nabokovfan87

How do they look compared to mine!!!?!?!?!? 🙂 I'm always curious about different lines and trying to get an idea for what the "normal" version is or specialty lines. (Like Greg Sage's Odessa's!)

The base for "high tech" tanks is usually something like ADA powersand (pumice or lava rock coated in nutrients) and then that is topped off with aquarium soil. here's a video with a good tutorial.

I was expecting some normal barb type of sores and stuff from mating displays or aggression, but when the photos loaded, it definitely wasn't that! Those would be the situation where you'd use erythromycin (maracyn) and it's mostly just very common when your numbers are too low in the barb group size. The gills don't look too hot and the redness/sores seen to be right around where the fin meets the body. I would double check temp, air, and add in some aquarium salt in addition to all of your other efforts. Barbs want cooler water and high oxygenation. Temp is 74 and so I would want to verify it's actually 74 and not higher, potentially drop it down to 72 range which gives the heater +/- 2 degrees and a range of (70-74). You shouldn't need to go above 1 tbsp per 2 gallons for a lot of fish in most situations. For something like this (gill redness) I stick towards lower doses like 1 tbsp per 3 gallons or 1 tbsp per 5 gallons. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish 1 Tbsp Salt per 3 Gallons of Water Add 1 tablespoon (Tbsp) of salt per 3 gallons of water. You can pour the salt directly into the aquarium or hospital tank, but some people like to dissolve the salt in a small cup of water first. This level of salt is like using Neosporin topical ointment for a small cut (in other words, it’s not very strong). It’s used to fight mild cases of bacterial and fungal infection. Plus, it gently irritates the fish’s slime coat, causing the fish to make more beneficial mucus that can block some parasites and microorganisms from reaching its body. We’ve kept and sold thousands of fish at our fish store, and this level of salt is safe for virtually all fish – except anchor catfish. Keep the fish in the salt solution for 4 to 5 days, and then increase the concentration if there’s no improvement. Apart from verifying everything going on and trying a different medication as Colu advised above.... I would keep an eye on the gill redness aspects as well and the body redness. From a brief bit of research the swelling/redness at the base of the fins can be a sign of fin rot. Hemorrhagic septicemia is another disease to note and keep an eye out for in terms of comparison. For fin rot, kanaplex is the go-to for that treatment as well as the mild dose of salt. I hope that helps!

There is often some weird lag with the store vs. the online. I don't know why it always seems to be the case. Be careful too, sometimes the stores might have the kits on sale, not the bare tanks.

Normally the toxin is released, water is milky, then they die off in about 5-15 minutes. It's extremely quick. Rapid breathing and then they just die. If there's internal damage of some kind of damage internally it would be this extended issues over time like you're seeing. I can't say that's the case because everything we've discussed it seems like the correct steps were taken. (On both sides) The only real issue was the heat pack stuff you mentioned. All we can say is "stress" and then go from there. Maybe there is some way to get an autopsy to determine what happened, but I think right now it's just really tough to point towards one sign. If either of you have the opportunity, the co-op has the channel membership and that gives you access towards a medical vet talk as well as several corydoras talks, one of them specifically focused on the toxin. I really, really don't believe the toxin will cause the response you're seeing based on those sources of information. Do you happen to have any botanicals?

Bulb check: I was waking up and see what looks like 3-4 new leaves popping up right away. So far these plants absolutely love a good amount of light.

I would imagine it would do well for that setup.

Yep! You would have the glass top and then whatever light on top of the glass lid. It keeps the light from getting splashed constantly and then the light can shine through the glass for the plants. You can use sandpaper to soften the edge. Be careful with it and if you need to try to get some cut gloves or a replacement glass canopy (glass lid) that isn't sharp. You should be fine with just the ADA soil. You'll need to understand how to cycle the substrate though and how to get the tank safe for fish. That substrate does leach ammonia. They should all do well for you and are lower demand plants. Often big broad leaf plants don't need a ton of light, like your ferns and anubias. Other plants like swords which also have broad leaves can handle a little bit more light, but do need things like root tabs. Placement of the plants is critical and you can do more research in that direction if you're unsure about what each plant needs. There's a ton of great people on the forum who are very helpful and really want to see hobbyist succeed with their tanks. Please feel free to ask questions! I'm not entirely sure. Bentley Pascoe keeps rainbow fish and there's quite a few on YouTube as well that could be helpful resources.

Miss you Steve. ***** I spent the night talking with a newbie hobbyist, and another. First one is someone I've been helping with their shrimp and planted tanks. They were trying to decide what light was the right fit and so on for a small tank they setup. The second hobbyist is someone seemingly very new to the hobby and the exciting part was when we started talking about planted tanks. It was exciting because everything is new. It's fun to be able to approach something in the hobby with blind eyes and to be able to try and dive into a new challenge. They had tried plants before, but not sure on what to try or how to care for them at all. Of course, the assumption that was made was that they had the wrong kind of light or substrate. We talked about YouTube content creators and just generally discussed cool things about the hobby. Time will tell if they try plants again. Hopefully they check out some of the channels and ignite that passion for the hobby going forward.

