nabokovfan87

Minor update, fish are swimming up and down the glass all day. I am feeding a bit heavier, frozen brine, trying to egg them on to give me some eggs.

I like the way you think! Reading the update now. I'm gonna just say (I think I already replied to this thread) but the answer should be 100% yeah you can for anything. did you add a dose for the full tank, just rely on what was already in the tank, or did you add a small bit to the ziss tumbler itself? This is kind of what I've been thinking. Another option (just to mention) is the fluval branded hang-on breader boxes. it's a very old design, but it is a pretty good way to handle the situation.

Filters do a variety of things, especially depending on what kind of filtration. What type of filter were you trying to decide on? Hang on back, sponge, canister, matten?

I saw it on my third of fourth view of the airstone. I was confused because the post said you didn't have anything. Basically you just need time. adding some bacteria from the bottle would help, but keep in mind you're also running meds that are anti-bacterial (as well as the salt in some way if you dose that). I would suggest moving the airstone as low as you can (it is weighted so you dont need to move the suction cup, but that will help. I am willing to bet the betta will be "fine" with anything you put in the tank. What is the air temp outside? That's going to really determine what size heater you have. In my situation, I was running a 20G heater in a 10G because the temp was 55-60 degrees in the house and that was just to get the tank to 70 degrees. If it's warm in your location, the heater is there to make sure the tank doesn't dip too low and it's a safety valve, not a requirement. perfect. I would add to that, dose some salt as well just to help the betta out. It will give the bacteria a bit of a fuss, but it will still be able to cycle the tank. When meds are done, following the water change: 1. Add a filter if you can. In that filter add some carbon so you can remove the meds. Add salt. Add your bacteria for the next 7 days. 2. Add some sort of a media bag if you can with some media (or sponge filter) so there is something for the bacteria to thrive on. If you have a tank already cycled, pull the media from there and add new media to the tank you "borrowed" from. Give the fish about a week to recover, monitor, and then it's up to you when you want to add them to their tank. I think you're fine, just need to lower the airstone if you can. Adding the filter is totally fine and recommended. You should not need stability, it will not help this situation. we've had a few posts on the forums of people dosing stability and doing their water changes with prime, just be careful and note that you need to wait a certain amount of time after dosing each one (about an hour, 24 is better) to reduce stress. You should not have any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate issues, if you do, then that's a different conversation and not a situation where stability is the sole solution

Amanos should do perfectly, especially with any sort of wood, they will spend the day there and then at night clean the whole tank. Amanos enjoy different surfaces, and the fish get some stuff to swim around. For the tank you have, you probably only *need* 3 or so amanos. In my 29G I have just under 10.

I would say the takeaway here is to give the fish some time to acclimate, especially after shipping and just monitor them. Sometimes you will see a disease and want to treat right away, but because you're not under the pressure of running a store you have the luxury of a bit of patience. The corys were super stressed from what I could see and my cory loving heart literally stopped when I saw that picture. It could have been something as simple as the height of the tank being new for them, the flow, or just the temperature. It could have also been the meds thickening the water and the fish being a certain size and the above reasons. When I do my meds, I almost, generally, always add salt as well. I think it helps the fish through the stress a bit. I would have to check, but I think in some of the older co-op vids I've seen cory do the same thing for some species.

I tried to read up on everything, I'm sorry if I missed something. I would add carbon for the meds as suggested. I would add an air stone as others have mentioned, preferably a HOB to house a fine filter pad and the carbon filtration. If you only have a sponge filter just drop in another line with an airstone on the other side of the tank. I would add salt, it really helps corys out especially when they are so stressed out. I would check the price of the fluval hang on breeder box and a metal gang valve (I'll never use anything else now because I've gone through way too many airline kits and had them restrict flow and break pumps (reminder, use a check valve everyone, don't do what I did!) If they don't perk up with the above, I would put them in a hang on fluval box and lower their tank depth a bit. It helps them to get air a little bit and not have to race to the top for an already stressed out cory. How do they look now, are their gill plates still reddened and moving very rapidly? thank goodness! too adorable. Love the corys! I am gad they are doing ok. And for clarity, any food is their food. LOL. At least, that's how mine are.

Totally makes me feel like I'm watching alien movies. Best of luck with the critter. I got nothing.

If anyone is confused, head over here.

If we can, merge these please.

yes they absolutely can starve. guppies would be handling a lot of the algae load for you as well. Adding some amano shrimp would be a nice little way to handle it, but if you are set on otos I would suggest a maximum of 2 in that situation. Feed the guppies themselves, then use some other food for the otos. On mine, I prefer the hikari or the sera spirulina o-nip tabs. Something they otos can latch onto. They do have "mini" wafers too from hikari that would let the guppies go off with their food and let the otos latch onto their own. It's going to be a difficult situation if the otos are always being scared of eating off the wafer, but there is a way to make it work if you wish to have that stocking.

I'm going to go ahead and say the white fuzz is common in tanks without water movement or just poor water quality. It's something I've noticed with my siblings where the tank isn't cycled, they didn't use dechlorinator, and it's a situation where the filtration either isn't there or just doesn't exist. While the fish might not need the airstone or filter, the tank itself does to host the bacteria. they grow based on high oxygenation levels and you need the water movement to ensure the tank is functioning. For the QT process to work, get the tank functioning first. As a note as well, reading the rest of your notes, aquarium salt may be a good thing to add to your betta toolkit for treating illness. It's a good thing to have for them when they run into some of the issues you're mentioning. For the QT method the co-op uses, I would reference this. You would add the meds, wait a week, and then do your water change. With your situation, I would clean the tank, get the filtration going, and then go ahead and give the fish a week to de-stress, and then go ahead and medicate the tank using the co-op method. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/quarantine-tank

Is there anything moving the water around? I think your room temp is fine and you wont need a heater right now (it all depends on the fish you're talking about specifically). As for the situation you're going through, I've totally been there. I would recommend finding one of the high quality ones online from a pet supply store (not amazon) or buying one from the co-op. They do have them available and would be more than sufficient for the tank you have. If you're having issues with something arriving quickly, potentially you can find a betta heater locally instead of a traditional heater. It's a small tank so the smaller heater will keep the fish in the safe zone for it's QT timeframe.

They look like detritus worms. What is the tank setup and filtration? My little brother got them when his pump stopped working and he ignored the tank for a "while". https://www.aquariumsource.com/detritus-worms/ Please also go ahead and test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate if you can.

I only had prime when I treated for ich. It gets the job done (took me a few treatments). But I absolutely agree with my experiences and what Cory has experienced, I've never seen any issues using prime with anything in the med trio.

Shodenti I think? Probably spelled it wrong. Edit. I looked up the spelling, way off. Lol. Definitely hard to tell so young if it's a larger puffer. When I got pea puffers it looked a lot like the last photo (in the bag). The other photos looked like a whole different thing.

For just about everything yeah. For shrimp I use a cup and a hang on box and add water for a little bit to better give them a slower acclimation.

Plant weights might also work. Fishing line/weights. Etc. ^^

I will start with..... I would view this as mandatory viewing for anyone who is considering buying or caring for otos. They are a very misunderstood fish a lot of the time and it's very important to always go back to the "be the fish" mentality. I have had otos that came in and then had some ich. That being one issue and one situation. I would make sure you have a tank with some good algae (brush algae) on the surfaces for them. Barring that, I would suggest the sera spirulina tabs or some other forms of good food that they will easily be able to eat when first arriving. Make sure they don't get too stressed out (red gills and breathing heavy) and then QT them like you normally would with the med trio and the second version of the internal parasite med the co-op sells from fritz. For amano shrimp, you really have to treat them very differently than a fish and this is based on a video I saw from Cory when they brought some into the shop in one of their older unboxings. He basically said that there is no good way to QT them and you want to just get them into a tank. There are a lot of meds that are not shrimp safe but the med trio from co-op has been tested with shrimp I believe. From the co-op QT article:

They are usually in the glo fish section.

Mine went from about 6.8 down to about 6.0-6.2. You can also cap the substrate if you want. It's going to be something that the tank's inhabitants will have to be used to so just keep that in mind in whatever you do. Temperature, hardness, stuff like that matters a lot more than PH to me. Some species are extremely sensitive but most species will handle a pretty big range.

I appreciate the info. There's definitely some options once they replace the tiles and redo the floor but I imagine it won't be for quite a while. The house has been under construction since we moved in and things are slow because of it. Long story but yeah, I really appreciate the information. Great to know some of the options especially with the weight on a 125G in play. What's the expression, measure twice, cut once.... Get something done, do it right so you don't have to fix it a week later.

I would nix it then or use a different location to refill.

I appreciate it @Odd Duck I just found this. Before the crash. Needless to say. I hope to get back to something like this. 🙂

Home Depot and such carry tubing. The marine land stuff is tinted from what I remember, so it means you'll see the algae and stuff on the tubes. That might be a good thing or not. Just be sure to check materials on whatever you get. Some will be fish safe and some won't.