Jump to content
Watch our video on the rules of this forum.

nabokovfan87

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    11,094

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    69

  • Feedback

    100%

 Content Type 

Everything posted by nabokovfan87

  1. nabokovfan87
    First @JJ9254 Welcome. I'm excited you took the opportunity to post and hopefully we get to hear more from your experience and your setups! I think this might just be similar to what a lot of discus keepers go through. They recommend using a QT tank and "testing" if you can mix the two sources. Essentially, you have to give it time when introducing anything to an established tank because you just have no real idea what will happen. That being said, unfortunately, the answer here is really just time and quarantine. Once the "new" fish are used to your water, your care, then add them to the display. I only say this for an established display because it's been up and running for a long time. Once you have the new fish in your care for weeks, preferably a month, then maybe you take one from the tank and add it to the QT and run it for another ~14 days. Without having meds, a microscope, and the ability to really dive into diagnosing parasites or illnesses, it's really tough to know exactly what to do. As far as what to do next, you can pull the plants and "QT" them in a bucket or tote for as long as you feel necessary for any fish pathogens to die off. You can dip the plants or treat them in something like Alum. You can reset the tank, sterilize things, and restart your cycle, but I'm not sure what you wish to do. In time the pathogens should die off without a necessary host. You can deep clean the tank, remove gunk, and "reset" things as you need to and go from that point without using harsh chemicals or anything, and start slowly with a small trio or something to verify that the tank is acceptable for fish at that point. All of this looks good. First @JJ9254 Welcome. I'm excited you took the opportunity to post and hopefully we get to hear more from your experience and your setups! I think this might just be similar to what a lot of discus keepers go through. They recommend using a QT tank and "testing" if you can mix the two sources. Essentially, you have to give it time when introducing anything to an established tank because you just have no real idea what will happen. That being said, unfortunately, the answer here is really just time and quarantine. Once the "new" fish are used to your water, your care, then add them to the display. I only say this for an established display because it's been up and running for a long time. Once you have the new fish in your care for weeks, preferably a month, then maybe you take one from the tank and add it to the QT and run it for another ~14 days. Without having meds, a microscope, and the ability to really dive into diagnosing parasites or illnesses, it's really tough to know exactly what to do. As far as what to do next, you can pull the plants and "QT" them in a bucket or tote for as long as you feel necessary for any fish pathogens to die off. You can dip the plants or treat them in something like Alum. You can reset the tank, sterilize things, and restart your cycle, but I'm not sure what you wish to do. In time the pathogens should die off without a necessary host. You can deep clean the tank, remove gunk, and "reset" things as you need to and go from that point without using harsh chemicals or anything, and start slowly with a small trio or something to verify that the tank is acceptable for fish at that point. All of this looks good. @Odd Duck, @Colu how would you handle an established tank with a severe contamination (virus, bacteria, or parasite)?
  2. nabokovfan87
    Just watch MST for a month or two, dive into his caridina stuff. He's got a video on all of them you can think of.
  3. nabokovfan87
    how long is the tank? Barbs like a lot of swimming distance (lengthwise). In terms of yellow there are some options, but I would also toss in pale green as a color that can often be pretty yellow. Gold barbs, Albino tiger barbs, Neon Green Rasbora would seemingly all fit the theme.
  4. nabokovfan87
    I am definitely not a pro, but always happy to help 🙂 . The color on those tetras is fire! Nice work. Welcome!!!!
  5. nabokovfan87
    Happy Birthday @gjcarew!
  6. nabokovfan87
    I dig this style. Choose a long piece of wood, any shape you like and add some simple details. Epiphytes would do well, things that can reach out of the water are a slight added bonus if you want to go that route as well. It sounds like an awesome project. 🙂
  7. nabokovfan87
    @Guppysnail Some good news at least. MEDIA WAS CLEAN!!!! Sponges look like they are doing some work now. Prefilter is a champ. Fluval needs to add a fillet on their strainer (actually makes the part cheaper and not break and safer for fish) Previous Layout: Medium Sponge "cartridge" -> Mech tray -> Fine foam tray -> Media trays New Layout: Medium Sponge "cartridge" -> Mech tray -> Fine foam tray with carbon -> Media Trays -> Phosphate pads It's not a major thing to have the phosphate in there, but it's in there for a month or so to make certain the media stays clean. I cleaned all that stuff, added ferts for the week, then I'll go ahead and test tomorrow after I know all of the GH is dissolved.
