‘Fairy Cay’: Twenty Gallon High

[Sapere_Ceta]

On 2/15/2022 at 1:01 PM, Torrey said:

My brain is more awake this morning. @Sapere_Ceta at 7.4 pH, most livebearers are pretty happy. If the water is soft there can be problems with pH swings. It sounds like your pH is staying stable at 7.4 pH.

The guppies may need some calcium, but baking soda will be adding sodium bicarbonate, and unless they came from one of the countries that use a mix of brackish and fresh water, there may be more sodium building up than their kidneys can handle.

If the pH out of your tap is 7.4, and if you stick an airstone in it overnight and it is still 7.4 pH (or a little higher if you are on municipal water), then the fish may just need several small water changes over the course of the week to lower the sodium levels. 

Does that resonate at all?

No worries at all, it’s good you were able to get some rest. I though the same, that they would be okay with my water. But, I’ve lost them quickly from the beginning (one male at first, severe shimmying and soon death after) on day 3, if I remember correctly. I thought it could be from ammonia burn and residual shipping stress (all of the guppies arrived really delayed and freezing, from two different breeders, one in Iowa and one in Texas, and there was definitely ammonia burn on everyone).

A few days after, another male died of the same issue. I worried in the back of my mind if it was a water parameter issue, although I held off and waited to see how the guppies did later on. Those all made it through their quarantine medications, and that’s when I water changed it all out.

A day later, one of the males was swimming a little wobbly, and that’s when (a couple of days ago), I decided to dose 1TBSP of baking soda and 1/2 TBSP of salt, both per five gallons to start with. I waited one day to test the PH, which showed no change, and another day, which did go up and stay to 7.6. The same night, another male died. So, I added one more 1/2TBSP of salt, but by then, none of the surviving four were looking very good. Yesterday night, surprisingly the best looking ones out of the four, two females died.

They originally did not seem to respond well when I did a water change. So, that is why I suspected the mineral context and PH wasn’t adequate for them, that’s when I started to gradually raise it. But, the deaths cause an ammonia spike (even though the QT is definitely cycled), because it can take some time for me to notice, because I can’t always get to the QT until some time or a day to a day and a half later. So, I have to water change it out, trying to do as minimal of a water change as I can to where it’s just enough to counter the ammonia spike. But, that’s not enough time for the replenished additives to raise the parameters. So, the PH will lower for a limited time, even if I do dissolve it in the new water prior to adding (it seems to only show up after two days of being in the water). 

I’m not sure what to do, because trying to gradually raise it is difficult when they’ve been dying and I have to water change, which causes it all to reduce until two days later to where it’s back to being slightly higher. I haven’t tried to raise it anything past what I’ve done, because I am afraid it will be to inconsistent, and I’m having difficulty monitoring because I’ve been very immobilized and stuck sleeping most of the day until I am able to get up to check on them, which is when I usually find a causality  (two at once yesterday night), and then have to do a water change, which worsens my symptoms and only prolongs me staying very immobilized and stuck sleeping for longer. 

[Torrey]

On 2/15/2022 at 1:57 PM, Sapere_Ceta said:

No worries at all, it’s good you were able to get some rest. I though the same, that they would be okay with my water. But, I’ve lost them quickly from the beginning (one male at first, severe shimmying and soon death after) on day 3, if I remember correctly. I thought it could be from ammonia burn and residual shipping stress (all of the guppies arrived really delayed and freezing, from two different breeders, one in Iowa and one in Texas, and there was definitely ammonia burn on everyone).

A few days after, another male died of the same issue. I worried in the back of my mind if it was a water parameter issue, although I held off and waited to see how the guppies did later on. Those all made it through their quarantine medications, and that’s when I water changed it all out.

A day later, one of the males was swimming a little wobbly, and that’s when (a couple of days ago), I decided to dose 1TBSP of baking soda and 1/2 TBSP of salt, both per five gallons to start with. I waited one day to test the PH, which showed no change, and another day, which did go up and stay to 7.6. The same night, another male died. So, I added one more 1/2TBSP of salt, but by then, none of the surviving four were looking very good. Yesterday night, surprisingly the best looking ones out of the four, two females died.

They originally did not seem to respond well when I did a water change. So, that is why I suspected the mineral context and PH wasn’t adequate for them, that’s when I started to gradually raise it. But, the deaths cause an ammonia spike (even though the QT is definitely cycled), because it can take some time for me to notice, because I can’t always get to the QT until some time or a day to a day and a half later. So, I have to water change it out, trying to do as minimal of a water change as I can to where it’s just enough to counter the ammonia spike. But, that’s not enough time for the replenished additives to raise the parameters. So, the PH will lower for a limited time, even if I do dissolve it in the new water prior to adding (it seems to only show up after two days of being in the water). 

