# My messy "low tech" tanks (photo heavy)



## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The pothos on the back of my 125 is doing SUPER well. Looks gorgeous with the coloring and the leaves are huge on the vines.








125 and pothos make a good team /nodnod
If I can find some idea I'd like to get it to start creeping up the wall behind the aquarium. Maybe just tack up some string in between 2 nails and let it grow on to that. Will need to remember to look for ideas 

Pleco in the tank has started to munch all over the swords. There are chunks missing out of a lot of them lol. Oh well. The swords are huge and can take a little bit of a beating... for now.









Got a couple of overhead shots of the betta.

















I promise little betta... if I can get the little one to take a nap after picking up his sister, I'll clean your tank.
I always forget that his tank and the other 5g just get inside tap water so I can do their water changes even if it's cold lol. DER... I worry about myself sometimes... sigh.

And to ramble a bit....
I am really really itching to get some work done on the tanks. Just hoping this motivation to get some work done lasts until the weather warms back up in a few days.

Been watching some YT videos and finally got around to watching more from that one woman's w/ fancy goldfish. Solid Gold Aquatics. Pretty girl w/ half blonde and half black hair. Anywho..watching her videos with her old fancy goldfish that unfortunately died.... it really made me want some. Like.. REALLY made me want some.
Obviously can't have any, but my gosh, those fat little fish are adorable and their fins gorgeous!
Maybe in the far far future.. once my husband's sanity has finally been lost... I can convince him that getting another large tank (just a 75g) would be a good idea so I could get some of those cuties. A girl can dream.... a girl can dream


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## Flying_Rasbora (Dec 1, 2017)

Is that red on the betta normal?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Flying_Rasbora said:


> Is that red on the betta normal?


It's orange IRL and yep.. totally normal. He's a koi betta so has some interesting coloration 
I know the part on his back looks almost like a wound, but it's just the coloring on his scales 

He's actually colored up a little more from what I first got him. Photo not the best but hopefully it shows what I'm talking about.









From what I understand some or all? koi bettas' colors will spread. Like some will end up going mostly red or mine.. some of the orange and white spots have gone blue. There is a betta photo thread in the photography section where someone has an example of that happening to one of theirs. It's pretty cool


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## Flying_Rasbora (Dec 1, 2017)

Wow awesome fish! I was sad for a second there. I need to get myself a koi betta but between my girl and I we already have 4 bettas.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Flying_Rasbora said:


> Wow awesome fish! I was sad for a second there. I need to get myself a koi betta but between my girl and I we already have 4 bettas.


Well, if you ever get enough room for one more.. koi betta seem to be sold everywhere nowadays. I bought mine from a LPS, but I've seen them at Petco and I think Petsmart too and a store called Pet Supermarket that I think is a chain but just on a smaller scale. They are gorgeous.... just like all bettas


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I actually got some stuff done today!
WOOT!
It took a bit longer than expected b/c our pipes froze overnight. Didn't remember that until after I had drained half the water in the 40g. So guess who got to fill it back up with a 3g bucket..... this gal. :\

I would've waited to do water changes. It's supposed to be warming back up a little in the next couple of days, but hubs took the kids to church with him so that gave me the chance to go to Pet Supermarket by myself and I picked up a few new fish 
They were having a sale on some of their fish.. something I wasn't aware of until after I was already home.. oops. I would've gotten more if I had known though. Oh well...

Anywho... bought 5 peppered cories
















They look pretty good. Really good size on them but need some fattening up.
Hopefully they'll be ok b/c the little pygmy cories still aren't doing well 
I know I should quarantine first. Running the risk though. Hopefully it won't bite me in the ass later.

Also bought 3 "flying fox" which I suspect are just siamese algae eaters.
I put one in to the 40g at first.









And had the other 2 floating while I waited to be able to do a water change in the 125.









I did release the 2 in to the 125, but nope. These sae are teeny tiny and I was afraid that the killifish would hunt them. The male killi did actually try to go after one of them not even 2min after releasing them. Thankfully these fish were easy to catch. Quickly scooped them back up and put them in to the 40.

While doing a water change on the 125... decided to go ahead and pull up the sword compacta to go in to the 40g.
Holy crap... I was NOT expecting this humongous plant








I was expecting a plant with yellowing leaves and a bit ratty looking, but nope. SUPER bushy, lush, healthy plant. I had to take off about 5 or 6 leaves for a little bit of damage here and there, but that was it.
Flippin love sword plants  Hopefully the light in the 40 will be good enough. Dunno why it wouldn't be, but /shrugs

In to the 40g it went after I moved around some of the plants in it.








I still need to move a lot of plants around, but pretty sure this is where the compacta will stay.

Like these swords need to be moved...









The tank is just looking very full right now. A bit too much I think. I want to take out some of the crypts or at least bunch them together in the other corner. I dunno... I'll figure something out.









Few random 40 shots...

Also took out these stems. Didn't have a place for them in the 125 so stuck them in the 40. Hoping with the new lighting they'll do well. Would love to try to get more color in my tanks.









So.. if you were following my first thread... I made this mesh tunnel that I was hoping would become this cool pretty looking moss cave. Well..... yeah.....here is it...








lol....

Sparkling Gourami were looking mighty adorable. They were really showing off their colors earlier and just looking amazing 

























And of course.. the powder blue gourami 









Here's the spot in the 125 that I took the sword from. You can't tell in the photo.... heck, you can barely tell in person that anything has changed lol.









I did do some trimming on the remaining swords. Not a ton. Just enough to get them off the vallis. They've started blocking the light on them again.








Really wish I had another tank just so I could remove 2 more of these swords lol. I've had success growing sword plants before. It's why I love them.... just not this much of a success. Never had them grow this HUGE.
I haven't added dry ferts in a few weeks. Meant to today, but forgot. Will do that tomorrow if I remember.

Just need to do something with my 125, but no idea what since my options are really really limited.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So I guess there is an actual difference to flying foxes and siamese algae eaters.
Honestly do not know which one I have. I THINK they're SAE after seeing some photos of the very slight differences, but I'm not positive.
The ones I have aren't "colorful" like flying foxes are. Also, the black stripe goes to the tail in, but kind of fades out in to it. It's not solid coloring in to the tail fin. That could just be from the stress of being moved though.
Also, the mouth area from what I could see isn't a sucker looking type of mouth that the flying foxes seem to have.
I dunno... the fish are super tiny so maybe once they get bigger, they'll color up and the difference will be obvious.
But for now, I'm gonna call them SAEs lol.
They seem to be doing well though. 2 of them were hanging out with eachother.
New cories are doing well too. Were very eager when I fed the tank this morning.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No real dramatic updates. Just feel like posting more pics b/c why not, right? 

That injured barb is still hanging in there. Mouth is still funny looking, but it's eating and acting totally normal. I dunno..... just do not know.









Couple of cute photos of my dojos. I can't wait to one day have a big group of them in the tank  Will be so much fun watching them interact with eachother.
Maybe later in the year that will happen. Hopefully then the tank will have had no mysterious deaths to worry about.

















The mystery trio (and 2 sparkling gourami). Flying fox? SAE? Something else? /shrugs









3 of the new cories and one of the sickly pygmy cory. The new ones are doing well. Love watching them get excited when I feed the tank 









All of the gouramis in the 40g. Love them!









Formally known as the jar sword. I'm tired so my brain can't figure out the name of it.... oriental sword? I hate calling it that, but that's what the store had it labelled.
As you can see, it was NOT doing well before and is only just now starting to finally get some new growth. It seems to like the 5g tank for now. Need to start dosing a little bit of ferts though.









5g finally got a much needed water change. Had to siphon out a lot of gunk though. Algae really holds on to every little clump of it. And as you can see... I totally forgot to actually clean the glass off lol. Oops. It's not hurting lil bettaman, so it's ok 









40g tank shot. I'm really not sure what to do. I know I want to reposition the small swords in the front left. They're all scrunched there right now.... but other than that? /shrugs
Maybe take out some of the crypts and remove a lot of the wisteria?









And 125 tank shot.
The vallis are still losing a lot of their leaves. Thinking it's leaves from when I recently dosed metricide to try to kill some of the BBA. The val is still alive and kicking though.
The tank is getting more BBA spots. It hasn't gotten to that super hairy point just yet. May use more metricide again if I see plants getting hairy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Quick little update...

Finally got around to testing the 5g hex. No nitrites, but super high ammonia and high nitrates. Not in any hurry to stock it, but I will be doing a water change on it tomorrow to get rid of some of the algae growing and to lower the ammonia some so the plants aren't getting damaged by it.
Can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but Pet Supermarket can/will order cherry shrimp for us when we want them. Just have to tell them at the latest on a Tuesday what we want. That way they can order it and it will get to them on Wednesday. And since the shrimp are tiny, they won't put them in to their tanks, so at least no risk of contamination from their own tanks that all actually look fairly healthy.
So that's great news for when I want to finally get some stock for the tank when it's ready.
Right now though, we don't have the extra $$ to spend on that.. so again.. not in any hurry for the tank to finish cycling 

Going to do some water changes tomorrow and try to clean up the 125 some more. It's getting a lot of brown algae everywhere. Pretty sure it's b/c I've been overfeeding. Need to do an every other day feed schedule... or just stop giving in to the fish wiggles and only feed them about half of what I do lol.

New fish in the 40 are looking good so far. I haven't actually seen the mystery fish FF/SAE ones eating algae. They do pop up when I feed the tank though.. so.. /shrugs. When they get bigger, I'm going to transfer them to the 125.... maybe.

That's all for now. Will get photos tomorrow!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well.. it seems as though I'm on an every other week water change schedule now b/c I did not get one done when I wanted. My energy level has been non-existent.
It's warming up though so at least I won't have to worry about dumping freezing cold water in to the tanks again when I do eventually do water changes.
Oh and hubs decided to clan out that room on the day I wanted to do the water changes so I couldn't really get in there. Oh well.

Tanks are looking ok though. No idea if the SAE/FF are doing anything for the algae in the 40, but the algae does seem to be controlled a bit better.








Going to try my best to try to bunch up some of the plants a bit more. We'll see what happens.

125 is still being attacked by brown algae. Hopefully it hurries up and works itself out soon.
But in other news.. since removing the compacta sword... the crypts and swords around it have really spread. I wish I could show just how huge the swords are. They have gotten HUMONGOUS. I've had amazon swords since I first started planted tanks years ago and I've never had them get this big before. Absolutely LOVE it 









Anywho.. now that the room is clean.. I tried getting a double tank shot  lol









I think once we have some extra money... I want to get more anubias. I'd like to add some to the bettas tank and maybe the 40g too. I like faster growing plants, but looking at photos of some tanks on FB... anubias really are quite pretty


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Both tanks are filling in nicely. I love sparkling gourami's. They are so pretty. I don't think they would work in large groups though and that's where my interests lie at the moment. Tank room looks good!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Problems!

So I finally got my water changes done and done. Bigger than usual changes and I did some trimming and moving around in the 40.
I also added dry ferts and more clay root tablets to most of the tanks (no root tabs in the 125) b/c I've been seeing some pinholes appearing in the crypts. Thinking its just lack of nutrients since I wasn't doing dry ferts in all of them. Hopefully what I added helps and I'll have to remember to dry fert them again next water change too.
Also forgive all of the glare and reflections. I did this mid-afternoon and there was just a ton of light coming in.

First up is the 5g hex
I can not remember the name of the plant but one of them was not happy in this tank. I dunno if it's the cycling process and high ammonia that caused them to die, but thinking maybe?
So I got most of that out and now.. just a waiting game really. I know it looks a little empty towards the window, but I'm hoping the sword in this tank starts getting bigger soon. No idea what kind of sword it is. Probably another argentine one? since it seems as though I got a ton of those lol.
















I'm gonna be on the look out for a small piece of wood to put in to it. Maybe spider wood or heck, maybe something fake if it looks nice enough. I just think it needs something, but it's gotta be small.

Betta 5 gal got a much needed cleaning WITH the glass being cleaned too. I didn't forget! lol
But there's a problem. Betta has white fuzzy spots on his eyes. I've had this happen to fish in the past before and I THINK it might be b/c his tank wasn't as clean as it should have been. I'm going to do another water change in a couple of days to really try to get up the rest of the debris that has settled in some areas. I got a lot of it today b/c I did a 90% water change, but there's still some dirty spots.
Hoping that with nice clean water the spots on his eyes will clear up.
I also moved the anubias nana that was in the 125 in to his tank (on the right side of the rock). I wouldn't mind finding a piece of wood for his tank too. Again... I think I'd like something like spider wood. Gotta just wait though since don't have extra funds right now.








Other than the eyes... how pretty is he?









The 40 got a much needed cleaning too. I also did some rearranging. Moved the small swords to better spots where they should get better lighting. I also moved 2 crypts towards a more shaded spot just to free up more room up front and I trimmed the wisteria down a bit. While trimming the wisteria I found one of the new cories dead  Probably dead for maybe a day or so. Not too long. Poor thing. Hopefully not something it caught from my tank and hopefully not something the other ones have too.
If something else dies in this tank, I think I'm going to treat it. For what? I dunno. I don't think it's parasites, so bacterial something?









Had a couple of aponogeton offshoots that were floating around. Planted them so we'll see if they get better or not.









One of the mystery fish. All 3 are still doing well and they have all doubled+ in size since I got them. I dunno if they're eating algae, but they're thriving it seems so.. yay 








Not sure if it's the same one or a different one.









The java fern that I had in this tank died... but it has baby attached to it. Took off a few and plopped them in to the 125.
I have absolutely no luck with java ferns. Like... ever. Every single one I've ever gotten has turned black and died.









I also moved the ornament and the reddish colored rock. Rested the rock on the other 2 to create a bridge type of thing and just wanted to move the ornament from the right side b/c the moss is taking over that area and it looked very crowded.









Also.. I think I'm going to remove most, maybe all of the wisteria from the 40 and move the argentine swords to the back. OR take some of the corkscrew val from the 125 and move it to where the wisteria was. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea.
Maybe next water change I'll do it 

And the 125 is still chugging along. BBA looks like it's slowly winning this battle. I'm hesitating to use the metricide b/c I don't want the val to get messed up more. It's my own fault for not keeping up consistent weekly water changes.









Sure, they can be aggressive little turds, but they sure are pretty fish 









Funky back dojo loach. I know I say it all the time, but I love these fish SO much. These have quickly become one of my favorite fish. Not shy and pretty active, but not too much. Definitely not spazzy like their little wiggly kuhli cousins. And come on.. look at that face. How cute is he?she? Like a little wormy baby Predator lol
I'm getting more dernit! Oh yes... I'm getting more.









And that's all for now. I've been trying to think of ways I can get the ozelot sword more visible without completely removing the wisteria or needing to remove and relocate the sword. Got nothing yet :\


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Like your new fish. They look like SAE to me- I had a few one time... used to feed them zucchini. Saw a flying fox in a LFS last year and it looked very different- a lot darker in color. I am getting really fond of my peppered cories. How are yours doing with the temp? I have mine at 74° which I think is a little warm for them, but any cooler and my oto in there would suffer. I love your fat blue gourami. The sparkling gouramis sure are pretty. I didn't know they could live communally, either. Your large tank sure is lush. Wow, those swords. I'm always super nervous to pull a big plant from my tank for the mess it makes kicking crud into the water column. 

My betta got that eye cloud once. It was when water quality had gone downhill. I did extra water changes during the week and it cleared up. Keep it clean and he should be ok!

Cheers. Nice to see your tanks again, I hadn't visited your journal in a while.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Like your new fish. They look like SAE to me- I had a few one time... used to feed them zucchini. Saw a flying fox in a LFS last year and it looked very different- a lot darker in color. I am getting really fond of my peppered cories. How are yours doing with the temp? I have mine at 74° which I think is a little warm for them, but any cooler and my oto in there would suffer. I love your fat blue gourami. The sparkling gouramis sure are pretty. I didn't know they could live communally, either. Your large tank sure is lush. Wow, those swords. I'm always super nervous to pull a big plant from my tank for the mess it makes kicking crud into the water column.
> 
> My betta got that eye cloud once. It was when water quality had gone downhill. I did extra water changes during the week and it cleared up. Keep it clean and he should be ok!
> 
> Cheers. Nice to see your tanks again, I hadn't visited your journal in a while.


My cories seem to be doing ok other than the one I found dead. I need to buy more of them when I can. Give them a decent size group. At least 8... maybe 10.
The temp of the tank doesn't seem like it's an issue for them. I haven't seen them acting strange, but it is difficult to spot them since the tank is planted pretty heavily. I honestly didn't even think about the temp of the tank when I bought them. I know panda cories like cooler water, but didn't even think about what other cories would like too. Woops. I really need to get more pf the pygmy cories. There's only one healthy one left and the poor thing is lonely I'm sure 

That's great to know about my mystery fish. I think they're SAE too. From all the photos I've seen, flying foxes have a more distinct coloration on the upper back/spine part of their body and they also have color on their dorsal fin (maybe a stripe?) and mine definitely do not have that. Plus the black stripe on them goes all the way in to their tail fin which I think is an indication that it's a SAE.

Yeah.. I wasn't sure about the gouramis living together either tbh. I was even planning on taking the blue one to the LFS if I had to, but it has all worked out great. I don't think the blue one sees the sparkling ones as a threat. I'm sure the tank size and all of the plants help too to give them all enough space. I'm more than happy that it all ended up working out 

/nodnod I was nervous about kicking up gunk when I pulled the sword, but it wasn't a problem thankfully.  Other than some BBA covered pebbles, the bottom of the 125 is pretty clean.

Figured it was poor water quality since there was still a lot of gunk in his tank. Will definitely be doing those extra water changes this week  

Anywho.. thanks for dropping by my thread!


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

I love your journal. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your previous one, as well. Dojo loaches are fascinating fish, and I, too, love them. They are not particularly easy to find in my lfs. I started with three, gosh, it must be 10 years ago now. I am down to only one, but that one is still going strong. Anyway, I thought I would let you know how much I enjoy your thread!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

The peppered cories are the main ones I know of that prefer cooler temps. In fact, I bought mine to live in an unheated tank that gets below 64° in the winter months. (But my paradise fish was hogging their food so I moved them). I don't think warmer tank makes them sick, but I've read it will increase their metabolism, they won't live as long, and they might not breed. On the flip side, tank on the warmer end of their temp range makes the fry grow quicker.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

I keep my cories in a tank that stays around 70 f., and some have lived to 13 years. The peppered and bronze ones have been the longest lived for me. I have kept peppered, bronze (both brown and albino), julii, bandit, and I just recently added 8 pandas. This is the first time I have kept pandas. I have had the peppered cories breed, and it was when we were away and the thermostat was turned down, so you are right, JJ09, cooler water seems best for breeding. Cories are such great little fish!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do the sparkling gourami's have any trouble competing for food?? Your pics pushed me over and I got 3 today. I want to add 3 - 6 more in my 150. If they can handle living with Tiger barbs they shouldn't have any problems with anything I'm going to stock. How does the group dynamic work?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Do the sparkling gourami's have any trouble competing for food?? Your pics pushed me over and I got 3 today. I want to add 3 - 6 more in my 150. If they can handle living with Tiger barbs they shouldn't have any problems with anything I'm going to stock. How does the group dynamic work?


I have mine in the 40g, not in the 125 with the tiger barbs. I think they would adjust to needing to get their food quickly before the barbs ate it all, but I personally wouldn't even think of putting them in with the barbs. They're not very fast fish and barbs are greedy little turbo charged gluttons.
My 3 are fine with getting food. One isn't as shy as the other 2 and will come to the front of the tank.. eyeball me and eyeball the water surface waiting for food lol. The other 2 come out eventually when they figure out that I'm feeding the tank. 
Hope your new little gouramis do well in your tank! I'm sure they're going to love all of that room they're getting 

Thanks for the info touch of sky and JJ09! I made a newbie mistake. Really shouldn't have impulse bought the cories, but I was there and saw them and needed them lol.
Disappointed that I may never get babies from them b/c of the warmer water though lol.

touch of sky- Aww thank you for reading my ramblings  Dojos aren't that easy to find here either. At least, they weren't before Pet Supermarket opened up. The LFS that I got my 2 from is too far away to go to frequently and they're also not very reliable with fish quality/health. Such a shame really.
Wow, that's awesome that you still have one that is that old. Pic? I love the big full sized hot dog ones lol Mine are slowly getting to their adult sausage sizes


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Lisals, I tried to get a pic of my dojo this morning, and this is the best I could do. He is snoozing in a crypt at the moment. In the photo, he is on a different crypt that is very short, it hugs the substrate. I don't know if that is because the huge jungle val next to it sucks all nutrients from the substrate in that area.

The second photo is where he is snoozing. The small fish are two of the juvenile lemon tetras I just added.

Bump:


lisals said:


> I have mine in the 40g, not in the 125 with the tiger barbs. I think they would adjust to needing to get their food quickly before the barbs ate it all, but I personally wouldn't even think of putting them in with the barbs. They're not very fast fish and barbs are greedy little turbo charged gluttons.
> My 3 are fine with getting food. One isn't as shy as the other 2 and will come to the front of the tank.. eyeball me and eyeball the water surface waiting for food lol. The other 2 come out eventually when they figure out that I'm feeding the tank.
> Hope your new little gouramis do well in your tank! I'm sure they're going to love all of that room they're getting
> 
> ...


I, too, am interested in the sparkling gourami. They are lovely. I haven't seen them locally, but they may be at a fish store about 1.25 hours away. I go there occasionally. They have a much larger selection. 

If you wanted to breed the cories you could take a group of males and females and put them in a smaller tank and lower the temp with a cool water change. That might spur them on.


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## agrasyuk (Jan 5, 2018)

lisals said:


> Sure, they can be aggressive little turds, but they sure are pretty fish


heh, we call ours "oh that little fat idiot!"


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

touch of sky- OOO that is one nice looking dojo. Look how long he/she is! And you sure do have some pretty plants too. 

agrasyuk- lol... I usually call them something a bit more pg13 and turd is the G version of it 


So... I didn't do a water change yesterday as I had planned. Honestly not sure why I didn't... I just... didn't.
But I did do one today in the 5g betta tank.
It also finally occurred to me to check the water parameters. You would think I was a total n00b for how often I forget to do them and the mistakes I make. Geeze.
It's embarrassing to admit to, but well... meh.
Anyway... sure enough.. there was an ammonia reading. I should have known. With the betta's eyes getting the cloudy look... I should've checked parameters then, but I didn't even think of it. Sigh.
Ammonia was at around 0.5. Also checked nitrites and thankfully that was 0. 
Dug out 2 of the biomedia ceramic rings from the 40g and stuck them in to the 5g filter. Hopefully that helps.
Still has a good bit of debris getting kicked up and it's frustrating as heck b/c I can't see where it's gathering. I think I get it all, then go to put water back in to the tank and it's everywhere again. Grrr.

Here's a good example of just how much gunk is still in the tank. I did take out more water right after I took this photo. Tried getting more of it out.
Anyway.. you can also see the holes that are in the crypt leaves. Not sure if they're going to melt or maybe they developed because of the ammonia in the water. I dunno. Added more dry ferts and hope it helps to get the crypts to bounce back. Always have more in the 125 and 40g I can replace them with though.









I finally got over some procrastination and cleaned out the media from the 55 (that has been gathering dust now for a few months lol)... and we took it out to the curb. It was picked up yesterday..... Farewell 55g tank. 20+ years old and I'm sure would've lasted even longer, but we just didn't trust it. When my husband took the stand out all I heard was "Good lord".... then he pointed out how he was surprised that the stand could even hold the tank b/c the stand wasn't designed correctly. Instead of the tank resting on the wooden legs, it was resting on the rack part which was only being held in by just normal screws. There was no extra support. Ugh.. that actually makes me a little ill thinking about how close we came to a watery disaster lol.









40g has a lot less algae. Dunno if it's from the SAE or what, but pfft.. whatever is it.. NICE lol









The moss has just gone crazy in this tank too. It felt like it was taking forever at first and now it's starting to grow like it used to in the 55 and 125. I used to have to remove giant fist fulls of this stuff. Looks like I'll be doing that again eventually 
There is a tunnel under there somewhere.









And finally... one of my sword plants is a momma! lol Noticed a stem poking up out of the water when I fed the fish this morning  So excited! (it's the blurry stem right behind the beggin little oinker barb)
Will be adding more root tablets this weekend I think. Maybe make some more too if the clay hasn't completely dried up


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Happy to report that there was no ammonia reading today from the 5g betta tank  I'll test again tonight and continue testing for a little while just to make sure things are back to where they should be.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Thanks, lisals. The dojo is between 6-8 inches long. It is hard to estimate length, but he or she is large. My favourite swords are the ozelot, both the red and green versions. You have gorgeous sword plants. I am going to step up my root tab fertilizing!

Good news about the ammonia reading. I hope your betta's eyes return to normal soon.

Do you dose potassium in your betta tank? Often those holes are a potassium deficiency. It will take a while to see an improvement, because it will be the new leaves that look better.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

touch of sky said:


> Thanks, lisals. The dojo is between 6-8 inches long. It is hard to estimate length, but he or she is large. My favourite swords are the ozelot, both the red and green versions. You have gorgeous sword plants. I am going to step up my root tab fertilizing!
> 
> Good news about the ammonia reading. I hope your betta's eyes return to normal soon.
> 
> Do you dose potassium in your betta tank? Often those holes are a potassium deficiency. It will take a while to see an improvement, because it will be the new leaves that look better.


I hadn't been doing any ferts in the betta tank. No idea why I wasn't... just.. wasn't lol. I will definitely start doing it though. Some of them have a few new leaves that look ok. Just going to take a while for everything to bounce back.

Bad news was that there was some ammonia in the betta tank again yesterday. I put a few drops of Prime in to the tank and left it. Tested again today and the ammonia has gone down to almost 0. Looked like there was maybe still a tint of green, but mostly yellow.
Will be doing a small water change in his tank today to get out more of the debris laying around.

I'm telling ya... these DIY root tabs seem to have really helped. I'm sure the dry ferts help a lot too, but I've never had this kind of growth in swords before. Never gotten this big.

Alrighty.. got some water changes to do before the family gets back home. Will update again shortly!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Decided to just do a water change in the 5g. It's raining and I don't feel like bothering with the 2 bigger tanks right now. I'll get to them tomorrow though.
I have a big idea for them though. Well, not big big, but it's gonna help tidy things up.

5g tank after the water change. Things are still a bit cloudy, but the amount of floating debris afterwards is a whole lot less than before. Only a minimal amount. Hopefully by the next water change or 2, I'll get that to where there's none or only just a teeny amount.








I also added a couple of trimming of ludwigia to the tank and trimmed off a lot of the super damaged leaves. Also sucked up a good amount of melted leaf debris too. I'm sure these crypts will bounce back, but wanted to add some healthy plants to the tank in the meantime. Plus the ludwigia will bring a little bit of color  Gosh I really want a branchy piece of small wood for this tank! It would look so nice on the right side. 
And I did add more dry ferts too. 

This was before the water change. The stuff settling on the anubias. It was a lot worse before the last water change. So I'm slowly but surely getting things cleaner 









And just a sad lonely pic of the last pygmy cory  Poor little thing. Honestly not sure when we'll have money so I can buy all of these fish that I want, but whenever that time comes, I'll try to get more buddies for this lil one. Just hang in there buddy. Go hang out with your bigger cousins in the meantime.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Did you post earlier how you made your DIY root tabs? I would love to know how to do it and get some good growth on my swords!

Your betta tank looks much better. A few more wc's and it will be great. The ludwigia adds a nice pop of colour.

I have a little checkered barb that has led a solitary life. The poor wee fellow was sold to me as a cherry barb. They were juveniles, and he was mixed in with them. I haven't seen checkered barbs around here, so he is on his own. The cherry barbs all dwindled away over the years, but he is still here. He must be ancient now, so living the solitary life hasn't affected him! I hope your little pygmy cory does as well as my barb:smile2:


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

touch of sky said:


> Did you post earlier how you made your DIY root tabs? I would love to know how to do it and get some good growth on my swords!



All I did was buy some red clay from Michaels and mixed in Osmocote plus with it. Then pulled off little chunks and dried them out for a few days.
Think I read here in an old thread that red clay would have iron or something in it. Get the air drying type and obviously non-toxic.
If you make them.. they're MESSY if you accidentally pull one up. The clay gets all in the water. Same with putting them in the substrate too. You have to be quick and make sure they get pushed far enough down so the clay doesn't seep in to the water.
Or if you don't want to do that, a lot of folks get empty gel caps and put the osmocote in to those to plant.
Or also you could take some tank water, mix in the osmocote and freeze to make little ice chunks to put in to the substrate. Obviously this would make the tank cold if you put in a lot, but it would be a cheap way to do it.
I like using the clay b/c it keeps the fert pellets in the substrate. with my 40g, when I was setting it up, I just sprinkled the fert on the substrate and mixed it up and then capped it with more sand. Whenever I disturb the sand though the fert pellets come to the surface. It doesn't bother me at all, but I'm sure that would bother a lot of people. I'm sure that would be a problem for the gel caps or ice cubes.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Thanks, I have used osmocote plus gel caps in the past. I wonder if the red clay makes a difference?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

touch of sky said:


> Thanks, I have used osmocote plus gel caps in the past. I wonder if the red clay makes a difference?


No clue lol. Maybe the clay helps the roots grab on to the ferts better? I've pulled up a few plants and they usually have their roots growing through the tablets. The compacts sword that I pulled up recently had 2 stuck to it 

Anywho.. sorry for lack of updates. I haven't done water changes like I had planned. Illness and just being busy and tired doing mom things has kept me from it.
Hoping to get what I want done this weekend though. So FX for that!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

The little pygmy cory is so cute! Your betta doesn't bother him? I tried some in my tank, but had to take them back to the store. My betta was stalking them and I worried he would attack someday.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> The little pygmy cory is so cute! Your betta doesn't bother him? I tried some in my tank, but had to take them back to the store. My betta was stalking them and I worried he would attack someday.


My betta is in his own 5g tank alone. The pygmy is in the 40g tank  
I'm too paranoid to put anything else with a male betta lol. I know it can be done... just depends on the betta, but I just don't even try 

Oh and a cool video of sparkling gourami. Not my vid/fish, but it shows them making their little croaking sound. I've never heard mine do it before, but that's not surprising considering how noisy my home is most of the day lol.
Just thought it was a cool video to share 
https://youtu.be/BWDsDkUMRMc


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Of course! I should have figured- but from the closeup on the pygmy cat looked like maybe it was the same tank.

That's a cool video. What gorgeous little fish. I knew they made a sound but never heard it before. Looks like a dominance display, huh.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, definitely looks like those were making the sound as some kind of dominance thing.

Water changes yesterday in the big tanks finally and changed some things around 

First up is the 40. I took out about 99% of the water wisteria. Left a couple of floating scraps and planted one of them and that's it.
In its place, I removed all the corkscrew val from the 125. It wasn't getting enough light which I'm guessing was why it kept losing its leaves. Light isn't as good in the 40, but hoping it does well since it doesn't have anything shading it any longer.








