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BreeMarie

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  1. BreeMarie
    That definitely makes sense @Jessica.! I went that way, one, because of Cory's advice but also because it made the most sense to me personally since this poor fish was already having the roughest go of it and I've heard that the treatment isn't the easiest thing on their little bodies. And per this post thanks to you and others I'm feeling encouraged to follow my gut a little more than before all of this. Thank you @Cory! That is exactly what I'll do. I appreciate the 3-5 day method guidance. That makes a lot of sense and helps me on knowing how to make a decision moving forward for sure!
  2. BreeMarie
    @Jessica.That is good to know. I was doing the method Cory recommended to dose and let it sit for a week. Is it okay that I didn't go back to back daily with the maracyn already?
  3. BreeMarie
    Thank you so much for your kind words @Daniel. I was actually nervous posting so much cause I didn't want to seem like I was pestering. But this is my first fish and I figured if I kept posting pictures if something was going really wrong someone would tell me. I took a guess on the second dose on Tuesday but I think it was the right call cause the fungus seemed like it was flaring up again in a couple spots. I figured since the packaging said you could dose daily with water changes after 4 days would be okay. I did water changes and dosed on the 9th and the 13th. I also only did 10 gallons dose despite my tank being a 15g (13gal of water). I'm gonna give it the rest of the day to see how the little white bits on the tip of her newly grown fin looks before I do a water change and decide on the 3rd dosing. (Unless someone says otherwise 😅)
  4. BreeMarie
    Fire is looking pretty good. Considering dosing ichX and maracyn one more time after a water change today. It would be the third treatment. Her Dorsal fin is growing back!! Yesterday morning it was nothing but two clear little bits. Now it is all about a millimeter tall when she sits still and isn't zipping around. She is a fiend for the Xtreme Krill Flakes.
  5. BreeMarie
    I'm wondering if I should dose again? I dosed last Friday and have been letting it sit and things were looking better but this morning there are a couple bubbles of spots of fungus that have grown on her left side. Yesterday I could start to see on the dorsal fin being clear which I've read is the fin growing back? Few Hours Later* Those puffs are gone now and there looks to be a pretty deep hole where it was. I probably just need to take Cory's advice from yesterday's live and be patient. I ordered her the xtreme flakes instead of the generic flake the store sold me so I'm excited to see if she likes them. Water Parameters still look good! Low nitrates and zero ammonia or nitrites. A few hours later when those puffs are gone. She is still super active and eating.
  6. BreeMarie
    @Maggie Thank you, I was very sad. I do think my blue was a male because his dorsal fin was pointy. From what I read males have longer pointy dorsal fins and females have shorter and rounded dorsal fins. I did put in a tablespoon of salt the day before the meds arrived because I was so worried I was going to lose Fire too. I haven't noticed a negative effect on the plants but I also did about a 35% water change before dosing the meds so that further diluted the salt. I had heard over and over again to have the meds just in case. It truly did not register to me how quickly they can show a sign and then down turn for the worst. It was less than 24 hours that I lost Ice from bringing him home. On Fire, that tiny white fungus spec was huge in less than 24 hours. I won't make this mistake again and before I get more fish I will have a quarantine tank and sponge filter prepped. She is moving around a lot today and ate all of the flakes I put in this morning (maybe 1/8th of a teaspoon worth because I know you aren't really supposed to feed much during treatment). I am hopeful she will make it through!
  7. BreeMarie
    I am feeling more hopeful today. I also used stress coat when I did the water change before dosing IchX/Maracyn instead of just dechlorinater. Fire is moving around a lot more today. I don't know how to tell if things are visually improving. The fungus seems to be getting longer. I'm just glad she isn't struggling in the corner today. The water is a little cloudy but I think that is normal with the maracyn.
