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w00tmonger posted:Hey guys just starting up my first ever fish tank (30g) and I had a question that I'm not sure has come up. albeit my flooring is sturdy enough to support the tank, for some reason it isn't sitting perfectly flat and is leaving ever so slightly forward. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except that the lean has made a very gradual leak due to moisture on the lid of it. You wouldn't even need to change the gravel really as long as you plan ahead with a finer gravel type at the start. You'll need to get some root tab though along with water column ferts to bring you up to par.
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Oct 12, 2013 07:21
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| # ? May 11, 2024 19:16 |
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I got my 70L tank set up on Wednesday and added in some plants today. I was originally going to only go with plants and driftwood but the helicopter wreck was a gift, so it's in there, plus it'll make a good cave for something to hide in. For the plants I went with 4x Jungle Vals, 3x Crypts, and Anubias on a bit of drift wood. I'm pretty happy with how it looks for my first attempt at this. I also got a bonus with the plants.  A snail! I removed it straight after taking the picture and I really hope there aren't any others, I don't want them taking over the tank before I get any fish in there. I've already had to take out the heater I bought, while I was adjusting the temperature the control knob came out popping out a seal with it, luckily it was the part above the water. I could just put both back into place but I don't want to risk it not sealing properly, I'll get a replacement.
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Oct 12, 2013 10:20
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The 55 I've been working at is cycled! Which means going around looking at fish. I expected to look around and get an idea of what my ideal stock would cost, maybe plump up on the planting. And then I saw a pair of gorgeous dwarf cichlids that no one knew what they were. Best guesses are A. inconspicua, A. moae, or A. rotpunkt, if not some kind of weird hybrid. They're almost snow white white blue freckles and they're seriously some of the most striking fish I've ever seen.  The picture doesn't do it justice. The blue is almost florescent. Probably not the best idea to jump on unknown fish, but they're seriously gorgeous and I really couldn't beat the price. e: Did a little more searching and I want to say they're rotpunkt/A. alacrina. les enfants Terrific! fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Oct 13, 2013 |
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Oct 13, 2013 01:31
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Howdy fishgoons, I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions for my sick angelfish. Problem: I have a 5-6 yo silver veiltail who lives with 2 other angels, a ghost knife, a couple of bristlenoses and lone surviving corydora. He/She's been unwell for a few months now; the main issue has been buoyancy control in that it has to actively maintain an upright orientation. It was able to swim normally when threatened/feeding time and has had a normal appetite. They're fed a combination of frozen bloodworm and spectrum community formula (with veggie discs here and there for the herbivores). I haven't really noticed a major decline in function until the past few days, and just this evening I noticed it stuck on the intake for the gravity driven siphon. It has lost appetite and while I was able to gently direct some food into its mouth, it spat it out once released. It's now breathing rapidly and unable to move without some effort. It can right itself, but rapdily fatigues and goes back to resting at the corner of the tank. I've been able to pick the fish up gently as it's too weak to evade me - the gills are pink and there are no white spots, unusual features or macro parasites. The fish is emaciated with no obvious external lesions, although the tail fins look generally weathered (but not to give the appearance of fin rot). The primary fins are translucent without lesions. All his/her tankmates seem fine. I'm planning to give poor ol' fishy the clove oil treatment, since I think it's getting beyond palliative at this point. I do wonder if there's something else that I could try before going down that path. I don't want to leave fishy to just die slowly from starvation, particularly since BGK's tend to be quite opportunistic; I don't want him to get the idea that it's ok to eat angelfish shaped things. Note: He's been a tankmate for years and has never bothered any of them previously - I don't want it to start. Ph: buffered to ~7.0, usually tests 6.5-7.1 Ammonia: Expected to be 0, test chemicals have gone to poo poo and I can't test Nitrate: never gone above 60ppm and that was when I got lazy/lost my water change calendar Nitrite: I would think 0 Gh: ??? Kh: ??? Size of tank: 200L (including sump) 1m width (it's apparently a custom size) Temperature °C: 26-27°C Been running for: years, using the same sump. I did move house & tank about 6 months ago. Filtration:-Canister/Sump/Internal Filter/Sponge: sump filter with massive overcapacity for the tank size (4L of porous media in a wet/dry drip configuration) Plants in Tank: planted with a variety of anubias, some fernlike "freshwater seaweed" like thing (that I can't find the name of), java ferns galore and some java moss Recent Medication Treatments: nil Last water change: last week Water changes done 2nd weekly, 30% with replacement of fertilizers and prime for dechlorination Edit: Fishy is no more. I'm still left wondering what the problem was though. Squish fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Oct 14, 2013 |
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Oct 13, 2013 13:48
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I wish this guppy would drop the babies she's very obviously about to have. 
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Oct 14, 2013 22:51
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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:I wish this guppy would drop the babies she's very obviously about to have. I have a neon tetra that's looked like that for months now. When I first realized it I was excited to get some neon fry but soon realized it seems to be a permanent situation with my fish.
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Oct 14, 2013 22:55
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Neitherman posted:I have a neon tetra that's looked like that for months now. When I first realized it I was excited to get some neon fry but soon realized it seems to be a permanent situation with my fish. One of my female white clouds is waaaay tubbier than the others. No idea why, maybe she's just really really fertile?
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Oct 14, 2013 22:57
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Neitherman posted:I have a neon tetra that's looked like that for months now. When I first realized it I was excited to get some neon fry but soon realized it seems to be a permanent situation with my fish. She keeps getting bigger. Poor thing kinda floats around like a giant balloon.
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Oct 15, 2013 00:08
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Just keep her away from pointy objects.  My big mama cory is always bloated looking, whether she's just laid eggs or not.
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Oct 15, 2013 00:12
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I'd put some sort of ground cover in the breeding box, that thing will be a deathtrap for the fry overnight!! Mom's hungry and wants those nutrients back!
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Oct 15, 2013 00:36
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It's got a slotted base that goes across the bottom it doesn't show up in the picture I posted. I'm wondering if I should put some stuff in there or at least reposition it in some plants so she feels more comfortable.
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Oct 15, 2013 00:38
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SynthOrange posted:Just keep her away from pointy objects. Waaaaah one of of my baby cories I've raised died last night. I caught him floating upside and way too buoyant but with no outward signs of trauma or sickness. He finally died and still nothing dis colored or harmed. His six brood mates will have to soldier on.
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Oct 15, 2013 02:31
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My driftwood arrived today!
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Oct 15, 2013 08:46
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That's an interesting piece. Looking forward to seeing it in the tank 
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Oct 15, 2013 10:47
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Whale Cancer posted:My driftwood arrived today! Very nice! Is it Manzanita?
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Oct 15, 2013 13:24
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Looks more like petrified rail lizard.
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Oct 15, 2013 13:59
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Yep, manzanita. Will be going in my 75. It's currently soaking in the bathtub. Shh don't tell my wife.
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Oct 15, 2013 20:48
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Whale Cancer posted:Yep, manzanita. Will be going in my 75. It's currently soaking in the bathtub. Shh don't tell my wife. Hey I won't say a word.. my wife still has not figured out why the hell the tub in one of our bathrooms had this faint brown ring we needed harsh chemicals to remove. Also one of our dutch over pots was mysteriously ruined when I boiled a piece of wood in it. I never fessed up to that one either. Oh poo poo here she comes. later
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Oct 15, 2013 23:31
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This week has been a disaster for me. I just had a major incident in my favorite 55g tank that has claimed 16 bloodfin tetras and 5 peppered cories so far, with more to follow. I also have a pair of bolivian rams and an angelfish in this tank that I'm going to transfer to a bare-bottom 29g as soon as I get home from work. I'm not entirely sure what the root cause of everything was, but Saturday I noticed my water was cloudy and smelled bad and detected .5ppm ammonia. All my fish were hiding and acting unhappy, so I did a 25% water change and treated with amquel plus. That took care of the ammonia, but the water stayed cloudy and my fish stayed skittish. As time passed, my fish showed no interest in food and when my bloodfins finally came out of hiding, I saw many of them with white edging on their fins. By now the cories were all laying around on the substrate and rarely moving. I did another, larger water change but the fish didn't show any improvement. Monday, I noticed all my snails were dead. Did another water change, even though ammonia had been showing 0 since Sat. I started treating the tank with Melafix, which I had read would help with fin-rot caused by ammonia toxicity without harming cories. Tuesday saw my first fish deaths. The dead cories looked like they had been bleeding under their skin, and the dead bloodfins had ragged, white-edged fins. As of this morning, I have one live cory out of 7 and two live bloodfins out of 20. One cory is unaccounted for, as are two bloodfins and my awesome little super-red ancistrus. My angel and rams both look strong and are still picking around, although I have noticed some small spots on their fins. I have an empty 29 with a stand, and I have a well-cycled sponge filter in one of my other tanks that I can use. I'm going to get every fish I can save and move them out of the 55 so I can get things back into order there. I don't think ich is my problem, since the lesions I see on my fish don't look like any of the images I've found for it. It looks like bacterial fin rot, since the white edges aren't fuzzy. With all that said, I'm still not certain what caused my downfall, although I have an idea. The tank is densely planted, and I added algaefix last week to deal with some hair algae on my taiwan moss. I'd used it before and noticed one dead cory, but I assumed it was just weak because it had been lethargic since I got it the week before. If the algaefix didn't directly kill my fish, I suspect it killed all the snails in the tank and caused the ammonia spike. Are there any special things that should be done when setting up a hospital tank? I've never had to have one before, but I'm going to do everything I can to save my rams and angel.
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Oct 16, 2013 19:32
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I don't know what is in Algaefix, but if the stuff is similar to what is in Had-A-Snail, the old joke at the pet store was people who use Had-A-Snail had-some-fish too. What is the usual water change schedule?
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Oct 16, 2013 23:59
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Yipes. Algaefix works in a few ways, one of which is to drop oxygen levels in your tank. Low oxygen + lots of dead algae is not a good combo.
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Oct 17, 2013 00:10
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My usual schedule is 20% once a week in that tank. I run pressurized co2 and have tons of filtration on it. The more I think about it, the more I suspect the algaefix. It is deadly to invertebrates, so I think it killed all the snails at once, which resulted in a big dose of ammonia. Right now I have my survivors on drips acclimating to a hospital tank I just set up with a well-cycled sponge filter. They all have white stuff on their fins to varying degrees, while my poor angel has it on one eye. I'm dosing melafix, but is there anything else I should try?
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Oct 17, 2013 00:57
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Do you know if the white stuff on your fish is fungal or bacterial?
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Oct 17, 2013 15:33
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I'm pretty sure it's bacterial since it looks more like slime than fuzz. I checked on my four survivors in their hospital tank this morning, fully expecting to find my last bloodfin dead. Instead, I found him swimming much better and with all the white stuff gone from every fish's body. They all have varying degrees of fin damage, but at least it looks like they have a chance now. My losses from this are 7 peppered cories and 19 bloodfin tetras, with one baby super-red ancistrus missing and presumed dead. My next move is to break down everything I reasonably can in the 55 to try and find his body. I'm thinking about using this as an opportunity to change out my leopard vals for some crypts before I restock my fish.
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Oct 17, 2013 16:31
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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:I wish this guppy would drop the babies she's very obviously about to have. She's HUGE! I thought my guppies are big, but they're not nearly that size. One just had her babies a few days ago, only three fry but I think that's because it's her first time. I didn't see them for awhile and assumed my ghost shrimp or the other guppies ate them. I have a second pregnant guppy who's due any day now, so I threw a bunch of fake plants in my tank for additional hiding spots since my real plants aren't too leafy or great for hiding in and I figured that might help my next round of fry have a better chance. Suddenly, my three fry came out of hiding and have been swimming around the tank bravely. They're able to dart off into the fake plants where nothing can get to them, so hopefully they'll survive. If they get eaten, oh well, I don't want to overpopulate my tank with guppies and my shrimp can get a nice healthy meal. They are really cute though and I'm getting kinda attached, so I'm always rooting for them when the shrimp start to chase them.
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Oct 17, 2013 19:54
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 Mama guppy status: still preggers
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Oct 17, 2013 20:09
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The tank horror sounds like a pH crash. Sorry about being short, since I typing this from a phone, but do a search for the term "old tank syndrome". I actually had this happen to my planted tank. An elderly roseline barb kicked off one evening, and literally overnight my jewel-like tank had turned cloudy. The water is soft, so it has very little buffering capacity, and that fish was enough to tip off into a crash. I wound up losing all 5 of my lemon tetra and a second roseline before getting settled. That cloudy water is a bacterial bloom of not-so-friendly species. That white edge you're seeing was also on my fish, which is an opportunistic infection from those same bacteria! The red streaks and blotches you described is septicemia (internal organ or blood infection) from bacteria as well. Mine resolved with a large water change, addition of salt, and some baking soda to increase the pH and add calcium-based buffering capacity to stabilize the critters. In my case, I also ran an in-tank UV filter to clear the bacterial bloom without whacking out the water parameters and not hurting the beneficial bacteria (these tend to be attached to surfaces). Took about 3 days to notice improvements and halt fish deaths. :< We get too comfortable and our critters suffer for it!
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Oct 17, 2013 23:46
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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:
A pufferfish! I had some guppies and all the babies were born hunchbacks. Even when they reached adulthood, they had a bent spine. Do you know why this happened?
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Oct 18, 2013 15:50
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Genetics, probably. Nostalgia4Infinity, it looks like you've got the Hindenbürg in that tank.
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Oct 18, 2013 19:45
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I'm not sure the guppy is pregnant....I don't see the dark area at the vent you usually get with fry.
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Oct 18, 2013 22:49
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Cowslips Warren posted:I'm not sure the guppy is pregnant....I don't see the dark area at the vent you usually get with fry. The gravid spot? Yeah it doesn't really show in the first picture but it's super dark and I can see little eyes. She also got like this last time she dropped a litter. I just hope she isn't aborting or anything
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Oct 18, 2013 23:52
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 Put my driftwood in and a few rocks. When I get back from vacation in a couple of weeks I'm going to start replacing the fake plants with live ones. Eventually I want to replace the fake stump on the left side of the tank but it's my catfish's comfort zone and I don't feel right taking that away from them just so I have a tank that is more aesthetically pleasing to me.
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Oct 19, 2013 03:25
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Hello thread! I've been slowly setting up a tank for about a year and a half (a baby happened and that tends to cut into hobby money just a lil  ), and I'm almost, almost there but I have a couple questions. The tank was originally going to be an Orinoco river biotope tank, but my 6yo daughter really wanted neon tetras so now it's going to be a generic SA blackwater tank. My first question is about substrate, because there's most likely going to be cories in there I want to go with sand rather than gravel, but I've never used sand before - I see references to using 'pool filter sand' or 'play sand' as a substrate as opposed to the stuff they sell at petco for $20 a bag, but I'm worried about those messing up the ph in the tank. Also, I see that a lot of the same type so of wood sold for decor in pet stores are also sold in craft stores for a lot cheaper, is there a reason not to use manzanita from a craft store instead?
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Oct 19, 2013 21:28
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Play sand shouldn't change your pH at all. Pool filter sand is the same thing but usually a smaller grain. People recommend it because it's the same stuff at a fraction of the price.
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Oct 19, 2013 22:25
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I'm using pool filter sand in my tank and it has 0 effect on water conditions. It's a little bit more expensive than play sand but it's a heck of a lot easier to clean before putting in the tank.
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Oct 20, 2013 00:27
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I'd be cautious about using craft store wood. Check first that they havent been chemically treated for pests and mold because that would be really bad for your tank. If they're just collected without treatment, then that should be fine.
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Oct 20, 2013 02:31
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I wouldn't think the Manzanita should be treated with anything. If anything it's just been sandblasted and will be alright. It's used a lot for bird cages as well.
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Oct 20, 2013 05:54
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 What the hell happened to my betta's tail and fins!? They're all ragged and frayed looking along the edges and the tail is a mess! Augh! The only other creatures in the tank are cories and chain loaches and I dont think either of those are supposed to be nippers? What could have just caused half his tail to go missing? Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 09:45 on Oct 20, 2013 |
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Oct 20, 2013 09:41
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SynthOrange posted:
What's your filter intake like? I had one who liked to rest against the filter and found his tail shredded to poo poo one day. Some who have longer fins get fed up and chomp on it too. I read that once in a betta forum.. tailbiters.
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Oct 20, 2013 14:36
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| # ? May 11, 2024 19:16 |
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SynthOrange posted:
Same thing happened to my betta--and he lives by himself. I looked in the tank one day and he wasn't beautiful anymore!
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Oct 20, 2013 19:04
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