And as you can see.. the moss on the left side is going crazy. Just letting it float now b/c I have no idea what else to do with it lol.

And in the 125.. I took out all of the wisteria that was still rooted down. Left some floating bits, but that's just b/c of laziness lol.
That's all I had planned, but removing the wisteria left a good bit of space open in the back, so I moved the sword that was in the right corner to the back corner.
It kicked up a lot of clay in to the water
But with water change and turning the filters back on.. it cleared up in no time 









Moving the sword back really brightened up that corner so I probably could have left some val, but meh... lol









I decided to move the red flame sword to the corner. It was also being shaded by the taller plants around it. So hopefully with more light and a few root tabs under it, it will grow nice and big. Then I'll have another problem and have to figure out where the heck to put it lol.









With the wisteria out of the way and the sword beside it, I can kinda sorta see the ozelot sword better! lol It has some pleco munch spots, but overall it looks like it's doing well.  Maybe in the future, I'll switch around some plants. There is a big compacta sword and a big regular amazon sword kind of in front of it. I could switch spots with one of those. Hmm... maybe next water change if I'm feeling up to it 









Oh.. and I have TWO momma sword plants now  The big one in the back also has a stem growing from it. It had wedged itself in the plastic bracing at the top of the tank somehow, but I managed to wiggle it out.









And this one up front coming from the big compacta sword has gotten super long.









Tank shot 
I had also wanted to trim the ludwigia way way down, but that will have to wait since I'm not sure where I'd put the small trimmings since the sword plants are basically shading everything.









And just b/c they're awesome.. my dojos. They were all over my hands while I was messing around in the tank, so I took advantage to handle them a bit more. They're SO soft. Like petting the softest cashmere. I didn't grab on to them or actively try touching them, just let them go crazy in my hands while they looked for snacks that they think I stash between my fingers lol.
They're so darn cute! I can't wait to eventually get more b/c I'm really curious to see how a big group of them act together.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

I can't get over how big all your sword plants are! They are beautiful. The dojos are so cute. Great pictures!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Your swords look great. Bright green and vibrant and they give the tank a nice look. My red flame sword is now gargantuan... a single leaf is probably 4 inches wide... maybe 15 inches long. It's so gorgeous, but it throws off the proportions in my 75... and it's WAY too big for the 150. I'm going to sell it. I need to find something to take up the space first. Maybe bolbitus if it grows fast enough. Personally I would keep it a little shaded. If not the leaves grow to twice the size of normal Amazon swords. It's a shame.
The 40 is really filling in nicely. Still no metricide?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Your swords look great. Bright green and vibrant and they give the tank a nice look. My red flame sword is now gargantuan... a single leaf is probably 4 inches wide... maybe 15 inches long. It's so gorgeous, but it throws off the proportions in my 75... and it's WAY too big for the 150. I'm going to sell it. I need to find something to take up the space first. Maybe bolbitus if it grows fast enough. Personally I would keep it a little shaded. If not the leaves grow to twice the size of normal Amazon swords. It's a shame.
> The 40 is really filling in nicely. Still no metricide?


No metricide in the 40. Never plan on using it in that tank.. or well, no longer using it there  . I did add a little to the 125 yesterday though. Plan on adding a little bit here and there just to keep the BBA in check. It's starting to spread a little more on to some leaves. I don't really care about it growing on the wood and whatnot, just not on my plants 

Wow, that's awesome how big your plant got!! I can't wait to see how big mine gets. If it gets that huge... I dunno what the heck I'll do b/c I certainly don't have any space lol. I bet you're going to get a great price for yours  That's why i love swords. They look amazing and when they're healthy, they grow fairly fast and easy. Really rewarding plants, BUT of course, you just have to make sure you have the space for them


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

You sure seem to move your plants around frequently. I thought swords didn't like that. But yours are reproducing! I've never had one do that (I only have one, maybe that's why)


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> You sure seem to move your plants around frequently. I thought swords didn't like that. But yours are reproducing! I've never had one do that (I only have one, maybe that's why)


I really don't. At least... I don't think I do lol.
The 2 that are producing the stems haven't been moved since I started this tank back up last year. Or well no, that's not totally accurate. I added a little more substrate to the back of the tank and gently pulled up that sword just a little, but that was it.
I don't like moving them b/c then they have to adjust to their new spots, but the ones I have moved really needed it and have seemed ok so far  Like the compacta sword that got moved to the 40. That one was packed in there with a bunch of others in a fairly small area.
As for the ones that I'm thinking about moving... I'm still debating. I would love to see the ozelot sword better, but it's a lot of mess/work moving them. /shrugs We'll see what happens and if I do move them, we'll see if they bounce back quick or take a while


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So guess what's invading my 40g now after I said I would never use excel/metricide in my tank?









Sigh! lol
I'm still not going to use the stuff and I'm hoping the SAE eats the BBA. We'll see what happens though. 

Spotted the pygmy cory hanging out with the larger cories. Still feel bad for it, but glad that it seems to be taking at least some comfort in the bigger ones.









Tried getting nice shots of 2 of the bigger guys, but they darted off when they spotted me.








I'm kind of tempted to get some for the 125, but nah. With my plan on eventually getting more dojos, I don't think cories would be able to compete against them and all the other piggies in the tank.

Speaking of piggies.... check out my barbs!
I was messing with the color options on my phone to see if I could get rid of the green tint it shows for the 125. Couldn't fix it though... oh well.
Shame too bc the green barb on the left was looking mighty pretty. Its green was looking soft and peacock velvety.
Oh and you can see the red one at the top. That's the one that had (still has) the funky mouth. It's still kicking around and doing ok 









Wondering what I can do to prepare my fish for a week of no food. Definitely do not want to use any kind of auto feeder. Don't trust those things. Maybe I could get one of those cube/pyramid looking food blocks?
I mean.. I know the fish will be ok without food... I'm just going to feel bad about them not eating is all.
I'll just have to remember to feed them extremely well the day before we leave


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

They'll be totally fine! I have left my fishes for up to 15 days w/out food and sure they were hungry when I got back but it was ok. Honestly your barbs look nice and chunky, maybe it will good for them to slim down a bit haha.

Yikes on the algae. I've had that stuff in my tank before. I've seen two other things eat it- malaya shrimp and odessa barbs. Except probably fish would bother shrimp in your tank?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> They'll be totally fine! I have left my fishes for up to 15 days w/out food and sure they were hungry when I got back but it was ok. Honestly your barbs look nice and chunky, maybe it will good for them to slim down a bit haha.
> 
> Yikes on the algae. I've had that stuff in my tank before. I've seen two other things eat it- malaya shrimp and odessa barbs. Except probably fish would bother shrimp in your tank?


Lol, yeah my barbs will definitely be ok an could probably benefit from losing a little bit of the chunk  lol

I think dosing the tank w/ ferts has caused the BBA to go a bit crazy b/c there really wasn't any before I started back up with it.
/shrugs Hopefully things balance out a bit and gets back under control. I may try to use some peroxide on the really bad spots, but right now, I'm just going to wait and see.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

I have not seen anything clean up algae like that until I killed it with h202. Then my shrimp went to town on it.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Another reason to not worry about feeding them while you're gone- if the algae-eating fish find nothing better in the tank, they're more likely to eat the BBA.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Another reason to not worry about feeding them while you're gone- if the algae-eating fish find nothing better in the tank, they're more likely to eat the BBA.


That is a very good point


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nothing much to report on. All fish are doing well for now.
Just got done with a water change in the betta tank. His eyes are looking better. Still has the white spots, but they're not as pronounced as before.









This little sword is trying to hang in there. Its roots aren't very big so it keeps getting uprooted whenever I do water changes. It's trying to grow new little leaves though. lol









Red flame sword in the 125 has grown some nice new leaves 









Also the stems coming from the 2 sword plants have finally sprouted some baby plants! 
















125 is looking a bit rough though. Lots of algae just everywhere and there's some not so healthy sword leaves popping up. Not sure if it's just old leaves that need to be trimmed or a deficiency. Need to add more root tabs soon.

40g is looking ok.









The val seems to have taken to it well. Haven't seen it melt back yet. Also looks like the SAE may be slowly taking care of the black beard algae too. Remember how covered the anubias was? It's almost free of the BBA now. Still some of it on the wood, but meh... so long as it's not on the plants 








I'm not going to bother cleaning the sides of the tank when I do water changes this weekend. Leave something for the fish to peck at while we're gone.

And just b/c... my messy tray of dry ferts. Cheap and easy to use. I used to put tank water in to the bottle and shake it all up that way but meh. I now put them in dry, shake the bottle and then distribute.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

We got back from our trip yesterday afternoon. Most of the fish are ok, but the gourami in the 125 died. Didn't find it until this morning.
Noticed that it was looking unwell right before we left (figures). Bloated and looked like it was on the verge of pineconing. I gave it an epsom salt bath before we left and while doing a water change, but it didn't help it obviously. Was hoping that it was just constipated and would poop while we were gone, but guess it was something else.

Thankfully it looked like it hadn't been dead for too long. Maybe a day at the most, so at least it hadn't completely polluted the water.
Still need to do a water change though. Not feeling well.. think it's just exhaustion. Disney trip is all fun and games for the kids.. not so much for the parents lol.
I'll try to get some new pics up soon.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No huge updates. Just felt like I needed to post since I hadn't in a while.
Tanks are doing ok.
5g betta tank is being attacked by diatoms. Not the brown algae stuff, but the stuff that looks like debris on everything. Like I had fed the tank too much and all the uneaten food is settling on everything. 
Pretty sure it's b/c the filter intake is getting clogged with plant debris so the flow isn't where it should be.
Did an emergency water change yesterday due to my youngest wanting to feed the betta scrambled eggs and a crayon and tried cleaning off the filter. Worked for about 2 seconds before the rest of the litter that I didn't get out got stuck on the intake. I'll get the plant tweezers and pull off what I can.

I also moved the struggling sword plant and put it in to the 40g. Not sure why it wasn't doing well. Hopefully in the 40 it will do better.

40g is doing fine. Going to try tidying it up a bit this next water change. It's not looking terrible, I just want it to look a little cleaner. Not really sure how to achieve that though without getting rid of any plants. We'll see what I can do.
The SAE hide all the damn time. I see them for a split second in the morning when the lights come on and then they disappear. Is that normal?

125 is doing ok but is in desperate need of a cleaning. I guess sword plants get their sister stem at certain times in the year? That's the only thing I can think of b/c there's one in the 40 and then almost all of the ones in the 125 have them now. I don't have room for more plants dernit!! lol Looks like the tiger barbs are snacking on some of the new leaves... maybe the pleco at night too.









No updated pics.. these are from before our trip. I've just been lazy. I'll get some when I do a water change this weekend though. 

Poor gourami before the trip when I gave it an epsom salt bath. 









This plant... whatever it's called actually pearled after a water change


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Eggs, oh dear. I've fed boiled egg yolk to a fry before, but scrambled would be bad. I hope it wasn't greasy. Sorry about your poor gourami. Ever thought of selling, trade or roak your baby swords?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

They were a little greasy, but I think I got most of it out. The kids have also dropped dog toy stuffing (which just floated), junk mail, and scrap paper in to the betta's tank now. My 1.5yo started this and my 3yo I guess thought it was a great idea to keep going. SIGH.
He also decided to put his leftover cereal in to my 5g hex on the dining room table..... and another crayon :\
Of course that gave my husband some snarky remarks on how I should just take it down and get rid of my other tanks too.
Yeah, he got some side eye for those comments. He literally does nothing for the tanks. I do all of the maintenance, so not sure why he's so against them... well.. other than me wanting to buy more fish rofl 

I would be up for selling, I just don't have the energy to take packages to the post office. My 2 youngest drain my energy and havent quite mastered how not to act like rabid badgers in public yet  I would like to try to sell to the LFS, but /shrugs... I dunno.
We'll see what happens and what I feel up to doing.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Sorry, I forget if it was mentioned, do your tanks have lids- ? Might keep little hands out. That's a tough age it wasn't so longer ago I was there, too. they just want to do everything, huh. And get into it all.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It's been a while!

So I FINALLY got around to doing water changes. I hadn't done one since the one I did right before our vacation.
I'd like to blame it all on illness (bc my kids keep me sick and tired 24/7 lol), but nah.. there was a lot of laziness involved too lol.

Fish all seem to be ok though and looked to really enjoy some good fresh water.
The tanks REALLY needed their glass cleaned though and the algae is starting to want to take over which I'm not thrilled about, but it's my own fault.
Hopefully I can get it sorted out again.

First up is a photo of my bamboo roots! Decided to get rid of the jar (which I haven't done yet), so pulled up the bamboo to plant in the little 5gal hex.
Really cool. Wasn't expecting it to have all of this. I can't get it planted right in the 5gal. It doesn't have a nice thick layer of substrate like the jar did.








Oh well.. hopefully it'll do ok.

40g is having a BBA problem. Determined not to use the metricide in it. Hopefully the SAE will keep it under control. Hair algae has decided it wants to come back again too.
Also, a lot of the crypts have melted. Not sure why since I hadn't messed with them in a while, but meh...
I still need to figure out something with this tank. Right now the moss is taking over the right side of the tank. It's the giant mass you see plus it's growing all over the heater and everything behind it.
Funny how I was afraid that it wouldn't grow then BAM here I am a couple months later wondering how to control it from taking over lol.









And bonus... the pygmy cory was out and about and decided to rest on one of the osmocote pellets that came up. Look how tiny it is! 









The 125 is doing well for the most part. Still having a battle with BBA or it might be green spot... or a combo of both probably.
Ended up pruning a lot of sword leaves with the stuff on it. I think it's spot algae b/c it wasn't furry.
Anyway... it needed trimming anyway. Needs more but didn't want to do too much at once.








Still looks good from afar I think 

Am having a problem with this sword though. The leaves are coming in crinkled looking and also slightly twisted. Anyone know what nutrient deficiency is causing this?








Thought I was dosing everything that they needed, but apparently not.

The sister plants on all of the swords are looking good though. Some have tiny roots, but some don't have anything. /shrugs Not sure if I'm supposed to keep them on until they get longer healthy roots or if they'll develop after being trimmed. I'm not in any hurry to trim though since I have no plan on what to do with them.

















And just enjoying my barbs. The black ruby barb males were really showing off during the water change and just looked stunning. Wish the photos did their coloring justice. Such a dark red/black color. 









And look at the green barb too! And all the others... just surprised I got a good sharp picture of them all since they wouldn't stop moving lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

All is not well with the fish. Looks like funky mouth tiger barb that I thought was recovered enough to at least eat is in fact dying. Getting thinner and looks like it's having trouble swimming right too. Wiggling instead of smooth movements.
If I can catch it, I'll put it in to the floating tupperware container.

Also... I want to set up a temporary tank to grow out all of the swords that I have coming in. Hubs suggested that I should sell them, but I'd want to grow them out a bit and make sure they have nice big healthy roots.
Maybe get a clear storage bin and some terracotta pots to plant each one in and then put it outside for light. Well... when it gets warm enough.
We definitely don't have room inside for anything like that. Heck, when I get new fish, I'll have to put them in to the 5g hex for quarantine b/c there's no room to set up an actual quarantine tank anywhere lol. Oh well... work with what ya got right? 

Oh and I bought some calcium tablets for the plants. Posted another thread in the plant section here and it was suggested that maybe it's a calcium problem. Looked up info on our tap and it does appear that we have kind of soft water and with me not doing regular water changes or dosing, I'm sure that contributed to that sword growing funky.
Hopefully the tablets will help along with getting back in to doing regular water changes.

And finally... I REALLY want to do something different with the 5g betta tank. It desperately needs a nice piece of wood or something in there. It just looks too bare with only the plants. Hopefully I can find something decent for not too much money.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And one of the SAE is dying in the 40g. Seriously..... seriously??? Couldn't catch the barb, but I did catch the SA. Not difficult when it's laying on its side.

And that poor barb does want to eat, but seems like it can't again. Really need to invest in some clove oil so I can humanely euthanize. I hate seeing these fish suffer.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And the filter in the Betta tank died. Really?? What else could go wrong. Sigh...
My 3yo likes turning off the power strip and the filter motor seems to have overheated and burned out when I turned the power back on. Noticed that the betta's tail is also a little frayed so I put him back in to his mesh cage in the 125 until I get things sorted.
Took an emergency trip to PetSmart for a new filter. Bought a topfin one and learned they have a lifetime warranty with receipt so that's cool at least. 
Have the new filter going with some new added bio pellets and an old sponge from the 40. Also put in some shrimp pellets for the ammonia and whatnot.
Checked water parameters and ammonia and nitrites were still ok, but will see what happens with the new filter in there. I'm sure a mini cycle will start, but hopefully it won't last too long.

Also ordered 2 small pieces of Malaysian wood off Amazon lol. I'm sure it won't be what I'm invisioning in my head, but oh well. It will be going in to the tank no matter what.

Just not happy with the 5 g in general and hoping the wood will help. Think I'm going to add more plants too. I dunno... We'll see what happens 🙂


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I feel like a crappy Oprah.
And this tank gets algae! And that tank gets algae! And THAT tank gets algae! You all get ALGAE!!!!!!!!

I mean.... just look how ridiculous...








I'll be doing water changes during the week sometime. Hopefully I can suck out a lot of it. Sheesh.

And my betta and the poor SAE in their respective little 'cages'.
Betta is fine in his and sae just isn't doing well.
















The dojo loaches were thrilled when I got the betta cage back in to the water. Not even 2 seconds went by before their weird little butts were wiggling between it and the glass. Their old sleeping spots lol.
Gawd I love those fish! 

Got the 2 pieces of wood in this morning unexpectedly. Not like the best looking pieces, but I did something with them. I don't think it looks too bad.

















As you can see from the anubias to the right, there is still a lot of algae in this tank too. I put in one stem of cabomba. Hoping it helps to suck up any nutrients away from the algae. 
Still not happy with this tank. I mean... I'm sure once the plants are healthy again, it will look better, but it's just so bleh.
I have an idea... but we'll see if I can actually accomplish it lol.

Oh and I messed up. SIGH!
Was doing a water change in that tank and needed to add a little more water so I could suck up more gunk.
And I forgot to add Prime! Thankfully the filter wasn't on so whatever bacteria was in there was still ok, but I guess I probably just killed all or most of whatever was in the tank. Awesome :\


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... so... my plan is to add dwarf sag to the 5g. Going to keep the anubias, cabomba and the crypts in the left corner, but take out all the other plants and hopefully be able to grow a carpet of dwarf sag on the bottom. Going to readjust the rocks and wood as well.
Only getting a small amount of dwarf sag, but hopefully they'll arrive here healthy and hopefully they'll do well in the tank. Not sure why they won't, but pfft.. with my current luck... they could all die off and I'll be back at the beginning wondering what the heck to do next.

Also have a plan for the grow out tub. Just need to go out and purchase everything.
Shouldn't be too expensive. Going to get a clear storage bin w/ lid, pots, organic potting soil and maybe some gravel or small pebbles or something. I don't think that will matter too much though since it's just plants so don't have to worry too much about keeping the water pristine.
I wanted to put this out in the backyard on our picnic table, but one of our dogs is SO destructive. Would not doubt that he would completely chew threw a bin. But I'm willing to give it a try.
Then, just have to figure out what to do with the plants. Maybe sell them to LFS or maybe sell them here if people are interested.... and if I can muster up the energy to take 2 toddlers to the post office with me which just... ugh... even thinking about that makes me groan lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Sorry... posting a lot! lol
Finally feel like I'm getting out of my aquarium funk (even if I'm having some trrouble atm) and just wanted to post while I have a quiet minute alone.

Checked water parameters in the 5g hex and boy.... still a LOT of ammonia in there. That's kind of surprising since it's been set up for so long and I really only add water when it gets low.
Did a big water change to help get rid of some of the ammonia and to clean the tank up a bit. LOADS of algae all over the place. Still a bunch that I couldn't get out.
Took out about 98% of the water and surprisingly the plants in the tank are doing pretty well. Whenever it's ready and we have the funds... the tank is going to make some shrimp very happy 

















Oh and I found a video of someone using a baby pool to grow out plants. Think I may eliminate the pots to save some money. Their swords didn't grow well in it though and I need to figure out something to keep the dog from destroying it.
I'll post pics whenever I start getting all of the items. It's still a little too cold right now to set anything up though, but that's ok. I think a lot of the swords need a little more time on their stems.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Few things bought 









The bags of pea pebbles were only 2.50 each and the soil was $6. Could've just gone with non organic and get something cheaper, but meh.
After watching more videos on outdoor grow out containers... decided against clear tubs and will be going for something solid colored and dark. Haven't purchased those yet, but not in too much of a hurry while we wait for the weather to warm up a little more.
Spring time here is all over the place and temps can fluctuate a lot. Probably won't be able to set anything up for another 2 weeks at least.
Also need to buy some stakes and some kind of mesh and/or shade cloth too.
I'm excited to see how the plants do. I'm worried about the heat when temps rise, but hoping that shade cloth will help. Will probably have to do daily water changes too to help cool things off.

Would love to be able to put some fish in the tubs too, but have nowhere to put them after being done/over winter and don't want to have to set up an air pump outside for anything lol. Oh well. Just plants is good with me.

Will be putting all of those extra sword plants I'm getting along with some ludwigia and whatever else I want to experiment with  So excited!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I know my tanks aren't all that inspiring. Especially now with the algae going crazy lol. But hey.. gotta post the bad with the good 

SAE finally died. RIP lil fish. Wish I knew what had gone wrong 
Other fish look ok as far as I can tell. Will be doing water changes tomorrow.

Anywho.. first up is the 5g hex. Looking so much better after the big water change. Wish it was just a standard tank shape so I could spread out the plants, but meh.









5g betta tank.
Still needs a really good cleaning out that hopefully I'll get done tomorrow. Not sure what else there is in this tank that could be causing such a problem. The crypts aren't melting like they were so that can't be it. Thinking it's algae that's catching all of the tiny particles and it's making it look worse.
Anywho... ammonia today looked normal. Going to give it a few more days though before moving betta back in and of course keep an eye on things once he is back in.









Looks like there was some die off... hopefully just melting from the vallis in the 40. It's in the back so I can't really see what's going on. FX that new growth will start to pop up.
Really need to fish out the floating dead leaves. Will do it tomorrow.









Have a plan for the giant mass of moss. Going to get it its own tub to put outside and just go crazy in. Seperate it some so it can really grow and then.... I dunno... lol.









Single little BN pleco and still doing a lot of damage in the 125. Oh well. Not like the swords don't have plenty of leaves to spare.









I am wondering when the heck the sister plants are going to get some roots though. Some of them have teeny tiny little buds, but really nothing substantial enough to thrive on their own. Wonder what's going on?

























Thing is though... the sister plants in the 40g that are mostly smaller than the ones in the 125 have some good root systems growing.








They are different type of swords so I guess it's not fair to compare too much. Just curious...

125 looks pretty good from far away. Just don't get any closer and you'll see all the damage and algae rofl.
Plus that little sword in the right corner needs to grow already! It's gotten new leaves, but just hasn't gotten any height to it.
Oh well.....
This tank will look different once I'm able to get the outside stuff set up. I like the lush look.... love it in fact! But I want to remove a lot of plants to give some of the plants in here a chance to spread out more. Like the pretty crypt plant that I can never get a good photo of... and the ozelot sword.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Keep on posting. I learn so much from reading about the trials and tribulations of people's tanks. Journals where nothing goes wrong are not nearly as "fun" to read. The FTS picture looks great!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Ive gotten into planting things in other places now too. I have 2 large plastic bins that I'm using to transition several plants from submerged to emersed. I really think you would enjoy it. I just leave them outside in an area that only gets direct sunlight for a couple hours a day. I don't know why you are having such struggles... do you have tight fitting lids? I wonder if the little ones are occasionally dropping things in causing these random deaths and some of the plant struggles. I don't know if you would consider it, but C02 just makes the entire hobby so much more enjoyable and rewarding. I don't know that I would still be as interested had I not gone the C02 route. 
I think your tanks are nicely grown in and the algae isn't as bad as you think, but they are struggling for carbon. You could probably use the $15 amazon DIY system and a Hagen mini as a diffusor in your 40. I think you would be blown away.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh I've thought about going back to CO2, but just don't have a way to get refills easily. I just don't want to drag 2 toddlers..... 2 very very boisterous toddlers along to get refills when needed, so low tech it is for me... and all the struggles it brings 
Maybe I'll try the DIY CO2 thing one day down the road, but right now... nah. Just have other things I want to get first.
I just need to be consistent with my water changes again. I think that's my major problem right now. I dropped from once a week to every other week, then just kind of did it whenever. It's my own fault that the algae has gotten out of control.

As for the deaths... my 2 little ones can't get to the 125 and 40. We have that whole area baby gated off lol. It's just the 5g betta tank and the 5g hex that they can reach and thankfully they ignore those tanks most of the time and have only put stuff in to them a couple of times. Just have to keep them from turning the power strips off again and burning out another filter  So yeah... not the kids killing my fish. Wish it was something that obvious and fixable but nope.

OO I did see someone post a photo of a nice simple wooden lattice top for their tanks that I really want to try making. I do need something better for the betta tank.

I am really looking forward to growing some plants outside. I'd like to build some small stands for whatever containers I get. I think right up against the back of the house would be the best area. I wanted to put them on our picnic table, but it gets way too much sunlight. I think it starts getting shaded at around 5pm? I'll have to remember to keep an eye on it to get an exact time... but yeah.. it gets A LOT of light and it would end up probably boiling my plants and just causing way too much algae.
Only thing that I'm worried about is when it gets hot here. No idea what I could do to keep the tubs from getting too hot during the summer months.

And thanks sdwind! If ya want struggles... my thread is definitely the place to be  lol


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Your sword babies are cool. Those in the last pic with the longer roots- I bet you could cut them off and plant them, or sell on the forum here. 

I had same issues with heat when I wanted to do an outside container last summer. And my outside outlet doesn't work, so I couldn't run a filter on it either. I ended up just doing subwassertang, hornwort, duckweed and water lettuce with a few trumpet snails tossed in. It was pretty. And full of algae at the end. The subwassertang died, the hornwort did okay once floating plants grew in to shade them. I had it on my deck in a corner that got shaded from the house half the day, but when I stuck a thermometer in there it was usually over 95°! 

I think the snails died, but I did find plenty of mosquito larvae in there, and once a damselfly larva. I'd totally do it again, but I accidentally broke the container (didn't drain it all the way and it cracked when the few inches of water left in froze).


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's exactly what I want to do with the shelving. Right up against the house and have a clear Tupperware on each shelf. One of the bins is pretty big though. I've got Bacopa Caroliniana, hygro kompacta, and Rubin growing in that one so I needed the height. I really hope the heat doesnt cause problems. Its only hit high 80's a few times so far this year, but summer is fast approaching. 
As to lids I used black egg crate as the main lid and then black gutter guard mesh pieces on the front and rear areas that weren't taken up by filters and the lights. Super cheap and doesn't constantly have to be cleaned like glass to keep PAR decent.
Weekly water changes I've learned are an absolute must... for me algae goes rampant after 8 days... so Saturday is ALWAYS water change day. I use a submersible pump and clear tubing. Stick the pump in the tank and run the tubing to the bathtub and pump out half the water. Then I have a 30 gallon bin in the bathtub filling with water, drop in some Prime and put the pump in there and run the tube to the tank. Pump the water back in. I can do all 3 high tech tanks in about in about 30 minutes. The pump was about $40. It's 425gph. I could never keep up with water changes without it


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09- Yeah, I'm just really worried about what the heat is going to do. Posted in the pond section here and someone suggested to bury the containers a little so the earth can keep them insulated a bit better.
I dunno... Have to figure out something.
Yeah... those swords w/ the longer roots are definitely ready to be snipped and planted on their own  Just wanted to wait so I could throw them outside. Don't have any room in any of my tanks right now to plant anything else lol.

Dude1- I'll have to look in to the egg crate and mesh. Can I bug ya for a photo of your tops please? 

Still debating on the containers to use. A part of me just wants to use a kiddy pool, but then another part wants to get some bins. And someone suggested to use a solar water pump for circulation to keep mosquitoes away. /shrugs
Wish I could put stuff on our front porch, but we live in a HOA run neighborhood that definitely wouldn't like for me to leave out big ugly bins lol. Told hubs he needed to make me some wooden plant boxes lined with pond liner 

But anyway.... water changes happening in a little bit! More pics to come!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes done in the 40 and 125. 

The 40 was just.. bleh. SO messy. Those floating plants.. whatever the heck it is is everywhere in the tank and the giant mass of moss was holding on to a lot of crud.
Drained about 80%, filled back up about 70% and then drained 60% again. Also netted out a lot of debris. Looks better, but still needs more cleaning.
Only saw one SAE. Not sure if there is a 2nd one in there or not.









All of the cories, gouramis and other fish were alive and kicking so yay for that at least.
Had to get a photo of the gourami. He's such a pretty fat lil fish... and I just thought this photo ended up pretty neat looking 









It's difficult to tell in the photo, but there are some val still growing. Yay  Really hoping more will pop up, but if not... well.. I hope the ones remaining send out runners eventually.









And I totally forgot that there was an anubias in the middle of all this moss lol. All of this will be coming out. Might do something tomorrow. Just set up a little temporary something that I can easily take out and bring in.









Oh and I found 2 new little lily plants  The big bulb melted back to just a bulb. Not sure if it's still alive or not.
Put one in the 125 and the other is still in the 40 

















Decided I'm going to take all of this out too. It's the micro sword and it's just not thriving at all in this tank. Hoping it will do well outside... after I dip these suckers in some peroxide or metricide. 









Cloudy after the big cleanup, but looks much better without all that nasty slimy algae clinging to everything.









And bonus photo of one of the crazy dojo loaches. I thought these things would rest somewhere on the bottom, but nope. They LOVE laying on the floating plants at the top of the tank.









Do not plan on doing a water change in the 5g betta just yet. Tested ammonia and there was a very slight reading. Leaving it be in hopes of it going through this cycle quickly. I'll do water changes if it starts looking grungy though.

Was planning on doing a change in the 5g hex though. Also tested ammonia and HOLY CRAP. I don't think I've ever seen the result that dark before. It was darker than the highest reading.
Yikes. Kids had to be taken care of first so haven't gotten around to it just yet. But... wow. What the heck is creating that much ammonia in that tank?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

AHHA! I have a temp container for the moss. 
It was filled with baby bottles that aren't in use any longer and after tossing all of those... it will be perfect for my experiment 
Think it's about 3 gallons and should be easy enough for me to bring in and out of the house until I can get something else. 








Just have to find a good spot for it on the front porch that any nosey HOA people can't see  lol

Also got in the dwarf sag I ordered from amazon. Looks healthy, but damn... very tiny amount. I mean... I wasn't expecting a huge amount, but this just seems extra small lol. Oh well. I'll work with it. Just plopped it in to the 5g for now.