I’m not sure what to do, because trying to gradually raise it is difficult when they’ve been dying and I have to water change, which causes it all to reduce until two days later to where it’s back to being slightly higher. I haven’t tried to raise it anything past what I’ve done, because I am afraid it will be to inconsistent, and I’m having difficulty monitoring because I’ve been very immobilized and stuck sleeping most of the day until I am able to get up to check on them, which is when I usually find a causality  (two at once yesterday night), and then have to do a water change, which worsens my symptoms and only prolongs me staying very immobilized and stuck sleeping for longer. 

Thank you for trusting me with all of this information. 

I have a few ideas percolating, based on what I do IRL. I don't want to inundate you with information and add to the overwhelm, *and* I think I might be able to help you identify some tricks that could make moving forward easier.

I definitely understand needing to plan around chronic illness and surgeries. And I understand not wanting to add stress to your mom. Covid definitely puts a monkey wrench into developing the type of relationships with aquarium club members that would be able to come and help you. 

I have a good friend who is managing their tanks despite the increasing severity of their MS. May I ask them which changes were most beneficial and why, on your behalf?

[Sapere_Ceta]

On 2/15/2022 at 7:27 PM, Torrey said:

Thank you for trusting me with all of this information. 

I have a few ideas percolating, based on what I do IRL. I don't want to inundate you with information and add to the overwhelm, *and* I think I might be able to help you identify some tricks that could make moving forward easier.

I definitely understand needing to plan around chronic illness and surgeries. And I understand not wanting to add stress to your mom. Covid definitely puts a monkey wrench into developing the type of relationships with aquarium club members that would be able to come and help you. 

I have a good friend who is managing their tanks despite the increasing severity of their MS. May I ask them which changes were most beneficial and why, on your behalf?

I’m definitely up for any ideas that could potentially make things easier. I really appreciate that. 

Sure! That would be great! Thank you! 

[Torrey]

On 2/15/2022 at 6:39 PM, Sapere_Ceta said:

I’m definitely up for any ideas that could potentially make things easier. I really appreciate that. 

Sure! That would be great! Thank you! 

Okay! Before I ask for their recommendations, what's the biggest tank that your space can accommodate. 

If you are predominantly in your bedroom due to health/spoons, what's the biggest tank you could accommodate on a bedside table, *and* what's the biggest tank you can have in your non-bed living space? [This question is different than what do you already have. It's more of identifying what parameters to work within, and what is actually realistic]

[Sapere_Ceta]

On 2/15/2022 at 8:13 PM, Torrey said:

Okay! Before I ask for their recommendations, what's the biggest tank that your space can accommodate. 

If you are predominantly in your bedroom due to health/spoons, what's the biggest tank you could accommodate on a bedside table, *and* what's the biggest tank you can have in your non-bed living space? [This question is different than what do you already have. It's more of identifying what parameters to work within, and what is actually realistic]

Sure! Living space wise, I can’t think of any other spaces available for any aquariums, outside of my current one. I live in and sleep in the living room, and my aquarium is positioned behind the couch, with the QT on the floor to the right of it. We were supposed to move out of my grandpa’s home, but, haven’t been able to. Outside of the living room is a makeshift dining-office space my grandpa uses, and then a kitchen passed that. To the left of where the living room/entry of the home is, if someone were to walk in, is my grandpa’s room, a half-bath, and my mom’s room. 

[Torrey]

On 2/15/2022 at 8:24 PM, Sapere_Ceta said:

Sure! Living space wise, I can’t think of any other spaces available for any aquariums, outside of my current one. I live in and sleep in the living room, and my aquarium is positioned behind the couch, with the QT on the floor to the right of it. We were supposed to move out of my grandpa’s home, but, haven’t been able to. Outside of the living room is a makeshift dining-office space my grandpa uses, and then a kitchen passed that. To the left of where the living room/entry of the home is, if someone were to walk in, is my grandpa’s room, a half-bath, and my mom’s room. 

Thank you!

[Hobbit]

@Sapere_Ceta sending love and hugs. This is so tough and you are an amazing animal parent, which makes it so hard when you can’t take care of your fish as you’d like to. I very much relate on a smaller scale to having to choose between your health and your fish’s health. It’s terrible.

I’m sure @Torrey will come back with some great info. My suggestion is to do a tank with just snails. I don’t know much about the fancy snails like mystery snails or nerites, but I do know that I really enjoy my 1g bowl that just has ramshorn snails. I do water changes with a plastic drinking cup. There’s no light, heater, or filter, just three twigs of driftwood and some plants, rocks, and sand. It gets natural light from a south-facing window, so of course you may need a light depending on your proximity to windows.

