What did you get done today?

[anewbie]

Did usual weekly water change on the 40. Not very happy with it right now; also getting a bit of bba in front right. left back has 0 bba - go figures... Since this is after the water change i did the usual weekly 80% trim of the green fluffy stuff that grows like crazy:

 

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Also trying to decide with to do about the 10; probably need to trim that stuff in the back - is that pearl weed? It probably is since it grows like a weed:

Edited July 19, 2022 by anewbie

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2022 at 8:45 AM, anewbie said:

also getting a bit of bba in front right. left back has 0 bba - go figures...

might be a dead spot on the flow.
 

On 7/19/2022 at 8:45 AM, anewbie said:

Also trying to decide with to do about the 10;

If you can, toss in a few more shots of this or make a thread and let's see what people can do as far as making things more appealing for you.  It would be good to know or try to understand what you don't enjoy about it right now.

I forced myself to clean out my tank today.  It's been on hold because I have been waiting to go to the store to get parts for a filter test.  I'm also waiting to drop meds as well as letting the new plants get hold in their new environment.  So far so good.  I did a pretty intense gravel vac and I went out of my way to rescape the substrate.  If you have an arched substrate I would recommend that when you siphon, suck in some substrate and toss that where you want to keep some of those high spots.

I basically uprooted all of the Hygro Pinnatifida and then cleaned that spot of the tank really well for worms.  I re-planted what need be.  A few hours later, I went back in and added some root tabs for the plants and hopefully that helps out the Dwarf Hairgrass perk up a bit.  I just dosed the tank yesterday, so I'm going to need to re-dose it tomorrow slightly as well.

I took out my moss rock, cut off 1/4-1/2" sections of moss that I had glued that were a bit too long for it to look natural and then I went ahead and glued that to a few spots on the wood.  I took the anubias that was in the wrong spots on the tank and moved those to better spots elsewhere on the main bit of hardscape.  I also had a variety of anubias that was doing well and then was getting blocked out because the wood was leaning against the front glass.  I moved it slightly off the glass now so it has a better chance to get some light and some room for growth.

Another day of fun just hands deep in the tank.  I'll probably dose meds next week, but still trying to keep an eye out for worms and monitor the situation.

[anewbie]

On 7/19/2022 at 11:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

might be a dead spot on the flow.
 

I

Probably not - i tried putting a pump there for 2 months and that just made things worse.

[FLFishChik]

Today, I pulled the remaining “fake” plants out of my tank. Looks a bit bare now, but I’m confident it will fill in nicely with the Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus and Water Sprite. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/23/2022 at 8:36 PM, FLFishChik said:

I kinda dig the bright colors and bright red plants!  Some cool plastic decorations. definitely keep some around for a rainy day!

Your Anubias in the tank is absolutely awesome, very big, and looks gorgeous with the texture on the leaves.  I can't wait to see how it grows out.

........

I finally was able to head to the local store. Unfortunately, it's a big box store, and unfortunately due to the way the world of ehiem works I wasn't able to find what I actually needed.  I was pretty shocked by how different the store was.  It's not a well run store and I go there about once a year, if that, just for emergencies.  I wasn't driving due to not having a car, it was totalled a bit ago, and this was closest so I went there.

I did the scavenger hunt and totally got distracted by my own fun little game that I forgot to look for half of what I needed to.  I got a new variety / brand of blood worms to try and some mysis shrimp to attempt to see if the corydoras will eat it.  They had an issue with the last brand (omega 1) being too big for them to eat.  One of the fish got it stuck in his gill and the poor guy freaked.  They haven't eaten worms since!  I did some research and found out that they definitely vary in size depending which ones you purchase.  The pandas definitely don't care and love their worms, but the black corydoras are still having the fear issue. 

I got home, cleaned the tank due to the seachem HoB telling me it's been 24 hours and I need to clean it again. ( 🙄 ) When I cleaned the tank, lights were about to go out and I have a decent handle on things so I decided to treat with the second dewormer.  This could explain their behavior ever since owning the black corydoras, but it's just something I need to go ahead and do for the sake of removing worms in the tank and potentially the fish as well.  There was a lot of acclimation issues when I brought these fish in, I'm very thankful for the ones I do have left, and I am very concerned at all the stress of treating for illnesses like this.

I setup things for another test in the HoB (Seachem Tidal bypass experiments) and made sure everything was set.  Wrapped the tank in two towels and made notes in my phone to record time/date of when treatment started.  I unplugged the light just to make sure things didn't go awry, removed the skimmer because it doesn't work, and I have things soaking so I can add CO2 when meds are done.  Yet again, another stress item for the fish and I hope everything goes ok.

I was at the shop, had this bag of $30 sand in my hand and just struggling to decide if I wanted to purchase it or not.  The boost of quality of life of the fish it would add is something I really wanted to be able to provide.  Maybe next trip or I'll find the pool filter sand stuff and give that a try.