Also remembered to check out back at around 12:40 to see where the sun/shade was and it looks good. I'll have to remember to look in the morning to see exactly when this spot gets direct light.








See those 2 dogs? They're the good ones that don't do any damage... like all of my chewed up plant pots in the photo.
No no... that damage comes from this one








He's the reason why I'm gonna have to find some kind of solution to keep him away from my bins. After setting them up, would not be surprised if I looked out there and saw one of them across the yard and/or him sitting in one and digging around. lol
/shrugs We'll see what happens I guess


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The morning sun hits the back area starting at around 8. It's only shaded sun though through trees. I forgot to keep checking it, but I think that spot is going to be great  It will get some light, but will be mostly shaded during the day. WOO!
Now for the weather to warm up just a little during the night and still need to get the tubs and other things.
So.... Flippin...... Excited!!! 

Ammonia was up in the betta 5 yesterday. Thinking it's the shrimp pellets finally breaking down.

Aaaand yeah... just same ole here for now


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bought a piece of manzanita wood off amazon. It was about $15-16 total. 11 for the wood about 4-5 for shipping.
I didn't think that was too bad considering something like this would probably be 20 or 30+ in a store.
Got it yesterday and it's so cool! 
It's just so branchy and I love it 









Debating on what the hell to do with it though. Thinking about just plopping it in to the 40 since it's almost as long as it. 









But I would need to move around a lot of plants and decor.
I think it would look very cool in there though so... I'm gonna go for it. 
Not sure I'll get to it today since I have toys..... so.... many.... toys...... I need to go through and put up, but I'm so excited! 
Feel like such a dork for being this excited about a flippin branch, but dangit.. I am and I don't care!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Cool looking branch!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

It is  Debating on if I should keep it intact or trim off some of the stem. Think I'm just gonna leave that part as is for now and put it in the tank like I have it in the pic where it's on the tank.
Going to snip off some of the smaller nubs though to clean up the look just a little.

If anyone is looking for some and has about 15-16 to spend, I'd look it up on amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0PCM8Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Only 3 left


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh forgot to mention that we got the bins for the plants 
Got them from Home Depot. They're 30something gallons and cost $6 and some change.









Hopefully everything goes ok. Now just need to wait for the weather to warm up some more at night  Still getting in to the mid 50's here and pretty sure that is too cold for the plants. I thought it would warm up more, but looks like it's staying cool for a little bit longer. It's all good though. I am in a hurry, but want to give the plants the best shot possible outside.
Plus this gives me more time to get everything else that I need like the shade cloth and... something to keep the dog out/away.

I also still haven't taken out the moss and put it in its own container just yet. Was thinking about doing it today, but putting it off until tomorrow since it's too cool outside to put it out for some sun.

And yep.... that's it for now really. Just waiting impatiently and trying to keep up with these water changes in hopes of keeping the algae more under control lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Okedoke. The dwarf sag has been planted 
Actually got 8 plants instead of just 6 and even though they are small, they're all pretty healthy. Really healthy looking leaves and roots.








Moved some plants and squirted some peroxide on the anubias to try to kill the BBA on it. Hopefully it works and doesn't kill the anubias lol.
The plants do seem to be getting healthier again though. The cabomba stem is growing nice and I haven't spotted any new pinholes in the crypts.
I removed all of the creeping jenny from the tank. I think that's what it's called and not sure why I could never remember that before but all of a sudden remembered it now lol.

I also cut up my bamboo. It had a little nub on the bottom of the stalk and I wanted to get it out of the water, but the only way to do that was to cut it. Also the bigger stalk at the top grew some new roots so I figured it was ok to do it.

Put the nub on top of the filter in the 5g hex. Don't really have anywhere else to put it right now.








It also looked like it was starting to grow some new roots.

And I put the leafy stalk in to the filter for now until I figure out what to do with it.








I wouldn't mind leaving it there, but that filter is super tiny and wouldn't have enough room for all of the roots and whatnot. Hmmm, could probably use suction cups to keep it secured to the side of the tank. I'll have to see what's available.


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## aquaticfishyfriend (Apr 17, 2018)

Love this journal, glad to hear I'm not the only one who goes through difficult phases! I also love dojo loaches, I have a golden one but he/she is still so small. How old are yours? And did they take a long time to get that big?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

aquaticfishyfriend said:


> Love this journal, glad to hear I'm not the only one who goes through difficult phases! I also love dojo loaches, I have a golden one but he/she is still so small. How old are yours? And did they take a long time to get that big?


Aww thanks for reading my ramblings 
Hmm lemme think. I think I've had them for around 10 months.
They weren't super tiny when I got them. Bigger than kuhli loaches. Maybe about the size of or a little bigger than a crayon? I think that's a good comparison. They were about as thick as a crayon but I think maybe a little longer when I got them and now, they're like a longish marker lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes incoming tomorrow!
Tested both the 5gs and hex is still showing super deep green ammonia reading and betta 5 is showing just a little.









Will be doing a 99% water change in the hex tomorrow if nothing comes up. Won't be able to get all the water out, but I'm gonna try. And really try to vacuum up any of the algae or whatever it is that's littering the bottom a little. Still not understanding why there is so much ammonia in it.
Added a couple more shrimp pellets to the other 5g filter. Sigh...... cycling tanks is so boring lol.
I need to get a quarantine started. I think I have an empty 10g in the attic. If I think of it tomorrow, I might go get it down and figure out a discreet place to put it. Maybe up under the 40 if it will fit. Would be awesome if it did so hubs couldn't say anything about it being in the way lol.
Would just like to start getting more fish soonish and need a filtered quarantine to place stuff in. Just need to make a filter with crap I already own.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Only managed to get in a water change in the 125. Usually start with the 40, but something is wrong with the darker dojo. 
Fed the tank and noticed that it wasn't eating. Not surprising b/c it was up top in its spot that happens to be behind the cage I keep the betta in. The food doesn't float over there and it usually takes the loaches a minute or 2 to realize that they're getting fed.
I wanted it to get some food though so blew at it a little which usually gets its attention. This time.. just barely any squirming  Didn't even really try to resist that much when I handled it (a little).
Did a good water change and really hoping it helps make it feel better.
The other loach was eating as normal.
While I was sitting there and watching though, noticed that some of the barbs had fuzzy fins and when I went to take out the betta, noticed he also had a couple of fuzz spots on his body.
In my panic, I dumped a half dose of lifeguard tablets in to the tank... THEN my brain finally caught up and I read the entire directions and oh crap... don't use with scaleless fish. So I had to fish the tablets back out. Some dissolved, but not a lot. Doubt it's enough to cause any kind of harm to them.
Sigh... They better be ok. 

After all that excitement calmed down some, I went ahead and took out the moss int he 40.
Looks so much brighter now!








Going to try to do a water change in it tomorrow and hopefully get that nice branchy wood in there too 

Going to drench this anubias and wood in some metricide though.
BBA city on this thing.









You're slacking off SAE!









There's still some moss in here... oh and the area under all of that moss was surprisingly.. or not so surprisingly clean. Makes sense considering how much grossness was in the moss.








Didn't get photos of it, but had to clean and dump the water in its container 3 times and it's still all murky. Going to have to do water changes in it every day. It's pretty heavy even half full, so I'll have to dump out water and refill every day. Hopefully it will help keep any kind of algae under control and I'll have a permanent area for it eventually.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

40g water change and another 125 water change done 

And I added the branch!








Everything was great, but I disturbed it a little trying to move a little crypt that I missed and... it floated. Should've known I wouldn't get lucky with it sinking lol.
That's ok though... used one of the rocks to keep it down.









Hopefully it will waterlog eventually so I can move the rock back to where it was, but it's not so bad for now 








Doesn't look too shabby.  I'll get a better photo of the tank once the water clears.

I did have to put one of the pieces of wood that was in the tank in the back corner. I poured some metricide on them first though to help get rid of the BBA. Hopefully the anubias doesn't die from be doing that.









But I had the bigger 2nd piece that needed to be put somewhere. I would've just left it out of the water, but it has java fern attached to it that wouldn't come off, so I stuck it in the 125 until I figure something out.








I think it would look really nice in a back corner... if I had one visible. Give it a trunk look. Once I clear some plants out of the tank, we'll see if I can do that 

Darker dojo still not acting right which is why I went ahead and did another water change. It did seem to have a little more energy b/c it moved away when I put my finger by it though. So FX that that is a good sign.
The other dojo is still acting totally normal.

Can not wait to start planting stuff outside. I hate warm weather so never wished it to start, but now... come on dernit! Warm up at night already! lol Wondering what on earth to do about circulation though. Will the bins need it? Maybe I can find something cheap to use outside for all of them. We'll see. Just have to make sure the destructo-dog can't get to it.
A little afraid of taking plants out though. Even though I have some algae problems, it's really not that bad. Things seem to be in pretty good balance in the tank and... kinda nervous to disturb it.










Oh and bonus! Look what I found in our pantry!!
Years and years ago, I was taking this disgusting powder supplement and needed a better way of taking it so I bought gel tabs and a thing to fill them. Thought we threw these away, but nope! Hubs squirreled them away in the back of the pantry. 
Time to make some osmocote tablets!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> ...............
> 
> 
> 
> ...


wow, the roots on those baby swords- you really need to plant them!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Lol, I know I know!
I just wanted to wait to get the outside bins going, but the weather isn't cooperating. Now that I took the moss out, there's some room in the 40.
Looks like night time temps are still gonna be too low for a little while longer so I might snip them off and plant temporarily. We'll see 
It only got up to 80 yesterday, but when I went to bring it in, the water was very very warm. Will have to put it in a spot where it gets shaded better.
Put it here first, but then moved it up against the house when I got back home from getting daughter from school.









Darker dojo moved in to their fav spot. Got to get a good look at it and I don't see anything really wrong. There is a lump right before its butt, but I'm not sure if that's a problem or not.








Might do another smaller water change tomorrow. Still need to do them in both the 5g.

And it's all glare, but hey.. the water cleared up finally lol.








I really hope the val fills in the background. Once I take the little sword runners off that plant, the mother plant is getting moved to the back too.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I think....... I think I'm gonna try to catch the dojo loach and put him in to the betta 5g. I do have an extra 10g tank, but I would just have the problem of ammonia and all that other stuff coming up. At least with the betta 5, it has a filter that is pretty much cycled on it.

I say pretty much b/c I'm not really sure. Tested it and I think there's still just a hint of green on ammonia. Just a slight slight hint. It's so difficult to say in our crappy house lights. It's bright outside now.. or bright enough so I'll test it again while I do a water change in it.

I just don't want to lose this fish 
I know stressing it by trying to move it isn't that great either, but at least in the 5, I can try to treat it better than I can in the 125.
FX that everything works out. Come on little hotdog. Get better!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

UGH... Ok so I can't catch it. I almost had it one time but b/c there was so much plant matter in the way, he got away! Grrrr
I'm gonna try again tomorrow after I do another water change. I'm treating the tank. It's only a tiny little fraction of the meds that is supposed to be used, but I had to do something.
Anyway... FX that I can get him tomorrow. If there was any way to catch the other as well, but that one is still very lively, BUT I think it may be getting sick now too b/c I didn't notice it when I fed the tank. SIGH.

I'm still not sure if there is an ammonia reading in the 5.
Tested again right before doing a water change and first 3min.. there is a very slight tint. Like in between a 0.25 and 0 reading. But then at 5min and after.. it's yellow. So.... /shrugs
Will test it again tomorrow.

Sigh... could my fish just finally stop dying please. Old age? Sure... go for it, but stop getting randomly sick PLEASE.

And I did check parameters on the 125 just to make sure things were ok and they were. Nitrates were a little high, but nothing outrageous.

EDIT:: 
Decided to add a little bit of epsom salt to the main tank. I added some in the 5g when I did the water change. Hoped I would've been able to move the loach, but nope.
Anyway... added about 5-6tsp to the 125. If it is just constipated, I hope this helps it or any other fish in the tank that could be.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I caught him!
Put him in to the 5g and noticed that he's having trouble swimming. Guessing it's some kind of swimbladder problem, but not sure what to do for that.
Watched him for a little bit to see if there was anything else other than the lump that looked wrong, he moved and bubbles came out of his butt like he was farting. So... too much air in his swimbladder maybe?

















Don't know if there is anything else I can do for him. Going to wait a day and do a water change tomorrow in the 5g. There's epsom salt in it still, so maybe it will help him pass whatever is bloating him up.
SO nervous keeping him in this tank though since it doesn't have a proper top on it. If he was swimming right, he could easily just slither on out.

In other news.... the 125 new swords are still not growing roots! Grrr.








That's about as much as any of them have.

But noticed a couple of new stems. This plant has 2 stems growing from it.









And there's this new one in the back. Probably from the other amazon sword.









Sooooo.... /shrugs. Plants seem to be happy right now at least.

Oh and look.. you can see the ozelot trying to peak through all the other swords blocking it lol.









125 still looking as it usually does. Just waiting on the weather to warm up more before doing the outdoor bins.









Think I'm going to put up the 10g again. I think I am going to do what hubs suggested and just use the 5 to quarantine. It's already cycled and the betta is perfectly fine in his temp home for now. Sure it's not ideal, but meh.









And finally.. the 40.








It looks so empty now! lol I'm sure it won't once the plants grow in a bit. I do want to keep a lot more open area though b/c I will be getting more cories.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

/shrugs
Doesn't seem like anyone knows what is going on with my dojo. I've posted on various places and haven't gotten any replies.
Googling up info and it does seem that dojo loaches fart which mine is definitely doing on the regular. Thought it was a problem, but looks like it's normal for them. How weird lol.

BUT mine is definitely still sick so did a water change and added in half a packet of antibacterial meds that I had left over from treating the BGA. Dunno if it will help, but I'm out of ideas.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No positive change in the loach. Still hanging out at the top and not acting right.
Nothing physically wrong that I can see still though. Dunno if the meds are helping or hurting.
Its booty lump hasn't gotten any bigger either and it's still farting.
I tried offering it an algae wafer yesterday, but it had absolutely no interest.

All other fish seem to be doing well though. Need to do water changes, but think I'm gonna put it off until tomorrow or Friday.

And looking at weather predictions.. looks like night time weather is a bit more steadily warm. Need to head back to home depot or Lowes or wherever to get some shade cloth and whatever else I might need. SO excited for the bins


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!

So my dreams of having a window shrimp tank are over.
The splash from the 5g hex filter was really loud and distracting. Looked over at the tank and the water is a little low, but normal for a week's worth of evaporation.
Put the littlest down for a nap and finally decided to do a water change in the tank b/c the noise was just getting on my nerves. Looked over.... "Huh... was it that low before?"









Go over to it after gathering up the bucket and siphon and... there is water under it and dripping off the table. AND the power strip is right there so it has been getting dripped on. YIKES!









Was hoping that maybe the filter was the culprit, but nope... the bottom of the tank failed  The sides is all one piece of plastic, but the bottom is sealed in to place plastic. Sigh.
Even though the algae was a bit crazy again (not a big deal imo).. the plants seemed really happy in it. Boooooooo 
I know hubs doesn't want me to set up anything else so... yeah... no shrimp tank any time soon. Boooooo... I said BOOOOOOOOOO
lol

Obviously took all the plants out and put them all in to the 40g temporarily. Well.. some of them will stay.

The sword will go outside once that is set up.
The hairgrass will as well I think. There was a small little portion but it all looked really healthy.









The crypts were really happy in the tank. Growing nice and big and spreading. There was a lot of it.... more than just this clump. I put some in the back near the filter and in the middle with some that was already in the tank. I think I'm going to keep it. Maybe move these to a different spot, though.









There were also these stems. I don't remember the name of it. Just remembered I got it off of one of the members here 
I do actually like where I put it. I'd want to clump it together a little more.... I think I'm going to try most of it out in the bins.









In the 40... I was going to transfer the little filter to it, but it doesn't fit over the plastic rim. So took the media out and put it in the 40 filter.
When doing that, noticed that the BBA on the anubias was dead, but that the anubias in the corner also looked really bad. Melting leaves and yellowing.
Gently unhooked it from the piece of wood and put it in to the 125 for now. The metricide dip must've damaged it and I'm sure not getting good flow over it all wasn't helping.









But yeah... the 40 looks a little more filled in now with the new plants in it lol. 








It will look empty again once the bins are setup finally though 

Still... UGH! I guess it's better that there were only plants in the tank. Just sad that I won't be getting any shrimp though 
Maybe I could get one of those neat breeder boxes (that pumps water from the main tank in to the box) to hang on the outside of the 125 or 40 and use that for a few shrimp lol
I'll have to see how much those cost 

And as for dojo loach news. He's still alive, but not acting any healthier  /shrugs.........

Oh and the bamboo that I had cut up was growing nice too. The one in the filter had already grown a ton of new roots that were all in the little mesh baggy of media and the tiny stem had already doubled in size. No idea what to do with them. I could set up their own little jar maybe.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up.... Loach isn't doing any better. It's growing weaker.
Put my hand in there and it didn't try to wiggle away from me at all  Poor thing.
I gently pressed down on its body while it was laying in my palm and more gas came out of it. I guess it's a swim bladder problem still? I hate keeping him in the 5g since I'm sure he'd rather be somewhere he's more familiar with, but don't want to risk getting the other fish sick if it's something contagious.
Still not visible signs of illness though.

In other news... finally thought to get it done and made some diy root tabs today using the gel caps 








Used up the rest of the osmocote that I had which wasn't a lot, but this should last a while 

Weather is definitely warmed up. Supposed to get in tot he 90's or almost up there this week and low temps look like steady mid-high 50's and low 60's.
Ordered some shade cloth and should be getting it soon. Just need some stakes or something to use for it... or I may just lay it on top of the bins. Hoping to get all of that set up this week/weekend. 

I still haven't done water changes on the tanks. Family things have come up and I haven't had the energy when I do have the little bit of free time.
I will get them done tomorrow though 

Oh and the plants from the 5g hex are looking better.
I didn't notice it before, but their coloring was very light. Not sure if that means they weren't getting enough light or if they were getting too much? Looking in the 40g, I can tell which plants are the new ones b/c of their coloring. It's pretty interesting 

Anyway.. more pics later this week. Hopefully when I get the bins going


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up... 
Tanks in general are looking ok. Still covered in algae in spots, but not too bad.

The sword (the one up front and the taller ones in the back and side alogn w/ their babies), micro sword, and hairgrass are definitely coming out. Also think I'm going to remove the little lily too once it gets just a little bigger.









I promise little cory... I'll get you and your bigger cousins more buddies eventually.... as soon as the 5g finishes yet another cycle.









And just to drive some people crazy. OOOO look at the long roots on these sister plants. I should really snip them off and plant them..... but not just yet. MUAHAHAHAHA









Container of moss still looks good. Going to have to bring it in later though. Supposed to get up to 90 today and that will definitely boil this little bit.









125 looks ok. Those new swords are being stubborn and just not growing their roots already. I don't know what to do to get them to.
And the little red sword isn't growing up. It has gotten new leaves though and looks much better than it did, so that's good at least.









Now for some not so great news. I think I made the dojo worse.
While doing water changes finally this morning, I peaked in to the tank and saw that it was breathing heavy. Noo 
Still nothing wrong as far as appearance.
I know its position is alarming. It wasn't going belly up, that's just how it was laying itself on the cabomba.









Hmm... I haven't checked it in a couple of days.. so maybe I should check the ammonia just in case.
Crap... CRAP!









Didn't have any choice but to get it out and put it back in to the main tank. It's still breathing heavy, but appears to be swimming around normal again.








Really hoping that once it calms down that it will be ok. 
So angry with myself for not keeping a closer eye on the ammonia. Attack of the "mom brain" and just forgot to check it regularly even though I had intended to.

Like I said... nothing is wrong with its appearance. It does still have that little lump by its butt, but that must be normal and I never noticed it before. And once it was back in the 125, it didn't appear to have anything wrong with its swimming.
So... yeah... FX that the ammonia in the 5g didn't do too much damage to it and it pulls through


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nope... dojo loach is definitely going to die. It's still breathing extremely fast and heavy AND the other dojo loach is MIA. 
I'm just tired of dealing with sick fish and not being able to help them at all.
Oh soandso fish are so hardy!
Yeah? Well not in my tanks!! 

Just going to keep a close eye on the tank and scoop out the dojo once it's dead. I know from past experience that loaches start stinking to high heaven once dead. Sigh.... went from... "YAY! Going to add more to my little loach family!" to now wondering if I should even get more.
I just don't understand what keeps happening that my fish don't ever seem to live for more than a year. Well.. besides my old tiger barbs. 
Sure... I may neglect to do water changes regularly, but waiting another week or even 2 shouldn't kill my fish and their tanks (other than this dang 5g tank) are actually cycled now so..... /shrugs
I don't know. Just frustrated and disheartened to be losing my fav fish


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

FInally spotted the other dojo loach last night. Had to bust out the flashlight and look through all the plants and spotted it resting on the substrate in the crypt forest. It's definitely sick too though. Not breathing heavy, but not eating.
/shrugs
I hate that fish getting sick is basically a death sentence b/c the hell if meds work and keeping them in a healthy cycled tank doesn't work. Or maybe it's not so healthy apparently. 

The rest of the fish in the tank are looking good so far. They all seem to be eating normally. But that's how the other dojo was before it got sick so.. who knows.

Well anyway... on not so crappy news. Hopefully will get those outside bins going and hopefully the hot weather won't end up boiling my plants. We'll see what happens though


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Had planned on setting up the bins on Saturday, but unexpected heroes.. aka the inlaws, took our kids so we got to go see Avengers. (It was AMAZING!)....
Then we didn't get home until late afternoon and I didn't feel like doing much.

I did however get them going today 
WOO!
Used most of the soil in the bag for 2 bins. Also took some scrap 2 by 4 wood that DH was holding on to for some reason and put those under the bins. I dunno.. I just didn't want them sitting on the ground.
Got DH to bring out a bag of pebbles which was perfect amount for the bins and then I collected some of the plants from the aquariums.

I first took out the sword sister plants from the 40gal. I thought they were from the argentine sword, but nope! They were coming from my compacta sword which I am SUPER pumped about! I'm not a big fan of the argentine swords so getting more of the compactas instead is awesome 








They had super healthy roots and just looked amazing. I thought I was only going to get 3 plants from it, but there were actually 7 total sister plants that I got off of its stem! How cool is that?

I also ended up pulling out the argentine swords from the 125 and now all of the swords are in one of the bins.








I'm going to fill this one in a bit more. Will probably be crypts. The 125 swords were too long for the bin though so they're not standing straight up. They had some really nice healthy roots too that pulled up a few of the clay tablets. Oh well.

So yeah, with those plants out of the 40g, it opened up the right side a little bit. I'm just gonna leave it open. Let the crypts take over the area.








I am still going to pull out all of that BBA covered stuff at the front. Just has to wait until tomorrow b/c my youngest woke from a nap and I had to do mother stuff 

In the other bin, I put in all stem plants with 1 tiny bunch of hitchhiking micro sword.
I think this one will get the rest of the sword and maybe some of the hairgrass. I think I may just leave all the hairgrass in the 40 though.








It's all dirty b/c I wasn't careful at first when I put a little water in it. Oops. Took a fish net to it to get the floating soil out.

I filled the sword bin to the top b/c I had to for the big argentine swords, but left the stem one about half full. Want to put more in it and don't want to get completely soaked.









I didn't dechlorinate the water at all though. Not sure if that's ok or not? I mean.. there aren't any fish or anything so I figured it would be ok.

Also finally unpacked the shade cloth w/ the ball bungee things (bought separately)








Wondering if I'll even need these. This spot only gets... maybe 3-4 hours of direct light. I have it just in case though and if I don't use it for this, I can definitely use it for a garden that I'll hopefully get going soon too 

And yeah... you can't even tell that I pulled out 3 big argentine swords. They were being swallowed up by everything else in the tank lol.








More is coming out of this tank. Just waiting and figuring out what exactly I want to move. Plus mom stuff always comes first.. even if it does interrupt my hobbies lol.

Oh and I thought this was pretty crazy. So while I was picking out the ludwigia from the 125, I saw this bare stem that I thought was cabomba or some other stem plant that just hadn't gotten enough light and lost all of its bottom leaves.
It was rooted in the ground so I tugged on it and.. nope... not a stem plant.. that long bare stem is actually a root from the flippin pothos plant!








And it doesn't just go straight back and up to whichever one it's coming from. Nope.. it goes to the back of the tank and swoops down. Surprised the heck out of me lol and just thought it was neat 

Hadn't planned to do anything else, but once I was setting everything up... there does need to be some water movement. We are surrounded by small lakes and ponds and mosquitoes are already a problem. Do not need to give them another breeding ground so I ordered a solar powered air pump from amazon.
Hoping I'll be able to mount it to the side of the house out.
Think I'll need something so I can run 2 tubes off of it for both of the bins, but Petsmart should have something. I might still have something too. WIll have to go through everything.
Hey.. maybe I could sneakily get sponge filters and cycle the bins and put some fish in them. MUAHAHAHA lol. Nah. I don't think anything would survive. It just gets too hot and I'm sure any poor fish would end up being boiled alive.

And yeah... that's it for now  Still waiting on the sister swords from the 125 to get better roots so I can find a place in these to plant them  Still have 2 bins available and a little bit of soil and another full bag of pebbles.

In not so great news. Loaches are still not acting right. The sicker one is still sick and the other is not eating. Honestly just waiting for them to die b/c there's really nothing else left to do for them


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ugh. So my arch nemesis... aka my doofy dog aka Destructo-Dog (what we should've named him apparently) pulled up the 2 largest argentine swords from the bins.
Just look at his smug face!









I wasn't a fan of them, but I didn't want them pulled up!! I could've sold those dangit! lol 
I knew he'd drink from them, but wasn't expecting him to pull up the flippin plants! Grrrr
RIP plant... your brother was laying in the grass and I didn't even see it b/c it had shriveled up so much. SIGH









Oh and that little bit of extra soil I had left over in the bag? Guess what happened to it..









I'm afraid he's going to chew up the solar pump I bought, but hopefully if I can mount it to the house, it will be out of his reach.

Anyway... with my youngest down for a nap and the other distracted, it gave me a little bit of time to get some more plants for the bins.
Pulled up all of the microsword from the 40g. There was actually a lot more of it than it looked with new growth too. Oh well.
But the bigger news is that I took out more swords on runners from the 125. I was just looking around to see if there were any that had decent roots that I could gently pull off. And there were. I managed to pull off 3 from a stem that had other plants that weren't ready yet. Sweet...
Then I spotted it... a giant runner/stem growing behind the filter intakes and they had some decent roots on them too. WOO!
Yeah... I wasn't prepared for how huge it actually was!

This runner had a runner of its own!









Unfortunately though, not all of the swords on this had really good roots on them (or didn't have any at all), so I placed them in the 40g to keep an eye on. Maybe they'll grow some, maybe they won't and will die. Not like I'm running out of sword plants any time soon.

















This stem was pretty impressive though. The plant sizes were great and each little plant part had 2-3 little plants I managed to get off of it. I think total, I got 11 swords. 









And the thing is... there are a lot more runners in the 125 waiting to mature more. A LOT more.
So








Many








Ridiculous!








Stop it already!








I don't have enough room!









So yeah... I think it's safe to say that 2 bins will not be enough.








I dunno what to do about more water flow for more bins though. That air pump was $27 and I just can't justify buying another. I'll see how strong the flow is and maybe I could get something to split it 3 ways. We'll see.
Oh and I bought some air pump supplies from Walmart. Went for a different reason and saw that they had everything I needed. Thankfully it was all cheap so yay 









There are still so many plants I want to take out of this! You can't even tell I took out a bunch of little swords b/c they were all hiding to begin with lol








Ya know.. I may kill my fish (not on purpose /cry) easily, but apparently my plants are really flippin happy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Where I got my branch from seems to have restocked and the price is still the same if anyone is interested 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C0PCM8Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just want to keep sharing since I know good pieces of wood are hard to come by this cheap.
Mine is holding up well in my 40. No idea if it sinks on its own yet though or if it ever will tbh lol. Having something weigh it down isn't a big deal IMO though.
It did get that white fuzzy stuff all over it like some wood gets, but the SAE completely devoured it and I always see it searching the wood for more. I swear the fish has gotten bigger since getting the wood too b/c it ate so well from it lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I should've acclimated the plants. I garden... I know better, but oh well lol.
Checked on the plants this afternoon and there is quite a bit of sunburn.

























Still though.. not too bad IMO. I'm sure it would've been worse if this area got more than 3 hours of sun.

The other bin was just a giant mess though. Not sure what happened in this one. Maybe the dog got in to it or something? There was a lot of the micro sword uprooted and just SO much of the soil floating. I got some of it out, but need to get a net back out there to fish it out.









Should be getting the air pump tomorrow. I had hoped to get it sooner, but I guess later is better than nothing.
If nothing comes up, I'll do some water changes tomorrow and will see if I can take out more plants. I think I'm gonna wait on taking out crypts in the 125. I REALLY want to thin it out, but seeing how the swords are, I think the crypts would just melt and die b/c they wouldn't have any shade from when the sun is on the bins.
If the swords grow, I think I'll put some out there then so the sword leaves will at least give them some shade.
I may take more of the crypts out and plant in the 40g though. Fill in a few spots a little more. Or maybe not.. I dunno 

More pics tomorrow if I remember!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yep... stupid dog is the reason the stem bin was so dirty. Went out there this morning to clean it up a bit more and once I scooped out some of the floating soil, I could see the spots where he stood. Sigh....

We're about to have a few days of 90 degree weather so will see how warm everything gets. Hopefully not too bad FX


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Finally got thee solar air pump yesterday. Didn't waste any time setting it up. No instructions, but it's simple enough.
I at first put removable velcro on the back, but the velcro wasn't long enough so it wouldn't really stick well to the wall where I wanted it.
Had some removable hook ones as well, but the hook part was too thick for the little metal part on the back of the pump so I had to rig it up as best as I could.








It's making me nervous tbh lol. May double or triple loop it just for some peace of mind.
Also wanted the air hose connection part to be on the bottom, but once again.. with the way I had to set it up, that wasn't an option.








This will work for now but I may go to Walmart to see if there are smaller hooks that I can get to use.

It obviously wasn't going to be pumping out a lot of air since there was no direct sun, but it did come with some batteries too. Not sure if they're rechargeable or not though. Instructions really would've been nice lol.
Right now... the pump is only just strong enough to give both sides some bubbles








The right is getting stronger bubbles than the left which I'm fine with.
I think I'm going to get one of those long bubble wands to use. The air flow isn't that strong, but I think it would be strong enough for a wand.
Also not sure if this will be enough water movement to keep mosquitoes out. Doubtful.

Pic of the stem bin. See the dark spots? That's where the dog had stepped in to it. /grumble








Still a lot of stuff I need to replant. WIll do that a little later. Want to wait until the pump has had some direct sunlight on it to see if the air flow is any stronger.

