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Shakenbaker posted:Raise your temp some a do daily water changes. Keep the temperature up a few days after you stop seeing spots. Raise the water temp slowly and make sure that it's a high enough temp to kill off the ich on its own (86 F I think) if that's the route you take. If the temperature is too low, you'll end up speeding up the life cycle without the necessity of salt/medications killing off the ich while it's in a vulnerable state. Low doses of salt might do some good, even with plants and fish that don't do well with it in normal doses. Medications would depend on how much you care about your inverts. Seachem Paraguard is supposed to be good and relatively safe, but I don't actually know much about it.
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Oct 17, 2015 23:22
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I am just finishing up dealing with an ich outbreak, the temperature thing really worked, The one thing you might have trouble with it getting the water to that temperature, I had to get a second heater to get it high enough at a stable point. I got a 5 gallon tank for a betta. I originally was considering a 2.6 but even they seemed too small. Also, gently caress almost everything revolving around betta tanks. There is poo poo like tanks with a built in divider slot with the intention of having two in the same tank, and other ridiculous crap like this: http://www.amazon.com/Aqueon-1218-Kit-Betta-Falls/dp/B00INCRSFC
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Oct 18, 2015 00:22
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Coolwhoami posted:I am just finishing up dealing with an ich outbreak, the temperature thing really worked, The one thing you might have trouble with it getting the water to that temperature, I had to get a second heater to get it high enough at a stable point. gently caress betta everything forever except the fish themselves. I need to make a space for a betta tank, I really miss having one.
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Oct 18, 2015 00:51
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Also gently caress metallic/platinum betta. loving cancer and pigment overgrowths. 
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Oct 18, 2015 00:53
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SynthOrange posted:Also gently caress metallic/platinum betta. loving cancer and pigment overgrowths. Also gently caress the fish that are bred to have so much finnage that they can barely swim.
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Oct 18, 2015 00:54
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I took my time assembling the canister filter and followed every step of the instructions, but still there's air bubbles in the lines and it makes a horrible whoosh sound. Ah well, I'll troubleshoot it later. It's probably some gasket or something. I'm just happy to have a functioning filter in my turtle's tank again. e: Solved the problem by filling the tank up higher. I've been submitting requests to have my Aquatic Arts shipment(s) held at the post office, so I can go pick them up at 9 am instead of having them bounce around on a mail truck until they finally get here at 5 pm. I forget who it was here who wanted to know about the Thai micro crabs, but I will definitely let you know how they behave once they're settled in and whether I can actually see them or not. It looked like one of my kuhli loaches was trying to eat a ramshorn, it had its head in its shell and was biting its body and I had to knock on the glass really hard to get it to stop. The ramshorn wasn't dead so I have no idea what that was about. 
republicant fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Oct 18, 2015 |
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Oct 18, 2015 03:55
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I noticed last night just before I went to bed one of the 6 cories has one bent looking pectoral fin and a fluffy spot on one side; but it was way too late to set up a hospital tank AGAIN and try netting the drat thing out. I've already lost one to fluff so I was expecting the worst today. I've spent about half an hour trying to count cories and only finding 5 so I assumed one had died. But, no suspicious mound of snails on the bottom and no floaters on the top. And I finally managed to spot the bent fin cory, only his fluffy patch looks much smaller/better today. The sand I'm using in that tank is a fairly light but natural looking brown and they blend in with it so well, if they aren't moving its almost impossible to see them. For now I'm going to assume that there are actually 6 cories and I'm just bad at spotting them. I definitely counted 5 without seeing the bent fin cory in one of the first counts so I think that is six total, just not seen all at the same time. Since Popeye did very badly in a hospital tank with medicated water, my plan to treat this cory was going to be to swab the spot with medicine and put him into clean water (had