AndreaW

Hi, I have a tank that Mystery snails don't do well because the KH & GH over time drop lower than our tap water. After all the research and questions the most likely answer was that the driftwood tanins were mitigating the water hardness. As long as I do frequent water changes, crushed coral and wonder shells, I can keep the numbers up where they need to be, but in the end, I decided I was going to let the tank do its thing and forgo the snails for now. Maybe down the road I will try again. None of the fish in the tank seem to be affected by it.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/blue-green-algae I treated it with Erythromycin the first time and it eventually came back (I blame my low water flow and lighting). Ultimately, you need to find the source of it and fix it long term, or you will most likely have reoccurrences. The second time I had it, I changed the lighting, removed all the floaters (water lettuce and duckweed) from the tank and treated with "UltraLife Reef Products Blue-Green Slime Stain Remover" I can't change the flow of the filter as it's a low flow Betta tank. So far, it hasn't come back (fingers crossed). *Looks over at tank to inspect...* I've got a pretty impressive growth of hair algae right now as I had to medicate the tank and wipe out the BB colony Through both treatments, I did not notice any ill effect to my plants or Nerites.

I second blue-green algae. It looks like the start of it. To be sure, you can scoop a bit of it out and if it comes off in a sheet and you notice a very distinctive earthy/swampy kind of smell, then it probably is. Mine usually starts on the surface of plants closest to the light source.

Good to know. I have some Java (which can be replaced) but I think I'll move the Crypts to a different tank before I add the salt. I got all the meds tonight so I'll start treating him tomorrow. Thanks!

Thank you! I'll do all this. Will the salt harm nerite snails or should I move Cosmo or the snails to a different tank during the treatment? I have an additional 10 gallon plant tank that has no fish in it (only the plants and bladder snails) I can switch either Cosmo or the snails to.

This has been going on for a couple months. I first noticed Cosmo had a bulge on the back part of his dorsal fin. It began to grow, but was blue at first, and then turned brown. Then one day it looked like it had either ruptured or been damaged in some way. Since then, it has continued to grow back in one way or another. It's often white, but seems to keep growing and rupturing. I have treated him with Erythromycin (end of November) with no apparent affect, and more recently with doxycycline hyclate (later in December). So far, neither have seemed to make a difference, but I only treated the tank one full round with each, along with water changes. He still eats and it hasn't affected his swimming yet. He does hang out toward the back of the tank, below the filter more often lately. He still comes out to greet me and check on the intruder nerite snails. Is this something that can be treated? December 15th ~ After the first growth apparently ruptured. December 22 ~ blue-white lump. Both pics are from today. There is a large white lump which makes up the back half of his dorsal fin. Sorry for the hair algae on the glass. Water quality:

EDITED: I came here looking for advice on how to find this handsome man a home, but we worked it out. It won't let me delete the post though, so I'll leave the photo just because he's a handsome one.

That's actually how it works. They drink it up and take it back to the colony and regurgitate it for the rest of the colony to eat. You do have an influx of ants at first as they discover it and send out the scent that brings other worker ants to gather it up. Spraying the ants you see kills them and never gets back to the colony, so you are only killing a small portion of what is actually there, while the colony is still growing, unseen. When I first started using it, it must have been a HUGE colony because they kept coming for days and I kept having to put more out. Eventually, they faded away and I would only see a few scout ants here and there. Now, I put the bait out any time I find ants that have discovered a food source. I deal with the worker ants for a day or two and then we are back to a few scout ants again. Ants are annoying because of the colony. They are constantly growing and spreading and recolonizing, so to get rid of the colony, you have to be persistent and patient to allow the ants to take the food back to the colony to poison the ants you never see. Yes, it does harden. It's a sugar-based liquid. If any spills, wet a paper towel and let it sit on the spill to help soften it so you can wipe it up.

Yes, this ^ I usually use the Terro for conveninece. When ants invaded the cat food bowl, I dumped a bunch of borax over the food and blocked it off so the cats couldn't get it (they wouldn't eat it with the borax, but I don't dare risk it). Ants carried the cat food and borax back and were gone within days.

If anything, the ant becomes fish food!