Pretty sure some of he amazon swords got cooked. Hopefully not and they'll bounce back once they've adjusted. Again though... I have more in the tanks so if some die... meh.. I'll get more.
Don't like wasting them though so FX for new growth soon.

In other news... checked 5g parameters and nitrites are cycled I think, but still have a little bit of ammonia.... I think.
Put in a couple more shrimp pellets in to the filter and will check it again tomorrow or Sunday.

Loaches aren't any better unfortunately 
Why must fish deaths either be immediate or long and drawn out? If something is going to die... just die please b/c this wasting away mess is heartbreaking


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

So you are trying to keep them submerged? All of my bins are clear with clear tops. They are soggy, but I try to suck out any standing water. Emersed growth seems to be an easy transition, but then mine will have to go back to submerged at some point. It's difficult to find a spot with the right combination of intensity and duration. I check on mine several times a day and mist them. 
I'm sorry to hear of the continued fish troubles. It seems you don't lose alot of fish... just one slowly begins to decline... is it possible that the loaches aren't getting enough food? Tiger barbs are voracious. I feed my fish once or twice a day with a mix of pellets, flake, frozen, and live food. My Peacock Gudgeons are small and relatively slow compared to the hundreds of tetras they must compete with and then the 12 small synodontis cats. I actually mix up the food and find each one of my Peacock Gudgeons and Sparkling gourami's first. Then I drop in flake and NLS pellets and the tetras go nuts. Then with a little syringe I drop the live food inches in front of the gourami's and gudgeons. I'm hoping it's not a full time thing and they will learn to compete, but once they get to a certain point it's hard to bring them back. 
Also... my lovely pup got into my FAVORITE bin last week. Emersed crypt parva and crypt lutea or Lucens (smaller one) as well as a 6" long piece of driftwood with a perfect covering of vesicularia moss. Never found the wood. I tried to replant the crypts, but 2 days later the bin started to smell.... had to dump it all and start over. Now she isn't allowed outside unless I'm there.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bah! That sucks about your ruined bin! Crazy pups!
Ever since I set up the air pump, I keep getting up to check on it whenever he's outside. I saw him looking at it and sniffing and opened up the door to fuss at him to leave it alone lol.

The loaches were definitely eating enough. They knew how to compete with the tiger barbs and were usually at the surface right along with them to eat. So it definitely wasn't lack of food or anything that got them sick b/c they were greedy little fat hotdogs before this started.

I don't actually know if the other loach is sick too or if it's just being super shy & stressed since the other one got moved and then put back etc.
I THINK I saw it just a little while ago after I fed the tank. I thought I saw it at the top too, but not sure if it was eating as well or just finding a spot at the top to hide.

All I know is that I'm not giving up on dojo loaches. As soon as the 5g is done cycling again, I'm buying more. Albino, regular, whatever. I love these little fish so much and want a big group of them.
Poor betta is still stuck in his mesh home, but thankfully he seems pretty content in it and likes to watch the other fish in the tank when they come near.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Bah! That sucks about your ruined bin! Crazy pups!
> Ever since I set up the air pump, I keep getting up to check on it whenever he's outside. I saw him looking at it and sniffing and opened up the door to fuss at him to leave it alone lol.
> 
> The loaches were definitely eating enough. They knew how to compete with the tiger barbs and were usually at the surface right along with them to eat. So it definitely wasn't lack of food or anything that got them sick b/c they were greedy little fat hotdogs before this started.
> ...


That's exactly the mentality I took with Neons... I keep the water clean and do my best to stay on top of things and I add them consistently. I am not suggesting you do this with dojo loaches, but what I ended up doing was quickly culling any fish that met certain criteria to prevent the spread of anything. I've had my setbacks for sure, but I've got probably 225 Neons in there now. I'm moving my shrimp from the 11.4 to the 2.6 and I'll use the 11.4 to QT one last group of 10 Cardinals and I'm DONE!! 
How many dojo loaches do you have? All in the 125? Do you have a tank that you could QT them in?? Even a plastic bin would work. I wouldn't add any until you have removed the sick or questionable ones. The kicker is that I've read numerous times that they really need to be kept in large groups... that could very well be part of the problem. No spots, sores, or questionable visible indications?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Other than a weird very small lump right before its poopshoot, nope.. nothing. And even that lump.. I'm not sure if it was always there and I just never noticed it. No sores on it, no signs of something like ich, nada.

I only have 2 dojo loaches right now and had planned on upping their numbers to at least 5, but more if I could. I still want to do that if I get the chance and yep.. all in the 125g. 

Just ordered some clove oil b/c yeah.... I need to just put down these sick fish so they stop spreading whatever is wrong with them and so they don't suffer. They're obviously not going to get any better and just watching them suffer like this breaks my heart.

I'm planning on using the betta 5g as a QT tank. I'm just tired of this whole cycling crap and I'd have to worry about ammonia and all of that mess if I set up a different tank. I already struggle keeping up with my current tanks sometimes and just don't want to add another one to the mix. 
The betta will get his tank back once I'm done getting fish lol. And pfft... I have his little cage which he seems fine in that I can move him back to if I need 

Just going to have to figure out how long before I can move the betta back to his tank after quarantine is over. Wouldn't want him to catch anything that new fish brought with them.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I think a lot of the swords got cooked. Woops!
We'll see if they somehow bounce back though.
The water hasn't gotten too hot yet, but I expect it too once the weather warms up even more. 

Got a scare that the air pump broke, but the air hose is kinked a where it connects to the pump. Just lifted the panel a little to help and that seemed to have worked.
Went ahead and bought some sponge filters too. I don't know if the flow is strong enough for them though, but the filters weren't very expensive and I could always use them in future setups.

Also, my little moss container has been a mosquito haven for a bit. I don't think they were too successful though b/c I went to scoop out some of the larvae, but they were all dead. I think with the warmer weather and the tiny container... they got cooked. Muahahaha boil you little spawn of satan!!

And in other news... during water change today... decided to gently pull off more of the swords and plant them in the 40. They still don't have those nice long roots, but the current ones that also had like no roots seem to be doing ok so far.
















Not dead, so that's good lol
I did notice the little swords in the 125 are getting some deficiency spots on them which is why I wanted to take some out.
Hopefully being planted will help them get healthy again.

















Right now.. I'm just kinda waiting to see how the swords that are already outside do before I add anything else.
There's room in the 40 right now so I'm not in any hurry to boil some more plants lol.
I think I may add some cabomba to the bins though. Maybe if it grows well, it can help to shade any new swords that I put outside.
I'll do that tomorrow if nothing comes up.

My swords are still sending up stems though. They need to stop it already! rofl
It would be a different story if I had spare room for a grow out tank indoors equipped with nice lighting for everything, but I don't... so STAWP!
These 2 stems are triyng to make their escape apparently.









The SAE was making me once again question if it is actually an SAE. It's big and healthy though so I'm cool with whatever it is  May ask the petstore if they can order actual true SAE for me though... one day 









Also got in the breeder box and clove oil that I ordered.
Debated on where to put the box. Maybe just on the outside where the betta's mesh home is? Nah....
I ended up putting it on the back of the 40
















Now... in general, I like the whole design of the box, but holy crap is it NOISY!
This is the one I got...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005QRDCP2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
DO NOT BUY IT if you're wanting something for a tank in a main living area b/c the noise this thing creates will drive you up the wall. I don't know why, but it sputters at the output..... VERY LOUDLY.
Thankfully my tanks are in the dining room and separated by a couple of walls so I can't hear it in the living room.
I tried putting a tiny piece of sponge in it, but that was creating flow problems.. someone else on amazon suggested to use air hose in the tubing or something, but that didn't work for me either.
Definitely a bad design flaw when it comes to that, but everything else about it is nice lol.
It's a little smaller than the mesh home and it's not going to get a lot of light, but it'll do for mister bettaface while I have him kicked out of his tank.









Plus it's giving the tiniest bit of water movement in that area of the 40. The filter is being clogged up by BBA and the flow has really suffered. I need to clean it up, but while I'm putting it off and being lazy... this little thing will help lol









What else what else...
Did see both of the dojos today. The sick darker colored one is still sick and breathing heavy. If I can catch it, I will be making use of the clove oil 
To me, it does look not as hefty any longer since it stopped eating, but other than that, nothing else visibly wrong.
The other loach looked ok. Wasn't breathing heavy and I couldn't really tell if it had lost weight too or not.

I THINK the 5g tank is finished cycling. Put in a few more shrimp pellets and will keep an eye on it. If it is... and if we have the money, I'd love to start getting the rest of the fish.

Definitely want more dojos as I've said. Don't care if they're albino or regular darker color.
And definitely want more pygmy and peppered cories. Maybe another type too  We'll see though after getting all of that.
Think I'll start with cories first since nothing appears to be wrong in the 40g right now. WOuld hate to get more dojos.. quarantine them and then have them get sick after all that time once I put them in to the 125.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Dojo loach came out of hiding and the dreaded moment came.
I managed to catch him and placed him in a container. Watched a video on how to use the clove oil and followed Solid Gold Aquatics way of doing it.
Dojo loach still had a little bit of life left in him and I think once he sensed that something was in the water, he freaked out and tried to get out of the container for a few seconds.
I'm not sure how much clove oil I put in exactly. The one I bought came with a dropper and I just filled that up as much as it would go.
And yep... he died. I left him in the container for about half an hour just to make sure.
I hate that I had to do it, but I know it was the right thing to do and it's even harder when it's a fish that you love (and especially when it's one that shows personality too).
But ya know... this is the responsibility we take when we have pets. Furry ones or fishy ones.. we have to do what is best for them and sometimes it really sucks.

RIP lil dojo loach.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Last night got crappier. Got up to let the dogs out and saw my air pump was no longer hanging on the wall and was in the bins. Awesome.....
THankfully it still works. Put it in some rice to help absorb any excess water in it, but it's working fine.
No idea if the dog got it or if the hook failed. I'm thinking it may have been the hook b/c I don't remember the pup coming in with wet paws/legs, but... I wouldn't put it past him to have balanced on the rim to grab it.
Not planning on going to the store until tomorrow so I'll see what else walmart has. Definitely don't want anything permanent or that will damage the siding.

Anyway.. until then... this is where the pump will be for now. HOPEFULLY the stupid dog won't bother it, but we'll see.
I had to partially bury the air lines b/c they were floating too close to where he could grab them if he wanted.









I did notice what I think is new growth though 

















Hopefully it actually is.
Need to add more pebbles to both bins, especially the stem one. He must've pushed a lot of them down in to the soil b/c I can't cover up the spots he stepped in with what is in there. Oh well. Good thing we bought 2 bags.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

BLEH!
Ok so pump is working fine, but I'm just annoyed that the air flow isn't strong enough for both sides. It would be great if both of them got some air running to them.. even at a reduced flow, but nope! Sometimes it will go to both sides, most of the time it's just one side.
Don't get me wrong.. it's still a neat little pump that works... just not working enough for 2 bins


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Welp... 5g is NOT cycled just yet. OR it is, but the addition of the 3 more shrimp pellets just put a little too much food in there for the bacteria.
Either way... I would love to hurry up and get fish, but I'm cool waiting too. Helps when you don't really have the $$ for it right now too  lol
But yeah.. that's one thing that is difficult with this hobby... the need for patience. I woould love to be able to just plop all my fish directly in to the main tanks and I've done it before, but I know that has spread disease. Don't want to do that again so I'll wait patiently for the 5g to finish doing what it has to do.

I keep checking the moss container for live mosquito larvae, but they're all dead. Temps are cooling a little some though so maybe I'll be able to give my fish some live food this week. I'm really curious to see how they act for it.

Hrmmm.... I'm part of The pLanted Vase group on FB. I don't post or anything... but seeing all of the beautiful small containers that people have is really inspiring. I'm eyeballing the kitchen counter right now. I don't think DH would ever be willing, but we have 2 lights that we never use that would be perfect for a vase. lol
Sigh... a girl can dream....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok so good news first...
Spotted the other dojo loach actually eating very voraciously this morning! YAY!
I saw it yesterday hanging out where it likes and was a bit concerned b/c it looked to have a little lump right at its poop-shoot. Not like the other one.
Was still afraid that it had whatever the other one had, but thankfully it looks like it's just being shy.
Don't worry little one. I'm gonna get you some buddies that will hopefully make it through quarantine just fine!

Bad news... it's been clouded over all week long so the solar pump hasn't been working.
I got in the sponge filter and hooked one up and.. it floats. I mean I guess that makes sense, but for some reason I didn't think of it. I dunno if it will eventually sink once the air pump is working or what. I think I'm just going to leave it off though. 
Once the betta is finally back in his own tank.. months from now. I may hook up a sponge filter to the 40. I think it could benefit from a little more filtration.
Or maybe the 125 on the left side.... 

But still.. YAY for the other dojo still hanging in there  My little weird bent one. It was always a bit more skittish and I'm sure the other one getting sick and me taking it out didn't help the poor thing. 
Really excited to get more of them. Hopefully soon


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bad news first...
2 more fish dead. An albino tiger barb and I'm euthanizing a bloated pineconing odessa barb.
Spotted the tiger when I was taking out some cabomba. Looked like it had just died. Thought maybe it was just old age b/c the albinos are pretty old, but I'm not sure.
Just spotted the odessa barb and managed to scoop it out. It's way too far gone to even attempt to save. I didn't notice it before b/c I was focused on plants and from the side it looked fine, but then I saw it face forward and yikes. Poor thing.
So... /shrugs.
Maybe whatever the loach had is being passed along. I dunno. Water change tomorrow though.

In other news..
Took out some swords and cabomba for the bins
















Hopefully my stupid dog doesn't pull up the cabomba. If he leaves it alone, it should give the swords some much needed shade. I put most of the swords along the edges that will get shaded sooner than the rest of the area. Hope it helps.
It looks like the other swords are actually sending up new leaves though so yay 
So are the ones in the 40g too... double yay 

I hadn't really planned on doing anything today, but noticed that my big beautiful crypt








Was melting off leaves. Saw that it had some pretty tall ones and I think it's b/c all of the big swords around it along with their runners w/ all the little swords was blocking too much light, so the plant was melting off its bottom leaves. I trimmed a lot of stuff around it so I hope it helps.
I need to trim A LOT more damaged leaves off in the tank though. Hoping to get it done tomorrow.

Tank is still looking pretty lush, but I'm working on trimming things down more lol









Also outside... mosquito larvae!








Figured it would happen since the weather cooled some. Scooped out a bunch and holy hell the tiger barbs went absolutely nuts for them. As soon as they spotted the little squigglers, they became little piranhas! 
I think DH wants to get some cheap feeder fish to plop out there, but they would just die. Those things aren't cycled at all and I'm sure the readings are super high in ammonia right now. Just no way any fish would survive and feeder fish or not.. I'd hate for something to be exposed to that.
Going to try to remember to go out and go mosquito scoopin every day to try to keep their numbers lower lol

And finally, I think the 5g might be cycled. No ify reading this time. 








Put in more shrimp pellets so will see what it does in a couple of days once those break down good. If it's still 0 though... more fish.. here I come to hopefully not kill you in the future!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

5g is still looking ok. I just checked and it's kinda ify. I'll check it again tomorrow. I THINK it's ok though, but gotta make sure 

Thankfully Rachel O Leary posted a video addressing mosquito larvae in outdoor bins and she found some pesticide that kills them but shouldn't harm other livestock if you have them in the containers too. So yeah, I'll be looking for that stuff whenever I get to the store. The larvae are a nice treat for the fish, but I'd rather just kill the mosquitoes b/c I'll never be able to scoop them all out.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> BLEH!
> Ok so pump is working fine, but I'm just annoyed that the air flow isn't strong enough for both sides. It would be great if both of them got some air running to them.. even at a reduced flow, but nope! Sometimes it will go to both sides, most of the time it's just one side.....


get one of those little flow valves- you can adjust which one gets more air so they both run. I have to use valve whenever I split an airpump to run two things. 



lisals said:


> Also outside... mosquito larvae!
> 
> Figured it would happen since the weather cooled some. Scooped out a bunch and holy hell the tiger barbs went absolutely nuts for them. As soon as they spotted the little squigglers, they became little piranhas!


My fish love those things too. I actually put an old sink outside for the purpose of collecting them all summer. I find that if I collect the larvae every two or three days, I prevent any from turning into "tumblers" and then mature mosquitoes. (I put a window pane over the container if I want to stop mosquitoes coming in, or if it rains hard and would overflow, or dump it all if I'm going to be gone for a week or something.) I figure I'm actually doing the neighborhood a favor by attracting the mosquitoes to my yard and then ending their reproduction...


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

The fish deaths suck! I think I finally got ahead of mine... I went through 2000ml of Paragaurd and Ive been crushing up the ich shield pellets and mixing it with BBS. I have been feeding 3 times a day to get as much ich shield in the bellies as I could. I also basically scoured the tank 20 times a day and culled any fish that had visible symptoms OR seperated from the group. It was a tough pill to swallow. I'm hesitant now to add any fish to the tank or move these fish in with any others. At this point my advice would be to cull... it sucks, but you know there is an issue and it is spreading. 
The bins can get addicting. I've got my big display tank packed with buce. Then I have one of every Buce I have in the big display tank in my little emersed cube.... and 1 of every species (usually a mostly bare rhizhome) in my "Buce bin". I'm working on my second wabi kusa ball as a gift for my sister in law. It's too early to say how well the crypts will do. I just added Lucens or lutea (whichever the smaller one is) and crypt parva into a "crypt bin". I've got another growing HC cuba which is spreading like crazy. I've also got echinodorus xingu doing really well with some Ludwigia rubin (stuff is crazy dark red, purple, and magenta). The bins can really help give you an outlet and a "reserve" for plants you may not be using, but may in the future. I've seen some beautiful wabi kusa done in vases. I'm probably going to do another for the kitchen. I've got some recent pics in my wabi kusa thread. Your tanks are looking as lush as ever so you must be doing something right! My rainbow tank has been on the decline for months. Spent 4 hours yesterday separating, trimming, and replanting crypts. Hopefully they don't all melt again.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I've noticed that my crypts have been melting too. 
Thought it was just the one that I mentioned, but all of the others have definitely started melting as well. Not sure if it's b/c the light was being blocked too much (I don't think so), or maybe something else.
I tried getting a photo of the crypts to show how they've been melting but the photo lies! lol This makes it still look really thick and lush. Well, it is still thick with crypts, but seeing it IRL I can tell that a lot of these have lost a considerable amount of leaves.









I actually haven't gotten around to water changes for the last couple of weeks due to sick kids, but now that they're getting better I'll do that tomorrow (today when I'm posting this actually) and will add more root tabs. It's about time to add more anyway and maybe it will help to keep them from melting even more.
I haven't been out to check the bins in a few days either. Looks like the cabomba is still in there at least.
I may try putting something else out for mosquito larvae b/c the bins have a lot of soil that keeps wanting to float up to the top that I can't help but scoop up too. Makes for a big mess that I don't want to introduce to my tanks lol.

Anywho... So... Mr Bettaface has been moved back to his tank for the time being.
It seems to be done cycling and well... setback on getting more fish right now.
Our not even 2yo fridge decided to crap out on us soooo yeah... gotta spend money on that before more fish.... SIGH! Stupid adult responsibilities! lol

5g is looking a little rough. It's still getting a lot of the slimy green hair algae.
There was a TON of it before I did a water change. Still a lot on the anubias too.








And other than the dirty glass that I didn't bother to clean as well.. it's not looking too bad IMO 








Still going to add one or 2 shrimp pellets to the filter to help keep the bacteria up more for when I am finally able to buy more fish.

Swords in the 40g are doing really well. Really happy with how they're growing.

























This tank is also getting that same slimy green algae all over the wood. I kinda like it though. It does cover up the pretty color of the wood, but it also gives the tank an aged natural look too.
















I'm getting ready to do water changes so forgive the dirty glass lol

And finally for now. The moss container. It's actually doing really well. I'd say the amount has probably doubled since putting it outside and still no larvae in this one. I can see dead ones though. Even with the slightly cooler weather, the container still gets too warm for them to survive. MUAHAHA!!!









Alrighty... gotta get some water changes done finally. Going to try to trim a lot of damaged bits out of the 125 and get more root tabs in to the substrate.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's something I've learned the hard way... you've got to get those dead and dying bits out of there... that stuff can cause algae issues fast...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, I think the 40 is having a big issue right now b/c the current plants aren't taking up the nutrients like all of that moss did when it was still in there. It's getting better though. Not completely out of control 
And hopefully the 5g will settle back in now that it has finished cycling. I'm sure me adding the shrimp pellets doesn't help, but oh well. I'll take algae any day over bad water parameters again lol.

Alrighty, so yesterday, I did finally manage to get the 40 and 125 water changes done.
Also did a lot of trimming in the 125.
Trimmed off a ton of sword leaves. Lots of pleco damaged ones, lots of nutrient deficient ones, and ones that hadn't gotten enough light so were melting or in the process of dying.









I did not realize how HUGE the sword in the back of the tank was though. Most of the leaves came off of that one and it is still big and lush.
Kinda blends in with everything else, but it's back there lol.








Thought it was interesting that while it did have a lot of leaves, its leaves aren't as big as the one on the right. /shrugs

I also took off around a dozen more sword runners. Put a few in the 40 and the rest out in the bins.









Bins needed some TLC. Even though it has been raining for the last week and a half, the water wasn't being replenished so I had to go fill them up. The left bin is definitely showing some bowing out at the sides, but it should hold.. hopefully lol. If these manage to survive this summer, I'll have to double up on them to make sure they're sturdy enough for all the substrate and water.
Tried getting some pics but my reflection kept blocking everything. Oh well.
Things are looking ok in them though. The cabomba has definitely grown a considerable amount. I think it being overcast so much has helped the swords bounce back a bit more and some of the stem plants are doing extremely well. 
The creeping jenny has grown a lot and looks great!

















With all of those leaves trimmed out of the 125, it's looking a lot brighter now.
Still pretty cluttered, but I do still plan on taking out some crypts. Not sure when, but it'll happen eventually. 









I tried getting a better pic of the crypts. Still thick, but I think this photo shows what it actually looks like a little better.









Oh and had a little surprise buddy while I did water changes.  
Totally failing at camouflage but still cute


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Love the frog.


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

I like the variety of tiger barbs. The frog was funny. I don't like em, but this one seems friendly.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks 
I haven't spotted little froggy again, but it's probably hiding up under the siding.
Found a cute teeny tiny little toad earlier today after my dentist appointment 
I really like living in an area with little lakes all around. Once found 2 baby turtles in the middle of the road. Kept them for a day and let them go at the larger lake at the front of the neighborhood. Also found one on our front porch. We don't have a huge step up to our porch, but there is still one. No idea how it got up there, but I opened the door and there it was lol. Husband's father wanted that one for his pond.

Tanks are doing well for now. Betta made himself a nice little bubblenest so I guess he's happy. He still has that white film over his eyes. It never went away. Figured it would since he was in the 125, but I guess not. Doesn't seem to slow him down at all so I won't worry about it.

Bought some mosquito pellet things for the bins. If there wasn't any debris at the top, I would go out and net them out for the fish, but since there's just too much gunk floating around.... I'm just gonna kill im all.
Too bad I can't put tiger barbs out in the bins. There wouldn't be a single mosquito larvae left.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... got the mosquito pellets yesterday and used them last night. I have a little empty flower pot in the bins for when I add water that also had some mosquitoes in it. I filled it back up with some and will use that to harvest mosquitoes while the rest of the ones in the bins die.
The 40g fish enjoyed their treat  They were tiny larvae so figured the smaller fish should get those.

I really should've labeled all of my swords b/c I have no idea which ones are regular and which are compacta lol. Ooops. 
I guess if I ever do sell them... it'll be a surprise to whoever buys them lol.

My poor remaining dojo loach is so skittish now. No idea if he/she is actually ok. I'm gonna just gonna say she bc it's just easier.
I spotted her resting on some of the wood over on the right side of the tank and as soon as she spotted me looking at her, she dived right in to the sand below. Never saw them dig in to the sand so it was a bit amusing to see just her rear sticking out of it, but it broke my heart too. She needs buddies 
Texted hubs and I THINK I can convince him to let me get at least a couple more for now. They're kind of pricey at Pet Supermarket, but we wouldn't have to go across town to the LFS that we got her from. I'm not really a big fan of that LFS anyway since they don't take the best care of their fish.
Anyway.. look how lonely she looks. 
Or well... if you could see her properly through the algae covered glass.. you could see how lonely I think she looks lol.
















That's the sand still all over her from when she buried herself. Cute little lonely fish!
And please do forgive all the algae. I don't bother cleaning the side glass that often since I don't really look in to the tank from the sides.
She still looks ok physically though. Still looks plump and not breathing heavy or anything. I've spotted her eating a couple of times, but wish I could see her doing it more often so I'd know that she is really ok.
Think I may have convinced him. Texting him now and he's asking how much they are lol.
Fridge repairs is going to cost us a bundle, but not as much as we thought so there's still a little bit of wiggle room for hopefully a couple of wiggly little fish.
Poor betta will have to be moved, but it will only be for a month.
FX for more dojo loaches!

In other news...
Here's my last remaining BN pleco. Still hard to believe that all of the other ones died and still no flipping clue why.
I keep forgetting to buy her some zucchini, but she seems pretty happy munching on all the swords. Need to remember to buy her some though.









And this stupid little red flame sword needs to grow UP already! I think I need to move it again. Or just move all the wood back more. I dunno. I just wish I could get another giant tank so I can put all of this extra stuff in to it lol.


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## Outofwater (Mar 30, 2018)

lots of great pictures. Keep up the good work


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Do you use root tabs for your swords? My red flame sword grew so fast it was insane. I removed it like 3 months after planting it and sold it. It was right under the light and I put a root tab under it. I also use C02, but that couldn't make that much difference in growth with a sword.
Good luck getting some poach buddies. I know it's always recommended to keep them in large groups.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Do you use root tabs for your swords? My red flame sword grew so fast it was insane. I removed it like 3 months after planting it and sold it. It was right under the light and I put a root tab under it. I also use C02, but that couldn't make that much difference in growth with a sword.
> Good luck getting some poach buddies. I know it's always recommended to keep them in large groups.



Yep. I'm using DIY root tabs. Just added more too. Well actually no, I didn't add another under the flame so I may do that.
I really don't know why it's not growing. It's definitely getting new leaves, but just not getting bigger. I'll have to remember to add a couple more root tabs under it next water change. Thanks for reminding me 
It did have a rough start at first. Not getting enough light and then I kept moving it around. I'm sure that didn't help.


So.. I got me some dojo loaches yesterday! WOOOOOOO!








And yep... 4 of them 
Fully intended on only getting 2 b/c of the price, but when we got to pet supermarket... they were only 4.50! YAY! 

No albino ones, but that's ok. Maybe next time 
I wish the 5g was a 10 b/c I definitely would've gotten 1 or 2 more lol.
They all seemed to have settled in well in to the 5g though. I'm going to have to really remember to keep an eye on water parameters though. 4 fish and feeding them... afraid ammonia will shoot up quicker than expected. Hopefully not though and things stay stable and ok for them.


They're so cute though. They're all about 3-3.5inches long and so teeny tiny compared to what I'm used to lol.
Love them so much and really hope none get sick while in quarantine.


















































I had to make the lid of the 5g sturdier too. Took another craft mesh thing and poorly measured things out and sewed the current one and it together. Still left a gap between it and the filter that I'm not happy about, but it's better than what it was.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh I think we're going to have to take one of them back. THe one in the last photo I posted doesn't seem to be doing too well.
The other 3 are eating already and being a lot more active and the sick looking one is clamped up a bit.
I didn't know it at the time or else I would've asked for a different one, but one of them jumped out of the container when we were at the store and the girl just scooped it up and put it back in to the container for us. I really wish my husband had said something b/c he told me on the way home. UGH.
Pretty sure this is the fish b/c I can see light scraping on its side.
Poor thing.
I like that store b/c their tanks in general always look pretty healthy, but the girl helping us was just.... so wrong.
Saying that they're labyrinth fish. Uhm..... no..... and just in general treating us like newbies. I get it though and at least they're trying.. even if some of the info isn't right lol. I just smiled and nodded though.`


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

They do have cute faces. Love how that one in the first pic, in the bag, is looking right at you!

I had something similar happen once- I was getting fish at the store and somehow one landed in the sink- the person helping me was a bit awkward handling transition from collection box to the bag- and she just scooped it up, dumped it in the bag. I was upset, but the fish turned out fine. I hope yours is okay. Keep the tank water clean and it should heal?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I don't think it will unfortunately. 
I netted it and it was far too easy to get. And looking at it closer, it looks like some of its whiskers have broken? I noticed it yesterday that some of them were curled, but they actually look like they're bent at more than a 90degree angle. Just doesn't look right. I have it in a container right now. Husband and kids are at church atm so I don't have a way to get myself to the store to take it back. Well.. I guess I could if I wanted to drive his truck... but I don't.

In better news though... while netting it, I kicked up a lot of gunk that was on the cabomba. Not sure where it's all coming from.
Anywho... I needed to do another water change to get some of it out and while I was trying to get the anubias back in to place, one of them started to investigate my hand. ACK! ABout died from the cuteness! Not even a day and already that curious and trusting. Love these little fish so much! :bounce:


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I took that one loach back. I honestly don't think it will recover b/c it looked a little red on its belly. I think it took some serious damage when it fell.
No problems exchanging it for another one though. New one looks a little strange and has kind of a hump head. Hopefully that's not an indication that something is wrong with it.

I fed the tank a cube of bloodworms last night and 3/4 ate from my hand 
They're still a little skittish of me though. I'm keeping a close eye on them, mostly b/c I'm paranoid about them jumping out the small opening in the back. But hopefully seeing me all the time will get them used to me and less skittish 

Other tanks are doing good and I need to go out and check my bins. I haven't been out there since the day after using the mosquito bites. It's been so damn hot here. Hopefully that hasn't spelled doom for the plants.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Grrr. I'm so angry with myself. Made a newbie error b/c apparently, I'm good at that.
Fed the loaches and they all ate and seemed to be in great health.
Didn't think much about them during the day, but still checked to make sure they all looked well.
Had a sudden thought at around 7pm that I should check ammonia. Loaches were hiding, but from what I could see, still looked ok.
I forgot about the test, but suddenly remembered at 9. Went to grab the vial to clean it out and it's green! Only a 1ppm reading, but any reading that isn't yellow is bad. Hurried back to the 5g after cleaning the vial and they all look terrible. One was actually on its back laying on the plants and the rest of them had bright red gills! 
I did what I had to do.
I stuck my DIY betta cage back in to the 125 and caught all the loaches and put them in to it. So much for quarantine. Sigh.
2 out of the 4 still have horrible red gills and the other 2 are looking much better now.
I'm going to keep them in the cage for another day or so so I can keep a closer eye on them. Hopefully the ones with the red gills heal up and get better. As far as I can see, none of them are breathing heavy, so I'm gonna take that as a good sign. 
Then tomorrow, if they're all still alive and looking good, I'll let them in to the tank and do a water change.

