nabokovfan87

Yes! That's awesome.

Get some glass and glue on a hinge. If you have a good way to cut it, lexan works really well also. Lids with hinges are really underrated and long ways lids you basically always have to make them yourself. Copy Dean's lids. His are very nice... Just check out the older tour of "master breeder tour" videos on the co-op channel.

Poor fish! Feel better little duder. Keep us posted!

Zoids is one of my go-to shows, but its near impossible to watch in the US. https://www.wcoforever.tv/zoids-zero-episode-1-english-dubbed The other is Transformers, both T: Prime and T: War for cybertron are on netflix and are epic. They are really, really well done shows. The first one had (might still) 2 seasons on there, but there are more. The series "war for cybertron" has 3 series that are all basically a season each. Just gonna say it. Go watch travelers. It's pretty good. (netflix)

There was another thread where someone didn't have the opportunity or choice to move the tank and the advice was to throw towels over everything and tarp it as best you can and try to cover it. Even if you remove everything, I might STILL recommend that as well to protect the tank itself from contamination. It's going to be a nightmare and it's a tough situation. I'm sorry for what you're going through!

Yes you have Nitrites. If the strips are old then that can lead to an issue, but I have almost never seen issues with nitrite or nitrate tests. Softeners really can mess with testing kits. Just a heads up. It's usually best practice to get water before it runs through the softener. I understand. There are ways to make it more stable, but not a lot of hobbyists want to go down that avenue. I see a lot of issues with certain types of filtration and with others I see a lot less issues.

You can see the reviews on the co-op site for someone who ran into an issue with the course mesh. I wasn't sure it would work at all with the corydoras being so tiny.... and my smaller fish breeding efforts I would like to try eventually.... so I've been holding off. Everyone else that might have it in stock never seems to have the fine mesh one. 😞

They have essentially 3-4 models of substance. I'll use the term "course mesh" but they way they brand their products you have a finer and a course mesh. Course mesh: 2 sides and 3 sides Fine mesh: 2 sides The co-op one in stock is the 3 sided version with the courser mesh panels. Are you able to get the fine mesh one through your club?

I can't speak to why in this specific case, but generally speaking for all tanks the reason parameters fall off is known as old tank syndrome. It's a bit of a misnomer because it can happen in absolutely new tanks as well, especially when you add a lot of fish or have an active substrate pulling things out of the water. Please be sure to watch until the end. The second half of the video has a really key explanation of what you might be experiencing. Can you show a photo of the tank? What is the temperature and filtration like? I understand the advice, but I've never.... ever ran into an issue with "deep cleaning". Maybe the term should be thorough cleaning and making sure that you're doing a good enough job. Moving things like the hardscape, churning the substrate to remove anaerobic pockets, checking your filtration pump and impellers, etc. I think it's a really bad idea to try to sterilize a tank with livestock in it, but cleaning it properly has never given me issues.

If you can get a picture in the daylight or with the lights on the tank on it might help to see the fins better. It helps the camera to be able to focus better and show the detail. I didn't see tearing on the fins. Betta fins can tear for a variety of reasons though. One of them is literally just the fins being too heavy and the fish might bite them to try to "lighten the load" so to speak. Another one is something like hardscape and the fish swims against it and gets a slight tear. That one is extremely common for a ton of fish, but something that betta keepers need to be really aware of! Another reason might be the substrate being too sharp or the filter snagging a fin. It does happen to a lot of flat bodied fish or to fish with some decently longer fins on them. Even short finned fish can have stuff happen that would cause the fins to split a little bit! From the notes above, I would try to use at least 2 different foods if possible. One I recommend might be the aqueon nutrinsect betta pellets as a good secondary food. The reason being is that each brand and line of food contains some amino acids and to get a balance nutritionally and ensure the fish has all of the necessary nutrients, it's good to mix it up each week. One day feed one food, the next day feed the other and it should make sure nutrient deficiency don't cause issues over time. You are showing slight ammonia, so we do want to take a good, long look at the filtration and make sure it's robust enough long term to give the tank stability. Temp looks good and all the other parameters seem good. What is the biomedia you're using in the filter? It sounds like an aquaclear filter you have, but I'm not sure. I wanted to share this with you and it may help to give you an idea of what you're seeing. The side or top of the fish might be turning black which is indicative of external protozoan issues. It's a bit of a longer video, but one that is really helpful for keeping betta fish!

it's about camouflage. Background for a lot of "saltwater fish" is actually more aptly called reef fish and the background is bright and colorful. The fish are then colorful for that reason. The background for freshwater fish is a bit more drab and a bit more barren of color. Some do have a TON of color and that is used for things from mating to all sorts of other reasons. Frogs and reptiles use color as a warning. I would take a nice looking white cloud over a lot of saltwater fish out there. HECK. My RTBS is a beautiful fish. Everyone has different things they define as beautiful.