some success doing this to a rosy barb) but if the spot gets better by itself, I'm not going to do anything at all for now. I'm just going to see what he's like tomorrow since today he is eating and swimming quite well. None of the other fish seem to be affected. I'm pretty sure the cories did not have any bent fins when they arrived in the bag so I wonder if I hurt the poor little guy when I netted him from bag to tank. I've read that corydoras have spines in their fins and it does seem like the leading edge of that fin is bent inwards so it could be a snapped spine from netting injury, which is why I really don't want to try netting him again if they are that fragile. Am I crazy for letting him stay loose in the tank? Confirmed: there was one cory who had parked himself right under the driftwood and wasnt coming out even for food. I poked him with the rounded end of my extendable net handle to confirm he was dead ... and he casually swam away and started hanging around with the other 5. Can't see anything wrong with him. Fluff is completely gone from Bendyfin, it seems like there is a scratch on his skin in that spot but no redness. I'll keep an eye on it just the same. Maybe it dies off just as quickly as it flares up? Ended up using the hospital tank for ANOTHER tailstanding beacon tetra instead. Hope this one comes good with some rest but I'm not going to hold my breath. The swim bladder is visible, but what's more interesting is there is a dark structure visible above it, I believe it is the kidney. Normally this isn't visible or noticable in the other fish but in this tailstander it is almost black. Kidney issues might affect the swim bladder due to proximity, causing the tailstanding? There isn't any obvious cause and once again the fish looks fine externally. Beacon tetras have a nice wide transparent body and it doesn't take much light behind them to see whats inside. I put half a cup of duckweed in yesterday for the rosy barbs to snack on. Today it's all gone and there is a half a cup pile of duckweed green fish turds in the bottom of the tank.  This is what people mean when they say barbs are messy fish I guess. Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Oct 18, 2015 |
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Oct 18, 2015 10:39
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I came across this heartwarming tale of fish rescue and recovery today, thought you guys might find it interesting. Warning: the initial photos of the neglected fish are very distressing but I wouldn't have posted it if there wasn't a happy ending! http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=41416
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Oct 18, 2015 13:24
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I'd like to clear the names of the poor loaches some of you goons blame for killing fish. Hillstream loaches and kuhlis, even dojos to a degree, are pretty harmless. Now, your yoyos, your striatas, your horseheads and clowns, those loaches can be murder. But not all loaches! Suckee loach lives matter! So redoing my 90 for my calvus and my leleupi. Other than keeping some bristlenose in there, anything else I should keep?
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Oct 18, 2015 19:07
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Have a synodontis you could throw in there? I love those guys.
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Oct 18, 2015 19:16
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republicant posted:I took my time assembling the canister filter and followed every step of the instructions, but still there's air bubbles in the lines and it makes a horrible whoosh sound. A newly primed cannister will bubble a little for the first few hours, it's nothing to worry about. Just needs time to work those bubs out.
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Oct 18, 2015 19:21
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Stoca Zola posted:I came across this heartwarming tale of fish rescue and recovery today, thought you guys might find it interesting. Warning: the initial photos of the neglected fish are very distressing but I wouldn't have posted it if there wasn't a happy ending!  those initial photos
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Oct 18, 2015 21:46
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How the gently caress was it even alive!?  It's like that scene in seven with the emaciated corpse.
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Oct 18, 2015 21:49
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This is the very first tank that I can finally call Finished. It's my turtle's 55 gallon. The theme is Roman ruins, and I have perpetual hard water spots but I think it still looks okay. The lid doesn't sit on the tank properly because of the filter hoses, but I'm thinking of ways to fix it.    The back of the creepy face is a cave!     Things have come a long way since I first got this little guy. Now I get to wait until he's big enough to upgrade to a 100 gallon...