Just ugh though. I guess a part of me knew something wasn't right b/c I don't normally get the urge to check the water that late.
But still.. I should've known better. With how small that tank is and the problems I continue to have in it... I should've known to not feed them as much/often. I just wanted to fatten them up though  I wasn't overfeeding them or anything, but 4 fish plus feeding them was still too much for the tank to handle. Sigh...
Really hope they all survive. I feel awful that my mistake may kill them


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok so good news! Was waiting for the lights to turn on so I could get a better look at them and to feed the tanks.
They're all still looking ok and when I fed the tank, all 4 of them were very eager to eat. SUCH a great sign! Still going to keep them in the cage until tomorrow or if they're looking ok during the day, might let them in to the tank tonight when the lights go out.
I can't spot my big one, but maybe these 4 little ones will help it come back out more.
Ugh, I'm just glad that I got them out when I did. Any longer and I definitely would've had all 4 or at least 3 of them dead this morning.
FX for continued good news.

EDIT: Rewatching some of Rachel o Leary's videos where she had a bad shipment come in with lots of fish that came in stressed and with ammonia burn. I remembered the video, but wanted to rewatch. She's really amazing and helped heal her fish by doing multiple water changes to keep the water super clean and it worked. I may do that. With the loaches in the cage though... it means I'll have to let them out soon. I think I am going to do it though and not wait until tomorrow.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well... geeze.
Ok so I went ahead and let them out and... cue the absolute freak out they had. Poor little wiggly fish. 
I also did a 50% water change and just sat and watched.
SO much freaking out and stress.

Hopefully they're gonna be ok.








This one had me worried b/c it kept coming to the front of the tank to stress out. Was afraid the barbs would nip at it and one did (its tail), but they just looked and then moved along.
Seems like they were just curious thankfully and probably looking to see if it had food.

I did feed the tank just a little more right before the water change. Wanted to distract the barbs while the loaches were released and I spotted the big one!
Guess she couldn't resist more food.
First spotted her behind the crypts at the back of the tank, but then she moved around and then eventually ended up under the wood where she kept an eye on me.








She looked good though. Looked SO BIG compared to the new tiny ones. She's a good 3x or so larger than them.
OH and when I fed.. one of the loaches was actually wanting to eat. So.. yay?

Went ahead and turned the light off too. Well.. turned the main light off and turned the blue one on. Hoping it will help the loaches calm down a bit and relax.








They all looked good though. I actually didn't notice any red gills on any of them. But of course now they're super stressing due to yet another move. Sigh.... 

In other news... I usually can't get good photos of this guy b/c he's at the top of the tank and the lighting always gets weird... 
Isn't he so pretty? 








Used to have these fish before and I would go around the house in the summer and try to lightly smack the flies that got in. Then I'd feed them to the killifish. They loved it! May do that again b/c damn do we have a fly problem. Every damn time we open the door, at least 3 or 4 more come flying in. Stupid bugs!

And for the heck of it.. the 40g. It's doing pretty good but needs a water change too. It will happen soon. It's getting a lot of that hair algae all over the place. Need to take a toothbrush in there to try to gather up as much of it as possible.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok last update for today.
Turned the light on to look for them. They were all resting and I just had to see if they were doing better.
Put in a little bit of food and all of them came out to eat. Thank GOODNESS! Even the big one came out and ate and seemed to seek out the smaller ones. 
I did see one smaller one that still had slightly red gills, but I think it will be ok. Eating is such a good sign though. Hopefully in a stable tank, they'll heal.

And in other news... someone was throwing out what looked like 2 brand new 20 long tanks. Oh it was so tempting to stop and grab them. SO TEMPTING. DH is lucky I'm shy and that we don't have room for it lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I'm glad you caught the ammonia spike! Losing fish is such a bummer in so many ways. It seems like you can never get to that end stocking goal. Eating is a very good sign. I'm surprised that just those 4 fish overwhelmed you nitrifying bacteria.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I don't think just the fish was the problem, but me feeding them just pushed it over the edge. I should've kept it to every other day feedings or something, but I wanted to fatten them up so decided to feed them like I do my other tanks.

They all seem to be doing well this morning though. Just fed the tank and even the big one came out. It hid once it saw me, but not completely. It just sorta stared at me... waiting  lol
The little ones were eating like little piggies though. One of them wasn't sure what was going on and kept bothering the other fish that swam by it lol.
But yeah, so glad I caught it when I did and that they're puling through.

I do still plan on eventually getting some more cories, but will definitely remember to not feed them so much when they're in quarantine AND to keep a better eye on water quality.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

All seems to be well with the loaches and the big one is definitely coming out more now too. So glad. SO glad!
Need to retest the 5g and if it's back to being ok, move the betta back in. No point in keeping him in the little HOB breeder box if his tank is ok for him 
Will try to get some photos soon. Nothing much going on right now.
Need to go check on my bins soon though. 
Oh and that solar air pump... meh. Not worth the money. It only works every once in a while. Not sure if it just needs more direct light longer or what.
Oh well. Not really too worried about it since there isn't any livestock.
I do think I would like to have a very small outdoor pond eventually though. Maybe set something up in the frontyard area with a big elephant ear growing over it for some shade  Put some white cloud minnows or CPDs in there and set up a tank in the garage for them when it gets too cold.. or set up a heater or something.
Anywho.. just thinking out loud so to speak lol. We definitely don't have money for that this year and probably not next year either since we're wanting to build our back porch finally


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh wait.. nope. All is not well.
Just had to euthanize an odessa barb. 
Spotted it yesterday or the day before and saw that it was hiding and bloated looking.
Put it in the back of my mind b/c I was still mostly focused on the loaches.
Noticed it again today after I fed the tank. Hiding and not eating. Not a good sign.
Caught it and got a really good look and some scales on its belly were raised a little.
I really hate euthanizing. It never gets easy for me b/c I hate being the reason why something dies. 
In my experience fish just don't ever seem to get better once they stop eating so I went ahead and clove oiled it. 
Will it be the last one to get sick? Probably not, but gosh I hope so.

Oh and 5g tank is still showing ammonia. I haven't added anything to the tank since removing the loaches. Must be the loach poop causing it. Not too worried about it, but good grief man. Could that 5g just stabilize already? I have good media in there, but I think I just need to take out the crap that comes with it and replace it with something else entirely. Get a big sponge for it or something. Obviously cycle it first in the 40's filter and then do that b/c I'm not about to go through yet another cycle with this stupid tank!
I'm getting very close to just taking it down and replacing it with my 10g though. Maybe that would be more stable. I dunno. It's just ticking me off right now.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Sometimes I wonder if I should just have one tank... so 1 system to get right. Otherwise we are dealing with cycling in one tank, disease in another, equipment issues with the third, bullying teammates in another. Is this really the relaxing hobby we claim?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Sometimes I wonder if I should just have one tank... so 1 system to get right. Otherwise we are dealing with cycling in one tank, disease in another, equipment issues with the third, bullying teammates in another. Is this really the relaxing hobby we claim?



Seriously! Everyone else is like "Oh.. it's so calming to just watch my tanks."
Really? B/c they've been a giant headache! Like WTH are we doing wrong that all of our fish get sick and die, or for whatever reason our filters won't stay cycled, etc etc. It's never ending problems right now and it's damn frustrating.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> Seriously! Everyone else is like "Oh.. it's so calming to just watch my tanks."
> Really? B/c they've been a giant headache! Like WTH are we doing wrong that all of our fish get sick and die, or for whatever reason our filters won't stay cycled, etc etc. It's never ending problems right now and it's damn frustrating.


I don't know, but I feel better that it's not just me.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And the SAE is dead. WTH?
It looked fine when I pulled it out. No marks on it. No red spots that could indicate internal bleeding... nada. Just dead.
I give up. If they're gonna die.. whatever.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> And the SAE is dead. WTH?
> It looked fine when I pulled it out. No marks on it. No red spots that could indicate internal bleeding... nada. Just dead.
> I give up. If they're gonna die.. whatever.


How long was he in there?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> How long was he in there?



Erm.. I'm not sure. Couple/few months? I had 3, then the other 2 died just leaving the last one. It looked to be doing well. Skittish, but getting bigger and eating well from what I could tell.
Looked to have just died when I spotted it laying on its side in the tank.


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## jcampbell1781 (Apr 17, 2018)

I read somewhere recently that plain guppies are great for man made ponds and will eat mosquito larvae and microorganisms. get like 1 boy and a few girls and they will reproduce and keep all the bugs at bay


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

jcampbell1781 said:


> I read somewhere recently that plain guppies are great for man made ponds and will eat mosquito larvae and microorganisms. get like 1 boy and a few girls and they will reproduce and keep all the bugs at bay



My husband did actually want to buy some feeder guppies to put in to the bins, but it gets VERY hot here and I don't think anything would survive in the bins. Even though they only get a few hours of direct light, it's still super hot in the shade. Even thought it would just be feeders, I still wouldn't want to put any out there just for them to die bc it's too hot.




Just checked on the bins and they're not too hot right now. Warm, but not hot. Really need to toss the thermometer in so I can get a temp.
Was going to mess with the air pump, but had another little froggy buddy hanging out on it. Didn't want to disturb it.










The bins overall look ok. The algae has definitely invaded though. Lots of algae all over the sides.
BUT the plants seem to be growing so yay 
The sword bin is murky for some reason. It's hard to see in the photos, but the swords have actually grown some. 



































The other bin looks good, but the side bowing out is a little worrying. Don't see any stress spots on the plastic... yet.
The water is clearer in this tank though. Maybe b/c there's more cabomba in it so it's keeping it clear? I dunno. Looks nice from the top though 


















I am concerned with the color of the plants though. Not sure if it was jusr glare, but they're all looking yellow. I may go out and sprinkle some dry ferts in to them soon. Will check on them tonight once the sun goes down some to see if the color is still yellow.


Anywho... those seem to be doing pretty well  Filled them up a little bit and yeah.... other than maybe adding some dry ferts, just going to leave them alone for now. Let them do their thing 
Oh and no mosquito larvae that I could see. That stuff I put in still seems to be clearing them out so yay 
Did have some in the little flower pot that I leave floating. They were teeny tiny newly hatched ones. Gave them to the fish as a little snack.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok so I don't think the plants are actually yellow. It's just the tinting of the water that was making it look that way.
The solar pump is pfffft....
Hopefully not completely broken, but wouldn't be surprised if it was.

It's clouded over today so I got a better look in to the bins. Things are looking pretty good. I think the addition of the cabomba has really helped the swords. Well.... that and the week long of cooler rainy weather we got.
Still not sure why the right bin is so cloudy. Must be a bacterial bloom.









Left bin cabomba is getting some fuzzy looking algae on it. Was hoping that maybe it was frog eggs b/c seeing little tadpoles would be awesome, but I think it's just algae lol.









Also got a somewhat decent photo of the creeping jenny and whatever stem plant is next to it. This stuff is LOVING being outside. It's never looked this good in my tanks lol.
Oh and just noticed the little hairgrass? microsword? next to it that looks good too 









And 5g tank still has ammonia reading. Sigh.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

The heat definately complicated things. Not thinking I put my bin with my growing wabi kusa ball, Buce trimmings, and java fern into direct sunlight. 2 hours later they were completely cooked. Everything was dead. No free rides I guess. Keep them inside and spend the money on lighting or leave them outside and worry that the temps will kill them. :-(


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> The heat definately complicated things. Not thinking I put my bin with my growing wabi kusa ball, Buce trimmings, and java fern into direct sunlight. 2 hours later they were completely cooked. Everything was dead. No free rides I guess. Keep them inside and spend the money on lighting or leave them outside and worry that the temps will kill them. :-(



UGH that sucks. Guess lesson learned. 



I think something has been digging around the sword bin. Not sure if it's one of the dogs, but I don't think so. The big doofy one hasn't been wet or dirty like he's been digging in them and the other 2 are too small and one old to get in them. Maybe a possum or raccoon or something. I dunno, but went out to check on them and the sword bin is totally cloudy w/ kicked up soil. One of the small sword plants was floating and some of the cabomba had also been uprooted with a bunch of soil floating on the surface. /shrugs
It will clear up with time, but geeze... dog.. wildlife.. whatever.. leave my bins alone! lol


Forgot to mention but I found a dead platy the other day. I don't know if it was sick or just died from stress. Tank is definitely not for female platy. I knew the barbs would take care of any fry, but maybe they harass the females once they sense that it's going to give birth soon. I dunno.
I wasn't going to mess with the fins to see if it was a female or not so not entirely sure it was. 

Once the barbs are dead though.... no more. I want a big community tank with lots of totally peaceful fish.


Probably tomorrow... going to take out a few more runner swords and a couple in the 40 and plant outside. Hoping by then the bin will have cleared up enough so I can actually see what I'm doing. If not, they'll go in the other bin.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

FINALLY got some water changes done yesterday. Still need to get the 5g done b/c betta is moving back in to it. Checked ammonia yesterday and it's back to normal. After the youngest is in bed, will do a water change then. Retest tomorrow morning and if it's still good, move him back. 

Tanks are ok. I think my tendency to overfeed is causing my constant battle with brown algae in the 125. I need to check myself, but I always put too much in b/c I wanna make sure they're all eating. lol. Just something to work on 
I removed the red flame from the 125 and put it in to the 40 along with a lot of root tabs under it.
It's the dark colored plant in the photo.
Also scooted the swords closer together. Decided not to put them outside just yet since it's so hot here right now.








I removed a lot of leaves from the flame sword. A lot of them were very twisted and growing in weird. Not sure what was going on but hopefully it will grow some better ones now that it's not being overshadowed by the wood.

The 40 is doing ok though. I think by not doing a waster change on it for so long helped to get rid of a lot of the hair algae that was growing. Or maybe with the swords settling in and using up nutrients did it. I dunno lol.
Only a little bit left on the wood. 
I actually really love the way it looks. Looks swampy/boggy. This wood would look great in a dark water tank.









These stem plants are doing great too finally! Need to put in more root tabs next water change and move the little crypt that's tucked behind these,









Did a lot of trimming on the big compacta sword. Think a lot of the older leaves died off from the stress of moving it. Or were in the process of dying. I also removed one of the heaters. I didn't think too much of it before, but I always felt like I might have gotten a little shock when my hand was in the tank. Always thought it was maybe b/c I had a scratch or something so I was feeling a little stinging sensation b/c of that, but I tested it yesterday. Stuck my hand in.. felt it.
Went and did something else, put my hand in.. nothing. Waited a little bit.. put my hand back in and felt it again.
There were 2 heaters in the tank and I always unplugged one of them b/c it sticks out of the water during water changes so I knew it wasn't that one. Unplugged the other one and that seemed to have solved it. Didn't get that feeling again. /shrugs
Maybe that's what killed some of the fish in this tank. A faulty heater giving them a little shock.








Oh and water is cloudy bc I had just gotten done with a water change. Not sure why this tank always gets cloudy after.

And 125. Didn't do any trimming this time, but it needs it. Still a lot of leaves that need to be removed.









Found another platy dead. /shrugs Hopefully nothing else gets sick, but with my luck.. doubt it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Pretty sure I found the back half of one of the new loaches. Damn....
Fed the tank after I found it and the rest look to be eating and look ok. Hopefully none of the others get sick.
I haven't given the tanks much attention for the last week bc of kids so not sure if one was acting sick or not. Last time I did check on them they all came out to eat so... I dunno.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's really weird that you are losing fish here and there. Not the new ones... that just happens. How old was the platy? Any funny physical symptoms?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I did find another platy that was sickly and had some spots on it. Not ich.. just.. I dunno. like it got a little scratched up. But it was acting sick so I took it out and euthanized. The remaining platy are acting normal so far, but that has shown to not matter in my tank :\
I'm not sure how old they are. I think I bought them when I redid the 125 so.. a year or so?

I just need to save up enough money to buy meds to treat the whole tank. There's obviously something still floating around in there that seems to enjoy killing my fish :\

And... I think another little loach might be missing too. Paying more attention and I've only been spotting 2 little ones eating. Hopefully I'm wrong and it has been eating and is fine, but yeah.. not holding my breath.

Anyway...
Waster changes today and big trimming in the 125...
First up though.. the 40.
The algae seems to have stablized. Not a lot on the glass.. at least not as much as usual. Looks like the wisteria is growing a bit more now too so that may have helped.








I think the last little pygmy cory died. I haven't seen it for a while now. It could be hiding but it's doubtful.

I also did multiple water changes in the 5g. I hadn't moved the betta in yet b/c I let everything else grab my attention. Had a lot of algae and debris to get out. Plus I disturbed some of the clay pellets in the substrate. Still cloudy but looking a little better.
I also pulled up 2 crypts from the 125 and put them in here. I hope the long leaves stay, but I'm sure they'll melt off. Oh well.. looks nice while it's there lol.









Now 125 needing some TLC. Did a lot of trimming on the swords on the right. Took out about 2 dozen smaller sword runners and just cleaned up a lot of gunk that was getting trapped in the back right corner.
Before








And After!









Lol pretty much looks the same.
I also took out more of the cabomba to put in the outdoor bins. Both bins outside are murky now. Couldn't tell where the heck I was planting anything. Should've drained some of the water to see better, but it's just too dang hot outside for that.

Anywho... Lots of damaged sword leaves removed. Lots of unhealthy and algae covered ones taken out and yep... can't tell that I did much of anything 









The only big change that you can tell a difference with is the wood. I just rearranged it a little bit. Not keeping it like this b/c it's ugly, but needed to do something with it. Wanted to take one of the pieces out but nooooo. the java fern just had to stick itself to it nice and tight and is actually looking good on it. :\









There are soooo many more sword runners though. Soooooo many more! I even missed a few big ones that I had wanted to take out.








But like I said.. too hot outside so they can wait until next water change! lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

After the last post. The 3rd little loach made an appearance and was eating with its buddies. THank goodness.
Betta is very happy to be back in his tank. Made a nice little bubblenest up under the crypt leaves. Need to check water quality tomorrow to make sure it's ok.

So far so good.
Need to do something with the swords in the 40 though. I hate to move them outside, but there's just not the floor space I wanted for the cories IMO and I do want to eventually get some more of them.

Everything is ok for now though. FX it stays that way.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And yep... ammonia reading in the 5g. I don't understand why it doesn't stay cycled or more stable I should say. I know HOB filters aren't the best, but it has good media in it. Me doing a big cleaning shouldn't have disturbed things this dang much.
So darn annoyed. I just want a good home for my poor betta!

Dosed his tank with some prime and guess I'll be doing that along with some extra water changes until things settle back down.
I'm very close to getting rid of this tank though. Replace it with the 10g. I would still have to cycle it though which is why I'm not doing it and it would just be another giant hassle. Grrrrr....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Been dosing Prime in the 5g and man.. ammonia reading got way too high. Had planned on doing a water change today anyway. I'm sure the big crypt melting back isn't helping matters, but still.. sheesh.

Cut off a little piece of media from the 40g and put t in the 5g filter. Crammed it in where I could and hope it helps. Dunno what else to do other than what I'm doing. 
More frequent water changes definitely. 

Just noticed that there is only 1 platy left. Tempted to put it in the 40g, but don't want it to bring any nastiness with it. I share equipment between tanks though so it's not like I've been careful about cross contamination.

I'll have to get some pics of the 125 now that it's not totally filled with sword runners. There are still a few that I've left in to grow a bit more, but I can actually see more stuff now lol. I'll do it later some time. Caught my family's cold and don't feel like doing much of anything.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well that was a nice DAY of no sick fish :\ Fed tanks a little while ago and spotted a pineconing tiger barb. Also has red blotches under its skin.
I have some internal bacterial infection meds that are a year expired, but I'm gonna try it out anyway on the tank. I have to do something b/c this is just ridiculous. I'm not doing anything wrong. Well.. other than putting the new loaches in there lol. But hell...fish were dying before I did that so it's not their fault.
I dunno..... I just... UGH... this is so damn frustrating.
Anyway, so yeah.. going to use this stuff and hope it helps to keep the fish healthy and think I'll save up for a UV sterilizer. It's not going to be the size needed, but maybe if I situate one right it will help enough.

Sigh... I couldn't catch the sick fish. Still has a good bit of spunk in it and was too fast. I'll try again later though. Need to do a water change so maybe I can grab it then and euthanize. 
I also snagged the last platy and put it in the 40. Probably the wrong decision but the poor thing is all alone and it might feel less stressed in the 40. Hopefully it doesn't infect all of them, but like I said.. I share stuff between tanks so... meh... just meh.
I can just not win with this crap....

EDIT: Went ahead and bought a UV sterilizer. Cost $37, but it's the right size for the tank and hopefully it will work.
Also bought more kanaplex if I need it. Didn't know you could get it off amazon, but glad I looked.
Sigh.... lets just hope the rest of the fish survive long enough for this crap to work.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes done.
Going to need to do daily water changes on the betta tank to get ammonia down more. It's way too high. Dosing a lot of Prime to help inbetween changes.
Betta seems happy though. A lot happier in his own tank.
Added a sword runner to the tank. Dunno how well it will do, but meh. The dwarf sag isn't doing well. I thought this stuff was supposed to grow well?








Now just have to wait for the crypts to melt and then grow back to fill back in that left side.

40g seems to be doing well. Made sure to vacuum up the filter area really well. A lot of gunk was getting trapped there. Flow on the filter is much better now.
Platy seems to be enjoying its new home too. It inspects the cories whenever one swims up to the surface. 
She's not the flashiest platy, but I think she's pretty cute  Feel bad that it's just her, but don't plan on getting more any time soon.
















Maybe she's holding some fry and will pop some out  lol Doubt it but we'll see I guess.

New swords are doing well. Uprooted some by accident and they already have some nice roots.
























I really want to get some more anubias for the back piece of wood in the left corner. The one that's on it is hanging on, but has a long way to go to look healthy again. Maybe just cover the whole thing with a bunch of nana. I think that would look nice 

125... I finally managed to snag the sick barb. Definitely septic. Blood all up under its skin and pineconing like crazy. Will be starting meds tonight with some soaked bloodworms.

In the meantime though... did more trimming. It's nice to actually see individual plants lol.
Like this crypt that was always covered in sword leaves.
I really hope it turns back to how it used to look. Going to slowly trim the taller leaves and hope it encourages it to grow the shorter ones again.









And look at this lil bastard. This lil thing is the reason why I haven't taken out this piece of wood yet lol. The original leaves all died off on it and this is all new growth.








It's ok though. Even though the wood positioning is ugly, it creates this overhang cave type of thing that the fish like.

Spotted a little loach foraging. Just think it's neat how well it blends in with the substrate 
For anyone curious, substrate is a mix of play sand, pool filter sand, eco complete, pebbles, and a little bit of crushed coral here and there. It was actually all separated when this tank was first set up, but that didn't last long. Everything got mixed up and meh.. I like it 









Thought this was funny too. Noticed one of the loaches swimming up by the filter outputs. Guess it likes hanging out up there. Silly fish!









And finally some tank shots. It does look more yellow b/c I put a bit too much iron in my fert mix. Oops lol

































And yep... looks more open and bright now. Still need to remove a few more sword runners, but not in any hurry.
Will be putting the UV thing right smack in the middle. At least that's the plan. If I can't put it there b/c the cord is too short, then it will go on the left side.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First dose of meds today with some bloodworms. Need to buy more bloodworms. Will be my excuse to go to pet supermarket and maybe possibly buy a few more loaches. Muahahahahaha
Maybe some more cories too if they have some that aren't too expensive.
I really like that store b/c it actually looks like the employees take care of the tanks. They might not be totally knowledgeable and there's this one girl that works there that seems like she thinks she's helpful but comes off a bit condescending and know-it-all lol. But hey.. none of us are perfect  Hey... I was saying water PERIMETERS instead of parameters for the longest time rofl.

Anywho... water change in the betta tank. Ammonia looked like it went down just a little, but it was still very very green.
This tank is so damn frustrating but it has so much potential to look decent if it would just stop screwing up!
I'm getting an itch to just buy a ton of plants and fill up this tank and parts of the 40g.
Sat and watched that one for a bit too (while I fed the 125) and the back of that tank really needs.. something. Was hoping the vallis would fill it all in, but pfft, nope. I'm sure the low lighting isn't helping. Hopefully will have a better light on it come Christmas time  Or maybe my birthday. I'll have to give hubs some non-subtle, very obvious, not even hints to what I want 
Im gonna wait on the plants though. Might take a trip to Petsmart one day to see what they have, but obviously have to wait for cooler weather to get anything shipped.

Remaining fish look ok so far that I could see. All of them eagerly ate the bloodworms. I think I'm going to remove the wood on the left side of the tank. Or situate it over by the other pieces of wood. You can't see them anyway. I think the fish may like them, but meh.. they'll like them somewhere else.
I'd like to maybe move the ozelot sword over there or one of the bigger sword plants around it. May do that next water change  Will be a lot of work but kinda getting tired of the same scape. It probably won't look much different than it does now though lol. I dunno.. we'll see what happens!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got in the UV thing today along with the kanaplex. Will be installing it on Sunday or monday. Whenever I do a water change and rearrange  Gonna be a big job, but I'm excited to do it. Not really sure how well a sword will do on the left side since that's where the cabomba is, but we'll see I guess. I can always move the cabomba somewhere else. Plant it down and trim it so it doesn't shadow the sword below. I'm either going to move the sword that's in the back with the ozelot or the one that is in front of the fake wood. I'll have to see how much room is on the right side once those pieces of wood are removed.

Looks like I'll need to connect an air pump to the UV thing. Think I have enough to get to it if I put it in the middle, but I haven't checked if the cord is long enough. Meh. Not in any hurry. Just hope it helps.
It's not a great brand though. Didn't realize it when I bought it, but my own fault for not paying attention.
Guess gotta wait and see what happens


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok.. how cool is this..
Watch the beginning of the video 
https://youtu.be/VfAJ3ITS3Nw

If you don't want to watch it, it's the Aquarium Co-Op guy in someone else's shop and he's watching the guy fill up upside down gatorade type bottles with a little piece of styrofoam in them with CO2. The bottle gets filled with the gas, the foam gets pushed down and he knows he'll have to refill when the foam is up at the top again.
It's not the prettiest, but how frickin brilliant is that? Absolutely no worry about if he's wasting any of the CO2 through bubblers or anything b/c it's slowly being absorbed from the bottles and he gets to use one tank of CO2 on a bunch of his set ups. How smart!
Just so cool and brilliant  
If I were to ever start getting co2 again, I would do that. Sure, I'd have bottles floating in my tanks, but I wouldn't have to worry about all of that super expensive equipment.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Hopefully the sterilizer works. Unfortunately the science behind it is VERY specific. If the one you purchased is not effective dont think those results represent sterilizes. Can you return it? I am THRILLED with my Aqua UV sterilizer. I have not lost a single fish or noticed the slightest problem with any fish since its incorporation. New they are only about $130... far less than what you've lost on fish and spent on meds. One of the best purchases I've made


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I'll take a look at the aqua stuff. I'm returning the one I bought. Looking in to it more, seems as though a lot of people have problems with the light melting the plastic around it. WTH?
Don't need to be dealing with that mess.
Not getting all my money back though... dern shipping lol. But hey.. at least I'm not losing the total amount.
It's my own fault for not doing more research on it anyway, but at least I hadn't used it yet.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> I'll take a look at the aqua stuff. I'm returning the one I bought. Looking in to it more, seems as though a lot of people have problems with the light melting the plastic around it. WTH?
> Don't need to be dealing with that mess.
> Not getting all my money back though... dern shipping lol. But hey.. at least I'm not losing the total amount.
> It's my own fault for not doing more research on it anyway, but at least I hadn't used it yet.


Spectrum, intensity, and dwell time are all SUPER specific in order to kill pathogens. Lots of companies sticking a UV bulb in a case and trying to sell crap. It's the way of the world we live in. The problem is you need a sound understanding of microbiology to know this!! Aqua UV 15 watt I think it's the "performance series". It's the least expensive of the Aqua UV 15w models. Push about 300gph through it and you're set. Bulb life is 14 months which is fantastic. I'm sure new bulbs are $50-$60 but I lost $700 on Neons and Lemons because I did not incorporate it sooner. I'm a true believer... at least in this company and its products. I read maybe 20-30 peer reviewed journals to verify their claims as well as their testing results. I think anyone with a substantial investment in fish in a planted tank should consider this product mandatory. I'm very appreciative to @Discusluv for sharing the information with me. It's tough to search through all the junk to find a legitimate product


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I wish I had had this back in the day when I had an almost total tank wipeout. Sigh.. I still miss those fish.

Anywho. Maybe I'll get one for my birthday. Lol.. that's about the only time other than Christmas that Id feel comfy buying something that pricy. I mean really it's not that bad, but ya know.. 3 kids and responsibilities and all that... boo  lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No water changes today. No reason why other than my laziness. Just had the house to myself and didn't feel like doing anything lol.
Not doing it tomorrow either. UPS is picking up the return and kids have gymnastics. Just want to be able to commit a good chunk of uninterrupted time to screwing around with my tank like I want. Well... as uninterrupted as my kids allow. They have tablets to play on though so maybe they'll go zone out with them  lol

Betta tank ammonia is still on the rise. I skipped one day of water change and the ammonia jumped back up. Yeesh. I need to put better media in the filter. That's it. I just need to do it so this tank will frickin stop this crap already. There is nothing wrong with the filter, but it needs better media in it to hold more bacteria or something. This shouldn't be a problem still. It's beyond ridiculous at this point.
I think I'm gonna try to get some of the media out of the older filter on the 125. Or actually the newer one would be easier. Whenever I do a water change, I'll do that as well. See about replacing the crappy media that comes with HOB filters with some big cycled bio thingamabobs  lol

Oh and I told hubs that I wanted a good UV sterilzer for my tank for my birthday. He just gave me that look. The look of defeat b/c he knows that I'm gonna be getting it eventually rofl. Oh.. I'll at least wait until the month of my birthday if no emergency comes up


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I haven't done anything yet! lol
Was going to do something today, but kept letting everything distract me and by the time I remembered, I felt it was too late to really get in to it.
I will do it tomorrow though.
I'm gonna get that 125 done though. I don't think it will look too different than it does now lol, but oh well.

Water change on the 40 is delayed. Spotted a cory laying on its side earlier. Went to fetch it out b/c I thought it was dead, but it swam away and I can't find it.
So treating the tank with some kanaplex. Will do a water change on it on Saturday when I'm supposed to redose. I dunno if the kanaplex will do anything for the cory, but I hope it at least helps to keep the other fish from getting sick. 
No idea what could be wrong with the cory. There was one before I added in the platy that had some white blotches on it. I managed to catch it and put it in the little breeder thing. It started acting ok so I put it back. Not sure if the current sick one is the same.
/shrugs.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

That cory didn't make it. Spotted it yesterday in the corner laying on its side and noticed red under its skin. Went to get it out and it kind of spazzed a little and I'm pretty sure died right then and there, but I clove oiled it anyway just to be sure.
There's something extra sad when a peaceful fish dies. Cories are just so innocent and cute. Sigh...
40g is getting a water change tomorrow and getting another dose of the kanaplex.

