nabokovfan87

@Minanora Help us out when you can! It's a female right now. No defined gonopodium What is the length of the fish in your estimation (total length to the end of the tail)? I'll snag some photos of mine, they are getting bigger! 🙂

Unfortunately my tank looked just like this. You can see the photos in my journal in the original post. There's a few things we need to do right away to get it under control and then there is a need to understand how this stuff progresses. The BBA shown in the photos sends out spores in a cycle. Those spores find new places to grab onto and then that will lead into further infestation. The plants get choked out and then the algae itself feeds off of stuff like excess light / phosphates to keep growing larger and larger. It is a vicious cycle where the algae kills your plants, then you're left with nothing but severe algae. Steps to improve the situation (after the big cleanout mentioned below): 1. Clean all filtration more regularly and more intensely because you will have spores and particles, I call them tufts, floating around the tank in the water column. This can and will get into your pump and cause equipment failure. Maintaining the equipment to that detail is important. If possible step up water changes to 50% to remove as much of the spores as you can and reduce excess phosphates. You can also use phosphate pads or phosguard to do this. 2. We need to reduce light intensity and duration to a value where the plants are growing, fighting things off, but where the algae isn't overtaking them. This is where manual removal helps a lot. 3. Dose in hydrogen peroxide, flourish excel, or easy carbon to combat the algae over time. You can spot treat this as well, but this is the only sure method to get right of this stuff. 4. Once you spot treat the plants, you'll need something that will eat the algae in question or remove it. The big clean: I would highly suggest removing all of your plants right now and doing a major RR treatment. RR = Rapid Respiration. There is a thread linked above, but ultimately this will cause some of your plants to wilt and die (that were already going to) as well as fight off a portion of this algae. That treatment can be done overnight and will give you a clean place in the tank where you then should be able to: 1. Siphon the substrate extremely well to remove as much of this stuff as you can. If you need to use a stainless steel or bristle brush to dislodge it. 2. Scrape the glass, all sides. 3. Scrub hardscape with whatever makes sense to get as much of the algae off. You'll also want to do this with the plants following the RR treatment. 4. Big water change to try to remove as much of the floating debris as you can. In some cases I've done up to a 90% water chance. Just make sure the fish have room to swim and have room to escape to if they are spooked. 80% is usually a save level of remaining water in the tank for fish to keep them safe and de-stressed. What is your lighting settings and duration? How long does this light run per day?

The stress coat is a water conditioner with aloe. It's what you needed 🙂 There is no need to return it and get prime. Just keep an eye on how much you're using and that way you don't run out in future. Right now, the tank is doing fine and just needs to cycle. Don't overfeed and eventually we need to make a plan for KH in this tank. This isn't a concern right now, but in future it will cause issues with the snail shell generation. @jwcarlson @JJenna The KH in this tank is 0, the PH is near 6.0 at last test. Do not know what the store test had it at. It is correct that raising PH isn't going to fix the issue, need to find other methods that will work long term.

She's all better! Riddick is the black corydoras that may or may not be blind, but did have a bacterial eye issue. Totally thought you had baby plecos or something in the tube. Next time you take the filter out of the tank clean the tube with a brush or something. I don't think it's the source of any issues with the fish, but just a note. It'll re-grow strong bacteria, that's all that stuff is. It's in seachem's med line. it is a weird oval shape. I don't have Bacter AE, not sure what that one looks like.

No idea, but they might get a taste for shrimp.

Neoplex / Kanaplex = Gram negative bacterial treatments Maracyn = Gram positive bacteria treatment. I don't know if Maracyn 2 is as well, but note that Maracyn and Maracyn 2 are different antibiotics. I recommend one antibiotic at a time, not dual dosing. Let's wait for @Odd Duck or @Colu to clarify which to use next.... Neoplex or Maracyn2 as far as which gives your betta the best shot.

