nabokovfan87

So that was "resolved" so to speak when I cleaned out the filter and fixed flow. Water parameters test absolutely fine. KH, GH, PH is good. Nitrates are under 10, everything else is 0. Temp has risen a lot because it's summer. I've had these amanos for a long time and never had any issues like this. Very strange to me. Given the worms, what you're saying makes some sense. I think after they molt they will be fine. I post the photos because I'm really not sure if it's an indicator or something else. I really have never seen amanos do that or even seen posts about it. @Coludo you think it can be caused by the algae itself? It's BBA/Staghorn in this aquarium. And I've seen spots of it slightly reddish. I don't know if it's just the wood peeking through some spots or if it's slowly dying off. I can try to get a photo but lighting is going to be difficult. Edit: Here's testing results prior to WC today and cleaning the filter. Still couldn't get all the worms, but got a few hopefully.

Hopefully a better view. I've never seen an amano like this. Normal one. Followed by 2 on the wood very red.

Minor update. A few of my amanos are very very red. Usually they have a dark brown tint when they molt but this is bordering on cherry shrimp colors. I had thought I lost one by the skimmer but it was just a molt. I've been feeding only Xtreme flakes. Nothing out of the ordinary. The amanos have been very feisty and chasing one or two around. I assume for the sake of breeding. One big female chased by males.

Thanks @Colu I think they have been amassing in the HoB filter basket, away from the fish. But understood. The shrimp went nuts right after I cleaned it.

Minor update and this is more about the state of my tank than anything new on the filter. *A tale of warning* So I have been treating with meds which means my general hands on with the tank isn't as much. I want to let things "settle" to give the fish a stable environment. Because of that, I had the old basket in the filter, modified intake, should've been a good long test. Then I got sick, haven't been upright for an additional length of time. After the first week of meds I noticed worms swimming in the water column. I was treating for internal parasites, so this was a concern. I had finished the first course of treatment and returned the tank back to running on only the HoB after a second water change. Over the next week, two weeks, I noticed flow seemed very poor. I left it and kept an eye on everything and just assumed it was my own perception. I lowered the water level so there was more of a waterfall but things seemed to still be too slow. This morning I cleaned out the filter. This is the filter AFTER I cleaned the basket, but BEFORE I cleaned the pump. This is to give you an idea of the flow issue I was experiencing under "normal" maintenance. Be it, at an extended duration. Second, here is the video AFTER cleaning the pump. There is a clear issue with the pump being clogged and it's lead me towards another question. Does it matter what side of the pump the intake is on. For this run I have the same setup, and the intake tube is on the pump intake sside I may have to see if it will fit in the opposite position and if this does anything to help keep the pump from clogging. The easiest thing to do is to run an intake filter.

I am assuming what happened was I pulled the airstone after meds to clean things, the filter itself was clean and working, but became clogged and then stopped circulating as much. From what I read these worms can't harm me if they get on me, that accurate? OD's directions below give me a lot of new information for treatment. What pointed me towards low oxygen was redness on the otos gill plates. They seem to be "ok" but something I'm keeping an eye on. Knowing I need to cut lights, that's new. Never heard that before. I need to check what active ingredients are on the meds I have, figure out the treatment. Thank you as well @Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Odd Duck

They seem to come out moreso at night (honestly, been sick and can't say that for a fact, they may just be more difficult to see during the day). I see more than I did previously and they swim in the water column but I don't see them anywhere else. They are about 1/2" long very thin. Anyone seen anything like this before? I was checking the tank because it's storming outside and wanted to see if it would trigger the Corys. I'm afraid to even stick my hands in the tank at this point without gloves. It's raining now, so we'll see what the Corys do. I will add a second dose of paracleanse on the 26th

If you don't want to add crushed coral, I'd recommend the buffer mentioned above. You control where the KH goes and it's easy to use. You can raise KH, reduce PH too. That being said, the whole problem originally was starting with very high PH and having it go from 8->6 (or below 6) and having issues. If you get KH higher than 0, you get PH higher than 6, you'll be doing ok. The PH you want to avoid with ammonia showing is well over 7 I believe.

Could just be molting time. Does the Betta tank have crushed coral? It would be a good candidate to add some (more) to the substrate if she doesn't mind the white.

He added crushed coral to the HoB and got KH from 0 to about 20ppm. Unfortunately with water changes and so forth it's back down to near 0 it seems. I would grab a bottle of the seachem alkaline buffer and try that whenever you change water. Obviously start slow, but it's pretty easy to use in my experience once you determine how much to add each WC. It's been off/on sale on Amazon and I ended up getting the big bottle for $20. I use a 1/8 tsp to dose mine. Anywhere between 1/2 up to 1 tsp per WC depending on volume. If what @Torreywas saying makes sense, low PH like that is causing the bacteria issues, fix KH, fixes PH and you won't have the absolutely major crashes you're experience day in and day out.

*Update* I found the video of Cory talking about them. It's about 7 minutes in.

Plants might be using up the nitrates, but it would be nice to say that and see 0 on the ammonia. I would just keep tracking ammonia and see if it goes up or down. The low PH is good for this situation too.

I definitely wouldn't blame the ammonia on the tank crashing. It very likely was leeching out from the planted substrate, it's a pretty common occurrence. The ammonia absorber won't harm or hurt the bacteria. It's there to "help out" and try to reduce the spike. You're going to see it continue to leech, so I definitely agree with your method of use. Keep tracking it and see how things progress. Exactly, WC are critical to remove the ammonia and give everything else a chance.

You can use a dosing pump for water top offs. They are going to naturally see fluctuations from day to night. I think you're fine. As long as the temps are within range, I wouldn't worry. There's a lot of good insights here: https://youtu.be/GO74_ShYgtg

That's good then. They have plenty of choices and are sticking to what they like. 🙂

Sounds good. I'm curious what is really going on. Like you mentioned before, maybe you just need more sponge or something in there to give it a kick. @Torreyhhave you ever had a situation like this where things just never stayed cycled?

Very interesting! Hopefully they are doing well. You might see a few more during feeding.

Definitely gets easier. I'm sorry you're struggling. When you're feeding them, are you noticing a lot of food on the substrate after 10-15 minutes? A little bit is fine, but are you noticing a lot? Don't waste a test or anything, but do you recall what the test results were? Did you test nitrite and nitrate?

Anyone have any thoughts? I'm currently not doing anything with the tank due to being sick, but I've had an aquarium buddy tell me they are pretty sure it's detritus worms. Anyone else experienced anything like this? Never seen them before except after treating the tank with meds. Might be a coincidence.

Definitely appreciate it! It's a slow and steady effort for sure. I'm hopeful that the next time I'm able to check in and spend time with the tank things are progressing well. We'll see!

Thanks! I really appreciate it. So far everything is doing ok as far as performance with the modified intake. It's going to take me a little bit of time gives some issues with the tank (treating for worms), but it's amazing how quiet and sleek everything looks.

You can place it on top of the sand if you want. They also just sell larger lava rocks you can use as a scape. They are inert, black or red typically and not expensive at all.

You had those and treated them?

Yeah. Treating with paracleanse right now. Hopefully this doesn't drag out too long while I'm finishing this treatment and waiting to treat expel-P.

Should be Y shaped for these, right? These little things are just worm shaped. No Y.