KungFuKoi-ish

Update: Almost done with the Paracleanse treatment and, fingers crossed, it seems to have done the trick. Yesterday specifically was a seemingly good turn, as now the guppies have gone back to exploring the tank rather than cowering under the cover of the water lettuce. Tomorrow is the recommended 25% water change, I’m wondering if I should run another course of treatment? Or should I wait until symptoms present themselves again?

Looking really slick so far, will you be filling in the bottom of the pond with some coarse substrate? So that the water is pulled through that first before flooding through the mesh? Might try this out myself! I’m sort of stuck on what kind of tub to set up for my brewing horde of guppies. Have you tried something like Serpa Design’s low tech pond relying only on emmersed plant growth? I wonder how that pans out, and what kind of fish load it can handle. I’ve been stuck on a youtube channel called Ozponds for a minute - he has a ton of material on how to build bog filters (and build/design of large ponds). That’s also something I want to try, though digging out the yard is a tall order at the moment!

Well, it’s not pregnancy related as I found one of the males dead to rights this morning. I was watching the tank late last night and there was no sign of distress, and the three remaining fish seem totally unfazed. Luckily the meds should be here today, or tomorrow at the latest.

Thanks again @Bjorn! Next time I want to be ready, as it seems time is of the essence in these situations. I’m starting to wonder if this was pregnancy related. Due to the size of the tank, the color of the substrate, and the massive tangle of water lettuce roots I hadn’t realized there are at least 4 little fry hidden here and there - and it seems that they’re of two different broods judging by their development. I was just able to get a great look at one and it seems to be an albino koi fry. I’m pretty sure that’s an albino koi, judging by the eyes and shape. If I’m mistaken I’ll gladly hear it!

I’m happy to report that today there’s no more casualties, nor signs of disease. I will remain vigilant! @Bjorn Congrats on your established colony! I too cannot wait for these creatures to fully establish themselves. It’s definitely a little wearing, dealing with these sick fish though. I’m not too shaken yet! There are still two seemingly healthy and happy pairs so this colony may yet survive - even thrive! I’m suspecting a genetic component. Albinos are naturally a bit more genetically weak, if I’m not mistaken. On top of that, aside from robustness these fish all look very very similar, unlike the many slight variations between, say, males I see in the other strains I have. I suspect they’re deeply inbred - Deliverance status. I’ll get some of those medications to have on hand, also some Maracyn… What others would be good to have in the ‘medicine cabinet’ for guppies specifically? @JettsPapa These guppies came from Houston Aqua, along with a few other trios. I believe they are imported, however aside from this little tragedy they’ve all done very well. One day I hope to be a purveyor of fine bred (artisanal you could say!) million-fish, I would be quite pleased if the humble guppy soared in popularity again regardless. I have heard the same about albino koi, and also that they’re practically blind which I believe with how uncoordinated these lovely little fish have been while eating. My tuxedo koi on the other hand are almost protective of their fry - at least that’s what I like to believe. I’m praying for fry, for sure! Hopefully, between the massive tank and the flotillas of water lettuce the younglings will be able to survive. I have seen two fry swimming about the tank over the last few days! Though… I had added some java ferns a few weeks ago, so they may be hitch hikers? I don’t recall seeing any signs of pregnancy in this colony so far… If needed though, I have no problem with raising up a clutch in a 5 gallon till they can fend for themselves! Thanks for the heads up though - I may just do that from the get go.

Update: Checked on the patient and found she had flat lined. Subsequently buried beneath the redwood bonsai. Any theories on her passing would be appreciated. I’ll provide an update on the others in a few days, whether weal or woe.

Hail and well met! After a recent success with a pregnancy scare disaster has once again befallen these burgeoning colonies. Which is to say I found one of my females from a second tank belly up this morning without warning. She passed shortly after I found her and now rests in the garden. Another of the females was lethargic and, quite frankly, swam about like a drunk when stirred. I jest, to make light, however it was comically tragic to watch her still and shift to a 45 📐 before being slowly sucked up in the current and bumbled about. I’ve since placed her in a QT tank for observation and to save her from the Aquaclear 40 tumbling her about. There’s a level 1 salt dosing in the tank with her, no other medication besides. 40g Parameters: pH - 7 Nitrates - 25 Hardness - 100 Nitrite - 0 Ammonia - 0 KH/Buffer - 50 Water Temperature - 72 F Tank mates: 4 other guppies, 2 mystery snails, ??? blue dream skrimp The QT tank has slightly higher GH/KH of 70/150. I’ve held off ordering meds for now as I can’t see any symptoms other than some swim bladder issue and loss of appetite. No rapid breathing, no clamped fins, no distended belly, no sign of injury, etc. The other that passed this morning was in similar seemingly pristine condition. I’m hoping the lighter current and break from the males give her the space to recover. As she’s not doing well, at least this environment will provide a more peaceful passing. The other 4 guppies are seemingly fine, flitting about the tank without apparent issue. I will mention that both this unwell female and the other were considerably smaller than the other two females in the tank, both on arrival and in the month I’ve had them. I suspected parasites but never saw the signs such as visible worms or white, stringy waste. Searching the forums I found other live-bearers with similar situations, so it could be genetic. If so, it is what it is. If not, I’d like to hear y’all’s thoughts on these happenings, especially if it strikes any of the other tank mates. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the other inhabitants in case there’s another, well, case. Thank you for the help!