125 water change is done though along with a lot of very wet messy rearranging.
Actually wasn't too bad, but holy smokes, the swords I moved (other than the ozelot) had some strong roots and did not want to come up! 
Hopefully they bounce back quick.

First, I moved the wood from the left side. Just chunked them where I could. 
I then moved a few crypts over to the sides more and removed about 90% of the cabomba in the tank and put that outside.
There's enough in the tank to grow more.
I then took the large sword from the right back and put it in the freed up spot and put the smaller piece of wood in front of it. Not really a big fan of where it is, but meh.








I just want the sword to completely take over the area. Just bush out and look gorgeous over there.

I also put the piece of wood that had the java fern attached to it in the back right. You can't see it anymore which I'm fine with lol. Still gotta figure out what to do with it.
I wasn't going to do anything else, but figured since I had already made a big mess.. might as well keep going.
So I moved the big sword that was in the middle and up front to the back right where the ozelot was and moved the ozelot to where it was.








I should've just left the sword that was back there where it was or scooted it a little over, but oh well.
The wood in the corner up front is the large piece that came from the left side.
I think the sword that were in the front and back were really hindering the growth of the smaller swords beside them. The compacta sword just looks so twisted and sad and the ozelot is the same way.
But look.. you can actually see the ozelot now!
















It's looking a bit scraggly b/c a lot of its stems were bent and wonky and it needed some trimming, but it'll bounce back I'm sure. Same for the compacta beside it.

Just a shot of the middle of the tank









Before 









And After









Didn't really mean for it to be so symetrical with a big sword on the left, middle and right, but oh well. lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Another cory showing same signs of illness as the previous one. Not as far gone as the other but lethargic. Put it in the breeder thing and sprinkled kanaplex right over it. Did a water change as well and added another dose to the 40.
Spotted the other 2 cories and they look ok. No spots on them and not acting ill.
/shrugs

125.... I like it so far. Seems as though the fish like it too. If they didn't see me, the tigers would usually be hanging out in upper right hand corner. But now, they're all over the tank swimming around. Dojos too. They hid all the time unless being fed, but they seem to be coming out more now that I guess they don't have the wood to hide under on the left side. They still have all of the wood and whatnot on the right side though.

5g still acting stupid. I'm just tired of it. Keep doing water changes and it is lowering ammonia but the tank is acting like it's about to cycle.. AGAIN. I don't know... I just don't know...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And my powder blue gourami just died. WTH......
It always breathed rapidly whenever I got close to the tank so that wasn't anything new. Did the water change, added more meds. Came back a little later to check on the cory and saw the gourami laying on its side. Took it out and put it in with the cory. Gourami looked a little bloated, but wasn't pineconing and no obvious signs of it being sick. No spots.. nothing. Checked again just a little bit ago and dead.
I'm just going to stop trying to save anything. Just... this sucks and feels like I take care of my fish, but they get sick and die anyway so.. whatever. Just keep doing my thing and if they die then so be it.


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## shamrock62081 (Jan 29, 2006)

I've been following your thread for a while and really sympathize. Sometimes it is hard to find the cause of one's issues. Hang in there! What kind of tap water conditioner are you using with your water changes? My established tanks go through mini cycles sometimes when I disturb the substrate during major rescapes. Doesn't feel like your tanks are overstocked. Meds can kill the biofilter so you have to be careful there.

Sent from my KFGIWI using Tapatalk


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

lisals said:


> And my powder blue gourami just died. WTH......
> It always breathed rapidly whenever I got close to the tank so that wasn't anything new. Did the water change, added more meds. Came back a little later to check on the cory and saw the gourami laying on its side. Took it out and put it in with the cory. Gourami looked a little bloated, but wasn't pineconing and no obvious signs of it being sick. No spots.. nothing. Checked again just a little bit ago and dead.
> I'm just going to stop trying to save anything. Just... this sucks and feels like I take care of my fish, but they get sick and die anyway so.. whatever. Just keep doing my thing and if they die then so be it.


I've been there. That's how I felt with my 150. I pretty much threw my hands up in the air. Fortunately my wife worked in the UV sterilizer much much earlier than I expected.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I use Prime to condition the water. I'll check the parameters tomorrow, but I really don't disturb the substrate other than sucking up some gunk here and there. Hopefully the meds aren't causing issues with the bacteria.
I'm just so frustrated with my tanks. 5gallon won't stay cycled. 40g was doing ok, but now.. nope.... And 125, I always look for dead fish bc you just never know with it. 

Did something stupid and impulsive after the gourami died. Went out and bought 5 more dojos. Quarantining them would've been best and waiting until I had no deaths of course would be good, but meh. My fish we're dying anyway so if they bring something with them, I'll never know the difference. Don't want anything else to die, but just at a point of saying screw it and just doing my own thing now. Just beyond the point of frustration.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Fricking $#(!*!! 
I forgot to plug the 40g filter back in yesterday after the water change!!! 
/sobs
Got up to feed the fish and noticed that the water was still cloudy. Thought maybe the meds was causing it so went to get a water sample and noticed there was no water movement and sure enough... filter not on. Heart... dropped.
I don't think the filter empties completely when it's off, but still.. I'm sure a lot of the bacteria probably died.
Also there was a very very slight ammonia reading. Like between the 0 and 0.25 color.
Opened up the FX6 and took out some of the ceramic rings and plopped about 10 in to the 40 and the rest in to the 5g filter along with some gunky filter water.
I have to unplug the filter (along with a heater) b/c once the water drops about 20% the filter starts sputtering so I turn them both off and USUALLY remember to plug them both back in. Sigh......

I also turned the filter up on the 5g. It's adjustable and I was keeping it kind of low so the betta wouldn't be blown around everywhere, but maybe turning it up will keep things cycled finally. I think I'm going to move the betta back in to the 125 until the tank is safe for it to be in. I hate doing it once again, but I also hate keeping him in a tank where the ammonia won't flippin settle down.
Think I'm also just going to take out the cartridge part in the 5g filter. The crap that comes with it. I mean.. tank is already trying to cycle again basically so might as well replace the crap with some better media.

Sigh... I swear though. Someone come save my fish from ME b/c I'm obviously not doing a very good job here :\

With that being said though... here are a couple pics of my dojos! IF they all survive, I can't wait to see what this tank will be like when they're all bigger. GOing to be so much fun 










Actually not sure if this is a new one or one of the ones I got before. Looks plump but there was one that was a little heftier than the others.









now for a little game I like to call.. can you spot the dojos??


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I've done it so I'm no better, but you need to stop adding fish. You have some kind of pathogen in the tank. You will continue to lose fish and money. 
Even if the deaths are acceptable to you there are compounding your problems. 
1. Everytime you want to buy a fish out the money in a jar. What are those dojos? $5 a piece? There's $25. The sterilizer is $130 and completely stopped all deaths. Not after a few days, but immediately. 
2. Assign each tank a day.. every 7 days to do water change. Do it after everyone is in bed or before they get up. 
3. Dont turn anything off. I use a $25 in tank pump attached to tubing. Drop it in the tank and pump water into a tub or garden (my exterior plants have exploded since I started using old tank water to water them). Run the pump until water level is just above the intake point on your filter and stop. Then I switch the pump side into the 27 gallon Tupperware bin filling in bathtub and put outlet tube in the tank and fill back up. Takes me less than 10 minutes even adding ferts and metricide yo fo my 150. You need a system. Your losses will continue if you dont fo this and slowly this feel good hobby will wear you thin. You are missing out on the best stuff! 
I really hope you take my advice. As I mentioned to another member. Put it on a 0% interest credit card. Pay it each time you would buy fish. I am TOTALLY against borrowing money especially on credit cards, but I'll borrow it for FREE! I can't get to the majority of my money. I earn 8-9% historically. Some years 12%. 
So ya.. I financed some of my car at 1% (until they pissed me off and I paid it ALL OFF). It was funny. They were like oh Mr Thompson you should invest this 75k with us for retirement since your car loan is only 1%. I said no... I have an exceptional broker and I'm paying it off because you tried to tack on some $400 a month insurance thing after you said I didn't provide coverage info which I sent 3 times, brought once IN PERSON, and is on file at the DMV. Why is your insurance $400 a month when mine has the highest limits and additional coverages available and its $117 a month?! Because you are trying to screw people. 
ANYWAY.. I hate finance companies. Using their money for free makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

This will SAVE you money no matter how you look at it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I know.. I KNOW I shouldn't have bought the dojos. It was an impulsive "screw it!" buy.
I'm NOT buying anything for the 40 right now though. Also helps when what you want is expensive and/or the places around you have poor selection too. So it all works out in keeping more impulse buys in check lol.

Are there any UV sterilizers that use their own pump? Or do all the good ones out there need to be hooked up to your filter?
I THINK I read somewhere that some UV that I was looking at wasn't strong enough to hook up to a fx6. Not sure if it was one you mentioned or if it was the same brand but a different model.
I'll have to keep looking, but the sterilizer is going to have to wait until after my 2 kids' birthdays.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

OO Looks like Drfostersmith has uv sterilizers for half off AND the aqua hang on one from what I've read is designed to handle high flow rate so if I were to hook it up to the filter, it would be ok. Dang... ok I may have to go ahead. I'll see what else there is, but saving that.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

From what I've researched most of the competitors products will not kill pathogens. I would also not exceed 350 gph if you want successful pathogen killing. I actually read peer reviewed journals on the topic. In terms of killing pathogens 99% of the products available are entirely ineffective.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

You can hook up these UV sterilizers (the one that hangs on the side to be specific) with a water pump right?
I really really don't want to mess with my filters and as you mentioned, the flow rate would probably be too high to do much of anything.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.. so Hubs and I talked it over (more like I mentioned it and he sighed and told me to go ahead and buy it lol) and I ended up ordering the aqua blahblah inline 15w uv sterilizer.
Actually meant to get the hang on one, but clicked on the wrong one and didn't double check. Oh well. I'm sure they both work just as well as the other one so I'm not worried about it. Just gotta figure out a good spot for the output hose and how to put it in the tank neatly.

I also bought a different uv sterilizer for the 40. It had its own powerhead and I just wanted to try it out. Might be a waste of money, but it might not be. We'll see I guess.

Oh and I bought a water pump for the inline one. From what I've seen, it should work no problem. Just gotta buy hose and whatnot once I get everything.... and get hubs to help me set it up lol.
So... We'll see how it goes! Not having to worry about my fish getting sick from some random disease would be nice.

In other news.. I went to Petsmart yesterday to get some supplies for the 5g filter.
Wasn't sure which sponge would be best so bought them both since they were fairly cheap.








Only managed to get the fluval ones in to the filter along with the extra biomax things. That photo is very deceiving though. The bag of the stuff was only half filled  lol I could've gotten the blue sponge in as well, but it wouldn't have had any water flowing through. Would've just been sitting on top.
So hopefully this helps.

Betta was moved back in to his mesh enclosure in the 125. He'll at least have good quality water at least.









5g is a little cloudy which is to be expected. Ammonia is sitting at around 2 or so and I added in a few shrimp pellets to the filter.








Really hoping the compacta sword along w/ the crypts will start to grow in and fill it out more. The dwarf sag needs to come out. Think I'm going to move it all to the 40 once I get all the sword runners out.

Also bought some more plants at Petsmart. Other than the anubias nana, I wasn't sure what to expect with the other 2. Got them anyway though and looked up info when I got home.








Put the nana on the log in the corner in the 40g. It has a struggling one already there. Hoping it perks back up eventually.
Also put the other anubias in the back of the 40 since it's supposed to get kind of tall. Obviously that's not going to happen for a while, but wanted to put it in it's final spot instead of moving it all around.








And ammonia reading for the 40 was 0 today. Thank goodness. Will keep checking it for the next couple of days to make sure though.

Spread the crypt through all 3 tanks. Think I got 5 or 6 clumps from it. I probably could've gotten more if I had been careful, but I was afraid of pulling off leaves.








Interested to see the colors it develops. I'll have to move some of them to different spots though. Will do that soon.

Of course while I was at the store I had to look at their fish and just... man. You couldn't pay me to buy fish from them. Their tanks looked disgusting which is really unfortunate b/c their tanks used to actually be nice. When we first moved to this area, they had really nice quality. Someone was always there tending to the tanks etc and it seems like within the last 2 years, their quality has gone down the drain. Most of the fish look incredibly sick and unhealthy. Dead fish everywhere and there is almost no one ever back in the area even if you did want to buy something. In the past there was always groups of people wanting to look at the fish.. now.. everyone seems to avoid the area and I could see why.
Just frickin awful.
It sucks that the stores I can buy from are so limited and honestly not that great. Pet Supermarket is pretty nice so far and hopefully will stay that way.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Euthanized the 2nd sick cory. Was still alive, but lethargic and wasn't looking like it was getting better. Didn't want to prolong its suffering anymore.

Only 2 left now. Will eventually get more. Just have to find some place that has them for a decent price and that look healthy.
Readings on the 40 are looking good though.

Readings on the 5g are still high ammonia. Haven't checked nitrates though so not sure if there are still some in there. No nitrites but I expect to get that soon since I took out a pretty big chunk of crap media. Oh well. Not in any hurry really.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

40g's uv sterilizer came in today... aaaand.. I can't set it up. Need a bigger power strip b/c I can't plug it up to the wall and there is no room on the current power strip. Need a better one anyway, but BLAH! lol 
We're gonna need to go out to Wally World this weekend anyway so I'll pick one up then. Looks pretty nice, but only problem with it is that when the bulb dies... you have to replace the whole frickin thing. Meh... whenever that happens, time to buy a different brand.

How long should I run it for though? 24/7 at first? If so... for how long? A week? Month? couple of months?


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Is there anything with the sterilizer that says what intensity or wavelength it produces? I ran mine for 24 hours for 2 days. Now it is on for 9 hours per day. I am probably running about 300gph through it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Is there anything with the sterilizer that says what intensity or wavelength it produces? I ran mine for 24 hours for 2 days. Now it is on for 9 hours per day. I am probably running about 300gph through it.



For the 40g one it is 9w and says it has a flow rate of 200l/hour. 254nm wavelength.


I wasn't sure how long to run it. I'd like to make the bulbs last for as long as possible so wasn't sure if it should stay on ALL the time and how long at first to run it etc. Think a full week of it on 24 hours would be too much?


OO and the 125 one came in just a few mins ago! YAY! Was afraid it would come next week and would have to wait to get hosing and stuff until next weekend. But should be able to get it all this weekend.
Excited to get them both set up!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Pics!

The 40g uv sterilizer








It had a lot of good reviews and good reviews on youtube that I saw which is why I bought it. Mixed messages as to if you can or can't replace the bulb though.
It has its own pump too which is what I wanted.

The one for the 125. Not pictures is the water pump for it. Not entirely sure where to put everything. Maybe the pump in the back left corner. Think that's about the only free spot.









Will get a timer for the 2 uvs and will leave the water pump on all the time so the water in the aqua one doesn't get stagnant. It won't be off for days at a time or anything, but meh...

125 is doing ok. All loaches seem to be doing ok. I sit and watch and they've all been eating very vigorously. 









My ozelot! Not sure if it has gotten some new leaves yet.









The compacta sword is sending out yet ANOTHER RUNNER. It still has a partial runner still on it with about 3 plants (still small). Stop already plant! lol
I do love me some compacta swords though 









Also finally did a little bit of maintenance on the bins outside. The water got pretty low and couldn't wait for hubs to mow the lawn, so went out in knee high grass and filled them up.
Both are looking fantastic though. I love that I really don't have to do much of anything in them. Just top the water off and every month, put some more mosquito stuff in it.

Sword bin was looking pretty good. Swords are growing and look healthy. There were shredded leaves of one in it though and some dried up cabomba stuck to the side. No idea if it was the dog or wildlife.









Couldn't really tell how everything below the cabomba was doing in the other bin... btu the cabomba was certainly flourishing. Man this stuff is growing like crazy!









Took out some for the other bin, drained a little water and got a somewhat better glance at the swords below and they seem to be growing even better. Big and healthy. I hoped the cabomba would help by shading the swords and it certainly has  Yay!









Need to figure something out for when it gets too cold though. Won't happen until late Oct maybe, but still need to plan ahead for it.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, look at all that camboba. When winter comes, are you going to plant all those swords into your indoor tanks? I love the long whiskers on the dojo loaches. Hope they thrive for you.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Wow, look at all that camboba. When winter comes, are you going to plant all those swords into your indoor tanks? I love the long whiskers on the dojo loaches. Hope they thrive for you.



I think I'd like to see if I could sell them to the LFS Or if I'm feeling up to it maybe sell them here for a small price. Not really sure, but I definitely don't have any room in my tanks for them to come back inside.


I was hoping they would do well outside, but honestly wasn't expecting it b/c of the heat. /shrugs


Yes I love their whiskers and their goofy little butts. When I first added them, one of the new ones just rolled over on to its back while the big one swam right over it. It scared me when it happened b/c ya know.. going belly up isn't good, but the fish was just being... I have no idea... and was totally fine and popped back up and started foraging for food when I bumped it with my plant tweezers lol.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I can't help too much on positioning the water pump in the 125. I went into how I set mine up in my journal. I wanted something I could easily take out and put into another tank... until I saw how quickly it cleared up my outbreak. I have an AC70 powerhead with filter attachment powering mine. Some clear tubing and the rest is PVC. Its smack dab right in your face though. Honestly it works so well and I was so close to completely throwing my hands up in the air that I dont care. 

If you really think about it once you have killed the pathogen there really isn't a need to run it on a daily basis. The bulb in the aqua UV is "rated" based on the output of a 14 month old bulb. That is 14 months of 24/7 usage. So in reality the output is probably significantly greater with a new unit. Either way I plan to replace bulbs yearly and continue to run it 9 hours per day.

I dont know much about the green killing machine unit. It sounds as though it should work in pathogens, but we are talking about microbes here and I didn't find any other company doing laboratory testing much less independent laboratory testing. Are you having deaths in both tanks?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I can't help too much on positioning the water pump in the 125. I went into how I set mine up in my journal. I wanted something I could easily take out and put into another tank... until I saw how quickly it cleared up my outbreak. I have an AC70 powerhead with filter attachment powering mine. Some clear tubing and the rest is PVC. Its smack dab right in your face though. Honestly it works so well and I was so close to completely throwing my hands up in the air that I dont care.
> 
> If you really think about it once you have killed the pathogen there really isn't a need to run it on a daily basis. The bulb in the aqua UV is "rated" based on the output of a 14 month old bulb. That is 14 months of 24/7 usage. So in reality the output is probably significantly greater with a new unit. Either way I plan to replace bulbs yearly and continue to run it 9 hours per day.
> 
> I dont know much about the green killing machine unit. It sounds as though it should work in pathogens, but we are talking about microbes here and I didn't find any other company doing laboratory testing much less independent laboratory testing. Are you having deaths in both tanks?



I remember seeing the photos of your set up. Like you said, if it's working to keep your tank healthy, you'll get used to it being in your face lol. I'd be more than fine even if it was right up front. So long as it's preventing my fish from dying... I'm all for it.

I'll have to look through your thread again to see what you did exactly 


Yep. I've had 2 cories die and my powder blue gourami died suddenly too. Before them, all 3 SAE died one by one... and before that the pygmy cories.. although I think they died b/c of the ammonia problems I was dealing with. So yeah... I've had a lot of death in that tank too :\ I share equipment between my tanks so it's safe to say that whatever is in my 125 is also in the 40.
Super excited to get everything set up and just have one less thing to worry about 


Ok... for the future (maybe in Oct)... what fish should I get for the 40? Obviously I'm going to need more cories, but I'd really like to get either a center piece fish like the gourami was, or a school of something small. Must be peaceful and easily obtained since I don't really have great fish stores here.
If the platy that's currently in there survives (not sure why she wouldn't).. I was thinking about getting her a couple of female buddies, but other than that.. /shrugs.


So if anyone has some suggestions, I'm all ears...


Current fish in the tank... 3 sparkling gourami, 13 emerald eye rasbora, 2 cories, 1 female platy


OR should I just leave it as is with the current fish and getting a few more cories and platy and that's it?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And everything is set up.
Hubs helped with 99% of it b/c I had no clue on what to do really.
We bought what was available which meant.. no flexible tubing. Had to use some that is meant for washing machines or dish washers or something so.. yeah that sucked b/c we could only really situate everything a certain way, but in the end, everything is working.

Lights are working. Oh and hubs thought to put the sterilizer in a big pvc pipe so there wouldn't be risk of it accidentally falling in to the tank.









Giant output tube, but nothing some pothos can't cover up 









Water pump to the sterilizer. It's working great. Flow from the output was pretty strong.









Thankfully I had bought some of those sponges and one fit over the output well. The flow pushed it off though so had to use some rubberbands to keep it on. Ugly, but it's working at least








Really really ugly, but I'll take ugly if it works.
When I was putting it all in the water, found one of the little loaches dead. I don't even know. I've been watching them and all were accounted for.
Hopefully this helps to keep all other fish ok.

Also got the 40g one set up. Easy since it's already all set up for you. Wish there was a way to tell if the bulb is working in it though.









So... yeah.... FX everyone! Hopefully these things work bc it would be nice to not keep losing fish.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No real news. Just wanted to post.
Water changes yesterday and everything is looking pretty good.

Took out more swords from the 40g to place outside. It was overcast so I thought it would be a good time to do it.
Added more to the 40 from the 125. Only the new runner left though. Well... I think unless there are some hiding lol.

The 40 looks so empty though.








Hubs even asked if there were any fish in it lol. All of the rasbora hang out on the right side.. at least when they see me that's where they go. The sparkling gourami come out, but they're tiny so can't be seen that well, and there are only the 2 cories which can't be seen well b/c of the decor lol.
And the platy just kind of hangs out in the corners and doesn't swim around much.
Need to figure out what fish I want for the tank when I'm ready to add more.
Was thinking maybe get cherry shrimp, but I think the sparklings would eat/harass them and I want some shrimp babies lol.
I think I want another small fish for the tank though. Maybe some CPDs if I can find any. Or maybe just some guppies. I dunno. Still have a while to think about it all.

Did some trimming in the 125. Trimmed off most of the ozelots older leaves. There is definite new growth so want the plant to focus on growing some healthier leaves. Also trimmed some off the big center sword. Had quite a few that were hanging too low that just needed to come off.
A lot of damaged leaves still need to be trimmed off, but that can wait for the next water change.
Oh and I also added a little bit of pothos to the middle section. It's from the 40g. For some reason, the pothos just hasn't done well in that tank, so I took out the little bit that was in it and put it in the middle of the 125. Hopefully it gets nice and big like the stuff on the right.









Big mama loach (that's what I'm calling it even though I have no idea if it's female or not lol) wanted to rest up by the betta cage. Had to get some pics of her. Lighting was weird, but oh well. Just excited that she wasn't hiding.
















First time I watched her during a thunderstorm. She was swimming pretty frantically along the right side of the tank when it was passing over us. I'll have to remember to watch the tank again to see if she acts the same way. Just thought it was interesting.

Last of my BN plecos was out munching on some fresh zucchini. Had to get pics of her since I don't see her too often.








Feel bad that she's all alone, but don't want more since she does enough damage to my plants.

All loaches were eating this morning along with all of the other fish. Hopefully whatever is/was causing my fish to get sick and die is being taken care of by the sterilizers. May only wait until my birthday before getting new fish for the 40g. That's if I can decide on what I want and if it's available. Would be 7 weeks my tanks would have to go with no deaths.
We'll see what happens I guess.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I suggest waiting 6 weeks from the last death. Also do you have a QT tank? My attempt at getting some emporer fry was a failure so I'm going to use that tank (11.4) for QT or something now. Maybe try breeding tetras the accepted way. My point was I wouldn't put anything in either of those tanks for 6 weeks. If you have a separate QT you could look around. Otherwise let those sterilizes do their jobs.

I want Rams in my 150 now so I need to get more equipment to handle the temps, but also fish that thrive in those temps


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I suggest waiting 6 weeks from the last death. Also do you have a QT tank? My attempt at getting some emporer fry was a failure so I'm going to use that tank (11.4) for QT or something now. Maybe try breeding tetras the accepted way. My point was I wouldn't put anything in either of those tanks for 6 weeks. If you have a separate QT you could look around. Otherwise let those sterilizes do their jobs.



Yeah, I'm definitely not getting any more fish right now. Like I said.. I want to wait until at least my birthday (7w away) or if there are more deaths... weeks after. I am itching to get more, but I'm definitely holding off. 

In the meantime though, just daydreaming about what I would like to get 
Don't have a QT tank. I do have a 10g I could use though. Just nowhere to put one. Have kind of an idea of where I could place one, but my husband would do a lot of bitching if I put a tank in that spot lol. We'll see what happens.
If I can convince him, maybe I'll go ahead and set it up and get it cycled and possibly go ahead and get fish that will be ready to go in to whatever tank when they're ready for something.
I dunno.. like I said.. just daydreaming right now


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... Going to clean out a spot in the butler's pantry for the 10g.
Butler's pantry makes it sound fancy... it's just a fancy term used for a small storage area lol. Has the same kitchen counters and cabinets in it along with a wine rack. Great for folks that drink wine.. which we don't.
The whole area is just being used for a bunch of junk that we really need to clean up lol.

It's the perfect spot b/c there are plugs and a sturdy counter that isn't in the way.

So far so good on the tanks. No dead or seemingly sick fish that I can see. We'll see if that holds up or not.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's fantastic!! I ended up setting up 2 Tupperware bins. I dont see how that isn't 10 times worse than a tank, but the wife said at least it wouldn't be permanent.
Do you have a lid for your 10 gallon? I would suggest some kind of top. New stressed fish and lack of hiding spots isn't a good combo I can speak from experience. 
I ended up not having luck with my sparkling gourami's. They weren't aggressive enough feeders. Now that everyone is healthy I've seen less and less of them. The 1 or 2 that I do see have torn fins. Hopefully yours fair better.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> That's fantastic!! I ended up setting up 2 Tupperware bins. I dont see how that isn't 10 times worse than a tank, but the wife said at least it wouldn't be permanent.
> Do you have a lid for your 10 gallon? I would suggest some kind of top. New stressed fish and lack of hiding spots isn't a good combo I can speak from experience.
> I ended up not having luck with my sparkling gourami's. They weren't aggressive enough feeders. Now that everyone is healthy I've seen less and less of them. The 1 or 2 that I do see have torn fins. Hopefully yours fair better.



Awww, that sucks about your gouramis. Hopefully they're getting what they need even if they're hiding.


Mine are good. They just have the lampeye rasbora to compete with and I feed enough for everyone to get food so they're good. I have 3 gouramis and 2 have paired up and one is always alone, but all seem to be doing well.


Yeah, when I told hubs what I was going to do, he just gave me that look.. and when I said it was just temporary... the look intensified! ROFL
Pretty sure I have a lid for the 10. I think it was a 10g kit so it came with a filter, lid, crappy light etc. I still have to clean out the pantry area. I dunno if I have a working heater for it, but it shouldn't need one b/c the house isn't that cool or anything.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes done and all still seems to be going pretty well. Decided that I'm going to let the sterilizers run for another week straight and then put them on a timer. Just want to be sure that the water is getting treated 

I'm a little worried about the last platy. Think the poor thing is lonely. I think with the barbs at least, they were kinda sorta the same colors so the platy would swim with them all the time, but now, she doesn't have anyone in the tank that looks like her.
Hesitate to get more livebearers, but I think I am going to get a couple more female platy. Just a couple.

She hangs out in the back left corner and looks so lonely. Got her to swim in to my hands when I was doing a water change. Sweet little thing.









40 is doing well though. Need to trim the old leaves off the compacta sword. 









Going to have to find a new place for the red flame sword as well the compacta is overshadowing it. Or just try to keep the bigger plants leaves trimmed away from it. I dunno.

Oh and I do still have one of the little dwarf lilies in here. It's tiny and compact though. Not sure if it will eventually get those long leaves like the other one had.
Would be tempted to move it to the 125, but there's no where good to put it. Wouldn't want it to get those pretty tall surface leaves only for me to have to trim them all b/c they're shading the swords underneath.









Overall 40 isn't looking too bad. Getting attacked by some hair algae once again though and the top of the heater along with some of the filter is covered in a thick layer of BBA.









One of the sparkling gourami. Guessing it's a female since it's not as flashy as another one I have. It's the lone one that always hangs out by itself. It's a little cutie though

















The other 2 always seem to hide now. No idea what is going on with them, but I wish they would come out more. Maybe they're just gettng spooked easier since the big gourami died and I keep taking in and pulling out swords. I dunno.
Did get a couple of pics of the big dominant male though. He's so pretty 

















125 is looking good. Trimmed more damaged and old leaves and yeah.. just things seem to be ok for now.









Couple of loach pics

















Runner is getting long and has sprouted a runner on its runner.









Also pretty sure I saw a runner coming up from the middle back sword now too. Stoooooooooop

Still cleaning off an area for the 10g. Just kinda being lazy about it. I do need to get it set up though so I can get it cycled and get whatever fish and blahblah. May be at least 2 months before new fish are introduced to my main tanks.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh nope. Platy is definitely sick. Poor thing  Probably has been sick for a while now and it's just finally caught up to it.
Darn. Was hoping it was just needing some buddies, but guess not. Not going to euthanize right away. Put a little bit of meds in the tank, but it's probably already too late. We'll see what happens though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well poop.
Looks like there are only 2 sparkling gourami now. When the hell did that happen?
I've only been seeing 2 recently, but figured the other one was just hiding. Yeah.... no.
I know I've seen all 3 after the blue gourami died, but I'm not sure when the last time was.
Well.... damn. That sucks 
Poor lil thing. No wonder the one dominant one is being so aggressive towards the other one... it lost its buddy.
Dangit.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Platy is still hanging in there. Sprinkled some meds right on her. Hope it helps.
She started swimming around a little, but didn't notice her eating anything.








She did have bright white poop though so added in some parasite meds.

One of the cories was up front so took a quick pic of it before it darted off.
Can't wait to get more.









I love love love my dojos. Fav fish by far.
There are 3 piled up in this little spot








Thinking about trying to make some kind of floating thing on the side of the tank they can rest on to be near the top.

And just some shots of the small ones

























Look.. already have some new swords on the new runner. Ignore all of the BBA in the background lol. Think I'm going to start dosing metricide again. Not as much though. Maybe only do it twice a week to try to keep the BBA under control.









And that's it for now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

About to go to bed. Before I forget though... All three gouramis were spotted this afternoon!!! Just sat to watch my tanks while I waited for dinner to cook and spotted all 3 of them!! No idea where the heck the third one has been hiding. Maybe in plain sight. They are similar shape and coloring to the Rasbora at first glance so maybe it was hanging out with them or something. 
I dunno. Just happy that all three are still alive.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got water changes done early. Taking a break from cleaning the house.
Still can't believe the 3rd gourami is still alive and kicking lol. Where the hell was it? Good grief.
Going to put the UV things on a timer today. Not sure how long though. Maybe just keep them on for as long as the lights? Think that's about 12hrs. Maybe I'll do a little less.