If you’d like to try again with fish and are looking for something hardy, DM me and I can share the name of someone who can mail you some home-bred platys at no cost. ❤️ She has about 1 million, and she could send only males so you don’t get babies (and they stay smaller than females), or only virgin females if you’re worried about males being more nippy. She could even video them for you so you can test how Grume reacts. I happen to know that these platys can survive pretty high nitrates and even high nitrites if it comes down to it.

[Sapere_Ceta]

Hi everyone, I am going to be dismantling the twenty gallon aquarium soon. I ran into some extreme collapses that I am no longer able to fix. The bottom of the shape shifted, and the first collapse was pretty bad, and it’s continuing to move still. The first collapse hit the striped peacock eel I added, and they were never the same after that. They haven’t been able to swim properly for weeks, haven’t been able to control their movement well enough to eat anymore, can’t burrow, and remain completely vertical while swaying any other time.

I did try and fix the collapse multiple times, but haven’t been able to well enough. I thought I finally got it managed, and then I had a far worse collapse last night.

The three surviving guppies have been slowly deteriorating since having them, and my attempts to re-home them to someone who may have parameters far more to their liking haven’t been successful.

 

Among this all, I’ve realized that my body really can’t seem to handle this any longer. Recently, I finally found a good disability attorney that has been helping me with my SSI case, at that was something great. I’ve known I’ve been struggling to handle the aquarium more and more for many months, but specifically the past few. If our current house accommodated my growing limitations, I’d likely be able to “power through” the maintenance and water changing, and the problems I’d be facing would likely feel less significant on me.

On a very good day before, the recovery from working on the aquarium would be a week to a week and half. Now, it’s a few weeks at the least, so by the time I want or need to work on aquarium, I still am not physically well to juggle that.

When I’m stuck doing water changes by bucket, when even consistently lifting less than 5lbs can cause a flare up, gallons of water definitely has been a problem. The strain hits me right where my brain is falling out and spreads from there, and I also lack a lot of skull and parts of my vertebrae removed there as well, so it’s very sensitive. I have always tried and make it work, because I love my fish, at the times when I am mobile, but, it’s very painful for me.

Having constant vertigo, weakness/fatigue, and all of my other symptoms make it just as problematic with small but more frequent amounts. I regularly get sick and struggle with my symptoms, but, if it’s so much worse with something I used to love doing, than my ability to cope with it all drops immensely.
 

My mom  and I have talked about this multiple times already, knowing it would happen at some point, but, yesterday, we agreed that it’s better that the aquarium be dismantled. We will be moving Grume into a five gallon aquarium, which I think will be far more manageable.

I am considering euthanasia for the striped peacock eel, and may do the same with the guppies as a very last resort. I know that there are chain pet stores around that could take them, but, when I could go to them, I’ve only seen severe ich and dead fish each time and the fish there are severely neglected (although I can’t say the other animals seem to be doing much better). 

[Hobbit]

That’s so hard, but it sounds like you’re making the right decision. ❤️ I’m sorry to hear about the collapses. Hopefully you can find ways to express your artistic side that are easier on your body.

I’m glad you’re making progress on your SSI case! I’m sure it will be a big help once that goes through.

[Sapere_Ceta]

On 3/18/2022 at 12:30 PM, Hobbit said:

That’s so hard, but it sounds like you’re making the right decision. ❤️ I’m sorry to hear about the collapses. Hopefully you can find ways to express your artistic side that are easier on your body.

I’m glad you’re making progress on your SSI case! I’m sure it will be a big help once that goes through.

Thanks, I really appreciate it. I think it will be the right decision too, unfortunately. I finished taking the aquarium down yesterday. It was really saddening to do it, but there was some slight relief too.

Grume doesn’t seem to mind his temporary tote, thankfully, and I think we both will do better when I can set up his official five gallon aquarium.
 

 

It will be easier for me to manage, and in turn, I can better dial-in on the aquarium plants and enjoying my interactions with him. 

I have been getting into keeping tarantulas and cockroaches for some time now, and those have been significantly easier and far less straining. I have them bioactive, and that has been simple and fun to do. I am taking it very slow (I have a small group of Madagascar hissing roaches with a female that recently gave birth, seven different species of tarantula slings, a small group of dubia roaches, and a small group of red-runner roaches). I plan on waiting for a few years or so before potentially having more.

My health issues have always forced me out of what I’ve enjoyed, and I have a feeling the aquarium hobby might have to be given up again at some point for me. But, I think having a single five gallon will really do some good, and if I can keep it, even after Grume lives his full life, then that would really be something special.

My mom was really helpful with moving everything on her day off, and together, we set up a simpler stand, which will have the aquarium, some of my houseplants, and the cockroaches on.