Scrappy sketch?! You’ve even taken into account water flow! Can’t wait to see the system with a little jungle below and full of those beautiful fish! Just top-offs huh? Makes sense, once things are absolutely coated with beneficial bacteria it should be smooth sailing! Definitely going to set something up like this myself - in due time!

Here’s mama after all is said and done. I think she still has some fry to drop, but she was real stressed in the breeder box and the bebbies could somehow effortlessly escape their well-intentioned prison! Speaking of bebbies! These little ones are fearless! I’ve seen them hanging right beside their elders without a care. They also seem to prefer schooling in open water, forgoing the cover of water lettuce or HCJ. In the future I hope to have a whole grow out system of tanks, but for now I’m hoping to community breed this brood! Edit: I had a thought with regards to that strange white fluff and string, that a few others have run into. Could that have been a malformed fry? That little string may have been a decaying spine or something 🤔

B E B B I E S was born! Mama looking good and healthy. The other guppers don’t seem to have a hunger for their kin-folk. Thank you all 🙏 I would’a been a wreck without your guidance!

So! Update: She’s as lively as ever, and when fishing her out to place her in the breeder box I just received that little puff of fuzz and that string just popped right off of her. Unfortunately, it was swept up by the current and I’ve lost track of it in the tank, I was really hoping to take a good look at it… So that trailing string was probably just mucus, as there’s no visible wound where the fuzz detached. So now she has privacy and security, and if I need to remove her from the tank it’ll be way less stressful on her! As an aside: I haven’t had time to add the salt to the aquarium, planning on doing that tonight after jiu jitsu. Do I add the salt all at once? Or should I add it a tablespoon at a time to allow the shrimp time to acclimate? Thanks again for all the information, and the well wishes! ❤️

@xXInkedPhoenixX Ah, good to know! I’ll pick up some salt on my way back from the gym then 🙏 @Minanora I wish I could get some better pictures, but it’s hard to snap solid resolution shots with this dinosaur phone. And thank you for your concern! I don’t mind, I hope she pulls through and I’ll do what I can to help but these things happen. I’d rather have my first experience be a white-knuckle-r! So every other seems like smooth sailing in comparison 🥴 The area this morning is translucent, and the edges are very ‘soft’ and fuzzy, as opposed to the hard lines of bulge last night. Edit: The string following her on the other hand seems solid, and on closer inspection seems to attach right to the tip of that fuzzy bulge. It’s hard to tell if it runs through that mass or if it’s trailing off of it, as the string becomes sort of translucent itself the closer it gets to her body. Are you suggesting I add epsom salt to the tank or aquarium salt? And with regards to adding salt to a tank, how soon should I start changing out the water to remove it? Or should I leave some level of salt indefinitely and replace what’s siphoned out during a water change? I do a 20% change weekly at the moment. The tanks inhabitants are 5 guppies, 10+ sakura shrimp, and a mystery snail for reference. I’ve read that guppies dig a bit of salt but I don’t know how the latter inhabitants will handle it. Thanks again y’all, you rock! 👊

@xXInkedPhoenixX I didn’t want to say it but that’s what it looks like 😞 It’s strange, there was no sign of it last night, I would imagine the prolapse would be visible still if it were her intestines… I only have the pure epsom salt on hand, but I can try to get some aquarium salt today. The tank is planted, so should I move her into a jury rigged hospital tank for the salt treatment? The strange thing is there’s been no change in her behavior - still eating voraciously, swimming just fine, no frantic breathing or fluttering of fins or shimmying (I’ve heard that’s a thing).

