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jwcarlson

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Everything posted by jwcarlson

  1. jwcarlson
    It is bright yellow looking in person. No where near 7.8. ACO test strip was orange/yellow, wondering if off chart low? Unfortunately, I tossed all my litmus strips a few years back. Not that it would be any better. You are correctly assigning the test results though. For reference the color on the high range test looks closer go the 6.0 color on the regular range than any color on the high range chart. I know thst doesn't mean anything, just trying to clarify how unlike the results are to the ranges shown. I would agree that the regular range test looks off chart high in my experience. Here's ACO strip for reference. This had sat out a bit, there was more green on KH and a bit more orange on pH square. But more or less this looks about like it did after one minute.
  2. jwcarlson
    I don't know if I am doing something wrong or what, but I simply cannot read pH. Testing my aged tap water the color is perfect showing my 8.2-8.3 pH. But on these apistogramma tanks... One of it makes sense unless it's off scale low. But in that case the colors don't make sense, I don't think? Picture makes them look much closer to chart colors than in person.
  3. jwcarlson
    Well, it sure looks like it killed all the plants again as well. So I guess the algae is probably also dead... right? 😕
  4. jwcarlson
    @FishyGirl With no fish experience, you would probably be doing yourself a disservice adding discus to the mix. Especially in a community/planted tank setting. Regarding the other fish getting hurt, it's always a possibility. But discus are just jumpy. Like really jumpy. And by jumpy here I mean spooked easily.
  5. jwcarlson
    I'm not saying I am some sort of authority, but if you look at my journal. I have a 75 and one piece of driftwood feels cramped a bit sometimes. 😄 Those decorations are not my style at all, but I am 100% confident saying discus would spook frequently and injure themselves on them. I had one take a chunk out of their head and the only thing in the tank at the time was fish and sponge filters. Have you kept fish before? Suggesting anyone who hasn't had fish before to even consider discus is probably setting up for failure or at least a lot of heartache. Don't get me wrong, I love ACO... But I am not convinced that their videos about discus paint the most accurate picture. Additionally, my understanding is that their tap water up there is basically discus ready right out of the faucet. While I keep discus in my tap water, there is a LOT of chemistry behind the scenes that needs to be considered. Ammonia toxicity is a very real problem for someone keeping fish at 8.3 pH whereas someone with soft, acidic tap water basically won't need to worry at all. So know that everyone here wants to help you succeed because we all get extra credits at the next Fish Cult meeting if you're successful. 🤣 I would highly suggest you shelf the discus idea. I shelfed it for 20 years and waited. It was the right thing to do as I would have absolutely killed them all and been really discouraged.
  6. jwcarlson
    I did a ton of reading and "everyone" said to put the RO after the softener as it will extend membrane life. That's what I did for mine and my apistos are still kicking.
  7. jwcarlson
    Your well water sounds quite similar to my tap water (18-20 for both GH and KH, pH ages to 8.3). I don't have ammonia like that, but I'm wondering how real that reading is, to be honest. Make sure you confirm that. I keep discus in my tap water. My opinion is that unless you're keeping something wild caught or trying to breed fish, you shouldn't necessarily be worried about a lot of those numbers. Except the ammonia... that's an issue. I, too, do not understand the bleach causing an ammonia reading. Unless you're saying there's a lot of chlorine and you used a dechlorinator before testing. In that case, I think that can result in ammonia readings.
  8. jwcarlson
    Oh, so do I... Just don't want it on some of these plants. 🤣 I guess I could assemble another algae ball.
  9. jwcarlson
    Any suggestions for dealing with it? I am not too worried about it as in the past it has kind of resolved itself with trimming. Was just trying to salvage some trimmings. 🙂
  10. jwcarlson
    Here you go, @Guppysnail! The RR treated hair algae: Video of RR treated hair algae... Something is moving around there, might be hard to see. Sadly it uploaded as a "short". Untreated hair algae... Pics washed out badly for some reason.
  11. jwcarlson
    75, in my opinion is about as small as I would go for discus as you should have six of them together at least. Unfortunately, the fish you mentioned aren't necessarily good tank mates. If you want discus, do a discus tank. If you want a community tank with some of the splashes of color that discus offer, I'd do it with something else. I keep mine at 85 degrees, though they can do downnto about 82 long term. I do have rummynose and lemon tetras in my 75 with 8 discus. But I am also doing 90% water changes every night. That said... You can find people with one-off, largely temporary situations where they've got discus and bettas or discus and goldfish working if you go scouring the internet. Just don't fool yourself that those situations are normal. 🙂 Angelfish and discus can be done together, but typically in much larger setups. Haven't done it myself though.
  12. jwcarlson
    Well, I've got a decent microscope and am curious. Might have to take a look at some tonight!
  13. jwcarlson
    @Guppysnail Yes, I know that's dead, but why didn't all of it die?