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Oct 19, 2015 06:30
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I offered to help with water changes and algae scrapings of the fish tank at work today when I noticed that the water level had dropped by about a quarter, the single telescope goldfish belongs to the principal who is really very busy and stressed most days (he had two friends but they died and he ate them). Apparently she was so ashamed that she rushed off and cleaned the algae herself  (I just wanted the fish to be happy, and for the principal to have less to worry about).Checked the bendyfin cory tonight, he's got no fluff still and seems happy, so clean water and good food must be doing him good. Hope his fin comes good but if it doesn't, he still swims fine. 6 cories all accounted for, there are three that hang around together a lot, one that sulks up the back, and bendy fin and one big fat one seem to roam around doing their own thing all over the tank. I've adjusted the flow in the tank a few times trying to get a good mix of water movement and not too much turbulence near the surface for when they want a sip of air and I think I've got it right now. I decided the spray bar had to go, I saw a cory swim up to the surface a few times but change his mind when he got level with the spray bar I went for a walk to the local "wetlands" after work today; well its more like a stormwater run-off area that goes into reedbeds and ponds which the council has planted up trying to make into a park. Its still mostly dirt and filthy stormwater but some of the plants have survived, and there are feral ducks, coots, grebes, and some black-tailed hens around. I wanted to see if there were any mosquito fish or other ferals in the water but instead I saw ridiculously large streams of bright orange daphnia following each other around like ant-trails. The daphnia I tried growing for fish food never swam as well or as organised as this, they just seemed to derp around in one spot. Scooped some up in a spare waterbottle I had in my bag and took them home. I'm not going to use these wild caught daphnia to feed my fish since I still don't know whether there are fish in that pond too, so they could be carrying parasites or disease; I've seeded my backyard pond with them since the ponds are currently fish free, hopefully the daphnia will be free from greebles after weeks/months. If they can survive in road run-off water I hope they'll do okay in my murky green pond. Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 07:28
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Man, I'm getting increasingly nervous I don't know how to read this ammonia test accurately. The distinction between the yellow and any green tint is really challenging to see, especially under different lighting! I'm just super worried my tank is going to re-cycle after removing all the gravel and such, but keeping the filter that had run in the old tank setup for a few weeks. At this point, wouldn't I see some NOTICEABLE ammonia in the tank if that were taking place?
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Oct 19, 2015 18:48
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If you are seeing 0 nitrite and >5 nitrate you should be just fine.
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Oct 19, 2015 19:01
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ShaneB posted:Man, I'm getting increasingly nervous I don't know how to read this ammonia test accurately. The distinction between the yellow and any green tint is really challenging to see, especially under different lighting! I have trouble reading test kits myself being color blind. If you want to be extra safe, pick up a bottle of Seachem Stability or Nutrafin cycle.
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Oct 19, 2015 19:01
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ShaneB posted:Man, I'm getting increasingly nervous I don't know how to read this ammonia test accurately. The distinction between the yellow and any green tint is really challenging to see, especially under different lighting!
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Oct 19, 2015 19:02
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ShaneB posted:Man, I'm getting increasingly nervous I don't know how to read this ammonia test accurately. The distinction between the yellow and any green tint is really challenging to see, especially under different lighting! How long has it been since you made the change? If it's been more than a few days with no noticeable spike I would say it's probably not going to happen. I'm still learning myself so if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.
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Oct 19, 2015 19:03
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Enos Cabell posted:If you are seeing 0 nitrite and >5 nitrate you should be just fine. Slugworth posted:Which test kit? The API one has never once been pure yellow for me, whether testing an established tank or just tap water. Multiple similar reports online. A cycling tank will get seriously high levels of ammonia pretty quickly. Keep an eye on it, but I am guessing you are fine if the worst you have seen so far is 'maybe slightly greenish??'. Yeah, the API test. I always see 0 nitrite and >5 nitrates now. The ammonia test is like "MAYBE this is greenish? Do you see, green in this, honey?" or "yeah that's totally yellow, right?" I've been testing daily for over a week, so I think I should be in the clear?
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Oct 19, 2015 19:05
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I have the same trouble with API ammonia tests, I've tested it on known distilled water and it still looks a little green to my eye. Not as green as the next box on the coloured card though. I think I see yellows as a bit green because I definitely see some greens as being blue. Anyway the best way around it is to test some known clean water (not tap water, distilled if you can get it) and hold the tube against a white piece of paper and have the same lighting every time. That way you'll have a better idea if your tank water test is greener than your known no ammonia test. Your only ammonia source at the moment is your fish and you only have two (unless something meaty dies and goes rotten, that will make ammonia too). It's very unlikely that you will get a build up of ammonia from just those. If you are worried about your cycle failing, check for nitrites too. If you see any you are probably right and the tank is recycling, but if you see no ammonia and no nitrites but some nitrates, that's fine. Any gunk from gravel etc would have been producing nitrate not ammonia. You put the plant back in and that would have a heap of good bacteria on it, the filter will still be getting fed from the ammonia your fish are constantly producing, so it shouldn't have starved or anything, it'll build up bacteria to match; as long as you add only a few extra fish at a time, the filter will keep up. Don't panic your tank is most likely fine.