Both tanks seem to be good though. Lots of hair algae in the 40, but meh. Also moved the red flame sword over some. Not sure what is going on with it. Put a couple of fert tabs under it and hope it helps.
125 is good. Lots of crypt leaves floating though. Not sure which ones they're coming from. Doesn't look like it's from the ones that I scooted over. /shrugs
Also going to add some metricide in later if I remember. If not later though then starting tomorrow. Need to get a handle on the BBA in both the tanks.

Also 5g ammonia has gone down some. Lots of nitrates, no nitrites. /shrugs
Need to do a water change in it which will happen later today some time. Hopefully this means it's recycling again so I can move betta back in. 

Still have to clean off a spot for the 10. I'm cleaning house this week though so it will happen soon... ish.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Progress finally!!!








Good grief... why the heck does adding mature media not work for me? Frustrating, but at least the 5g is finally having some progress with recycling again.

But while that's good news.... my pleco is missing. SIGH! I swear if it's not one thing it's something else. I need to move the wood around to see if she's just hiding from me, but I put out some zucchini the other day and she was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully she's ok.
I just moved around some of the wood and the fake log and nada. No floating bodies, don't see any bodies in the back of the tank. She's somewhere in there obviously.
Put in some fresh zucchini. Hopefully it lures her out.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Spotted the pleco! Spied on the tank so fish couldn't see me. Spotted the pleco making her way shyly over to the zucchini. Thank goodness she's ok!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Pics incoming!

Cleaned off a spot and set up the 10g finally 
Wasn't sure what to do about getting the cycle started, but remembered that I had an extra sponge. These have a little hole that is filled with carbon. Took that out and filled with some shrimp pellets.









And already had the air pump and sponge filters. Just had to get some suction cups for the hose that I got yesterday.









There was a lid for the tank, but being stored up in our attic caused the plastic to dry rot. Broke as soon as I went to unfold it. So I made a janky DIY out of 2 aluminum tray lids lol Not pretty, but easy and should keep the fish in 









And yep... easy peasy. Just waiting to see if it leaks. Guess I should've checked it somewhere else, but oh well. I spilled some while filling it so I'm not sure if it is leaking or if it was from the spill. Marked where the water line is and will check on it through the day.









I might take a couple of the bio media out of the 40 and put it in there once there is ammonia. Doubtful it will do anything since I don't seem to have any luck with that mess :\
I also have an old heater, but think I may just buy a new one for it. 

Also bought a pack of bulbs








Saw it in the store and really hoping the onion plant does well. I hope they all do, but I really want the onion plant lol

40g is constantly overrun with hair algae right now. Gives it a swampy look which I'm cool with. Just have to keep it under control with water changes









Fish in it are doing well though. Cories will be getting some buddies in a couple of months hopefully.









And the platy will be too... platies or female guppies. She's actually pulled around now. Swimming around more instead of hiding and actually eating. So glad. Dunno why but it would've been extra sad if she had died.









My awful photography skills... was trying to get a pic of the red flame that is just not doing well right now. Once I take out the batch of swords that are in there, I might move it again. Or I'll leave it alone. I dunno.









And finally.. Big Mama dojo injured herself. She goes a bit crazy when she's startled and must've really bonked herself good. She was eating normally though so hopefully it heals on its own.









That's all for now. Water changes tomorrow and hopefully no bad news to report on lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Big momma loach looks ok this morning thank goodness. Ate greedily as usual and her barbell looks healed up now.
All other fish in both tanks are looking good too as far as I can tell.
Still need to do water changes, but that will happen in a little bit after I eat.
10g is still going as well. No leaks so far  The buzzing from the sponge filter is a little irritating, but thankfully it's low so can't hear it anywhere else in the house.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes yesterday. Almost killed one of the little loaches though. It was overcast so thought it would be a good time to move the little swords outside.
Did a water change on the 40 first, and while the 125 was draining I went out to put the plants in the bins.
I come back in after I'm done and one of the little loaches had decided they were going to rest up by the betta's cage and get stuck there. It had to have been out of the water for at least 5 minutes bc the water drains pretty slow. Thankfully when it plopped back in to the water it swam away. I dunno which one it is but I'll definitely be watching the tank when I feed to make sure they're all there and look ok. Poor thing.
Also the bins are doing ok, but something pulled out 2 of the larger swords. I think my dog pulled out some of the cabomba from the right bin and I dunno if it was him or wildlife that pulled out the swords. Pissed me off when I saw them all dried up though lol. I don't think it was him since he'd have to stick his head far in to the water and he's never come in wet, but I dunno.. he could've dried off after he did it. /shrugs
Still a ton of swords out there so it's not like there aren't more. Just sucks to lose 2 of the larger ones. 

Anywho.. couple of pics

Couple of the new swords popping up in the 125. They're growing fast too









Tiger barbs really are pretty fish. Lots of different color variations out there. The males are especially pretty with their bright red noses (ignore the algae!)









I swear I wasn't drunk when I took this pic. I dunno why it's all crooked, but here it is anyway!








I'd like to maybe one day get hillstream loaches for the tank. Love hillstreams and think they'd be fun to own again. We'll see.

My swampy looking 40g too. Needs more fish (other than cories and livebearers like I plan on getting).... been debating what to get that will go well with everything else.








Don't want anything aggressive or anything that will compete for space with the gouramis. Maybe the livebearers that I'll get will be enough, but I dunno.. was thinking maybe another small schooling fish with some color on them. Maybe just regular harlequin rasbora or something that's easy to get. We'll see. The livebearers will probably be enough to bring some life back in to it.


Oh and I ran out of ammonia tester again. Ordered another off amazon.
I don't know what the 5g is doing again. I tested nitrites and they're back to 0. The last time I checked the ammonia was up once again and nitrites were 0. I don't flippin know. It's not like it's a bad filter with bad media in it and I've been adding pellets to the filter to feed the bacteria regularly. Super annoyed


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I think I counted all of the loaches... maybe. No dead bodies anywhere that I can see so hopefully the one that was out of the water yesterday is doing ok.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got the heater I ordered
Just a cheap preset one that I can use again in the future if I want and won't feel bad if it sits unused.









Also got the new ammonia test and checked the 10g and 5g...
I just don't know what to do with the 5g anymore. I'm seriously at a loss. Other than it being overrun with some hair algae right now, there is no reason why there should still be ammonia.








I might take a trip to Petsmart and get more of those blue sponges.. or maybe steal one off of one of the unused sponge filters and rearrange the media in the filter. Maybe I have it in the filter wrong somehow so the bacteria isn't growing like it should? I don't know. I'm just frustrated and annoyed to hell with this.

The 10g is coming along though. Stole 2 of the ceramic things out of the 40g and placed them in to the sponge with the shrimp pellets. That seems to have helped get things going quickly b/c there is already nitrites and no ammonia.








That sponge is SUPER stank though. Holy crap does it stink to high heaven. Shouldn't be a surprise since it does have decomposing shrimp pellets in it lol.

And couple of plant updates.
Moved the red flame to a different spot. There was a sword in this spot that was doing extremely well. Moved that one outside and put the flame sword here. It's not being blocked by anything and has plenty of room to grow. Do not plan on moving it again so hopefully it starts to bounce back.
Looks so pathetic right now though.









And look! My onion plant is already growing! YAY!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More pics b/c why not! 

I think my cories, or at least the male, wants to spawn. I keep seeing the smaller one messing with the larger one.
Tried getting a pic of him doing it, but he decided to swim off as soon as I tried









40g BBA battle is slowly being won for the moment. Only been dosing the metricide once a week after the water change, but it seems to be killing it so yay 









125 BBA is being a bit more stubborn though. Probably b/c I wasn't putting in enough so I gave it another dose today.
My youngest enjoying the fish  My 2nd was in the chair telling me that I need more fish. Muahaha.. gotta start them young! lol









The ozelot is looking pretty good. New growth looks healthy.









The compacta sword is also looking so much better now.
Still some old twisted leaves left, but new growth looks much better.









And 5g and 10g tests this morning. Kind of the same. The nitrite in the 10 is a little darker and ammonia is a little darker in the 5. 








About to try to rearrange the media in the 5g to see if it helps. The nitrite is definitely a cycled 0 and is staying that way.. just gotta figure out how to fix that ammonia.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And now there is nitrite again in the 5g. I added the sponge. Just shifted the bio ball things a little to fit the sponge. I guess not enough area or something for the bacteria to grow on?
No flippin clue but I hope this works.
10g tests are still about the same. More ammonia than the other days, but that's probably from the pellets I added.
That tank smells like death though. Holy crap. GROSS. lol And my little janky lids for it are working fantastic. Tons of condensation on them and keeping it all sealed. Will have to do a a few water changes in it before adding fish when it's ready. Yeesh. But happy that it's coming along pretty quick. 

All fish are doing well though. No mystery illnesses popping up so far and no surprise dead fish. FX that it stays that way!


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## nbgolds (Aug 21, 2018)

Wow, beautiful tanks and great journal! Great photos, and I've enjoyed reading through it. Just joined the forum and started my own journal today for my 38 gal.
Nate


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## Starwarsfan (Aug 12, 2018)

nice tanks even the messy ones


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes today! Not yet, but wanted to post some photos anyway 

Finally got some semi decent photos of the killi fish! They're usually hanging out at the top or zooming around so difficult to get a good photo of them.
Should get more females b/c the male bothers her SO much.
They are great fish though and have absolutely no fear of me. Always right there when I'm messing around in the tank and it's fun feeding them some of the flies I manage to get for them.









Plus.. look how pretty the males are. 
He knows he's handsome









More tiger barb appreciation. Well.. the 2 green barbs in the photo. Different coloration, but still both beautiful. The solid green one gets SO pretty when he colors up more. Looks like green velvet/satin









Black Ruby barbs are gorgeous too. We used to have some years ago that were a lot more red instead of this darker black/red coloring, but this one is still a looker imo  When he colors up, he gets all black with the bright red marks on his head









And of course one of the dojo loaches. Some of the small ones are plumping up finally. Not going to be able to tell which is my old girl and which are the newer ones. Can't wait! Instead of one hot dog I'm gonna have a whole pack of them! lol


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Fish are looking good!! The UV sterilizer seems to have killed whatever was in there! That's fantastic


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Fish are looking good!! The UV sterilizer seems to have killed whatever was in there! That's fantastic





And it's all thanks to you  If it hadn't of been for your threads, I probably still would've been wondering why all of my fish were dying and thinking about just giving it up for good. 

Finally able to relax some and not expect to see a random dead or sick fish in my tanks lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

/WHINE I want new fiiiiiiiiiissssh.
Lol

10g isn't finished cycling yet. Holy crap does it STINK. I actually gagged today when I was adding more shrimp pellets. It smells like horrible rotten tooth breath. /gag

The cycle is still going though.. just stalling a bit on the nitrites. I know it will be done sooner or later. Just was hoping sooner so I could get some fish lol. My impatience getting the better of me hehe.

Tests from this morning.
The 5g tests make it look like it's ammonia free. That's just the flash. It was still green. It's slowly coming down... hopefully b/c the bacteria is slowly growing on the sponge I put in there. Need to do a water change on it to get the algae out.









And incoming random photos 

Spot the pleco!
lol I love how well some of the fish blend in. Just think it's neat. Plus look how pretty that green barb is! 









The sponge on the UV output keeps falling off. I also have to clean it off with every water change. So much gunk.. maybe brown algae? Builds up on it. It's ugly, but it's working! 









Cories are looking great. I'm definitely getting more. That's going to be the first fish I buy once quarantine tank is ready. These guys need buddies!









And one of the sparkling gourami. My phone decided it wanted to take some nice photos of it 
Split in the tail... so I'm pretty sure this is the one that's always at the front of the tank that gets chased by the dominant one.

















What else.... I may have to euthanize the platy after all.  She does try to eat, but she's on the bottom of the tank most of the time now and I'm not sure, but it looks like one of her eyes might be popping out some. Unlike before, I don't think she actually has a disease and was already poorly to begin with. Poor thing. Going to wait and see. I don't want to do it while she's still eating.
Also the 40 is just constantly over run with that damn hair algae. Think I have the lights on too long again. I messed with it some time ago and that could be a reason why. I'll reduce it to see if it helps. I know I left a lot of it the last water change. Should've gotten more, but I had already gotten a ton and just couldn't get it all. I wouldn't worry about it so much, but don't like it growing on the other plants.

Bins outside look good but I keep seeing cabomba drying on the ground /grumbles stupid dog
lol Thankfully the cabomba in the 125 is still there and growing. Not exactly thriving, but I should have more to replace what the dog has taken out :\
Didn't stay out too long b/c it has been SO hot here lately. I'll look better tomorrow since I have to add water. Hopefully all plants have been surviving in this heat.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First pics of Sept and they're crappy ones of the outdoor bins. Lol
There really is no good time to take photos. I guess I could go out once it's dark. Maybe there won't be glare then... but then bugs...
I might try it out one night.

Anywho... Added some water yesterday to them and just checking on them. Couple of swords were uprooted and a lot of pulled up chewed on leaves.
I don't think it's the dog doing it. There is some slimy algae in the bins that I know would still be stuck to his head when he comes in. Plus he'd have to stick practically his whole head in to the water to get to the plants.
It has to be critters getting in to them. Possum or a raccoon maybe scrounging around thinking there is food in them. Thankfully there aren't any fish that they'd be able to munch on. I'm sure if there had been, they would've been food by now lol.

Here are my crappy glarey photos








Was trying to get photos of the swords, but you can't really see them that well. Most of them are looking good though. Had one pulled up. The tall one growing out of the water always has its leaves gnawd on too. That could be from the dog, but thinking it's from something else.

Other bin actually had some of the micro swords pulled up and floating along with a smaller sword plant.









And the duckweed or whatever the hell it is have some nice little roots on them.








Not sure it is duckweed since it doesn't reproduce as fast. I thought it was the creeping jenny at first... /shrugs Whatever it is.... I dig it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

SOB!! Sucked up one of the new dojos doing a water change. If I hadn't panicked, I should have turned the water on which would have just pushed it back out, but nope! 
When it reached the end I caught it and boy they are slippery fish and it kept constantly wiggling out of my grasp. It finally smacked in to the pavement and stunned itself long enough for me to get it back in to the tank. I hope it's gonna be ok. 
Looked ok, but was floating kind of swimming at the top of the tank. Right side up, but still obviously looking very stressed. When it saw me checking it out, it swam away though so hopefully it will heal up.
Sigh.....

I was trying to catch caterpillars outside to put them back on to the oak tree. Noticed the water from the python stopped. Had a split second of wonder and then it hit me that OMG there must be a fish in the line!
Went in to check and as soon as I got in, sure enough, I saw the little loach quickly making its way through the hose. Sigh.

Pls pls be ok little one.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I've lost a fish before that got stuck in a line, and once sucked up a shrimp to its death. It feels horrible. I never leave a siphon running unattended, anymore.

Why are you putting caterpillars on your oak tree... . . ?

And yes, that's duckweed you have!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

You would think I would've learned after a barb got sucked up, but nope. Guess I'll have to sit and watch it from now on.

The caterpillars eat oak wood leaves. We've been seeing them for the last week or so and didn't know what type they were. Decided to finally look it up and found out what they are (orange striped oakworm? or something like that) and figured they fell off the tree in the front yard and got lost. My bleeding heart didn't want them to starve or anything so I put them back on the tree  lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I THINK I saw all of the little loaches eating this morning. I think. It's so difficult to count them when they're all over the place.
BUT with that being said... big momma loach wasn't eating. Noticed that she didn't come out yesterday as well to eat and her anal area looked a little big.
She better not die.
She was in an area where I could sprinkle some meds (kanaplex) on to her so I did. Dunno if it will do anything since I can't dose the whole tank, but I hope so.
So much for not having to worry about my fish.... sigh......

Also power went out yesterday. Was off for a little over an hour. Not a big deal, but I didn't realize the 5g filter wasn't filling back up and working. Decided to rearrange the media in it again. Put a bag of the ceramic stuff on the bottom. Sponge in the middle and then another bag of the ceramic media on the top with a little sponge on top of it.
There's a TON of media in that little filter.... so what the hell is wrong with it? Why isn't the ammonia going away?
Why was there a little nitrite reading once again yesterday a day after I added more shrimp pellets? 
UGH!
Going to browse around amazon and see if I can find something else. Tired of this stupid filter and if I can find something cheap, I'm replacing it. I dunno what else to do. I would do a sponge filter, but I can't stand that hum that air pumps ALWAYS get... even the quiet ones eventually start up. Plus I don't trust my littlest to not mess with an air pump.

EDIT: Bought a marine land HOB. $15 total so not too bad. Hopefully it works better.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I know the pain of critters... 
Also I wonder if some of your inhabitants aren't fighting something. UV will stop the spread to other fish, but it's not going to help the ones harboring something. If there is a reoccurring issue with someone I would move them and figure out how to treat. I've been using 5 gallon buckets and 11 gallon totes... and one of the 27 gallon totes. My suggestion... toss a couple sponge filters into your cycled tanks... I know it's not going to be an immediate solution, but going forward. That's what I'm doing on the 3 QT "buckets" I've got going. I toss some mopani chunks in there and oak leaves and it's been surprisingly successful. I power 3 sponges (about $4 each) on a $15 pump. Had to treat 1 bucket with Paragaurd and some Bolivian Rams with Prazipro. 
For the one not eating... white long stringy poop?? A local expert shared this with me.... regarding internal parasites... if they are eating treat with Prazipro, if they are not... metroplex


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> I know the pain of critters...
> Also I wonder if some of your inhabitants aren't fighting something. UV will stop the spread to other fish, but it's not going to help the ones harboring something. If there is a reoccurring issue with someone I would move them and figure out how to treat. I've been using 5 gallon buckets and 11 gallon totes... and one of the 27 gallon totes. My suggestion... toss a couple sponge filters into your cycled tanks... I know it's not going to be an immediate solution, but going forward. That's what I'm doing on the 3 QT "buckets" I've got going. I toss some mopani chunks in there and oak leaves and it's been surprisingly successful. I power 3 sponges (about $4 each) on a $15 pump. Had to treat 1 bucket with Paragaurd and some Bolivian Rams with Prazipro.
> For the one not eating... white long stringy poop?? A local expert shared this with me.... regarding internal parasites... if they are eating treat with Prazipro, if they are not... metroplex



I haven't seen her poop so no idea what, if anything, is coming out. I'm not sure if I've ever seen my dojos poop... hmm lol.

I have a big air pump I can set up multiple filters on. I can't remember if that pump is quiet or not, but meh. 

Not enough tubing, but if I find the time I can buy more. That's a great idea though. Plus I wouldn't mind adding another filter to my 40 anyway even if I don't use it for quarantine. Oh and I'd need more suction cups. 

I was hoping the UV would prevent the fish from getting sick, but like you said.. if something was already in her, then not much the UV is going to do about it. I don't think I'd ever be able to catch her though. She's still VERY fiesty and fast.


I'll see what I can get set up maybe by this weekend.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Big momma loach isn't doing well and I hate seeing it. Don't want to euthanize b/c maybe there is a chance to save her.
Bought prazipro to treat for possible parasites. Bought that stuff b/c the price was right and reviews were pretty good for it. Plus I wouldn't have to buy a ton to treat the whole tank. Hopefully it helps.

Also pulled out the giant air pump and set up another sponge filter in the main tank. I hate that air pump. The buzzing coming from it is SO damn loud. Thankfully I can't hear it here in the living room, but I can't stand to be near my tanks for too long b/c of the noise. I know I have more air pumps laying around so I might go hunting for them later.
Only wanted to use the big one b/c I could set up 4 hoses on it. I'll take more air pumps that are quiet over that noisy thing though.

New filter for the 5 should be arriving today. I'll probably set it up tomorrow. I'll have to look up where to put what media to get the best bacteria growth in it. I hope it works to get that tank situated. Would love to have the betta back in his tank for good instead of being moved around all the time.

10g is still stalled out with nitrites. It's all good though. However long it needs to cycle right. Have some fake plants I'm going to throw in. Maybe give the bacteria just more areas to stick to and give whatever fish end up in it some hiding spots. 

Will get some new pics up tomorrow probably


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

UGH! So I got the new filter yesterday. Waited until around 7 to set it up. Placed all the media in it. Everything looked nice and.... the flippin motor doesn't work.
Siiiiiiiiiiiigh.
I could get a replacement but honestly it's more work than I'm willing to do to send back the item and it was only $15. Still though.... seriously??? It's not like it was used or anything. Brand new in the box. The hell!?

So after lots of cursing, I set the old filter back up with the new filter's media and situated things a bit different again. Watched some videos to see the best arrangement and I think I arranged it ok. I did have to take out a bag of the bio media though b/c there just wasn't room, but for such a small tank, it shouldn't matter with what is in there. The extra stuff got plopped in to the 40g filter.
So... yeah. 
Guess I'm stuck with the old filter.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Decided to look over the new filter motor again. Maybe there was something I missed? Nope.. nothing. But for s--ts and giggles, I plugged it up anyway and sure enough it came on. The hell?
I don't have the energy to set it all back up b/c that was a pain in the butt. Maybe I will Sunday during water changes. I dunno. Just annoyed as crap at all of this mess.


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## jfish043 (Jan 13, 2017)

Nice


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Did a big water change in the 5g. The parameters have been staying the same. Nitrites cycled, ammonia staying at about 0.25-0.5. Not sure what is going on there. Going to recheck in a bit and if it's showing ok... and if I can catch it, I'm going to move big momma loach in to it and treat with epsom salt. IF I can catch her.
She's not swimming right and I think it's constipation and/or a swim bladder issue. The area around her anus is really swollen. Don't think it's parasites, but still glad I used the prazipro stuff anyway.

No photos yet. Just been busy and tired. Not doing water changes until Tuesday so will have some by then maybe.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

A bit of a struggle to catch big momma loach, but I got her. She has definitely slowed down and it's so sad watching her try to swim right. 
Got her in to the 5g with some epsom salt and also dosed with kanaplex too.
Parameters this morning were perfect (finally), but I know how quick that can change so will be checking it again tonight.
She moved around when the lights came on, but still very sluggish compared to normal and not swimming right still.
Added a little more epsom salt and just gonna let her relax and hopefully get better.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Some pics to break up the walls of text..

Big momma looking all sick in the 125. You can see the bulge by her anus.
She's "farting" normally, but I haven't noticed her pass anything else. This is the same thing the previous loach had. I hope I can save her.









Right after putting her in the 5g. I put more cabomba in the tank to give her somewhere to rest, but she prefers this spot right behind the filter.









The plants are finally settled in it seems. Now that the tank is cycled... maybe.... it will get more water changes so less chance for the hair algae to go crazy.









The dwarf sag is FINALLY getting some new growth. I swear...Get dwarf sag they said.... it's easy to grow and grows like crazy! they said.... /grumble

















The anubias is looking muuuuuuuch better now. It had so much algae all over the leaves. Took them all out and brushed the leaves off with a toothbrush (use it to clean the corners of the tanks).








Still a lot of debris on the plants and whatnot, but the tank looks so much better now after the good cleaning I did.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

My photos aren't uploading just yet so here is some more text!

Ammonia going up a little in the 5. Just to about a 0.25, but still too much. Did a water change in the 5 and big momma looks a little more lively, but still not right yet. Not surprising since she hasn't eaten in a week or longer. Can't really get a good look at her anus to see if it's still swollen or not. Added 2nd dose of kanaplex and more epsom salt too. Will keep her in the 5 for at least a week.

Had to put the platy down. She was already dying and almost dead, so I just helped it along. Poor thing tried to hang on 
I also found a sparkling gourami dead though. Looked to have been dead for a little longer than a day maybe b/c it was all fuzzy. The hell??
Pretty sure it was the one that I rarely saw.
There's the one with the split in its tail. That one is still alive. And saw a larger one that I'm sure is the dominant one that I see every once in a while.
/shrugs... I've just given up trying to guess what is wrong.
The rest of the fish in the tank looked ok for now though. Both cories were scrounging, all the rasbora were looking good and the 2 remaining gourami looked good.

Tried a very sort experiment. Had the betta out while I was doing a water change in the 125. 
Me: Hmm... I wonder how the betta would do in the 40?
........ /drops betta in to the 40

I sat and watched for a while. Betta seemed fine at first.... until he spotted a gourami. He totally ignored the rasbora, but as soon as he spotted the dominant gourami looking at him... he flared up and charged. The gourami is much faster and used to the tank so managed to get away.
Don't want to be worrying about the betta killing the other 2 gourami so took him back out. It was cute watching him explore though. Can't wait for him to go back in to his own tank.... a tank that flippin stays cycled.

What else..... Oh I set up that new small filter on to the 40g. Put in just a crappy filter pad that I cut in half. Figured that was better than nothing. I used to use nothing but those in my filters before and never had much problem other than them clogging. Plus it's always handy to have more filtration. 
I also added some kanaplex and prazipro to the 40g. Better safe than sorry.

10g is still cycling. Still stalled. 

Have that hurricane coming towards us. Not directly towards where I'm at (at least for now), so hoping we only get rain and maybe some winds. Nothing serious. Do not want to have to worry about our power going out. We'll see what happens though. Water changes done today as planned, but also as a just in case as well.

Hopefully pics will finally upload so I can post them


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Figures that right after I post, my photos show up.
So here we go 

The new filter on the 40. Think the filter pad is for the other filter on this tank. Cut it in half, emptied out the carbon and just jammed them in to the filter.
Still ticked that this filter didn't work when I first set it up. /grumble









Still having lots of problems with the hair algae in the 40. I like the boggy look, but just wish it would stop growing on all the other plants.

















Removed some of the cabomba I put in to it for the loach since she wasn't using it. She still prefers to rest just behind the filter flow.









125 looking pretty good. Need to remove the new sword runners. Just been lazy about it. The cabomba also started growing faster after I started using the excel stuff again so I'll need to remove some of that as well.









And finally the betta as he enjoyed his short tour of the 40g. I don't normally get the chance to get photos of him since he's in the mesh cage.
He's looking so old though. Wonder how old he was when I got him.








He's still pretty though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Loach still not swimming right. I guess it won't heal over night if it does heal at all. 
Took these last night when she was up against the glass.
The area looks less swollen definitely, but filled back up once she got a gulp of air and farted.
So the epsom salt does seem to be helping.
Just have to keep an eye on parameters while she's in there and hope for the best.

















BLEH.... hurricane coming and shifted to where we'll see more of it. That's going to suck. I have 3 battery bubblers. I do have the solar one too that can take batteries, but not sure it works. Guess I'll see when the time comes. Just need to get something I can put some media in to put the bubblers through. Lordy I hope we don't lose power for long.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Was just sitting here thinking about what kind of plants I could put in to my filters. Saw a video where someone mentioned that adding floating plants helped with their hair algae problem.. same thing that stuff like pothos does.
DUH... I knew that so why the heck didn't I do that already for my 40g??

The pothos that used to be in it was never healthy though. I had to move that over to the 125 where it's thriving now. Maybe it just wasn't getting enough water flow through its roots or something. I dunno.

BUT I'm trying again.
Looked over from where I'm sitting and saw my pickle jar that I first set up months ago trying my hand at walstad. Water was low. It was dirty, but the bamboo I could see still looked good.

So I pulled the bamboo out. 2 stalks of it and both with healthy roots. In to the new filter they went. There was also a teeny tiny stem of pothos as well with nice big roots on it and in it went too.

















The leaves on the bamboo do look a little mangled b/c it looks like my cat has been trying to eat them, but overall they look good.
Hoping that with the filter flow over them, they'll flourish even more.

Didn't see much of anything else at first. Just dirty









But i looked closer and... well crap.... there's dwarf hairgrass growing in the soil!









Thought that was pretty darn cool 
I may try to clean it up a bit more and maybe try to add one of the little swords in there just to see how it does.... or maybe even one of the dwarf sag to see if it does well. I dunno yet. I do need to clean it up some more and get all of that up towards the surface so it can maybe carpet. I'm just excited and surprised that it seems to be doing pretty well with absolutely no maintenance lol.

I think I'd like to get another stalk of bamboo for the 5g as well. Something that the kids will hopefully ignore.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Big Momma loach didn't make it. 
Checked on her last night after doing a water change and she couldn't keep herself from going belly up.
Knew I'd probably have to euthanize her, but was going to give her a couple more days. Found her dead just a minute ago.
Damn.
Obviously hoping she would 'fix' but seems swim bladder issues aren't easy to heal and are often fatal.
Wish I knew what had caused it. Maybe in one of her mad nervous dashes to get away from me, she injured it. Or maybe she was constipated and that messed it up. I dunno.... Just wish my fish would stop dying already.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

In not so depressing news...

I think I'm leaning towards getting chili rasbora for the 40g. A nice group of those along with more cories and I think I'm done stocking it.
Just think that tank needs a little more color and a fish that hopefully won't be so shy like the other rasbora.
Plus I want the fish to be small. A larger centerpiece fish does sound nice too, but I like the idea of having it all be just smaller fish.
Hopefully Pet Supermarket can actually order some for me.
I would love to get a blue fish, but only one I can think of are neon tetras and from what I've always heard they're not easy to keep b/c they're prone to disease. Just not looking for that kind of stress. They're gorgeous little fish though.

If no chili rasbora.... maybe rummynose tetras. Their coloration is so interesting looking and a big group of them could look pretty cool.

Now if my 10g would hurry up and cycle, that would be great! Ammonia is through the roof and nitrites have been stuck where they are.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bought a new light for my 40g for my birthday since the 10g isn't finished cycling yet. Dunno when I'll be getting it since the hurricane passed over the area but hopefully won't be delayed too long.

I still haven't really decided on what fish I want. Definitely something small and colorful and hopefully not shy at all. Maybe cherry barbs. Those are pretty easy to get and are fairly cheap too I think?
I dunno. Still got some time before the tank is ready.

Oh I did put in some fake plastic plants in to the 10. Hoping it gives the bacteria more area to inhabit and for the eventual fish to hide in.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got my light today! YAY! Guess there wasnt a delay like amazon showed. Woot 
Set it up and it's so much brighter. Going to definitely have some worse algae problems lol. BUT the plants should grow better now too. I think I'm going to get more plants for this tank. Not sure what exactly just yet, but something. Dang.. wish that vallis had survived 

Bad news.... was admiring how bright the tank was and spotted a dead gourami stuck to the filter. WTH???
Looks like it's not the dominant one, but I don't see the dominant one either. Again....WTH????
They were eating. I watched them eat yesterday.
Dosed the tank with prazipro and kanaplex b/c who the hell knows. Just... I don't know. /shrugs

If the other gourami is dead.... guess I could get shrimp now.. probably not though since I'm sure any tiny baby shrimp would become food. :\ Sigh.....