One of the biggest things that weighs on me is trying to provide the fish with food they like, crave, enjoy, and that is good for them.  I have repashy I need to use up before it expires and I think pretty soon here I'll end up feeding that fresh a few times a week.  I cleaned up the coffee station that has the kettle I would use to make it in the mornings, make my coffee and then make the food for them.   The second concern I have is the amanos and just the amount of stress they've been under.  I have to check the bottle of repashy I have and see if any of them has calcium for them, potentially get some nano blocks or something just so they can graze on it and get a boost.   Leaving that filter on the day before has me just spinning, wanting to do everything perfectly and make up for my mistake....

Just a final note, having to black out the tank might be nice and potentially cut back on some of the algae issues.  Not a big deal, and I know the plants are doing well enough, but it might be the little push to knock some of the diatoms out that have been trying to thrive.

Wish me luck!

[Tanked]

One of the benefits of old home ownership is getting to fix problems created generations ago.  I checked off one more item on my needs doing list.  I emptied my desk, drained all but about 4 inches of water from the 29 gallon community tank, and pulled the whole thing away from the wall.  This allowed me to rewire the ungrounded plug behind the aquarium.  I lucked out! The ground wires were there but the previous owner had not bothered to  install the 3 pronged outlet.

So I guess that I did a 060% water change, rewired the plug, eliminated the extra extension cords, found a crisp SAE, and put everything back in place in just over an hour.  Except for a small tsunami the fish and plants suffered no ill effects.

[FLFishChik]

I stole a moss covered rock from my cherry shrimp tank to add to the 29g tank. That’s it. I got nothing else. I’m not even going to cook dinner as we have a fridge full of leftovers. It’s been a very. Lazy. Sunday.

[nabokovfan87]

I took the correct length trim piece for my lid size and had to literally glue it to the glass lid itself so I don't have to mess with having a gap anymore.  I tried superglue and that didn't work too well.  I just took some silicone (black is all I had) and used that to attach it.  You can see the old pieces under the glass in the middle there, but I was glad it didn't look too messy or too bad when it was all put together.  I'll let it cure for a bit, then all good.  I do have one more trim piece to use on the other tank, it's from marineland, but I do need to trim it slightly to fit well enough and have glass cut.  The lid I have now is so cheap the glass is bowing (from amazon)

I cleaned out the main tank with the black corys and recording things for the filter testing.  Things are still doing well and the fish are still doing well.  I am going to do a water change on the panda tank, swap out the filter to a much smaller one for the time being, and then some much needed relaxation time!

[EsJay]

Moved hatched out black cories from egg cup to 10gal to size up 

Picked more black Cory eggs 

[mouseturd13]

I noticed a new member in my tank yesterday! Not sure how this nerite snail hatched. I have hard water so maybe there is just enough salt! But I am glad he’s here! 

[FLFishChik]

Did a water change and filter cleaning in the 5.5g Betta tank. Decided to try some Fluval Bug Bite flakes to see if my picky grumpy fish face would eat it. Turned my back for 2 minutes and suddenly, my ghost shrimp are now very easy to spot because they all had an obvious red carapace! Sneaky little buggers.

Edited July 29, 2022 by FLFishChik

[Katherine]

On 7/28/2022 at 7:04 PM, mouseturd13 said:

I noticed a new member in my tank yesterday! Not sure how this nerite snail hatched. I have hard water so maybe there is just enough salt! But I am glad he’s here! 

It's not the best picture, but I'm fairly certain that's a bladder snail.

[EsJay]

Picked potatoes from the garden I water with water change water!

[Odd Duck]

On 7/28/2022 at 7:04 PM, mouseturd13 said:

I noticed a new member in my tank yesterday! Not sure how this nerite snail hatched. I have hard water so maybe there is just enough salt! But I am glad he’s here! 

Most definitely not a nerite.  Looks like a bladder snail to me.  @Katherine has it right.

[FLFishChik]

I gave my husband a haircut 😳

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:30 PM, EsJay said:

Moved hatched out black cories from egg cup to 10gal to size up 

Please send me some details in a DM or something.  Tell me all your secrets! 😂

[John Henry]

Got a super deal on a 4 x 4 inch mat of Java Fern.  Cut it up into three different size clumps and now trying to find room in my 20 G.  Wasn't looking to buy any Java but it was too great a bargain to pass up.

[FLFishChik]

Today was maintenance day on the 29g. I don’t have a python, so it’s gallon pitchers for me but, I don’t really mind. However… why does my tank always look cleaner BEFORE I clean 😂. Kicking up mulm  and gunk from bottom and filters just gives me anxiety , lol

[anewbie]

Did the usual maint on the 3 aquariums in my office. This is the white 29 - i posted a picture a few weeks ago in this thread so you can see the plants growing. As I noted before none of these are new plants they had just gone dormant for a year (tank is a bit over 3  years old). I did add a bunch of small angels - 4 black 5 platinum and 4 marble. These kids are extremely well behaved so far with no bullies. When they get larger I'll move them to the 120 and weed them down. If they don't reach maturity before I move in April i'll keep them all else i;ll have to give some of them away.

