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jasper5150

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  1. jasper5150
    WOW!
  2. jasper5150
    Welcome!
  3. jasper5150
    A look at my lil' guys
  4. jasper5150
    Those are some long living fish!
  5. jasper5150
    @Theplatymaster that’s good to know. Just didn’t want to risk it with my main tank.
  6. jasper5150
    On Wednesday, I noticed a couple of my Amano shrimp with fuzz. Vorticella decided to make its appearance. Was going to use Ich-X but I didn't want to have the silicone stained purple. Went out and purchased API PimaFix. A couple of doses in and things seem to be ok. Doesn't look any worse so guess that is a good sign. Hopefully, after the next few days they clear up. Did notice a spot on the back glass with some growing. That is kind of my gauge on the treatment. When it starts to disappear then the meds are working. Going to do a good gravel vac after this round of treatment is done to get rid of any potential medium for another outbreak. Will keep you posted.
  7. jasper5150
    Tested the water in this tank yesterday. With a big clump of java moss from the local fish store, hopefully full of BB, my thoughts it wouldn't take long to do its thing. This is what I found out: ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate a little more than 0 Great!! My mind has been swirling on what to QT before converting to a shrimp grow out tank. Pygmy cories, brilliant rasboras, maybe some neon tetras. All would be going to the 20 gallon high tank. While doing all this, I have a bucket of water that I had sucked out of the 20 gallon tank sitting in the garage. Still has some mulm in it from the light gravel vac I did. I looked inside and I noticed some trails of sorts in the mulm. Figured it was snail trails from some that may have been sucked up. Nope! I found a lone cherry shrimp hanging out in this bucket of 4 day old tank water, sitting in a cold garage, still alive! Mind blown! I grabbed my instant read thermometer and tested the temp of the bucket water. This stuff was at 46 degrees. This shrimp is a strong little dude. I scooped up some of the water in a plastic container and netted the survivor. Took it over to the tank and set up a drip line to slowly get this guy acclimated to the water and to raise the temp slowly. After an hour the temp reached close to 60 and I floated the container in the tank to get the water up to tank temp, 77 degrees. Poured dude and the water in the tank. Dropped in a food pellet and watched for a few minutes. He immediately went to the sponge filter to check it out. Before I turned in for the night, he was cruising all over the tank. I'm hoping he makes it. What a crazy story. I now know how hardy these little guys are. Before I added the shrimp to the tank, I did open and pour in the two bags of Betta bio active gravel that were in the tank staying nice and warm. Only covers about a third of the bottom, which is fine. Might get some light colored sand to put on the other side as a contrast so I can see the shrimp. Here is my furry friend
  8. jasper5150
    It’s nice to hear your group is doing well. I have been thinking of getting a school of 10 for my 20 gallon. Basically have the ok from the wife because they are so stinking cute! She really likes to look at the 3 in the 6 gallon. Keep this going. I love the journey.
  9. jasper5150
    Some hardscape and lots of plants. I think a group of cories cruising the bottom would be amazing!
  10. jasper5150
    @Theplatymaster No symptoms of disease. All the other fish are eating and swimming normally. Did another water test yesterday along with another squeeze of the small filter. That thing fills up fast! Also, did a gravel vac, removing about 3+ gallons of water. Noticed when the cories are searching for food they kick up a lot of mulm. to finish the cleaning off, ran the Mag Float over the glass. That cleared things up. After all this, the water looks much cleaner. Finally purchased another thermometer. Water is sitting at 76 degrees. Tested the water before doing all this maintenance. Here are the results: Ammonia 0 Nitrate 5ish Kh 100ppm Gh 160ppm Ph 7.8 The nitrates being low is crazy. On Feb 28 I added 6 squirts of Easy Green. Guessing the plants are super hungry and sucking down the goods or maybe the bottle is losing potency. Have had it for about a year. After todays maintenance, I did shake the bottle and gave the tank another 6 squirts and added two root tabs to the Amazon sword. Lets see how the water test looks after a few days. Here is a shot a couple of hours after...
  11. jasper5150
    Thanks @Chris. So far, the tank is just doing its thing on my work bench in the garage. I will leave it bare bottom and keep the Java moss in it. Also have an old decoration I’ll add for more hiding and comfort during QT. I have yet to use Ich-X but have heard it stains the silicone. Any first hand experience? Not a big deal but was curious. I will check the parameters today. Curiosity is creeping in. I would like to add more cories. I think they are too cute. I have some Pygmy cories in my 6 gallon. They seem to be doing good. Been in there for a few months with a lone guppy and more cherry shrimp
  12. jasper5150
    Still need to get that additional thermometer. Came home from work yesterday and found one of my cherry barbs had died. They have been in the tank for quite some time, at least a year and a half. Now I’m down to one cherry barb, one albino cory, one julii cory, 3 nerite snails, 4 massive Amano shrimp and a “million” cherry shrimp. All this death is not sitting well
  13. jasper5150
    I’ll do that. My heater is behind my Amazon sword but close to the small sponge. Thought was that would create a good flow to move the heated water around. I have the heater set at 76, it’s the ACO heater. Did have a thermometer opposite the heater but it broke awhile back. Not in the tank, thank goodness.