I get a lot of ants move in from outdoors (old house with lots of cracks and crevices to enter) and have pets and tanks. The best solution I have found for ants is stuff called "Terro". It is a thick, clear syrup inside a plastic tray and you tear the end off to expose the bait. The ants drink it (so it will attract a ton initially) and they take it back to the colony and the whole colony eats it. It usually drastically reduces the ants within 24-48 hours and then I will see occasional "scout" ants for a bit after. I buy it at the hardware store and it really is amazing. I like how it's not a spray in the air and there's no residue to worry about. Sometimes I will add a few crumbs of whatever they were going after into the container before placing it down flat.

I'm not able to see photos in your two recent posts. Looking forward to see your new addition.

I built that same dresser and I would say yes, it's plenty sturdy for your tank. The top piece is solid wood and it looks like you also have glass on it which will help disperse the weight, and the center post does go all the way from the top to the floor so no problem!

Welcome! You have beautiful tanks and I can't wait to watch them *grow*!

Welcome Timm! Kids make the hobby interesting for sure, but sometimes it's hard for them to have the patience to stick with it through everything. My 11 year old took over my 46G which I've had running for 20 years now and while I do all the care and maintenance, he has final say. I had to get myself a new tank when he moved rooms and took *his* tank with him. I converted it to a planted tank "for the health of the fish" and removed all the plastic decorations and glass beads. It wasn't long before all the glass beads made their way back in the tank because it wasn't colorful enough for him.

Welcome! Restraint is definitely hard to come by in this hobby!

If I were starting a local fish club, I would gather a few other like-minded enthusiasts and work together to come up with an idea of what we would want it to be. I know some fish clubs have websites with basic information that you can browse to see what kinds of things they are doing. I would also talk to some local fish stores to see if they would help support your club. Here's my local club: http://gslas.com/About.html Maybe others can share their local clubs so you can see the variety of clubs out there. Ours has a bi-annual auction where members (and non-members) will bring fish, plants and aquarium supplies to auction off. They do monthly meetings where they will bring someone in to talk about a specific topic. (This is where most of our membership fees are used.) When we join, we get a card that gives us 10% off a local fish store that supports the club. You may also need to look into if there are any laws or rules for clubs to make sure you don't run into any problems there. Plan a time and place to meet and be consistent and realize that a majority of the membership will not be able to attend every meeting, and it will probably take time to build up the club.

Yeah, she is learning that through the rescue farm. They take in lambs and calves that otherwise wouldn't survive (a majority still don't make it to adulthood), and rescue many abused/neglected animals that they rehabilitate. She never thought she could handle being a vet, but has learned how to handle loss better than she thought she would. That's the hard part of working with animals. There are many rough days, but so many rewarding days (like when one of their animals are adopted out to a loving family). The goats and sheep sound fun!

@clovenpine ~ I'm wondering how it went?

Welcome! I can't wait to see your aquarium with all your friends when you get it set up! What kind of background do you have in farm animals? My daughter works at a rescue farm and I think has found her passion and thinks she wants to become a vet tech and work with farm animals.

Welcome Reyna! I'm glad you are able to help your parents out and a fish tank is great therapy!

I heard about it on one of Cory's videos and was very intrigued by a friendly forum. I was a part of a couple FB fish groups that were too much, so I left them for friendlier waters!

Black beard algae (BBA). https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/black-beard-algae https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-algae Once you have it, it's hard to get rid of it completely, unfortunately. It's a sign of a mature tank and some people love it! I ended up getting in it my 46G when I added some moss balls I ordered online, which introduced it. Fortunately, I haven't had it too bad and it's stayed under control for the most part. I'm not sure how to get it off plants, but when it was on my decorations, I was able to pull them out and pinch it off and use a little hydrogen peroxide to spot treat it -- let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse it and put it back in. You could trim the portion of the plants that it is on, but it's a hard one to remove manually. There's a whole thread in the journals section of someone trying really hard to grow a tank of it. I bet they are jealous

Correct. He said they had to choose between raising shipping prices or do away with the stickers. Sad, but I understand the business decision.

You can do a youtube search to see videos of detritus worms, flatworms and planeria to see the difference. I had a post where I asked about some flatworms in my tank and there was some great info that you might find helpful as well: