nabokovfan87

Today was the bigger clean than the last few. I moved the hardscape around, checked on plants, tried really hard to siphon well enough to "feel good" and that resulted in a few things. First of which was trying to get the substrate levels balanced and trying to get rid of some of the bba substrate. Everything is mixed, so that just means my plan of removing the top layer might not be possible. The front edge and sides are where it's happening the most, but the real concern is if mixing the substrate just caused the algae to spread, gas pockets, or causes it to die off. We'll see. I took apart the canister and cleaned that out. I did the bottom tray (mech) as well as all of the sponges. I measured what I needed to for cutting some of the fine foam for future use. We'll see how that goes when it comes time to add it to the tank. The 407 is such a weird layout. It really, really is. I'm getting more comfortable with it and learning the small details, but it's just something where I need more time to feel confident in it's use and care over time. I got all that done, dosed the tank, and I'll check on all of the parameters tomorrow.

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That makes sense. I'm glad to hear that there's no dead spots or anything like that. It's a tough situation. If you can, take a video of the fish and show us what you're seeing. Photos. Water results. Let's recap what's going on and give them time right now as well as clean water.

With temps that low you're going to see lethargy. Tetras want 76-78. The corydoras want 72-74. Is circulation (water movement) low or is it generally pretty good? Does the tank have dead spots or anything? Do you see the fish always near shade, near flow, or near low flow spots? This could be due to ammonia or nitrite burn.

One thing to add in here.... I saw a vid with "in the bag" on YouTube and they rescued a puffer. It has blindness, which could be similar to what you're dealing with. Essentially, one cause of the eye issues could be nutritionally based. I know you're doing all the right things, but I just wanted to mention it. Make sure you're feeding 2-3 dry foods from different brands to get the right mix of amino acid chains and just to cover that aspect of things.

I'm very sorry for your loss, my condolences. I would recommend looking on youtube for a few videos as I think it's much easier to see the maintenance visually then any other method for this situation. Essentially. 1. Turn off the power. 2. Turn off the flow of water from the tank 3. Disconnect the pipes 4. Clean the things out using tank water (in a bucket) 5. Install all of the trays back into the filter 6. Check the impeller 7. attach the tubing back to the filter. 8. Plug in the power back and verify no leaks. I know this video says FX6. it's the same filter, but the fx6 is slightly larger and has 1 more tray. the method is the same.

Yep, go ahead and water change it out over the next couple of days. Once pineconing and dropsy sets in it's usually a sign of an organ failure or a buildup of fluid. At that point, there are some meds you can try as well as epsom salt baths. @Colu has a thread that has a detailed post for a ton of diseases to make it easy. Please let us know if we can help!

Looks great. If you added a bubble wall, they'd love it!

If you go to the hardware store. Just get some plastic sheet. Then you just cut that to the shape you need and use double sided tape to put it on the rim of the tank. I'll sketch it out if you need be. I have a photo somewhere but it'll take a second to find. Found it. Very understandable. Keep an eye out and see how it goes!

Maybe something like this works? https://a.co/d/04LkIIW You can always get one that's cheaper for a different light and just use something like a zip tie to secure it. (Drill a hole to feed it through) The cheapest one I saw has an opening and a channel for the light to rest on, make for fluval lights, and it was about $8 or so.

What is the light you have?

They will do just fine in that tank, if that's a concern at all. This is the main thing that people tend to forget. A lot of fish eat in certain methods and the shape or size of the food plays a role in how well they can eat. Having surfaces like wood for some fish helps to grow films and have that hard flat place for aufwuchs. The same thing for these guys, having flat surfaces, pleco caves, rock piles, etc. is what they are used to having to graze off of. They'll sit in a safe spot with some good flow and just lift up as they go to feed. Try some frozen brine. They should eat that. You can always use a feeding dish as well (small plate works) and they can easily grub off that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'll have to show you in my tank, I can raise and drop the light and it's clear I needed to raise it to cover the front of the tank. Light location and coverage is always something people may struggle with and never realize. If you can raise it up 4-6" then that might help.... It's tough to say, but I'll have to visually show you what I'm seeing in my side and then compare it to your setup and what you're seeing as far as light coverage. Light with shadow, light directed at the front of the tank to show without the shadow. To be clear, the shadow I have now is absolutely acceptable, it was much worse when the light was lower. If it's against the lid, raised slightly, raised higher, it's just a variable you can play with and adjust the intensity as you lift it up. In a pinch, use a stack of Legos or a sheet of plastic taped to the rim. They also sell them on Etsy. Bentley has a video showing his and they are really nice!