  14. jasper5150
    Tested the water in my main tank, squeezed out goo from one of the sponge filters to help get rid of the haze in the water. Topped of the water and added a few squirts of Easy Green.
  15. jasper5150
    Has been over a week since the last post and a few things have changed. I no longer have any guppies in the tank. All have died. Thought it was a parasite and had run two rounds of Paracleanse for the whole tank. Guess that didn't help. Checked all my parameters and they were checking out at 0/0/5 (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). They seemed fine on day but the next they were hiding and not eating. At this point, makes me feel like I'm not destined to raise guppies. All my other finned friends are doing well. I have lost about a half dozen shrimp. Age? Bad water quality? Food? No idea. They get fed pretty much on the daily since the barbs and cories need to be fed. The rest seem to be doing great. Lots of molts on the substrate. I did get the test kit for Gh and Kh. A little time consuming but does give me an idea of what is happening. As I assumed, I do have hard water. Good for the tank! Here are the parameters as of today: Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 PH 7.8 Gh 160 ppm Kh 100 ppm The nitrate is weird because I added 4 shots of Easy Green 3 days ago. Thought it would have been higher. Guess that means the plants are sucking down the goods. The water was getting a bit cloudy with floaty bits. Pulled both sponge filters and gave them a good squeeze. The water looked like swamp water. That was 3 days ago. Water is still having some floaty bits so I pulled the fine sponge filter and gave it a few more squeezes. WOW!! Amazing how much gunk that thing can hold. Did this until the water ran clean. Hopefully, the water will look better tomorrow. Going to see what happens over the next few days. I added 6 squirts of Easy Green after all this. See how the tank responds.
  16. jasper5150
    I started with 10 back in August. I didn’t think they were going to make it because I kept seeing less and less of them. After a few weeks, I noticed the first little shrimplets on the sponge filter. Now I have to be careful cleaning the sponge filter because a lot of the shrimplets hang out inside of it! This last time I just cleaned out the air stone inside and that brought back the good flow. Going to just keep doing that instead of squeezing the sponge. The shrimp seem to do a great job of “cleaning” the filter anyway.
  17. jasper5150
    @Theplatymaster right! I must be doing something right
  18. jasper5150
    Thank @nabokovfan87 I have a test kit coming today. Let’s see what it tells me! Also a couple bags of Activ Betta Bio-Activ Gravel for the garage tank. Just realized I should have purchased a bag of crushed coral as well. Gives me an excuse to place another order. I did modify my sponge filter yesterday. I had a spare medium sponge that I cut in half. One half is in my project garage tank and the other I planned for my 20 gallon. I think it’s great that the sponge filters ACO sells can be modified to fit where you need them. The center tube being sectioned is excellent. All I had to do was snap the new section to my existing sponge filter and reattach the top with the air stone and Viola! My sponge filter is 33% larger and I have a sponge I can use for a QT or an additional tank! I’ll attach a photo. There is another sponge in here. It’s able to catch the much smaller particles so there’s less “floaties” in the water. I also took my light from hanging to sitting directly on the lid. Trying to look at my tank with lights gleaming in my eyes was rough. The light does have the ability to turn down the brightness, which I did. Don’t want to cause an algae spike. Probably wouldn’t notice considering the hoard of cherry shrimp in here along with my beastie Amanos. Also shows the snail infestation
  19. jasper5150
    I would like to add 4 or 5 more Cherry barbs to my 20 gallon but feel they may predate my shrimp. Even though they have quite a bit of plant cover. Also would like to add more cories one add a group of endlers to the 20. Tough decisions
  20. jasper5150
    If I’m going to make it QT first, what are thoughts on bare bottom or substrate?
  21. jasper5150
    Sorry, no dogs in my house. Sometimes our cat thinks he is a dog
  22. jasper5150
    I totally didn’t expect this. I started with 10 in August and now it’s a metropolis. At least 150 have gone to new homes. They are definitely well fed and I think my water has a high mineral content. Our neighborhood is on a well. I have never checked the water for kh? Is that for mineral content? 🤷‍♂️
  23. jasper5150
    The tank has been running for a couple days and definitely no leaks. Took it about three hours to go from 46 degrees up to 77 degrees. The foam may be helping to retain heat. Bought a glass lid and put that on today. Also bought a large dump of Java moss the local fish shop was selling. It’s full of the good stuff from whatever tank it was in. Should help get the cycle going. Want to use this as a QT before I add my shrimp. Wondering if the Maracyn will kill off any BB that would be growing? I’ll add a photo later. Have my furry friend relaxing on my lap at the moment. 🐈
  24. jasper5150
    The tank is doing great! It’s being overrun by cherry shrimp at the moment along with pest snails. Still have 4 very large Amanos cleaning their hearts out. My albino cat is chunky as ever and his lone Julii Cory friend keeps him company. A couple cherry barbs dwelling in the shadows. Down to two guppies. Had 5 that were born from a group I had. All but these two didn’t make it😞. I want to make the garage tank a QT so I can either add more guppies or endlers or something else. Guppies don’t seem to like my conditions or I just need to blast them with meds real good before they are introduced.
  25. jasper5150
    Probably sell OK ones and give away the brown guys. Want to keep a good colony of reds in my community? Have been selling off some from the community tank as a mixed “grade”.
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