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Oct 19, 2015 19:06
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I briefly considered taking tap water and adding doses of ammonia to it and taking pictures of the test result under consistent lighting to see if I could better clarify, because I have the same problem. Even worse is the high pH test, as between 7.4 and 8.2 is brown - more brown. I've seen pure yellow on my ammonia tests and it is very distinct from the green that shows up for even low levels of ammonia, but it is normal to have a little in there at any one time (plus it's pretty easy to sample water that's been recently imparted with ammonia). At this point the only way you're going to see a difference on the levels is to add more fish, as the two rams aren't doing much to the concentration levels i'd imagine. The main thing we'd want to see for confirmation is to see nitrate levels increasing, because that would only occur when the ammonia is getting processed all the way over. You'll likely be pretty safe as long as you add fish in small batches, which you would be doing anyways.
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Oct 19, 2015 21:06
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The API ammonia test has always had a slightly greenish tinge for me, too, even when just using dechlorinated tap water that hasn't been added to my tank yet. None of the tests line up 100% exactly with the printed colors for me, but most of them are obvious enough that I can tell what they're supposed to match with. The ammonia one drives me insane every time, though, because it's one that tends to read very differently depending on your room lighting and surrounding colors. The suggestion to test clean water and match the color against your tank water is a great one, since that's what I've been doing lately and it is way easier to see if there's a difference or not.
Not Your Senorita fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 21:06
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Woke up to my fridge not working so I've spent my day trouble shooting and fixing that. Lost all the food I had in it, but I did catch my 75 at the perfect time because of it: Crappy phone pick, but you really cannot beat natural light filtering through the plants like that.
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Oct 19, 2015 21:55
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Stoca Zola posted:I have the same trouble with API ammonia tests, I've tested it on known distilled water and it still looks a little green to my eye. Not as green as the next box on the coloured card though. I think I see yellows as a bit green because I definitely see some greens as being blue. Anyway the best way around it is to test some known clean water (not tap water, distilled if you can get it) and hold the tube against a white piece of paper and have the same lighting every time. That way you'll have a better idea if your tank water test is greener than your known no ammonia test. Your only ammonia source at the moment is your fish and you only have two (unless something meaty dies and goes rotten, that will make ammonia too). It's very unlikely that you will get a build up of ammonia from just those. If you are worried about your cycle failing, check for nitrites too. If you see any you are probably right and the tank is recycling, but if you see no ammonia and no nitrites but some nitrates, that's fine. Any gunk from gravel etc would have been producing nitrate not ammonia. I'm gonna admit something to ya'll: I added 4 more swordtails to the tank last Wednesday. I figured if the tank was going to re-cycle, more fish would just make that more apparent with the ammonia they would produce. Two rams were barely going to put a dent into the 55 gallons of water. If it was going to cycle I'd have to do the big water changes anyway. But in the 4 days since adding them I'm still not seeing any increase in ammonia and nitrites are 0. I hope this wasn't irresponsible, but I felt like things were in a good place to move forward. They have been a HUGE addition to the tank ecosystem, though. The rams are SO MUCH MORE alert, move a ton more, and are more active eaters now that the swordtails are in the tank. It's the beginning of the community rather than just two solitary rams bumming me out.
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Oct 19, 2015 22:22
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I got my Aquatic Arts shipment today. And they really made it worth my while for being patient while they moved to their new location. In addition to the $20 free store credit they'd already given me, they threw in extras of everything. I ordered 6 pygmy cories and got 9, ordered 12 chili/strawberry rasboras and got 15, 7 lambchop rasboras instead of 6, 12 Japanese trapdoor snails instead of 10, at least 12 but possibly as many as 15 Thai micro crabs instead of 10. Out of almost 80 animals I did have one DOA, one Celestial Pearl Danio, but they sent 8 when I ordered 6 so there's no complaint there. I thought they shorted me Sulawesi snails, but the snails came packed in wet paper towels in a plastic cup and we went through the towels and found 5 tiny babies hiding in there so they actually gave me 3 extra snails. And it looks like one of the adults laid an egg so I may have another baby. Everything is noticeably lively and active, the fish were trying to swim out of the bags when I pulled them out of the box and the orange Sulawesi snail started trying to climb out of the bowl we're acclimating him in. Nothing is sick or listless, no disease here. Micro crabs! So if you're in the continental US I can give Aquatic Arts a good recommendation for online fish buying. Their animals are healthy and well-cared for, they have amazing customer service, and they tend to give you extras which is awesome since everything tends to survive shipment. They are leagues above a lot of the other big sellers on Aquabid.