What do you already have?? Salt is a big one Specimen Container Ich-X + Dosing glass Plants / Marimo ball Easy Green / Easy Iron (Iron if your PH is above 7, especially high 7's) Xtreme flakes (community blend) Repashy (all of the repashy)

Looks just like my water mixing valve. Probably the best "tool" I use day to day is a catch cup / specimen container and then using the pinsettes to snatch things. Whether I'm feeding food, thawing blocks, fixing plants, or just trying to snag something and keep my hands out of the water, that's what works well and is used almost daily. Second to that is a good towel. Each tank has their own. I would also mention the value of a stand / shelf / table for things. INVALUABLE to have some quick places to set something that can get damp.

I got some from aquahuna. they were fine. Aquatic arts is also a good source, just go with whatever price makes sense. You're not paying for designer amano shrimp, people order them and sell them due to how they are bred and the specialty care those zoeys require to be fully raised to maturity.

I would reduce your peak window by 1.5-2 hours, and keep things the same. Monitor progress forward, but do so with manual removal of the BBA and spot dosing it as you can with hydrogen peroxide or easy carbon / flourish excel. If the anubias is stubborn with the BBA, you'd want to make sure it's not directly under the light and offset towards darker parts of the tank.

For reference, My larger light is slightly off of these settings, but this is a good place to start and tweak accordingly. I've tuned things since this post and I am also working on testing a second light. The information starting in this thread at the top of page 3 is also really relevant to how we setup our lights and worth taking a look at.

I may have posted in an earlier post, but when I set up my 75G I'll grab the profile and re-post and tag you. I think 65-75% is "fine" for most tanks and gives you flexibility. Should be the same situation as my 75, but you have slightly more distance front to back.

Yes. That's new growth. I can show you the photos in my tank if you wish.

It probably works really well for terrariums.

Hm. I get the feeling everything you're doing is 100% right and the water tests clean. I would ask to double check nitrates, but I think everything should be ok. If this was my tank, my situation, I would start by cleaning all the filters and doing a good siphon on the gravel. Following that I would try doing daily water changes to try to keep clean fresh water in the tank. After 5-7 days of clean water, then I would opt for adding in some IAL, Salt, and a final course of meds. I would have Neoplex on order in case you need to change course here and try a different antibacterial option. cc @Colu @Odd Duck

She sure did. This is a cool video to check out with microscope shots.

Opaline Gourami (Marbled Gourami)? No fancy photos, but this might help. I think the family of fish is under Trichogaster https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp B-E-A-utiful!

There is some discoloration that is shown on your test strips, so I wanted to pass this along. As far as BBA, can you please attach some photos of the tank with closeups of the algae issues? What are your parameters from the tap after the water is aerated with an air stone for 24 hours? How do those results compare to your tank? What is your maintenance regime? How much water do you change, how often?

Yeah, Val's really dislike salt. I think ACO mentions on their website about it. That's likely what happened. I had this happen with DHG, thought some would recover, but eventually they all succumb to just too much damage. Keep an eye on it and pull them if you feel like it's just going to be a phosphate dump / algae bomb in your tank. Things like that can snowball into further issues. Hopefully you see them pop up soon! I apologize, I don't see any fish photos.

what media is in the sump? You also have anaerobic pockets in the substrate given that you have sand and gravel mixed. There will be some ability for the "sandbed" to handle nitrates.

Really awesome photo. CC @Theplatymaster This is about the amount of mulm I leave my corydoras at too. This is the same breeder box you have I think. Apart from some mulm on the moss, I'd recommend your breeder box to be cleaned to be similar to this one if you can. These corydoras are about the age where using an airline tube or siphon definitely wouldn't harm them. Fins are fully formed, patters is starting to form. Tails are fully developed and they can swim around with ease.

Correct. That's why I am curious if you see that same sort of spot on your oto at any particular angle. Mine is pretty rotund, but yours is about double her belly size.

How soon are you planning to do this? 100%. Just keep the filter and rocks and hardscape wet.

There is likely a load balance issue. We have 3-4 rooms chained on the same breaker. Potentially you can have an electrician tell you the zones or review things in your house with you and let you know your options. Have a GFCI in the room with the tank on its own GFCI breaker is a great fix and will eliminate issues for you. Something to look into. I ran into issues here when I had the tank on, heaters running, and then we had floor heaters in the next two rooms.