@Minanora I’ll incorporate that into their diet, would you also suggest fasting them once a week? As of now I feed them whenever they ask, which is always. Never more than they can finish but, yeah, they eatin’. As for an update, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the prolapse seems to have settled back into her body overnight. The bad news is that she seems to have developed a fungal infection where the wound was? The area seems coated in a white fuzz… And there’s a long string trailing behind her - not sure what that is, it doesn’t seem to move on its own so I don’t think it’s a parasite… Going to start searching for the proper treatment, any recommendations or protocols would be greatly appreciated. Should I continue with the epsom salt baths if this is a fungal infection? Or ick or what have you? I’m way out of my element.

Looking smart! And it seems like there’s room for another shelf? Perhaps there’s not enough space for a light… That’s an awesome project! And those fish look absolutely gorgeous - they almost make me want to branch out from million fish! Definitely going to be using your video as a reference when I find the space to put together something similar! Oh! How often do you run water changes on that system? I imagine it depends on what’s being homed in those jugs, but with say a batch of 20 fry or so? Do you keep mated pairs in there until they drop their eggs and move them once they hatch? Unless this process is described in the video, I’ll find out then. Regardless, that’s radical bruh!

@Cinnebuns Thank you for the tips! I don’t know if this is her first clutch or not, she may have given birth before I took in this trio. She wasn’t pregnant when she arrived so I think she may have been a juvenile back in the latter half of March. As far as hiding spots go there are three large flotillas of dwarf water lettuce in the tank, as well as a gangly nest of HC Japans, where she’ll occasionally perch about. I’ve noticed that when she’s isolated herself the two males I have will generally leave her be.I swear I’ve seen one of the other females flit up and run interference when a males bothered her under the canopy. The parameters have been steady up until a week ago, when I added a small handful of aragonite to the gravel substrate - this brought the GH from ~75 to ~100 where it’s subsequently stabilized. Ammonia and nitrites are clear, however I’ve got nitrates at ~40 - I’ll dial those back to 20 and see if that helps her. I’m probably over-watching! And over feeding, for sure. As the tanks in my room I find myself mesmerized throughout the day, stuck sitting for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. I’m watching the tank as I type… I’ll give her some privacy! And some security when the breeding box comes in tomorrow. Oh, and an update: after the first epsom salt soak (10 minutes, .5 tbsp/1 gallon) the prolapse retreated ~70% and a second soak 5 hours later appears to have it fully rescinded! So a huge thank you to you all for helping this little Lady out! I’m sure she’s not out of the woods yet, so I shall remain diligent! 🙏

That’s a great idea IP! Succinctly ordered, it will be here tomorrow. What I’m worried about most is that the males won’t leave her be… There are other ladies just waiting to be wooed but both of those boys are tag teaming her Night at the Roxbury style. Guess they like ‘em T H I C C C.

Thank you both for your responses! I found her like this right before heading to work, should have searched the forum before freaking out. I siphoned off a gallon of tank water into a jar with a half tablespoon of epsom salt, I imagine she’s appreciative of this 10 minute break from the boys. Oddly enough, during the process of netting her out the prolapse relapsed? I’m still going to let her enjoy her bath time though! It’s Mother’s Day, she deserves a little spa treatment! 🧖‍♀️

As this is my first time experiencing the miracle of guppy-birth, I’m out of my element and seem to be in a tricky situation. This little girl has been pregnant for over a month - she’s so big now she looks like she’s going to explode. Just today, between turning on the lights and right now, she’s developed a bright pink bulge coming out of her cloaca. (is that what fish have?) A quick google search suggests she’s prolapsing due to abdominal pressure - which I’m pretty sure is due to the massive load of bebbies she’s holding onto. There’s been no change in behavior the last few days to indicate illness, and she was eating just fine this morning (I feed a mixture of Hikari guppy/Xtreme krill flakes/Coop easy fry food). Is there anything I can do for this little lady? Thanks for the help 🙏

Update: After a water change and a week parameters have stabilized at just under 40 KH and right about 6.4 pH - this is with about 2 oz of aragonite in the filter. Thanks again for the suggestion, worked like a charm! @lefty o Those are beautiful little fish, thanks for the suggestion! I may drop a few in there, do I need a minimum number for their well being?

That’s a beautiful looking tank yourself! So I took your advice and replaced the bio-media in the powerhead with aragonite, about as much as I could pack in there. Already there’s been just the slightest increase in KH (from neon yellow to lime green) so it seems to be working! I’ll give it some more time to see if that brings things up a little bit. If you know, does aragonite have the same buffering capacity of crushed coral? Also! If I piled up mounds of crushed coral behind the hardscape would there be enough flow to affect the parameters? Or does this need to be blasted by water to really get going? Thanks again for your help!