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Oct 19, 2015 23:07
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I hope this is not the dumbest question ever, but if I went to my LFS and said I wanted X and Y would they get them in stock for me or is it all luck of the draw?
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Oct 20, 2015 04:55
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Dogwood Fleet posted:I hope this is not the dumbest question ever, but if I went to my LFS and said I wanted X and Y would they get them in stock for me or is it all luck of the draw? Any decent local store would be happy to do that for you, or at least try depending on their suppliers. Bigger chains like Petsmart or Petco probably not.
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Oct 20, 2015 04:58
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Depends on the store and their suppliers. No problem in just asking.
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Oct 20, 2015 04:59
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Enos Cabell posted:Any decent local store would be happy to do that for you, or at least try depending on their suppliers. Bigger chains like Petsmart or Petco probably not. Pearl gourami and sterba's cories aren't terribly exotic, so hopefully! This is a good local store that manages to keep sensitive fish in good shape in stock on a regular basis. I suspect they are getting their chocolate and licorice gourami from someone local since they're in the store all the time.
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Oct 20, 2015 05:11
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Dogwood Fleet posted:Pearl gourami and sterba's cories aren't terribly exotic, so hopefully! This is a good local store that manages to keep sensitive fish in good shape in stock on a regular basis. I suspect they are getting their chocolate and licorice gourami from someone local since they're in the store all the time. Yeah, a decent shop should be able to get stuff you for you. As a long-time gourami fan I say good call on pearls. Try to get yourself no more than one male because they're still grumpy labyrinth fish even if they're more chill than most. There are very few fish that look better than a male pearl showing off for the ladies.
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Oct 20, 2015 05:26
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Shakenbaker posted:Yeah, a decent shop should be able to get stuff you for you. I was captivated by them I don't know how many years ago, but never had a real chance to keep them before. I don't know how well I'll be able to sex juveniles, but there are plenty of floating plants for cover.
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Oct 20, 2015 05:32
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I really hope my rasboras chill out and stop hiding all the time. I have 41 individual rasboras and danios but I only see about seven at any given time, and it's always lambchop rasboras or celestial pearl danios. Very rarely I will see an emerald dwarf rasbora and I never see any of my chili or strawberry rasboras at all, but they've only been in the tank for like 12 hours at this point so hopefully they will acclimate and come out more. I really want more emerald dwarfs now that I know that they're not rasboras but they're danios very similar to CPDs and from the same lake in Myanmar, they're so cool. I have an empty egg sac but couldn't find the baby Sulawesi snail that must have come out of it, but the egg definitely looks like it hatched. That's the second Sulawesi snail that has had a baby very shortly after being shipped here, the babies are adorable so I don't mind at all.  The micro crabs are hiding, but they chose a stick of cholla wood to set up camp in so I can look in and see a bunch of spidery legs sticking out.
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Oct 20, 2015 10:59
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That would be a really cool pic for the arachnaphobe in your life.
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Oct 20, 2015 11:13
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I remember seeing some hypothetical hybrids between CPDs and dwarf emerald rasboras, like this one:  she has the spots but not the same fins. So they aren't recommended to be kept together if you're serious about keeping genetic purity etc.
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Oct 20, 2015 12:04
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Dogwood Fleet posted:I was captivated by them I don't know how many years ago, but never had a real chance to keep them before. I don't know how well I'll be able to sex juveniles, but there are plenty of floating plants for cover. I'm pretty sure that even the little ones still have differences in their dorsal fins. Males are much longer and flowing, females are shorter and rounded.
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Oct 20, 2015 13:57
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OK I tested the tank water against distilled water. Same color, awwh yeahhhh. Feeling really good about the ecosystem in there right now! Now I have to be patient and responsible and get a sponge filter seeded up so I can make a QT for the school of cory cats I want to add next.
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Oct 20, 2015 14:00
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Got the 180g painted and moved into the house over the weekend, and last night I got the plumbing finished up. Still need to clean up the 55g sump and get baffles siliconed in, but the finish line is in sight! 
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Oct 20, 2015 15:12
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ShaneB posted:OK I tested the tank water against distilled water. Same color, awwh yeahhhh. Enos your plumbing confuses me, it'd be cool to see the big picture to see which way the water flows.
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Oct 20, 2015 17:02
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