of help! I don't necessarily expect a solution, but a quiver of arrows to fire.

It's not all bad aging and pre-heating. I do believe it makes a difference for the better. Aging was pretty "standard" many years ago in the hobby.

You're probably right around the cusp or perhaps "under" the shift threshold. I would say that you probably don't need to worry about aging water unless you need a way of pre-heating it. It's not a bad idea to check again seasonally, at least until you have an idea of how much it might change through the year. It probably doesn't change much, but it depends on where your city is getting their water. Just pay attention after water changes if you see anything that looks like the fish are having a difficult time adjusting. Once you get through a few of them and if nothing looks off, you are probably home free.

Wanted to add that I grow out corys on bare bottoms and don't see any issues at all with them.

I find that my tanks with bare bottoms have less snail issues than other tanks. It could be a function that I'm changing more water and therefore removing extra food more often. But I think another factor is that the food gets eaten more completely because it can't fall down in between gravel and sit there for a snail. That said... it seems inevitable that snails will get introduced unless you're following what I consider impractical methods. I'd go with a whole new tank/setup and just cycle it fresh unless you have a snail-free tank you can pull a sponge out of...

Good luck, @Gannon, I hope you can get it fixed! Every fish I ever try to net is terrified of it. Except for the ones I'm trying not to catch, they're always more than willing to swim right in. 😄

Agreed. If one has it, they all have it. When I've isolated before and confirmed the discus had worms with microscope by looking at poop sample, I move them back to the main tank and treat the whole works. Discus can get pretty spooked... really spooked, actually. QT is down in my basement, so there's not much traffic. You can also toss a towel over it to keep them a little more isolated.

I will move an adult discus into a 10 gallon temporarily. I've never kept archerfish, though.

Yeah certainly possible. Sometimes the parasite poops are quite small. And they're usually white and fairly whispy. Easiest way to see them is to isolate the fish in something with a bare bottom.

Regarding soak, yes. Let them "soak" for 24 hours then a big water change.

There are are concentrations of ammonia and nitrite that retard the growth of the beneficial bacteria that break them down. So be aware of that. I used to know levels, but I cannot recall anymore. You can probably google it up. I personally wouldn't bother trying to do anything about the diatoms at the moment. Most every new tank goes through it.

Corys just sometimes breath from the surface. You're probably fine, but if you're worried you can just add a regular air stone and see if that changes their behavior.

Did a water change (from the opposite end of the tank) on these guys today. First day of full free swimming. It's a real treat watching them interact with their fry.

It might be cheaper to buy pure levamisole to treat your 125. You need about one gram per dose in your 125. You can buy DiscusX's WormerX, which is pure levamisole and get 20 grams for ~$25. Multiple options to buy including Ebay, Myrtle Beach Discus, others. I have tons of it, if you live near Eastern Iowa let me know and I'll give you however much you need. Plan for four doses. I treat on days 1, 5, and 13, and then another one at 21 or 28 if it seems like it was heavy. 24 hour bath for each soak and as huge of a water change, wipe down, and massive gravel vac as you can manage after each 24 hour dose. Vacuuming the bottom is crucial as levamisole paralyzes worms, it doesn't kill them directly. For each dose I also put in 1 tablespoon of epsom salt per 10 gallons for the 24 hour soak. I haven't experienced terribly often, but levamisole can knock fish off of food so feed lightly just in case. It is also an immunostimulant, so you might notice fish that were acting sick kind of start feeling a little better. Here's a good dosage calculator for pure levamisole: https://www.geocities.ws/chefkeithallen/Levamisole.html?fbclid=IwAR0aHbTpJsQWrw2LXIYySeh4yVUG3lDHJdXwLT02CVqmHDH7AlTCAdTdDMY

I don't think the cloudiness is an issue, just to be clear. I think it's just important to realize that the most available meds are not pure and in some cases may not hit a therapeutic dose for some animals AND there's A LOT of other solids in that packet, in fact, the vast majority is not the med... and that has to do/go somewhere. Levamisole is a great wormer and Expel P does get to a good dose at 3 PPM. I usually treat at 2.5 PPM for levamisole.

Whoops, you're correct! Paracleanse is a little bit better, it only contains 675 mg per packet of buffer and 325 mg of active ingredient 25% metro 7.5% prazi. So, the point still stands. I'd love to know what the buffer is, honestly.

The cloudiness could have been from whatever buffer is included with the Expel P. It's part of why I try to buy pure meds when possible. A packet of Expel P contains 113 mg of levamisole and 887 mg of... buffer... something...? Not sure as the SDS doesn't say, but the levamisole is only 12% of the packet. The dose is one packet per 38 liters (10 gallons), which puts it at a good dose (3 PPM... 113 mg/38 L). But there's 23 ppm of who knows what that's also going in. Which I suspect contributes to your cloudiness.