  8. nabokovfan87
    Those are some bold birds. I vote we call all of them Steve.
  9. nabokovfan87
    Amazing accomplishment. Well done!!!!
  10. nabokovfan87
    Really good quality too.
  11. nabokovfan87
    Crazily enough, there's a lot of people that do it. One of the main things is that one will thrive, the other can struggle, but it is totally possible. Tap is *always* a risk and that's why so many people use the RO+Buffers to remove it as a variable. Yeah, major breeding setup, you're talking a lot of money in buffers.... which is why you see that whole "no water changes needed" pop up. (Chicken meet egg) I have someone I would LOVE to get some caridina shrimp from and theirs are amazing, homegrown and basically custom pattern after years of breeding efforts. Really cool stuff. Either way.... I feel like GH is going to fight me all the time. I need to get some more Seiryu! 😂
  12. nabokovfan87
    Well shoot.... Went to feed the tank today and one of my amano females, legitimately been alive for near a decade, had passed and it was clear she got stuck failing to molt. Given that everything is happening in both tanks now, another female shrimp lost in that tank, that means that it's gotta be related to the GH drop as well as whatever is going on with the water company and their seasonal cleaning. The big water change happened 2 weeks ago on the big tank and I haven't normally been dosing in GH because testing indicated it was not required. I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do and how to proceed, but mulling everything over the past couple of days and then waking up to the issue this morning has given me the following ideas: 1. Adding carbon where I can. Going to add some to the big tank today. 2. Limit water changes to 30% as opposed to 50% that I normally do. 3. Both tanks are already on bi-weekly water changes, fert dose has been dialed in, but there is a general issue with the water before it hits my bucket. 4. Make sure that the water temp matches as best as possible, especially in the Neocaridina setup. 5. One a week, give the amanos some shrimp food, but it's pretty likely they just ignore it. They generally don't even go after food at all. There's some other stuff for the Neocaridina shrimp, but that'll be in the other journal when I have time to check things. I will go ahead and check the filter, check on the tank, test GH/KH again, and see where I'm at. I'll run a test on the tap as well and let's just hope it's a rogue thing. I can't explain or believe why all the minerals in SoCal water has basically gone towards RO, apart from water being brought in from elsewhere. It's just the norm for me. Heck, pretty soon we might be doing caridina out of the tap. (kidding, but that's how dramatic the shift has been).
  13. nabokovfan87
    Those owls are awesome.... Really beautiful work.
  14. nabokovfan87
    The fish should be fine with the shrimp, but I don't know that the shrimp will be fine with the fish. Hopefully someone can chime in with some experience on this particular fish! 🙂 If you want shrimp, amano shrimp would be too big for them to see as food.
  15. nabokovfan87
    I think repashy they recommend 6 months as the expiry (once opened) and for other foods Cory has mentioned time and again that as soon as you open it, some fish won't eat old food. The mindset of ordering based on how much you feed and trying to keep things "fresh". I do think it's a bit crappy that they gave you food that is about to expire. Personally speaking, I would imagine that they should offer a replacement for this, if anything to purge out old stock on their side that they aren't able to sell once that date passes. I think as a customer, buying directly from the company, there is some pretty straightforward expectations and it's a situation where they are telling you it's absolutely safe to use, but they missed that step of offering a replacement if you have any concerns or don't feel comfortable using that food after that date. At times I think we as humans don't realize that there's a shelf life and a "use this in X amount of time once opened" date. I run into it all the time in the kitchen and arguing about dates isn't really the point, if it's bad it's bad! 😂 There's also what @Biotope Biologist was mentioning where there are websites that will give you an "is it safe to use past the expiration date" information from anything to fish meds and table salt to more difficult things like gel foods or other items. Some stuff might just not be as fresh or crunchy but is safe to use. Some stuff, meds or bread yeast, might not be as effective as they once were but it's definitely still safe to use. Looking at the ingredients on the back, what makes sense to be shelf stable, that's how I would handle it. Dehydrated foods were stable for years before refrigeration was invented and there's also things like seals that do help us out!