  8. BreeMarie
    @Ben Ellison That was my gut feeling from the beginning and I equally wish that was the case and don't at the same time. I wish it to be true because I am so very discouraged with these being my first fish and I really did a ton of research on what I wanted and felt like I was super patient before bringing them home. It would make me feel better to know it isn't me. On the other hand... that is unfortunate not only for her business but also those poor fish. It really highlights the quality at aquarium co-op to pre-quarantine the fish they bring in. I have two other LFS I'll be trying instead. I just dosed IchX and Maracyn but things aren't looking good. Fire is mostly hanging out in the front corner very close to the substrate and won't eat. She is definitely in distress and my heart aches about it. If she doesn't survive is there something I need to do to the entire aquarium before attempting new fish again?
  9. BreeMarie
    @Pete Thank you for the link for extra detailed instructions. I put in some salt this morning because I felt so bad and will happily replant the tank if I can save the fish. I keep looking out the window and checking my tracking number for the trio to arrive today. Really wish I had primed the sponge filter well before this so I could do a full quarantine tank and do full salt dosage. Learning lessons the hard way I guess.
  10. BreeMarie
    The tiny white spot from yesterday is now a huge spot. I am so baffled at how quickly things go wrong with little fishies. I am so stressed that I am doing something wrong.
  11. BreeMarie
    @CoryThank you so so so much! I really appreciate your time and advice!! I'll do that and report back.
  12. BreeMarie
    @Ben Ellison On Tuesday 10/6 when I brought them home these were the parameters. I have a seachum amonia reader in the tank and I test with the Tetra strips. Amonia GH KH pH Nitrite Nitrate Temp <0.02 300 120 7.8 0 20 78.3 Here are my tests for today 10/8. They look to be the same minus a dip in kH (The chlorine is 0 white the brown from the hardness trickled down) Amonia GH KH pH Nitrite Nitrate Temp <0.02 300 80 7.8 0 20 78.1 dip @MickS77Thank you for the link, I didn't get to tune into the live so I'll check that out now! Maybe that was it. It seemed like everything said they were a peaceful calm community fish. I believe Fire is a female and ice was a male. Fire was alot more active and did seem to be a busy body all around ice. Can stress kill them that quickly? It had been barely a day and a half. I guess between the move and the tank. They came from the same tank at the store but I guess that doesn't mean much. @Cory Thank you for the advice! Now Fire has a white spot on her Dorsal fin that I am guessing could be ich? It is really hard to get a clear picture of her because she is zooming all over the place. It wasn't there this morning when I found dead Ice. I ordered the trio on Tuesday and it should be here tomorrow. Should I dose the tank with all three tomorrow?
  13. BreeMarie
    Well a day and a half after bringing Fire and Ice home... Ice has died. I'm so sad. He is discolored when I found him this morning. Is his cause of death identifiable? I'm worried about Fire now. I knew something was wrong. Yesterday he just wasn't half as active as Fire. My heart is sad...
  14. BreeMarie
    @StreetwiseThat's fair! That is a great ice breaker idea! @Ben Ellison I believe that is the amount she told me so that likely is the exact case! I'm likely over concerned with them being my first fish.