  14. jwcarlson
    Yes that's a 37. I have one. It's a tall 29 and I hate it. But all depends on what you want.
  15. jwcarlson
    10 gallons - four CPDs and 1 random furcata rainbow that came with them from Aqua Huna, and lots of mixed neo shrimp and some snails. Forgot there's two very small bristlenose plecos in there... currently just cleanup on the glass, they've done well. Plants... I don't even know what all of them are. Guppy grass predominantly (I have a TON of this stuff now and it all started with a tiny piece that @JettsPapasent along with some shrimp that I got from him), it's becoming a jungle and I'm here for it. If any plant grows well in my water, it's my favorite plant. The taller stuff to the sides is some sort of hygro. It doesn't grow, but it doesn't die. My favorite plant appearance-wise in the tank is in the back, I need to redo this a bit so it doesn't get choked out by the guppy grass. Rotala indica, maybe? I wouldn't be worried about what someone else says about your tanks. As long as you are happy and you're caring for your fish/inverts to the best of your ability... who cares what someone else things? 🙂 Anyway... here it is. Here's a picture with part of the plant that I think is the rotala indica (the pinkish colored one). Here is this same tank in early October. I'm happy with where it's at. I've removed all the floaters except some hornwort and maybe a couple dwarf water lettuces floating around.
  16. jwcarlson
    I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong... if anything. I trimmed some plants: guppy grass, PSO, hornwort. They're all in new tanks and have hair algae on them. I thought I'd give RR a shot at killing the hair algae. Old ice cream bucket, put the plants in, a quart of seltzer water which covers the plants, weighed down with a small dish, and left for 12 hours covered with a towel. After 12 hours drained the plants, filled with tank water, and bubbled for several hours until I replanted them. I don't have "before" pics, but you can clearly see the before in the after pics. These pics are about 36-40 hours after treatment was completed. I thought maybe more of it would be red after some more time, but it looks basically unchanged from I put them back into the tanks. Any ideas?
  17. jwcarlson
    I have big outbreaks in newly set up aquariums. It typically gets better on its on in the sense that eventually when I trim out plants covered in it and the new growth just plain doesn't have it. This weekend I tried reverse respiration on a bunch of trimmings. VERY limited success. These plants are all in new tanks, it will eventually settle out. The fish are fine the main plants are OK at this point. They're growing and getting established and will hopefully outcompete it eventually.
  18. jwcarlson
    I don't find the coop strips good for anything other than nitrite and nitrate for me. My hardness and pH are so high they make all that stuff look squirrely. But I am quite happy with nitrite and nitrate results.
  19. jwcarlson
    She's already hauling eggs out... About 24 hours earlier than normal. I don't know if me watching caused her to abandon the cave she was in partway through and relocating? So as to only have a few eggs in the cave? This one is really disappointing because they had been better each spawn up until this one. Which probably means that I'll see fry in a week now. 😂🤣
  20. jwcarlson
    Glad to hear at least one is doing better. Are they all Rams? Some fish will be put off of food with levamisole. My discus would mostly quit eating for awhile. So I would say give them a couple weeks before doing anything else. Just a side note, if one fish in the tank has a heavy parasite load, they probably all do. I wouldn't remove one fish to treat it separately. You are just playing whack-a-mole at that point and another will probably eventually show signs. So... I would give them a couple weeks to recover. Don't need to constantly bombard them with food. Let them get hungry, most fish you can kind of tell when they're back ready to eat. Levamisole is not a catch all for all parasites, unfortunately. So it could still be something else. Got any pictures of the recovering ram and/or the other fish with issues?
  21. jwcarlson
    Yes, my oscar aquascapes were three plastic plants they used like soccer balls and "big-ish smooth rock" lol @Lennie Darn, I didn't read any updates or if I did, it didn't register.
  22. jwcarlson
    Forgot to add that Tolstoy21 did a really great job with his Oscar-scape, IMO. Not sure if you have seen it.
  23. jwcarlson
    I don't know that you can beat an oscar (water dog) for interaction. They're terrorists in large part, but I would be completely lying if I told you I don't think about bringing one home weekly. I had some many years ago and they're my all-time favorite fish. I may be emptying my 75 of discus into my 125 at some point in the future and I feel like an oscar might be in the cards for the 75 after that. If that's your gut feel, I say go for it! Otherwise, I usually just let tanks sit empty until I feel like I have thought through all possible ideas and one finally hangs on.
  24. jwcarlson
    Forgot to add... would HIGHLY suggest a bare bottom if you're growing fish out because it will be messy.
  25. jwcarlson
    If you don't want to do lots of water changes you should buy more mature fish from a reputable supplier. 5"+ If you like growing them out, feed like crazy...lots of clean water. Not sure it would help, but my discus journal linked below.
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