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jwcarlson

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Everything posted by jwcarlson

  1. jwcarlson
    It's good that ammonia was zero. Having no chlorine is also good, but it was probably there when you first set up the tank and with any water changes. Hopefully you still bought some dechlorinator! I still think the right thing to do now is wait and monitor. Hopefully you are still not feeding to see if the betta's swollen belly area goes down. I have been keeping fish for 25 years and just recently learned that snails rest. I have never noticed it. Doesn't mean nothing is wrong with your snail, but I think it might just need a rest.
  2. jwcarlson
    Oh, yes, if you want to get some plants that will not hurt anything at all.
  3. jwcarlson
    I do not think so. A small net if you don't have one, but it looked like you got a kit aquarium so it probably came with a net.
  4. jwcarlson
    Epsom salt shouldn't hurt your snail the way you would use it, it would be for your betta. And we can help with that later. Right now you do not need epsom salt. I would say go to Petsmart and just get dechlorinator.
  5. jwcarlson
    Shouldn't even need $20, I don't think. #1 dechlorinator. Seachem Prime is best, but Tetra AquaSafe or API Tap Water Conditioner will all work "the same". Maybe $6-10, you do not need a huge bottle of it, whatever is smallest is fine. If you get nothing else, make sure you come home with dechlorinator. #2 epsom salt is $4, you want this (or a smaller bag, you don't need much make sure it is unscented!) - optional at this point. So if you just got to Petsmart, you won't be able to get this without a separate trip. It can certainly wait until someone is already going to Walmart in a week or so.
  6. jwcarlson
    If you're not really doing any electrical work, I'd argue it's not particularly important. It is nice to know if a breaker trips what could have caused it based on what's on the circuit. They do make some handy tools to help, but yeah if you've got a more avant-garde scheme they're not going to help much. Whoever did our house was pretty logical and everything had made sense. Everything that the previous owner touched is VERY obvious and has been a pain. I've replaced all the outlets/switches and added GFCI and there's been a few interesting discoveries. The two electrical things he did were the sink disposal, took me awhile to sort out, it was popping the GFCI. And he added a three way switch in the garage for the lights, but very clearly didn't do anything right because it's actually two switches in parallel that both need to be on. Which was funny when my wife first found it and flipped it, I didn't even know it existed until trying to figure it out for quite some time she says "do you think maybe that other switch is doing it?" ha I wonder if your situation isn't something made quite custom for the builder or something that is quite old before our houses were so electrified and so when they added additional things over the years it ended up being a mess? I would guess that if some of us built a brand new house we might be pretty specific about some of the electrical needs based on our hobbies. And then someone buys the house 2-3 owners down the road and 100 years later they're going to be REALLLY confused!
  7. jwcarlson
    You're describing a hellscape. 😄 I, at one point, had everything mapped out for my circuits and lost the paper like an idiot. Last time I had all the power off (putting in that aging barrel setup, actually). I turned one breaker on at a time and wanted my wife to go around and tell me what was functional... she "didn't get" what she was supposed to do. lol I've been thinking about doing it this Friday. I'm off and the wife/kids will be at school. I won't have any help, but what help would they really be? 😄 Just me and the dogs... and the fish.
  8. jwcarlson
    Pepere outlined it well above. It all comes down to what you've got on the circuit. Unless you have a lot of stuff on the same circuit, most tank situations are OK. There's not much that draws a ton of current in the hobby outside of heating. Some houses have extremely ill-thought-out wiring where something silly like every light in the house is on the same circuit or three bedrooms are on the same circuit. So it could be that your aquarium load isn't too high, but when someone vacuums and then your heater kicks on in the middle... it pops. You should not be doing anything where you're using a bunch of outlet splitters to run, say, 3-4 heaters on the same, single outlet or something like that. If outlets are an issue, get a decent quality power strip. Unfortunately, there's no magic formula for when there's going to be an issue. You can probably run 500+ normal air pumps on an average circuit. But a few big heaters will trip it. Here's a picture of my aging barrel/preheat setup if it helps you visualize anything. There's more load on it now because there's a couple of 10 gallon tanks down there, but most everything on the main power strip (it's a wifi strip, with local buttons to turn them on off individually) is something I need on only temporarily for pumping water or preheating (I don't always run the heaters, I know about how many kilowatts it takes to heat the 65 gallons up to tank temp, so I only turn it on as needed). The temperature controllers on the right each control one of the outlets in that set there below them, the biggest load they'd see is two 250-300 watt heaters in the barrels. They're powered by the two plugs to the right on the wifi strip so that I can turn them on/off automatically to avoid using more energy than needed and having to remember to turn heat on. And occasionally if I'm out of town for a few days, I'll be able to set them to turn on so that the water is ready to go when I get home. Then there's a pump that I have semi-temporarily hooked up to hoses and can pump water anywhere in the house basically. And I can turn it on/off from my phone so I'm not having to run around.