 

[anitstuk]

Did my water change today and accidently sucked up a baby shrimp! I've never felt so bad in my life

[redfish]

I cleaned out my QT tank and started a small nano sponge filter in a cycled tank to use in the QT tank.

[PineSong]

At this point, it goes without saying that I spent some time sorting guppy fry.

Then I removed the male swordtail from my 29g; I think I'm safe to separate this breeding pair because between his mate in the 29 and the 5 ladies in my pond, I am probably now the owner of around 100 swordtail fry.

I made a semi-planned purchase of two fish from the grocery store where I got my "whale guppies" last year. I say semi-planned because I had a plan to buy two fish but I thought I would buy cute ones. Much like my whale guppies, these baby angel fish are literally the homeliest plane Jane versions of their species imagineable and I bought them because I felt sorry for them.

No idea if they will be more attractive once they are grown or if this is as good as it gets for them; one of them is a creepy transparent/.white with a couple of yellow spots and the other one is kind of yellowish beige. It's okay with me that they are not a matched set because they will not be living together as adults.

I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that they have great personalities to make up for their looks.

[Ken Burke]

Busy day, 50% WC for 4 tanks, did some pruning of my Java fern, topped off the summer tub, took my dog swimming, and made a batch of Repashy. ( 25 soilent green, .25  ipago, and 50% bottom scratcher.  )

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/6/2022 at 7:05 PM, Ken Burke said:

Busy day, 50% WC for 4 tanks, did some pruning of my Java fern, topped off the summer tub, took my dog swimming, and made a batch of Repashy. ( 25 soilent green, .25  ipago, and 50% bottom scratcher.  )

Have you ever fed just ipago?  Which fish like it?

-----------------
It was a slightly hectic day for me.  Naturally.

I cleaned the filter yesterday on the main tank.  I spent today cleaning the glass and checking on everything.  I tuned the lighting and I think that might fix things. I woke up at 5 AM and noticed the lights coming on a bit early.  When I had actually woken up enough to get out of bed I wanted to have my focus for the day be about checking CO2 and pushing out the lighting to start 1 hour later in the morning.  Daylight savings or whatever the reason was, it needed to be tweaked.  Not a big deal.  Well, it turns out I had some very strange choices for sunrise (3 hours?) and it just turned into this adjustment.  Overall I think it'll result in a better tank and a slightly easier time for the fish.

1.  Air stone turns off for 30 minutes.
2.  CO2 stone turns on for 1 hour 15 minutes
3.  Lights turn on, normal plant hours run for 7+ hours
4.  CO2 turns off, lights turn off 1 hour later
5.  Lights and CO2 turn off, wait 30 minutes, then airstone turns on. 

The logic being, I don't want to push the fish and shrimp into wild oxygenation and PH swings as a result of the added CO2.  I want them to have "acclimation windows" so that for 30-60 minutes things can slowly adjust.  Tomorrow I will keep an eye out on things and make sure there isn't stress signs. 

I was able to find the S-curved scissors, spade aquascaping tools to finish my set (black, not a common item locally at all without paying $50+ just to buy half the stuff I already have).  I found a CO2 diffuser I would like to try, a replacement impeller, and things I desperately need to have on hand for the sake of day to day use.  I got all of those things, tried to find a coupon code and what not, but no success.  We'll see how long things take to get here and hopefully none of the glass arrives broken.

I had a bizarre day for the sake of a few reasons, but I spent a lot of time just scattered and all over the place trying to problem solve.  I spent about an hour watching the fish and watching the tank parameters.  I kept an eye on CO2.  I had to test nitrates twice because I dipped one strip and then completely spaced out doing other work while waiting.  The tank didn't have any nitrates, which just means things are "ok".  The moss is doing really well. I know the shrimp are enjoying it and it looks absolutely awesome how it has been placed on the hardscape.  I took a piece of wood out, anubias broke off, soaked it in algaecide and I'll check on it tomorrow to see if it dented the algae in any capacity. 

I fed the corys worms, heavy protein foods, changed the tank with cold water, and I feel like the barometric pressure is good enough that I might have a spawn tonight.  I didn't do the massive water change, but i dropped the tank in temp by a good amount and it's been far too warm for too long.  I'll check on things shortly, but I didn't see much of anything in terms of breeding behavior under the blue lights.

I went to the living room and of course the pandas are holding eggs, going nuts, trying to find a place to deposit them.  One tank is so easy, the other is such a waiting game.  We will see......    it'll be so much more enjoyable when both tanks are covered in the new moss!

 

[Katherine]

On 8/7/2022 at 1:45 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Have you ever fed just ipago?  Which fish like it?

I have. It's loved by black phantom tetras, zebra danios, glo tetras (the funky genetically modified colored ones), and mystery snails.