Good news... Thanks to an amazingly kindhearted friend I have some amano shrimp en route, first or second week of January they should ship out. ( I was also this close to getting some snail friends, but I am worried they'd get trapped behind the moss wall. ) Bad news.... I really didn't get anything that would help in terms of setting up the 20L / plant only tank or substrate replacement in the big tank. Please don't take this as a complaint or anything because I am immensely grateful for anything I do receive, especially this time of year. I am waiting for the whole refund thing on the plant order / bank claim and then I have to try to figure out if I can still use that gift card or not. I've emailed them and explained that it's been 3 months and I'm done waiting (no surprise, no reply) and I am waiting for the bank to rule on the claim. I'll grab at least, hopefully, one bag of substrate that way and that should at least allow me to get a plant farm going on that side of things or finish up everything I need for the 75G. Good news.... I got a co-op order in and I have ferts and all that coming with the new pump head. I chickened out on getting a ziss box for now, but I DO have one plant coming as a part of that order and it's definitely one of my favorites. Bad news.... I woke up and the corydoras were playing soccer with one of the bulbs. 😂 Good news... it's fine, just relocated. Plant is rooting in and all the bulbs are looking phenomenal. Cull shrimp are cleaning the tank like crazy and I can only imagine what a new army of feisty amanos will accomplish 🙂 Bad news.... They knew I had a planted tank and tried to get me a cool gift. I think I can use them in the QT setup. *** I sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful, peaceful, joyous, and happy day with their family and loved ones. It's important to let that feeling linger on your heart as we close out the year. Keep that smile on for just a little longer, as long as you can. Cherish those around you and focus on bringing them joy.

What a unique, amazing fish. They are a great size and they seem to extremely unique... unlike anything I've seen before.

Yep. Basically the same thing. I imagine it's less often and that's what allowed the moss to get in there like that.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays everyone. I hope for a wonderful, peaceful day for yourself and everyone around you.

I'm sorry @sairving maybe try cleaning the pump and impeller. which model was it?

No need to run carbon. If the tank has shrimp, salt it up to 1 tbsp per 5G. Otherwise 1 per 2gallons. The only thing is to keep an eye on the plants, but it would help attack any parasites as well as oxygenation for the fish. As long as you've done enough water changes to remove a good amount of the salt previously used, it's fine to add it when you start the para cleanse treatment (each time you start the week of doses, I just add salt that one time).

When you add the paracleanse are you adding any aquarium salt?

3m has some stuff they sell at home Depot that can pretty much bond anything to anything. There's a few but I think it's called DP100. DP100FR is the same thing but fire resistant. There may be a marine or water install version. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40066435/ I can't say it's fish safe, but there is a method to bond it that should give you multiple methods of ensure attachment. 1. Rough the surface on each piece, clean and prep it appropriately. 2. Drill holes in the acrylic so that whatever bonding epoxy used can seep through those holes and stay put. Any forces will then be multidirectional to resist the tearing. It will be a lot more rigid and take a lot more strength to break and shear apart. It sort of acts like a bunch of rivets and distributes the load. 3. Make sure it has the proper cure time and ventilation. Found this: https://adhesives.specialchem.com/tech-library/article/maximizing-the-efficiency-of-adhesive-joint-designs

I have often wondered about using an acrylic blade on a glass tank as it should not scratch glass. They also have plastic razor blades and plastic putty knives and things.

Just a side note. I really liked Christmas moss a lot more than java moss! Not sure why. Just a visual thing. Moss is awesome. I miss my mossy looking moss.

Anywhere from once every 2-3 days up to about once a week if you're seeing a lot of leftover food. In terms of how much, the large wafers I break apart sometimes and put 1/4s around the tank. The mini ones are about that size and you can just toss those wherever. If you have larger bottom dwellers, you just wouldn't break them apart. So how much is the big question. The corydoras and a oleco would all be about one wafer. Maybe one and a half per feeding. If they ignore the food, just feed less or adjust time so that you're feeding as the lights go out. You can use a feeding dish too to help monitor the eating. Basically I would expect it to be eaten by the fish unless you're seeing piles of food mulm. If you're over feeding them you'll see a lot of mulm. Even with good filtration. The can feed, let the lights go out, then check in about an hour or two if they are eating using a flashlight or tank lights. Thaw the worms, add in very few and make sure they eat them. Adjust accordingly. You can cut cubes too or just feed excess to another tank. If you need to get them to sink, then just turn off the filter for 20-30 minutes or so.

Made this in the 4th or 5th grade. One of my favorite things. I also have general nature photos and a print from a movie (good will hunting boat watercolor) which is technically fish related, but not really. I like to have the tanks be the tanks and basically everything around be nature themed in some way. Landscapes, animals, plants, etc. I also have a candle tray that continues the "beach theme".

This may help.

Bond the acrylic to the plastic. Then also have the mechanical attachment holes with the bolts. If you don't bond it, then you're loading everything to the bolts. Option 2 is to just eurobrace it.