  9. jwcarlson
    Dwarf water lettuce will out compete everything, I just took another half gallon or more out of one tank. Probably another half gallon extra in a different tank. Problem is it will choke out almost all the light and ferts. I have to stay on top of it. Let it slide for a bit and suddenly the entire surface is covered again... Otherwise pothos is good for it as well. And pretty neat roots.
  10. jwcarlson
    Unless you are adding more fish, the bioload remains unchanged (just more diluted). So yes, it will handle it. You will lose some from other surfaces, but an established colony multiples rapidly and you are transferring that over.
  11. jwcarlson
    Very Rube Goldberg, I like it! I'm electrical engineer, maybe I can figure out a way to put a little motor on it too. 🤣 Dean made a little sinking worm feeder cone some time ago, they were going to do a how to on building it, but didn't... I don't think.
  12. jwcarlson
    It's a 37. I did just get some. Bigger tweezers, have tried with other ones before. Some has to make a small sinking box that would sit nicely on the bottom.
  13. jwcarlson
    Yes, cubes. The cories are in a stupid deeeeeep tank. I hate it.
  14. jwcarlson
    @Theplatymaster how fo you feed FDTW on the bottom? I have tried squeezing and getting them to sink that doesn't work. I need to make some worm sinkers or something. I have a TON of FDTW.
  15. jwcarlson
    @nabokovfan87 I do not have Rapashy. I'll have to pick some up. Any particular suggestion? I have never had it.
  16. jwcarlson
    Feel free to ask about anything you are going to do. Right now I would say don't do anything. No water changes and don't even feed right now. Do test your ammonia again tomorrow and post the result, please!
  17. jwcarlson
    I don't think you'll need that much. If you can boil a couple gallons of water, let it cool down some in the pot, and then pour into that plastic jug you should be fine.
  18. jwcarlson
    You're going to want to let it cool down before dumping it in that or it will probably melt the plastic or deform it. Filling will be kind of a pain, but you can siphon into it or make a makeshift funnel with a soda bottle by cutting the bottom off.
  19. jwcarlson
    So I would boil two gallons of water tonight and fill it up to have it ready in case you need it. If that means you need something to hold water you're taking out of the tank when you eventually do a water change, then scrounge around for plastic milk jugs, orange juice cartons, or something like that. Don't worry about what you're putting the dirty tank water in. But do keep your bucket "safe". I do want to stress again, because I know it's easy to overlook things: I really don't think you need to change water right now and that it could easily be doing more harm than good. Even if you have to wait until Monday to get dechlorinator, you might not even need to change water then. Especially if you fast your betta for a couple of days! Without food going in, less ammonia will be produced.
  20. jwcarlson
    Ok, so you've got some time. If you're going to wait about a week this is what I would do. Skip water change today at the very least... again, I would suggest you wait until you have dechlorinator before changing water! Alternatively, you can do the following... offering up only because I understand the drive to do *SOMETHING* when your pets are having issues. I'm guessing you have a five gallon bucket (hoping). Instead of changing water, you're going to boil water. Boil your water, dump it in your bucket. Repeat until you have a mostly full bucket. Let that fella sit and cool off overnight. Then tomorrow, when you get a chance, do another ammonia test. If you're seeing it turn greenish, now you can do a water change and you've got the water ready. If there's not measurable ammonia there's no reason to think about doing a water change. If there is, you can do a 25% water change with room temperature water without issue, so you don't need to worry about heating the water. Now you've still got half a bucket of water and you can check ammonia again in a day or two and if you need to change water, your water is already available. When you lose the last, boil some more and let it cool overnight or all day.