  16. nabokovfan87
    Grace is my RTBS and I've seen her with some scrapes and discoloration. White or grey marks from nudging into her hide and rubbing on things. She is usually, and I imagine yours is the same, trying to get herself into tight areas and she's like a submarine or UFO or something where she'll hover up and down left or right, roll sideways, and tracks all over the place to get the angle she feels comfortable in. Marks like that are pretty typical and I don't do much of anything when it's just a little scuff. At most add some salt and in some situations with a wound, use maracyn. In your photos I see what seems like maybe your shark poked their abdomen? In that first photo especially it looks like fungus a little bit. The photo isn't sharp and it's hard to tell the texture of the wound. I would recommend using your hand in the tank and checking for all sorts of things that may have poked the fish to cause that injury. Treatment would be salt, a week or two of ich-x, and then follow that up with maracyn. When you do the ich-x I would dose it with the salt, wait until it clears and the water isn't blue anymore, then consider doing a water change and a second treatment. It might take 3-4 days for that to happen and the water to lose that blue tinge, but I am unsure on the timeline.
  17. nabokovfan87
    Looks like a Lucy I'm sure there's a jiminy in there. 🙂 Really beautiful shrimp!
  18. nabokovfan87
    I was looking at em today. I'm excited for future plans. One day it'll be a garden!
  19. nabokovfan87
    This has to be one of the coolest ways to add floating plant cover. Hm. Now it's got me thinking....
  20. nabokovfan87
    Just got done with the re-watch. I can't recommend it enough. "scene 4" with Diana is about all I can spoil. I hope everyone enjoys the episode. As always, I'm happy just to have the opportunity just to share something that is enjoyable to me. Enjoy the holiday, enjoy the week off, enjoy the family and friends around you. Enjoy so many things...
  21. nabokovfan87
    Such a beautiful fish. They remind me of a bamboo shark! They look like they have a good setup, everything seems ok, PH might be high, but beyond that the tank setup and everything is really good for the fish in question. I would suggest feeding repashy soilent green 1x a week and see if that makes any difference at all. Try to add some more plants, maybe S.Repens or pearlweed and just keep on doing what you're doing. propagate out the plants, increase the load, go from there. I think you're 90% of the way there and it might just come down to pre-existing conditions or feeding.
  22. nabokovfan87
    I seriously think I need to "zoom in" and show the things I see in more detail, but I just have no idea if they've grown at all! I work up thismorning and I read @Chick-In-Of-TheSea 's comment and I had an idea spark into mind. I think that will be the plan for the plants in future (scape location) and I'm excited to see them whenever that happens. I'll have to go back and see if I have photos of when I first got them! I guess it's just my own concern with the S.Repens and trying to make sure every details is as best as can be.... I hope the swords are doing well!
  23. nabokovfan87
    always verify! so thats awesome! 🙂 Awesome news, the tank looks good! I imagine the tank is still a good setup. Please feel free to share photos of the current setup if you wish. Is she doing any better?
  24. nabokovfan87
    @ColBud Welcome to the forums! I can't say this enough, Mark is an amazing resource and deserves all the credit in the world for making shrimp look easy. He's taught me everything I know and then some... Not kidding.... I wish everyone would get a few amano just to understand shrimp a bit better. I'm not sure if you have any currently, but be sure to get some!
  25. nabokovfan87
    Just through water changes and strong filtration. Essentially, let's say that some of a root tab or some detritus in the substrate got released into the water column. If the filtration isn't up to the tank of handling the spike quickly, that's where you can run into issues. If you're running a sponge filter, maybe it means turning up the air a little bit. You can also add some ceramic media in a small media bag near (or on top of) the sponge filter and that will help with stability. Water changes are your friend. 30-50% daily if you have to. Siphon the substrate just to check for some major excess debris. You want to limit yourself to dosing dechlorinator once per 24 hours based on manufacturer recommendation. If you have a major spike, you did the right thing. Move the fish for the sake of reducing stress and then you can do as high as a 90% water change in a situation like that. Then proceed with the smaller WCs, 50% max, as need be.
×
×
  • Create New...