  15. BreeMarie
    @StruggleThank you for taking the time to give me so much advice. I guess it mostly seemed like strange advice with her knowing I had a planted tank and having told her these were my first fish. I felt like she thought I was more naïve than I personally feel I am. I spent weeks researching the fish I was going to pick and have watched hundreds of hours of youTube content and lurked so many forum posts. I know I have a life time to still learn and I know she obviously knows much more than me. It just felt so *fishy* to be told to use salt in a planted tank. Preemptively dosing salt consistently (she said to do it even after every water change) seemed more like a disease purpose rather than a mineral purpose. But I don't know enough to know by experience so I guess like @Jessica.said I gotta just sift through what people say and figure out what works for me and in the future do like you said @Struggle and not be so afraid to walk away from a situation. Only time will tell how it pans out with my first fishies. I am already so fond of them. I'll be sad if they pre-emptively die. For now I won't dose the salt. I had just gotten in an extra sponge filter that I put in the back compartment of the aquarium to prime it in case I need to do a quarantine container and salt dose and I ordered the med trio as well. Thank you for all of those tips for picking out a fish @Jessica. I'll definitely reference that list the next time I go. I was so nervous by the whole experience I didn't even think to ask about how long they had been there. The blue one was active all day but is now sitting in the corner behind the filter current. Not sure if it is cause it is darker now or if because something is wrong. I guess I'll just keep an eye out and see how the first few days pan out and keep my fingers crossed. 🤞🤞🤞
  16. BreeMarie
    I just brought home my first fish, a pair of Dwarf Gourami. I was nervous walking into the fish store because I haven't been going out during pandemic barely at all. Then the store manager was pretty aggressive in the way she handled the fish and it was pretty off putting but I just wrote it off as being in the business for a long time. After she scooped them out she said "You have aquarium salt right?" And I said "I don't" and she said "Oh you need it, it is a necessary component, we put it in all of our aquariums, 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons." I knew something wasn't right but at the moment I couldn't recall that you don't want to use salt in a planted tank. I bought it anyways cause she was so intense about it. She had asked me if I had a plants prior to this. She also basically said I was dumb for planning on drip acclimating them. She said drip acclimation was useless unless they had traveled a long distance for a long time. (I still drip acclimated them when I brought them home because I don't think it hurts either way.) Do you think she knew there was something already wrong with my fish? I've attached a picture in case someone who knows more sees something I do not. They are both very active but the powder blue one is slightly less quick and his head is a little wider than the other. They are spending a lot of time right up on the glass like they are trying to find their tank boundaries. They both ate flakes after I got them acclimated into the tank. I just ordered the trio of meds to have my bases covered if something obviously wrong starts to present itself. I'm just nervous I guess, to have been given such odd advice. Tank Info: Fishless Cycled for 5 weeks GH KH pH Nitrite Nitrate Temp 300 120 7.8 0 20 78.3
  17. BreeMarie
    I got this awesome up close shot of a snail that must have hatched from hitchhiking eggs on a plant. This thing is a third of the size of my pinkie nail. I've seen a few snails and lots of eggs that I tried to clear out before they over took the tank. I call all of the snails in my tank 'Gary'. I took a video of him. He is cute and gross. 🤣
  18. BreeMarie
    Thank you for the tips @Leo2o915! I'll definitely look into those products!
  19. BreeMarie
    Thank you @ADMWNDSR83! I initially was not going to do CO2. I didn't want to get overwhelmed by the hobby. However, by the time I had picked out all of the plants I wanted I realized that since I was wanting to heavily plant and do carpeting in the foreground (because I was so inspired by so many of the aquascapers on youtube) that I would need to do CO2 whether I liked it or not. So I wanted to start small. I'm starting with the little small flu-val kit that I hot rodded with a bubble counter and a glass diffuser. I think a lot of newbies do the fluval kit despite alot of people saying that it was more hassle than its worth. Which is technically true because I have to manage it manually daily. I'm still researching different options for my final set up cause I kind of want to do inline with the whole selinoid and regulators and stuff but for now I'm keeping it simple and doing it manually to give myself time to do more research.
  20. BreeMarie
    This is my beardie girl. When we first got her in 2017 the breeder said it was a boy. I knew before getting him I wanted to name my beardie 'Dragons' so I could be 'The Mother of Dragons' but I my hubbie insisted on calling him Steve Buscemi. Once she was old enough to properly sex, we now call her Stevie Licks. 😛 She is always licking her environment checking out if everything is cool. We are working on building her a big new enclosure out of an old tv armoire and I'm super excited how it is turning out. Picture of her doing her weekly sunbath in the front yard and bonus picture of her after my hubbie tucked her in to sleep one night. It took alot of convincing him initially to bring her home because I grew up on a farm raising exotics and he is low key afraid if he lets me bring home too many pets at once I'll end up with a farms worth like my parents who still own an animal rescue here in Florida called 'Crazy Critters Inc'. He isn't wrong but now he loves her as much as I do with no regrets. He is still luke warm on the new aquarium but is happy I'm happy. Tagging @ADMWNDSR83 & @Alison cause they wanted to see her! 🙂 Also here is my kitty girl Bagheera! I have grown to be super duper allergic to her but she is still my favorite bean because I got her as a kitten the day I moved to college. She is the true ruler of this house and likes when my hubbie carries her around in a sling turned on her back like a little baby. She'll sleep there for like half an hour while he works at his standing desk.