  21. jwcarlson
    Most people don't have a 5 gallon pot, I think the biggest one we have is about two gallons. I'd take my biggest pot, fill it with water and boil it. Then just let it sit, it's going to take a long time to cool down to a safe temperature, but you've got a nice glass thermometer in your tank that you can use to test the water temp. You want to be within a few degrees of the current take temperature. So once your boiled water has cooled down to the correct temperature, remove that much water from your tank. It doesn't have to be perfectly full and if you don't use all the water, it's not the end of the world. You can go roughly by dimensions your 10 gallon tank is about 12 inches tall. If you drain 3 inches of water out that should be about 2.5 gallons (25% water change). That's sufficient for what you're doing. Again, I would suggest that you do not change water until you have dechlorinator. Epsom salt is actually not salt as in table salt. I haven't had an apple or mystery snail in over 20 years, but I use a moderate amount of epsom salt and regular salt 1-2 tablespoons per 10 gallons without problem with my snails. I wouldn't get hung up on epsom salt right now, it is not something you need today. I'm just thinking a week or so from now if your betta's swelling gets any worse or doesn't go down when you fast him for a couple of days. Unfortunately, your experience with them not knowing what you need isn't uncommon. Operate under the assumption that you know more about keeping fish than they do. You'll absolutely be able to get dechlorinator at one of the pet stores. Walmart may or may not have the dechlorinator - check the website first, just search "tetra", and up top you can select your store.
  22. jwcarlson
    Chlorine is not immediately lethal most of the time. It will burn the gills and membranes (like eyes). It might also be burning your snail. You've said that it's difficult to get to the store. What's the easiest store for you to get to? Walmart? Petsmart? Petco? If Walmart - get Tetra AquaSafe and a small bag of plain (no scents added) epsom salt just in case your betta ends up being bloated If you can get to Petsmart or Petco - get Seachem Prime. Small bottle is OK. I doubt either of those places have epsom salt, so if you can't get that right now there's no reason to stress. I'm trying to think a bit ahead between your two threads. If money is an issue, you can get Tetra AquaSafe or API Tap Water Conditioner as they will be cheaper than Seachem Prime and they do work fine so far as I know. You don't need a massive bottle. I hate to say this, but avoid telling the sales people what you have going on if they ask you because they're going to confuse the issue and try selling you $50 worth of other chemicals that you do not need. If none of those stores are available, let us know what you can get to and maybe we can figure something out for you! 🙂
  23. jwcarlson
    At this point, I don't think I'd be too worried about the betta. It's hard to tell from the video, I don't see anything obvious wrong. My guess would be that the betta has been a bit overfed. It's easy to do. Would say to stop feeding him for a couple days. Make sure he's pooping. And then you can go from there. Fish can go for DAYS without eating. I just fasted one of my big discus for three days, she was just fine. Your betta doesn't look unhealthy, he'll be perfectly fine without eating for awhile, I wouldn't hesitate to fast him a week if he were my fish. Plus there's always something in the tank that he might nibble on anyway. This will also help you with your cycling issue in your snail thread. You're doing a great job... observation is the basis of the hobby. While it might seem hectic at the moment, if you're good at watching your fish/snails, you will do quite well in the long run!
  24. jwcarlson
    Forgot to mention, if you absolutely want to change water and don't have dechlorinator, you can boil the water. And then let it cool down to the temperature you need before using it. Boiling will get rid of the chlorine.
  25. jwcarlson
    Unless you have something that dechlorinates the water, please skip the water change for today. That is not a dechlorinator, it's starter bacteria. Doing water changes without a dechlorinator will cause more trouble that you'd be fixing. You can still add that quick start to try to help the cycle along. The starter bacteria is pretty harmless... you could dump the whole bottle in, honestly. I don't know what stores are nearby, but I think most Walmart stores carry Tetra products if it's hard to get to the pet store. API also makes a tap water conditioner... called exactly that, actually. Either of these would work, the AquaSafe should be at Walmart. Not right now 🙂 Focus on getting what you have sorted out and anything in the future will be in better shape because of it. I think your fish and snail are in chlorine right now (unless you're on a private well water system). Which might be causing most of what you're seeing. And changing water at this point will just renew the chlorine and make it worse. Chlorine actually dissipates so if it's already in the aquarium, it is or will be dissipated which is a good thing.
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