SpacedCadette

Aw thanks! I’m pretty pleased with how it worked out. 😊

Got a good shot of one of my pandas just now and immediately thought of this thread. I just love my panda cories so much 😭

There’s one usability change I’d love to see. I would find it incredibly useful to turn the temperature down as easily as I can turn it up. Something like an up and down arrow on the control switch for temperature adjustment would be awesome. Right now, I’m trying to cool my tank down a bit and it’s definitely more work than I’d prefer to have to cycle in one direction through all the temps every night to lower my tank one degree. My apologies if this has been mentioned or addressed elsewhere! I tried to do a quick topic search and didn’t spot anything. Overall though I find the form factor and usability of this heater to be my favorite out of all the different ones I’ve used! The compact size is awesome and having the temp adjustment outside of the tank is such a huge quality of life improvement for me. The readout being so clear and easy to read from a distance is also great. Aside from not being able to easily adjust temp downwards, the overall experience of setting the heater up and getting my temp set is leaps and bounds above the other heaters I’ve had.

Ordered a hodgepodge of things online in hopes that I could MacGyver a way to mount my Fluval 3.0 light. And it worked out! Yay! So much cleaner looking now.

Fortunately the fungus clear arrived today! Dropped half a tablet into the 5g hospital tank as soon as the package was dropped off. I’ll add the other half Friday night. Feeling hopeful again now that I’ve got another plan of action. Thank you again for all your advice @Colu. I really wouldn’t have a clue how to even begin treating her and I just so greatly appreciate your help.

Just jumping in to agree about neon tetras. They’re pretty so I understand the appeal. Heck. I got them for that very reason. But now that I’ve had them for a while I doubt I’d get them again. They’re just a little too… uh… let’s just say I’m pretty sure they all share a single brain cell between the 6 of them.

Panda cories are on the list for sure. They’re just so cute and their size worked out perfectly for me since I really wanted a little gang of them. I have 10 in my 40g right now. I really enjoy my harlequin Rasboras because they’re so rowdy. Great middle tank fish. I think they’re rather neat looking and the perfect size for a shoaling fish in a 40g. I’m becoming a fast fan of my Panda Garra. He’s really outgoing and active. Love watching him shuffle around on the bottom with my cories. He’s just big and clumsy with the perfect “o___o” face. It’s not a fish that I see often in other folks tanks either and it’s always kind of fun having something that feels a little less like the norm. I know it’s a fourth! But honey gourami also have great little personalities. I can’t get over their little feeler fins and how they can’t help but touch everything and everyone with them.

Oooh. I felt the same way about “no snails” for a long time. Just brought home 3 assassin snails though to help manage a few too many pond snails after I accidentally over fed the tank. I honestly really like them though now that I have them! They’re neat little dudes and it’s fun watching the other tank residents interact with them. The snails seem happy too seeing as two of them immediately started mating right after I added them. 😆

Not a fish, but shrimp weird me out sometimes. Too many legs 😅 I kept telling myself I wouldn’t get any, but I did end up with 3 Amano. They still creep me out a bit if I spot one when I’m not expecting it. Usually under a floating leaf or something equally odd. I just don’t inspect them too closely, lol. It is entertaining though watching the BN pleco and panda garra plow through them during mealtime. 😆

Fizz tabs didn’t arrive today as planned. They ended up delayed to tomorrow. Fingers crossed they show up on schedule this time. She’s just getting a little worse everyday… this has been almost a month of treatment now with no improvements. Whatever she has is incredibly stubborn. I don’t want to give up on her yet till I can give the tabs a shot since she’s still active and eating, but I’m starting to worry that she’s suffering even if she isn’t acting like it. Couldn’t get a clear picture this time of her, but the mark on the top of her head has begun to redden and has eroded a bit more since the other day. Her gill also just looks shredded right now. It’s awful. Poor thing… Man. This is rough to watch… this is my first time having such an ill fish and I feel terrible for her.

Awesome! Thanks @xXInkedPhoenixX!

That's something I can definitely adjust! I think the lowest temp I can probably go with the fish that I have is maybe 75f. I'd be more comfortable with 76F. I can try and lower the temp slowly over the next couple of days and see how that goes! Happy to try this out! I'm new to planted tanks though so I'm not sure what a siesta period is. Is that like a lights off time in the middle of the day? Your tank is lovely! And that water lettuce sure is thriving. Another bit of evidence in support of lowering the temp 🙂

Introduced an assassin snail to the tank. The welcoming committee was a little overzealous about saying hi. 😆 https://imgur.com/KfaoF0z Welcome to the tank, Hannibal.