I just flooded the 10 gallon that had been dry started - it looks amazing and I’m dead set on dry starting everything I can now. That’s beside the point. Now when constructing the tank I placed 2 pounds of aragonite (along with some lava rock) in a mesh bag in the substrate hoping it would balance out the mess of ADA Amazonia II. Fat chance. Currently, according to the Coop test strips, the water parameters are as follows: GH: 150 KH: 0 PH: less than 6.4 The water out of the tap is about 300/50/7 for reference. As far as I can understand, these parameters are not ideal for guppies or neocaradina, and I definitely want to change that. So I’m all ears for suggestions on how to increase the KH/pH to make the tank a suitable habitat for some beautiful Purple Dragon Mosaics and Blue Bolts! Now, if that is going to be a struggle due to the liters of ADA in there, I’d love for some suggestions on what I could stock in this tank. Thank you kindly for your time and input!

Hail and well met! I spent a large minority of 2021 (in So-Cal we were still sort of locked down) glutting myself on all sorts of aqua-scaping content. It started with Serpa Design, just a quick hit here and there… And then it spiraled out of control. I coldly recall the night I found myself 7 hours into a binge of every aquarium co-op video regarding guppies. It was then that I fell in love. So, with 2022 I began setting up my first aquarium. Ever! This was a valuable experience, immensely so. The process of hardscaping was a dream, my imagination immediately committing to some future 15 tank fish rack. But first, the first tank! Which necessitated the first rack, but I digress! After a few weeks (And spending waaay too much money) I carefully arranged stone and soil and delicately planted little tufts of monte carlo and select trimmings of hydrocortyle tripartate Japans. In giddy anticipation I rigged the water change system and hurried to the faucet to flood the tank for the first time. I realized too late that the water pressure there (and the temperature control) would be disastrous. A flood of nearly 100 degree water blasted my miniature mountain range into a rubble. I would not quit! After an hour of salvaging plant scraps and the semblance of a scape I intimately familiarized myself with the mysteries of some other set of plumbing, and succeeded! It was not a particularly pretty sight, but it was my mess and I loved it! So, for a few weeks I watched it settle, enthralled by the process of melt and root and the most minute growth. After ordering more plants to replace what I had destroyed I decided it was time to shore up the scape and set forth a fine foundation! Now, during this whole process I was changing and testing water daily, and I didn’t notice that the water level was just a little lower than it should be. Or that there was a bit more water laying about then there should be. Apparently there had been a little leak in the back right corner and the next day it burst. I would not be defeated! This is the Dark Souls of pets, this is my element. Bloodbourne is the greatest game ever made - I will fight you on that! Cleaning up, taking the tank apart again, getting a new one, setting it all back up again and the what-haves-you, it had to be done! And though at first I groaned and grumbled and gnashed my teeth, inevitably the joy of the hobby took hold and I was thankful for the lesson and the experience and the opportunity to make look even more better! And now there are shrimps and snails and three gorgeous little guppies flitting about in there! It’s a blast! They’re tuxedo koi, and their antics are adorable. To be crass, they’re just like teenagers, the dudes just wanna get lucky and the chicks are there to party and eat. I catch myself sitting mesmerized by their flitting and dancing and the bumbling of the snails. Oh the snails! At first thought I was apprehensive, but they’re the best! Look at this absolute mad lad! (Though I’m not sure why that image is rotated…) And almost immediately one tank became four! A 10 gallon and a 20 long with PetCo’s $~1/G sale and a deeply etched 40 Gallon High that a friend sent my way. The 10 gallon with the dry start method, just waiting on some various repens before flooding! There’s micro-sword, dwarf hair grass, hygrophila compact, and a lovely tiger lotus thanks to The Coop. To be populated with Purple Dragons and blue jelly skrimps. The 40 tall - a very interesting canvas at something like 24x16x24. I’ve got some water sprite and various anubias for it, and hope to see it whirling with albino koi guppies and blue dream skrimps. The 20 long is a bit of a personal experiment with the dry start method - a little bit of all the plants I’ve collected, here keeping an eye on the life of each of them. So! There’s certainly a theme here, and with spring season already begun I hope to build a grip of little nano-ponds to serve home for all sorts of raucous pairings between these lines. A deep thanks to aquarium co-op for their services, including this lovely community. 🙏 And the pleasure to meet the lot of you!