  21. BreeMarie
    Thank you @Alison! That is interesting to think of it top down for order. I'm curious to do some research on why bottom dwellers are sensitive. That will work out really well because my carpeting dwarf tears come in today and I'd like to get them super established before I bring in the bottom dwellers anyways! I'm still trying to figure out dosing CO2 at the right levels consistently so I may still wait a good month before I even start with the first tetras just to be super careful to avoid gassing them. I will definitely share pictures of my beardie in the other pets channel and tag you guys so you can see her! 🙂
  22. BreeMarie
    I'm excited to see how your new scape turns out Victoria! I am super new to tank keeping and I've been binging youtube content. My favorite Jungle scape that I've seen recently was by the CineScaper. He built it with super low demand plants and hasn't used CO2 on it in months even though the plants liked it. Maybe it can be of some inspiration!
  23. BreeMarie
    I really love that pop of red on the left side! What plant is that?
  24. BreeMarie
    Thank you @Aquatic Journal! In my mind, I knew to keep testing the water indefinitely but it didn't register to test the water because of a fish addition specifically. That makes so much sense and I'm laughing that I didn't put the concept of the two together. 🤦‍♀️ Thank you @ADMWNDSR83! I wouldn't have ever thought to split up bringing home the ember school. According to my readings and Cory's content, they are a pretty hardy fish so I think bringing them home first makes a ton of sense and I appreciate the feedback on the order and why. I think that is what I'll do!! Your theme tank is wonderful. I love the koi angel fish. This is my first tank so I have a lot to learn before I go bigger but I'd really love to do a bigger tank one day for angel fish. They are majestic. However, I already can feel the multiple tank itch and already know my next one will be a low tech betta with growing edibles out of the top. I am obsessed with Foo the Flowerhorn's betta tank. I linked it below. I have been super lucky to not have any cloudiness but I think that is because I so super heavily planted and I rinsed my substrate for at least half an hour in the front yard. My neighbors probably thought I was crazy, being crouched over a 5 gallon bucket for so long literally flooding the front yard into the street. They already think I'm weird cause I put a huge bird cage with my bearded dragon in it out in the front yard every weekend so what's another weirdo thing. 🤣
  25. BreeMarie
    Hello! I am thrilled to have found this forum. Not many people IRL in my life are interested in the obsession I've gained in the last couple months with aquarium keeping so I am hopeful I can nerd out here. I started my first planted aquarium about two weeks ago. Questions: I am fish-less cycling and I've been doing research for my first fish to bring home. Is the following list too many for my 15 gallon Fluval Flex, which is only about 11 gallons of actual water space. 2 Honey Gourami 8 Ember Tetra 6 Pygmy CoryDoras 1 Japanese Trap Door Snail I've read that you should only bring home one species at a time. Is that true, if so how long between new additions do you typically wait? Tank Info: Tank is currently two weeks old. I am fish-less cycling with fluval flakes Fluval Flex 15 gal Built in Lights and Filter 132GPH 40-50% water changes on Saturdays ( Trying to do two 25% changes in the next few weeks to combat newly found white hair algae) Substrate Seachem Flourite Black Clay Gravel and Seachem Flourite Black Sand Dosing Liquid Fert 2-3 times a week - All in One Liquid Fertizlier by UNS (Wish I would have found easy green before ordering it but I'll use what I got) 5 root tabs in substrate Dosed Seachem Flourish Advance and Stability for 7 days Running CO2 at about 50 BPM I switched to the Tetra test strips after seeing a video where Cory said the API brand were no good. Apparently my water is ALOT harder and with a higher pH than I thought it was. Next water change I am going to try using some distilled to balance it out. I ordered the API liquid kit off the website just to have my bases covered. I plan to add in some baby dwarf tears in the front to carpet. Yes, I am a dork with a spreadsheet. 😅
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