Oh man. I'm not sure what to do when that happens. I'm sorry. Are all of the water parameters and everything ok? The bubble could be fluid, meaning an injury that happened while it was in a soft state.

The gills seem a bit reddened. Can you verify filtration? I would suggest salt and added oxygenation right now. (Whenever you add salt or meds, it's a good idea to add air)

Good to know. Sounds similar in design to the fellow coffee canister lid failures. It's an o-ring that slips out of place over time. Glad to hear it's working now!

It was in the feedback / comments. yeah. @Mmiller2001 Just take it to heart though. You were right on the cusp of #1. I seriously believe it.

water parameters? I took this yesterday of mine. Shows how funky mine is growing due to the algae, but yeah.... you have a lot bigger leaves!

What is the temp? I would suggest adding some ceramic media or lava rock to the scape and verify that temperature is ok.

That's the thing... every few weeks my tap changes! I used to have the same water for ~8-9 years with this tank. Year 9-10 and things start changing... 600+ ppm down to 80. not right away, but over time... slowly. We'll see what happens the next couple of weeks. 🙂

I've had two species of corydoras under all types of salt dose. don't be afraid of salt with them at all. My advice is always when using salt with any species, add air! For corydoras, if you have an active external issue, 1 tbsp per 2 Gallons works fine. After about 2-3 weeks they don't tolerate the salt and start to show some stress issues from it.

Running into issues with Equilibrium dosing.... Detailed that in my 75G journal, but I need to keep monitoring this tank as well for how the parameters change over the news few days/weeks. 11/21 Water Testing Parameters: -Temp: 70.8 degrees (Heater is set to 74) -Nitrite: 0 ppm -Nitrate: 10 ppm -TDS: 393 ppm -GH: 13 degrees -KH: 4 degrees -Phosphate: 2.0 ppm

Water Testing results are a bit of a frustration. 11/21/2023 Water Parameters: Temp: 71.2 degrees (heater is set to 74) Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 25-30 ppm TDS: 353 ppm GH: 16 degrees KH: 5 degrees Phosphate: 0.25-0.5 ppm (added phosphate pads just to use them and help if it's an issue, they won't be in there long) The frustration is because I didn't test the GH before, I reacted to what was going on in the other tank. I lost an amano shrimp and it was a molt issue. My shrimp tank had the issue of GH crashing and too big of a water change happening. This tank has more water being changed because it's always been run this way. I assumed the exact same thing was going on. Let's just say I am pretty confident it was, but I'm absolutely frustrated with Seachem's directions and things not working as intended. So I had a GH of anywhere from 5-8 (very normal) and I added 2 TBSP of the powder into the tank. This is a 75G tank and should basically barely add any GH to the tank. So from a normal range of ~8 (was likely less) we're up to 16!!!! I haven't done water changes because I assume the GH is lessening in the pipes and I want to control that GH right now. ....so now we're back on the opposite end and I will end up doing a WC and flipping the tank back the other direction. Using buffers isn't hard. Testing water isn't hard. Why is it so hard for the product to work as it says on the box! I'll keep working on things and go from there, but all I can do right now is wait and see what the changes are over time.

You can replace the cartridges with just some filter foam. Aquaclear sells it, Co-op sells it in sheets that might be the right width and you just have to cut it to length. They have them at the big box stores too. I haven't had hands on one, but @Chick-In-Of-TheSea has one and I believe did that as well. It happens! Welcome to the forums, and we're all here to help out whenever possible. Good to see new hobbyists (and new members). 🙂