I don't think it's fin rot. The gill discoloration is called gill curl or it could be other things. I zoomed in on the photos as best I could and I don't see signs of fin rot. You may have external parasites on the fish which are causing issues. Given that the gills are involved we need to really check everything before we go dumping anything in the tank. Please give us all of the following details. 1. All water parameters including temperature. Please specifically test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates as well. 2. What is your filtration and how is it setup? Do you have any airstones running as well? 3. What foods are you feeding, how much and how often? 4. What is your maintenance schedule? How much water are you changing and how often?

I meant to say this too and totally spaced out! I think you'd have better success just planting it. In Cory's vid with the pots he also had issues where the plants fizzled out after a while in the pots. Just plant it! 🙂

If the tank is beside a door or window I prefer to close off those sides to keep the fish from spooking themselves. It also helps with algae from ambient light. Same experience with me with acrylic. It just peels. I much prefer vinyl film. Others recommend using spray paint.

That's awesome! It's one of my favorite species of anubias. Give some to all your friends!

Ah the memories! 😂 Both would be applicable for that plant in my experience. I would keep in mind light duration and that adding plant density is 100% helpful. Things like temperature can get that BBA to go insane on you really quickly. It releases spores and after a few weeks you've got all of your plants looking like the above. Just keep at it. Honestly. Out of curiosity, what is your substrate you're using? I hope that the micro sword does awesome for you and I really imagine that it would. The only thing you need to keep in mind at all is having the plants in the right spot, sounds like you do, and that the intensity you need is reaching the substrate for those foreground plants.

It should have both slots from what I can see in the photos. On the right side you can see some of the vertical ones, but they do appear clogged.

Yeah.... you'd be amazed/dumbfounded on some of the stories that people experience with products and every batch seemingly different boxes of parts tossed together regardless of what is being sold, visually. I was trying to find a gift for someone about 2 years ago. Pictured showed a set with ~100 items lets just say and the text for the item in the actual title of the image being sold on amazon said very clearly it contains "2 sets" which was only like 25 items. Major discrepancy and the photos were clearly just stolen and repasted on a ton of items. Who knows what would actually show up, let alone the materials and/or quality. I asked support what is right. Vehemently they argued with me that BOTH were clear and both were correct. "You will get what you see in the photo." and "The description of the item is correct." Sure it is! It's so frustrating with the "cheap versions" of products and things like that which result in copycats and so much weirdness from the shopping experience. Every item changes brand or company name monthly sometimes and trying to remove all of those variables in items you purchase and getting brand names becomes harder and harder these days!

@anewbie Can you take a video of the skimmers doing their thing? I'd be interested to see the flow characteristics.

Maybe a spot for some hygrophila corymbosa? Given the layers and all the detail on the left I wish the right had that same layered impact. It'll be interesting to see what you end up with!

@Leo2o915eleo do you know what gender yours is?

@anewbie basically what I was talking about is a weir. I'll try to grab a photo. Overflow box being a design on that same theme. Grates, which allows water to drop a few inches and are wide enough to allow a good amount of surface clearance. You may already have those in the setup, but it's just one of those things where the diameter of the drain could be causing some weirdness. I'm not quite sure. The grates keep the fish out, allow water to flow through, but the standpipe in that section has the waterline lower than the grate and that just allows the surface to be cleared. Overflow box means that you just don't have to drill a tank, but the concept is the same.

Check the tank at night with the blue light or a dim flashlight.

That video when cory added the airstone to the pond might be relevant and maybe over time you can keep tabs on how his pond is changing / improving. He basically has a setup where if he can get the junk off the bottom and moving it will do to the drains and he can clean it out. If it doesn't circulate, then it just builds up (and has been before he was there). The basic thing being that he has a really slow movement towards those cleanouts but it might be just enough circulation to keep things moving. Maybe you can run a test with a time lapse camera setup and see if you're getting any sort of movement at all. Then, adjust accordingly. If it wasn't green, I would swear it was substrate related.

Standard dose raises GH by 1 meq/L (2.8 dGH) To raise mineral content/ general hardness (GH) by 1 meq/L (2.8 dH), use 5 mL for every 40 L (10 US gallons) when setting up an aquarium or when making water changes (add to new water). Thereafter, use once a week (or as needed). This dose raises GH by 1 meq/L (2.8 dGH). Target a lower general hardness for soft water, a higher value for hard water (see chart). ..... So. For every 10 Gallons, 5 mL raises it by 2.8 degrees. Let's just call it 3 degrees for the sake of simple math and sanity. cut the dose by 33% and you would use 1.7 ml per 10G to raise it one degree per 10 gallons. I'm sure it's a rounding thing and "close enough" to the bottle and the website matching. I would use the website and I would run small scale tests in something like a 5G bucket. Take 5G, add 1ml and see the change. re-test after 24 hours, etc.