OK. I give up. I can't seem to sort out what I'm screwing up here. I cannot seem to keep any floating plants happy in my tank. I've tried different kinds of water lettuce and now I'm struggling with the brazillian pennywort. It's always this same type of melting as well. I'm dosing regularly with the Easy Green. Currently following the recommendation of 1 pump per 10 gallons. It's a 40g breeder so I'm doing 4 pumps every couple of days. Water parameters: Temp 79F Nitrate between 15-20 Nitrite 0 Hardness 150 Buffer 40 pH 6.8 Chlorine 0 Light settings: The plants themselves:

Oh interesting! I just looked up the calico coloring and there's definitely some similarities there. Sounds like (and definitely correct me if I'm misinterpreting) she's a Super Red, just with the blotchy color pattern. I tried looking up more images of other Super Reds and didn't see a lot of example images with her coloring so I wasn't sure! Thanks, @Tihshho!

Hi folks! I’m just curious about the coloration of my BN Pleco. When I purchase her she was sold as a super red and she had really vibrant, solid coloration. Over the last couple of months as she’s mature, I’ve noticed her color has darkened and she's developed lots of dark marbling on her body. She appears to be healthy and all that and this does seem to just be a coloration change-- I’m only wondering if this is a normal part of her maturation or if she might actually be a different color mutation? She’s a great fish either way and I adore having her in my community tank. This is purely a question of curiosity. 🙂 Here she is the day I brought her home. I think the saturation might be just a bit higher on this image, but her coloring was pretty bright when she was younger. : And her as of an hour ago. Ignore the white stuff on her face, that's just crap that's been kicked up from the substrate:

I’ve decided to use this thread as a bit of a journal during this journey so here’s another update. Did a 25% water change to clean the tank out and do another KanaPlex dose. She’s still looking pretty rough. The spots on her head continue to worry me but her energy and appetite are still healthy, so I’m trying to stay positive. Photos are from today right after the water change. I probably should have waited till after the debris settled and the salt dissolved— but I took the opportunity while she was near the front of the tank. Still waiting on the Jungle Fizz tabs to be delivered. I really struggled to find them in stock but I paid for overnight shipping so hopefully I’ll get them on Monday. 🤞

It’s a neat plant! I love using it as a float (as you can see lol). I really like the top coverage it provides and my fish love swimming through all the roots. My betta sleeps in it pretty regularly. 😊

This was actually on Monday but I forgot about to post it! I went down to the co-op and doubled up on my plants for my 40g. Got lots of Brazilian Pennywort to float on top, some more Vallisneria, and a couple red flame sword. I also snagged an impressive-looking pogo out of one of the tetra tanks 😆. Everyone really seems to be enjoying all the new plants. My panda garra and bristlenose could be a bit shy sometimes but I see them out and about pretty regularly now! Same with some of my shy panda cories. I frequently see them holding little cory conferences in all the vallisneria ☺️. One of my honey gourami (and a favorite fish of mine) is having a rough go of it in my hospital tank, so it’s really great to see the community thriving and enjoying themselves.

Got it! Thank you! I'll stick with the KanaPlex and add the fizz tabs once they arrive. I overnight shipped them so hopefully they get here soon.

@Colu I’ll get those tabs ordered asap. Quick question though— I’ve been treating with KanaPlex, should I switch to Maracyn?

Whatever is afflicting Lemon seems to be progressing. The top of her head in particular seems to have gotten worse overnight. I’ve been able to give her the KanaPlex orally now which has been good. But man. Wish I knew what was going on. 😥 She was hanging out near the front of the tank so I was able to get some decent pictures of her just now that show the damage pretty clearly. She’s a bit pale because the light was off right before I took the photos, so I suspect she was sleeping. Im also starting to worry about her body condition. She’s been eating fine but even with her fin deformity her profile looks considerably more narrow than my other healthy HG in my main tank. For reference, this video was taken back when I first got her and the other HG back in the first week of April. https://m.imgur.com/GfuP9kg You can see that her gill was a little irritated even then. At first I thought it was something minor since she already had it when I brought her home from the LFS. Just figured she got bullied a little in the store tank or something but clearly there was something else going on.

@Colu Checked in on her just now and her breathing seems abnormal. Could this be because of the gill lesion? Is there anything else I should be doing? I don’t want her to be stressed or struggling ☹️ video: https://imgur.com/bavXTWQ

Thanks @Colu! I’ll do a water change tonight and up the salt content while continuing the KanaPlex. Appreciate all your help with this. It’s really been invaluable.

Need help figuring out if this is healing or getting worse… her gill is starting to concern me. Originally, I thought I was seeing improvements overall but now I’m questioning that. I feel like I’m also seeing some white fuzz on the very edge of the gill now? Energy and appetite are still good, but I’m definitely starting to worry a bit. Here is a full shot of the tank: And a current reading of water parameters. Temp is 78F. There are three doses of KanaPlex currently in the tank in addition to 2.5 tablespoons of aquarium salt. (5 gallon tank)