125 still looks good as far as I can tell. I've seen all the remaining loaches eating and swimming normal. It's difficult getting a head count of those things, but I counted all 7 of them so yay for that at least. All fish in that tank that I've seen eat greedily and look ok. /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just a couple of photos for now.

40 with its new light. Algae farm is what it is lol. I'll probably have to adjust the lights to be on for an even shorter amount of time now. I'll leave them be for a week or so to see how it goes.









Saw some anubias nana petite for sale on amazon that I'm going to order next week. Looks like temps are cooling off just a little so not as much of a chance for the plants to cook on the way to me.
I'd like to try to tie some of it off on the branches. If I can't do that, then I'll cover the back piece of wood with them.
Will also move the little swords outside and rearrange some of the plants staying in the tank to better spots.
I'm just going to try to clean it up a bit more. A bit more... organized chaos 
Oh and I did spot the last gourami yesterday. Hid around the corner to watch the tank a little and saw it dart out. Hope it's ok.
Might try to get more of them if he survives.

And a quick shot of some of the dojos resting. They're such an amusing fish. 
Would've tried getting a better photo, but they dart off once I get close.
They're not really that shy, just startle easily. A lot of them eat right out of my hand now 









That's it for now.
Going to have to do a water change in the 10g. Just a small one to suck up some of the gunk and clean out the sponge that I was putting the food in. It's all gross and moldy now. 
I foresee a lot of gagging from the funk in my future. BLEH!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I'm sorry about the losses. At least it seems as though its no longer spreading. A simple thorough manual cleaning and daily glut dosing will take care of the algae. 
As to new stocking... do something that will really make you happy. I bought what was available so many times and I always regretted it. I also recently did my first online overnight order and the quality of fish was like nothing I've ever seen. Incredible... I got 60+ green neons. It will put me at 80 in ny 150 gallon and it's going to be fantastic. They are so healthy and vibrant!! They were eating the first day! Not a single loss or a single issue of concern. 
My suggestion is a school of Kerri tetras, or lacortei (rainbow emporer tetras), or even Glowlights (highly underrated), or green fire tetras (I LOVE these). It's been my experience that these particular species are pretty hardy as there are limited mass breeding so stores that get these in are actually concerned with their health. 
Also check on Aquabid and see if anyone is close enough to be in the 1 day shipping radius from you. I've done that a bunch of times.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks for the suggestions. All of those are so pretty 

I think I have my heart set on chili raspbora and more cories for now. I want to get more pygmy cories too. IF I can get the raspbora and cory, if the tank feels like it needs more, I might consider them. I'll look up more info though just in case I can't get what I want 


Tanks are ok. 40g is bleh right now. Water changes yesterday as usual and I unplug the heater and the filters. Welp, big filter didn't want to come back on so I had to take all the media out of it and clean it out. It just needed to be cleaned, but still a giant pain.
Then of course, all of that media, even with shaking it out released a ton of gunk back in to the tank. So gross. 
Going to need to do another small water change to get it all up.

I tried my best to clean that tank yesterday though and it still looked like hell. Moved the stems over to the right side. Added more cabomba in hopes of it out competing the algae and removing most of the small swords to put outside.

Pics!

Aponogeton in the middle... surrounded by algae and gunk.









S. rep in the tank isn't doing too bad though. SO much algae though.









Also moved the lily. It was in a very shaded spot and just not doing so well there.









After cleaning it. Still messy, but I'm working on it lol
Think I'm going to try to take out some of the dwarf hairgrass from the jar on the table and put some in. See how it does now that the light is better.









Had a great shot of the cory and right before I took the pic, it turned away. I promise little one! You and your buddy will have more buddies in a couple of months!









125 was needing some serious plant removal as well. Didn't realize so many of the small swords were as big as they were. Removed at least a dozen more along with a lot of cabomba to put outside.
The cabomba is growing like a weed again. Ever since I dosed the excel stuff, it's been growing like crazy again.









Ozelot sword is looking really nice, but compact. It was shaded a lot by the cabomba.









Killifish smiling for the camera









And now a whole bunch of photos of the barbs b/c why not 
Wish some of the odessa barbs had survived. Maybe one day we'll get more.

































































Once a week excel dose only seems to have made the BBA worse in the 125, so I'm going to try doing it every other day to help kill it. It's spread over a lot of plants right now. Overall though things are looking ok.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Did a water change in the quarantine tank. Tired of it being stalled and finally decided to do a water change in it. Hopefully it helps to kick start the cycle back in to motion. Would like to get new fish soon dangit! lol

I also bought some plants. Don't even remember everything I bought.
Anubias nana petite. It's SO tiny and adorable! No idea where to even put the stuff so just stuck the roots in the substrate for now.
Also bought moneywort. It's not creeping jenny like I see google showing? That's weird. Maybe it's just a thicker version of creeping jenny? I don't know, but they're thick-ish stem plants with little round leaves.
Also bought scarlet temple to try to bring some color in to the tank.

Also bought some kind of small potted thing that I can not remember what it is lol. Oh well. I'll get photos of everything once I put things where they're staying.

Everything came a bit beat up though except for the anubias. Temps weren't as cool as I was hoping for so that didn't help. Hopefully everything bounces back though.
Also spotted a little leach in the bag with the stem plants in it. I rinsed off the plants as well as I could, but who knows.
The fish seem to like the addition of the plants. They actually came out and ate when I fed the tank instead of hiding until I was out of sight.


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

I really like this thread, it's nice to see such bright colours in relatively low-tech tanks. 

Sorry to hear about your algae problems. On the bright side, the fish probably quite like it!

I LOVE pygmy corys and would absolutely recommend them if you haven't kept them before. Are you getting more pepper corys as well? Pygmy corys don't spend anywhere near the same amount on the bottom, so I doubt they'd shoal together well.

Edit: I ended up re-reading all of this thread and I'm sorry you've been having so many problems with your tank and livestock. Thank you for documenting them though, it's a great learning tool and I feel a lot of people gloss over the problems they encounter.

I realise now that you were talking about c. habrosus rather than c. pygmaeus so I've no idea if they'll shoal together or not, but they are incredibly cute! I've always found that smaller fish are more susceptible to illness and water quality issues though, so it might be worth waiting a while?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, when I first got the pygmy cories, I had no idea there were different types. I've had both types before, but I like the little habrosus ones. At least their look better, but the others are so cute too.


Okedoke... lets see.

First up, few photos.

Anubias nana petite. Need to figure out where to put it.









The dwarf lily is actually growing some now that it has more light on it.









Whatever this stuff is... I dunno. lol I must've thought it would be a good idea to get it when I picked it out though 
There are 3 more clumps of it. I hope it spreads 









40 after the water change. Still a ton of algae that I just couldn't get out.








Added the new stem plants along with more cabomba.
I also reduced the light time on the tank A LOT. Turns on around 8am. On for a few hours, then off for about 2 hours, then on until about 5-6pm.
Hoping that it helps to get rid of the algae, but keeps the other plants happy.

The scarlet temple stems look so scraggly. Alive, but barely. The other stem, whatever it is looks good though. Most of them have straightened up. Mostly got them in hopes of them helping to keep algae under control lol.

Oh and I saw the remaining sparkling gourami alive. It's definitely the dominant that is still alive. He looked good though. Shy and hid once he saw me. Looked like he had been eating so, whatever.
I would really like to get more sparkling gourami too. Just a couple. And maybe.. MAYBE if all of those fish aren't enough, a honey gourami.

Still need to cycle the 10g though. Parameters are still high in it which leads me to believe they must have been off the charts before the water change. Will check tomorrow and do another if the results are still the same.

5g seems to have 0 ammonia now though. Added in a few shrimp pellets yesterday and waiting to see if it spikes ammonia. If it doesn't, will give it another good cleaning and put the betta in to it. FX that it stays cycled though. SIGH... damn tank.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

lisals said:


> Whatever this stuff is... I dunno. lol I must've thought it would be a good idea to get it when I picked it out though
> There are 3 more clumps of it. I hope it spreads


it looks like Monte Carlo.. it carpets... you're supposed to plant it flat in small clumps so that it spreads more easily


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks! That sounds right and why I bought it lol. I'll have to rearrange the clumps some.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

WOOT!
0 nitrites in the 10g!! I didn't do another wateer change in it. Meant to do one, but other things just kept taking up my time so I never got around to it.
Checked water today and ammonia is still high, but nitrites were 0! WOO! Added more shrimp pellets and just gotta wait for the ammonia to come down and stay down now.

5g is also looking good. Will be doing a water change later today and moving the betta back in. Hopefully he can STAY in his tank now. We'll see though.
Will get more pics up soon.. ish.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty.
10g still has high ammonia. Especially since I added more pellets. Think I need to do a water change to bring it down some actually. Oops.
Still cycled nitrites though so yay 

5g ammonia has been 0 since checking it all so I went ahead and moved the betta back in after doing a water change. Will be keeping an eye on it of course.

40g algae is still a HUGE problem. Seemed to grow back slower, but still all over the dang place. Hoping once the stem plants get acclimated to my tank, they'll out compete the algae.









Crappy photo of the very much alive remaining sparkling gourami. He was coming out a bit more, but every time I tried getting a photo, he'd run and hide... so yeah. This is the best I could get of him. But there he is at least 









Did not get a chance to do a water change in the 125 today. Ran out of prime. There was just enough left to do the 40 and the 5 and that was it. I'm going to be by petsmart tomorrow though so will get more then.
Spotted the only? One of the only? trumpet snails in the tank. I'd like to get a couple more. Only a couple though.









Also have this mystery plant growing in my jar. (The long leaf one in the front). Not sure if it's dwarf sag or vallis. I can't remember what plants I put in there. /shrugs. It's growing though so I guess we'll see once it's bigger.. well.. if it gets bigger?


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

lisals said:


> 10g still has high ammonia. Especially since I added more pellets. Think I need to do a water change to bring it down some actually. Oops.
> Still cycled nitrites though so yay


This may be a silly question, but what do you mean by the nitrites being cycled but not the ammonia? I'd be under the impression that the cycle had stalled if there was high ammonia but no nitrites?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thelongsnail said:


> This may be a silly question, but what do you mean by the nitrites being cycled but not the ammonia? I'd be under the impression that the cycle had stalled if there was high ammonia but no nitrites?



There were high nitrites and now it's at the bluish 0 reading. The ammonia has stayed high. So I think the high nitrite part is done. Just for whatever reason the ammonia is high still. I think you could be right though. It could be stalled again b/c of the super high ammonia. I'll have to test it again to see where everything is at and will probably do a water change to reduce the ammonia some.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not too much going on, but have lots of photos anyway!

Water changes yesterday as usual. Tanks are looking ok. Still a lot of algae in the 40, but it's slowly getting better now that the other plants are adjusting to the new light and new plants are settling in.









Scarlet temple stems look scraggly still, but they're alive. Hoping they'll start growing again soon. The other stuff has straightened up and is looking much better now. Just wish this stupid hair algae stuff would go away already.









New growth on the lily 
Have new growth on a lot of other plants as well. New tiny little leaves popping up everywhere.









Also have a mystery plant growing on the wood. Some of the wood is out of the water and I spotted this stuff on it. Thought it was just some dried up moss or cabomba or something on it, but it's definitely moist and still alive, whatever it is. Thought that was really cool 









The bamboo and pothos is doing well. Both are getting new growth which I'm happy about  Don't mind the chewed on leaves of the bamboo. Cat can't reach them anymore. 

















Just a shot of the rasbora and gourami hanging out 
Can not wait to get more fish for this tank already!









Speaking of which... did a 50% water change in the 10g. I hadn't touched it since the last water change and ammonia was not lowering. Ammonia is sitting at around a 4 now. May do another water change, but will give it a couple of days to see what happens.

125 is looking nice. Shaded a bit too much by the cabomba growth, but the loaches and killifish love the cover.









Some loach photos. They're all getting so fat. Couple of them are almost as big as my previous 2 were (RIP).

















Moved some planted cabomba. Had it right by the compacta sword, but they were growing too quickly. I moved 2 over just a little in to the front corner of the tank. Still flows over the swords, but at least not getting tangled up in them anymore. The 2 bunches I moved had some nice pretty roots on them. Took quite a bit of tugging to get them uprooted.









Was trying to get a shot of this crypt and the barbs wanted in on the shot  Really pretty plant with some purdy fish 









Lots more baby swords to get out. More on that in a minute









Oh and I took the betta's cage out finally. Left it in just in case the 5g parameters got bad, but they've been staying steady. Then I left it in b/c the loaches liked it, but finally just took it out. The loaches can find another spot to rest. 
Tank looks a bit too shaded in spots, but overall.. not too shabby still 









Mr Bettaface looking mighty handsome in his 5g tank. Parameters have been steady thank goodness. FINALLY! lol
His eyes still have that cloudiness on them that developed a while ago when his water quality was poor. Guess they're just going to remain that way. He's doing well though.. even with my 2yo tossing in some crayons and scribbling on the front of the tank :\









Going to have to move the outdoor swords in to the garage soon. It was 60's at night here and it's like someone flipped a switch and put on the cooler weather. Supposed to get 50 or just below one of these nights so need to get it all done soon. Have to clean out a spot in the garage too. UGH so much work. Think I'm going to use the light I took off the 40g and put it on the bin in the garage. It's low light, but hopefully should be enough. If not, I'm sure I could come up with something cheap.

And yeah.. that's about it so far.
I want to get more snails for my tanks. Meant to look for some when I was in Petsmart but tbh I dunno if I would trust their snails to not infect my tanks with something.
I'd like to get more trumpet snails and maybe ramshorn.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bettaface is hurt  Noticed it a few days ago that he was resting in the same area. Just thought he liked the spot, but then noticed he has a giant wound on his side on his belly. I don't know what the heck happened. Thinking he got stuck somewhere and scraped himself good. Maybe even stuck by the heater and it burned him.
Did a water change and treating with some kanaplex. He's not eating and is acting very low energy, but still very aware. Just hurt.. he's acting like he's hurt.
Poor betta 
Water parameters have been perfect though thankfully so at least I don't have to worry about that being a problem. Just have to hope that his wound heals. May do another small water change tomorrow just to get his water even cleaner to help.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I may have to euthanize my betta.
Flippin figures. His tank is FINALLY stable and then he gets injured  
His wound looks awful though. I don't know what the heck he did to himself. Maybe got stuck by the heater and got burned. It looks terrible though and his stomach area is pineconing just a little.
I added an antifungal now too b/c it was looking fuzzy today. 
But like I said, I may have to euthanize him. I'm gonna try my best to medicate for now, but if it's looking like he's getting worse... sigh... gotta do the responsible thing and do what is best for him.
Damnit


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

So sorry to hear about your betta. The previous one I had, died of something that started as lumps with lifted scales and ended as a large open wound on his side. I still don't know what it was- some kind of ulcer was my best guess (there was nothing in the tank he could have possibly damaged himself that way on). I tried a few treatments but sadly it was futile. Hurts to see them suffer.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Betta looked far worse today. Far far worse. Pineconing started on the rest of his body and in my experience, once that starts, there is no going back from it. His wound was also completely covered in fuzz.
You could still see that he was there mentally.. but his body was just not healing. That was hard, but I had to euthanize him. Did not want to see him suffer longer.
Got a good look at his wound once he passed though and I could pick the fuzzy stuff away from it. Way worse than I thought it was. Still no damn clue what happened.









RIP betta. RIP 

And now I have a new betta. Yep. I went out and bought another one b/c there are a lot of bettas sitting in cups needing homes and I have a perfectly good one ready for another.
Decided to start at Petsmart and got one. I was prepared to need to go to multiple stores to find a betta, but I saw this stunner and knew he was coming home with me.
A name even popped in to my head as soon as I saw him too which never happens. I'll jokingly name my fish (like Bettaface or Momma Loach), but I don't feel the need to 99.9% of the time.
But this little guy has a name....

Meet
Superman


































I know.. so cheesy, but my goodness is he gorgeous! I saw a few that were really nice looking at petsmart, but none that really stood out. Then I bent down to look at the twin tail halfmoon ones and BAM, there he was in all his beautiful betta glory.
Hopefully this tank treats him better than it did Bettaface. Hopefully he'll live a few long healthy years in it and be happy.

Oh and I took a look at their tanks to see if I could ask for some of their pest trumpets.... didn't see a single one. All pond snails all over their glass.
I don't mind pond snails, but I want trumpet. Feel like my plants would do a lot better if there were a few of those in the substrate. Oh well.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, what a stunner! Superman is a very apt name for him, haha.


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

WOW the name really suits him..... It's really superman.

One of the best looking Bettas i've seen in a long time that stands out like this.....

Really good choice


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Sometimes people RAOK malayasian trumpet snails. I've done so myself- but I don't have a big population right now. It's worth taking a look, I saw someone offering some last week.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Betta is doing well and finally figured out the spot where he gets fed. He's such a pretty little thing.

But in horrible news.
Ammonia in my 125 and the last odessa barb died. Probably b/c of it.
Noticed that my old FX5 filter was off during the water change today. Thought maybe it had turned off during a power surge yesterday, but I do remember thinking that the flow was low when I fed yesterday. I may not have noticed that it was off then so I dont know exactly how long the filter was off.
I managed to get it back on but it released a lot of gunk in to the tank. Normal so I wasn't too worried about it. 
Water got milky which doesn't normally happen, but it was just b/c the filter turned back on right?
Checked the tank a little later and I noticed the sponge on the UV tube had fallen off. Went to put it back on and that's when the smell hit me.
That stank 2 day old dead fish rotten bad breath smell. Something was definitely wrong.
Also noticed the odessa barb in the corner not moving. IT was still upright but I wanted to try to get a closer look so I netted it. No resistance at all so it must have JUST died. Nothing wrong with it physically.. just.. dead.
That smell though... so I did another water change and decided to finally just take out the FX5. Figured then was as good as any time since it had obviously not been working for at least a day or longer and the tank had been ok.
Anyway... checked the ammonia after and got a 0.25 reading. Not a lot but still too much.
Just checked it again a little while ago and it's at 0 again.
I'll keep an eye on it the next couple of days though just to make sure it's stable again.
Geeze though.
I've had that filter for forever and it has had periods of being off, but it has never let out funk like that before. It still works so I'll keep it if I ever need a crappy backup.

Had to take a shower after all of that bc that smell was clinging to me. BLEH!!!

Anyway.. other tanks are doing well. I'll get photos and other updates tomorrow if I have time.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ammonia reading was back to 0 this morning and also no more funky smell. Cloudiness has also cleared up.
Just glad that kids weren't acting up too much so I checked the tank again yesterday. If I had just left it, I'm sure more fish would've ended up dead.

Anywho... on to some photos.

Superman still looking majestic AF! His tank needs more plants though. I wish the dwarf sag had grown like I had hoped it would, but it's not doing anything at all. Going to move it and probably add more crypts to help fill the tank up.

































Finally got the outdoor bin in the garage set up. Only has a crappy light on it, but it's better than nothing.









40g still has algae problems, but it's definitely not growing as quickly as it was. Still waiting for the new stem plants to bounce back. Taking forever though.
A lot of the other plants have gotten new growth though. Like the compacts sword. Lots of new leaves on it.








The cabomba in the tank has definitely grown. Need to trim it next water change.









If you're ever having a problem with cabomba not growing.. just add in excel/metricide. Cabomba flipping LOVES IT.
I pulled most of this stuff out b/c it was shadowing everything under it so much. Also trimmed a lot from the other side of the tank as well b/c it had grown so much.









When I was pulling some out, had 2 dojo loaches come swim in my hand. One of them is a giant fatty! Holy moly is it fat.. and I love it!! Grow little hot dogs.. GROW!









125 yesterday when it was obviously still cloudy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Grrr... my FX6 filter is starting to rattle. It was completely silent before, but of course, once I moved it, it starts rattling.
Going to have to take the motor off to clean it and HOPE it stops. SO damn annoying. One problem just snowballs in to multiple ones. SO ticked off and annoyed. Not taking it apart until this weekend though. Just too much mess and work to do it during the week.
Tank is fine otherwise though thankfully.

10g still hasn't cycled. I do want new fish, but also not worried about it right now which is why I haven't done another water change in it yet. Just don't have the funds to get the fish right now so I'm not in any hurry really.

And that's it for now. Just annoyed that my filter that isn't even a year old is rattling when it frickin wasn't before. No dang reason for this crap.


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## fishfearme (Oct 7, 2018)

Sorry to hear about Bettaface. 😢 But, on the bright side, grats on finding Superman! He's a beauty!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Things are well for the most part. 
Bought some trumpet snails from someone here and got those in yesterday. Need some TLC on their shells, but overall they seem good. A few I'm not sure are alive any longer, but we'll see if they move later lol.

Just to compare...
Here is my one trumpet (there might be 2 lol) in the 125. Nice pretty shell









And the new ones









I bought some cuttlebone to put in to the tanks for extra calcium so they'll be growing some nice pretty shells eventually 

SO happy to have them though. Put a few in each tank. I think the 40g is really going to benefit from them. The extra ferts from their poop and having something stir the sand some is going to help the plants so much.

As for the tanks in general. They're all stable for now. 40g is still having major algae problems and so is the 5. Not as quickly as the 40 since the lighting is low, but still annoying! Will probably pull some crypts out of the 125 to plant in the 5. Need, More, Plants!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well....
Spotted a black ruby barb with an injury on its belly. Same spot that the betta had before except the barb's doesn't look as fresh. But it's still a bad injury.
I was trying to get a good look at it while it swam around, but couldn't really since it was moving so much and hiding if I got too close.
It's still eating apparently though b/c there was poop coming out of the injury. The heck??
I dunno what the heck happened to it. 125 is a big tank and lots of places it could have gotten injured. Hopefully it's not some sort of weird disease that caused it.
It's too fast to catch right now but I'll be keeping an eye on it. If it looks to be slowing down and not eating any longer, I'll try to catch and euthanize.
Other tanks are fine though.
Put in more shrimp pellets a few days ago in to the 10 and going to test it today to make sure it's cycled. Already texted my husband what I wanted so he can 'surprise' me with fish lol. He's really not that type of guy (to get me surprise items that I want) so kinda had to spell it out for him that that's what I'm expected for my Christmas present  lol


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Are you sure it's poop you see? Could be a parasite. 

I used to think my fishes were sustaining injuries on tank decor, but turns out every time there was another cause: poor water quality, disease, fighting...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Are you sure it's poop you see? Could be a parasite.
> 
> I used to think my fishes were sustaining injuries on tank decor, but turns out every time there was another cause: poor water quality, disease, fighting...



It was definitely just poop.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

That barb seems to be doing ok. Swimming around as normal and eating... or at least trying to eat. Saw it suck up and spit out some flake food. May have just wanted something else. I dunno. 
I can't really tell if the area is healing though. Looks like it might be? It's not oozing or fuzzing up or anything. /shrugs

Rest of the fish are doing well. Need to remind my husband to 'surprise' me with fish though  I can't wait to finally get more cories and hopefully the chili rasbora!


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

Really enjoyed reading this tank journal and looking forward to further updates! Your tanks are so lushly planted and so full of variety and color! Years ago, dojo loaches were called weather loaches. Weather loaches got their name because they are sensitive to changes in the weather


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not the greatest update. Betta and 40g are both fine.
125.. not so much.
The barb that was injured is healing and appears to be ok.
BUT, I had to euthanize a different black ruby barb. I noticed that it was acting a little strange, but kids distracted me away and I forgot about it until the next day when I saw it stuck between the glass and some wood. I thought it was dead, but it was still breathing and it freaked the heck out when I tried netting it.
It seemed to have a lot of energy and tried to jump out of the cup I put it in to get a better look at it, so I think it was just a swim bladder problem, but I euthanized it anyway.
There'a also a green barb with some injury to its tail. Not the fin part, but right before it. Like it gashed it on something. Looks to be healing, but there is a slight extra wiggle when it's swimming.
I dunno what the heck is going on. What they're injuring themselves on or what is causing it. /SHRUGS

Also, the tank is be invaded by green hair algae now like the 40g. Greeeeeeeeeat. Sigh. 
I switched to an every 2 weeks water change and I think that is what is causing the problem. Switched to that since it has gotten colder and the water is coming from outside so it's icy cold when it hits the tank. So figured.. oh every other week should be ok. Guess the algae decided it was a good time to take over. Oh well. Algae is the least of my worries.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No photos just yet. Haven't done water changes today. Supposed to warm up so I'm waiting until early afternoon to get it done. Not a big deal.

40g has new residents though. I risked it and put new fish in to that tank right from the store.
From the place that I'm hoping will get the other fish I want (that I put in a request for)... I bought 5 otos. I would've gotten more, but 5 was all they had. They looked really good though. Nice and plump and healthy.
A bit of an impulse buy but with all of the algae in that tank, I think they'll fit right in and thrive. I would love to boost their numbers up by 10 more.

The tanks are ok for the most part.
Lots of snail poop on the bottom of the 40. Wish they would poop IN the sand instead of on top of it lol, but oh well. At least they're doing ok in there.
I think some of the ones in the 5g were DOA, but 99% of the snails were alive.

125 seems to be ok for now. Lots of algae on everything that all of the little particles of food and whatnot stick to though so the tank is looking a bit rough.
Fish look ok though. No odd behavior that I've noticed and no new wounds that I've seen.

So yeah, overall everything is ok for the time being.
Hoping that the fish place can get the fish that I want. I did see some albino cherry barbs that were super cool looking that I think could be contenders if I can't get chili rasbora. I'll wait and see though. I've waited this long.. I can wait longer.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Few new photos...

Betta, Superman, still looking all majestic  









Albino tiger barb came out when it thought I was feeding. Poor thing is so skittish.









Super fat dojo loach! Have you ever seen an obese fish? B/c they're becoming that and I love it!
Sorry bettas.... these fat little hot dogs are now my #1

















Couple of the otos. They'll get more buddies soon enough.









40g is still algae covered. Also having a problem with the roots of the duckweed breaking off and polluting everything.









Duckweed is a bit of a love/hate thing. I do love it, but dang is it messy!
Need to make a little area for it to just sit and stay and scoop the rest out.









And 125. Looks ok from far away but there is algae everywhere now. Need to reduce feeding to see if that helps.... or just get an army of otos to come clean up the tank. I actually might do that one day. Not just for algae control, but b/c they're such cute little fish.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

You know, my duckweed used to shed root hairs all over the place- and I never thought much of it, because it continued to multiply regardless! but then I switched the kind of ferts I use, and now I never find loose root hairs. Also my duckweed rarely has any yellowing leaves, whereas used to be quite a few of those. Just a thought- it might be lacking a few nutrients.


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## Rubiks_Coop (Oct 1, 2010)

Man I love that Betta! Also, I've always avoided duckweed since you can't ever get rid of it, but I've never heard of them shedding. Must be a pain. Definitely gonna keep avoiding it. xD


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I've had duckweed before. It can def get out of hand, but it usually doesn't do great if you have decent water movement at the top of the tank. 
The filters in my 40 are getting clogged though so the duckweed is going crazy in between water changes.

In the 125, it's growing here and there, but not growing crazy.

Some questionable things happening in my tanks.

Betta is fine

Sparkling gourami is acting twitchy and weird and I can tell it has lost color. Treating the tank with kanaplex and ordered more just in case I need to treat it again. The otos that I've seen look good and they are kicking some serious algae ass too. There is definitely a lot less algae now. I haven't spotted any dead or sickly looking ones, but there are a lot of hidden areas of the tank too. I'll have to give the tank a good search just in case.

125... spotted another tiger barb that has some fuzzy spots on it. Just 2 small spots, but the gil on the side with the fuzzy spot is all red and swollen. It was also swimming weird and going nose down tail up. They seem to do that when they're hurt/stressed which this one obviously was.
Not sure what the heck happened to it. I know they've hurt their mouth before when they spar, but I haven't seen them peck at eachother to the point of causing injury like this. Not even that one with the wound in its stomach. Whenever I watched the tank, none of them messed with it.
That fish is doing totally fine now. That spot has healed completely over. Still scaleless in the spot, but it has completely closed up. You probably wouldn't even be able to tell that it was hurt and just think the white spot was just its coloration. That's how complete it healed. So yay for that. Hopefully the other barb heals up too from whatever injured it.

Other fish in the tank look ok. All of the dojos eat like piggies and /shrug I dunno. Maybe just one of those random things that happen.

Definitely going to go back to doing weekly water changes. I'll have to change less water since it will be much colder. Every 2 weeks doesn't seem to be working b/c since starting it, the fish have gotten injured/sick and the algae worse in the 125.
Maybe just coincidence but maybe not.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Went to the pet store to see if they got any fish in. Our internet was out on the day they get shipments in and the number I gave them, the phone is linked to the internet. Figures.

Anywho, they got in the peppered cories.
I bought all 10 of them and they're now in the quarantine tank 
Had to do a big 90% water change in it, but it's definitely cycled and ready. Will keep an eye on it though just in case.
Fish looked good, but they were in a tank with some panda cories that were dead.
So I went ahead and put some kanaplex in the quarantine just in case.

















Think I'll go a month quarantine. Hopefully none of them die.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Cories seem to be doing ok. Eating and really active.

Photo, but it's so difficult getting a good pic of anything in the tank with the reflection and glare








I can't wait for these little ones to go in to the 40. The 2 in there are going to love having more buddies 

The lichen on the wood is growing so nice. I love it. A lot! Wish more wood was above the water to grow more of this stuff on it. It's so pretty and just cool that it happened naturally somehow.









And I know it's hard to tell from pics, but the otos really have done a great job on the algae so far.









There is still a lot of it. A LOT









But they've cleaned up the side glass and the plants.
Was trying to get a photo of the oto hiding in the sword, but you can see from the sword that they've cleaned its leaves really well. The newer growth was ok, but the older stuff was covered in the hair algae too.








The anubias in the tank was also getting a lot of the hair and brown algae on it but they've cleaned those up as well.
The little nano one is doing great. I have its roots just planted in to the substrate and I really like it. It looks out of place since it's the only one, but I think I'm going to buy more to try to make a little "carpet" of the stuff. It's such a nice tiny little plant 








Oh and look at all the snail poop around it. SO much snail poop. I wonder if they're eating the algae too.

Speaking of algae..... there's so much of it in the 125.
From far away, it doesn't look so bad.









But get closer and everything is covered in fuzz. SIGH
I really think I'm gonna try getting an army of otos for this tank.

























Hoping back to weekly water changes will help.

Also asked hubs if he could try to rig up something for the new light on the 40 to sit up higher on the tank. That way I can take the other one off and have just the new light illuminating everything. Maybe just making taller brackets or hanging it from the ceiling. I dunno. It needs something though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes yesterday. Still couldn't clean the 40 like I wanted, but I tried. Even though it was kind of warm out yesterday, water in to the tanks was pretty cold.
Oh well. Fish didn't seem to really mind.

I did a lot of trimming in the 40 on the compacta sword. Thought that the older bottom leaves would need to come out b/c they're under everything else, but nope. Most looked pretty darn healthy still. Guess the stronger light is reaching the bottom leaves too.

I need to remember to do another smaller change in the middle of the week so I can attempt to clean it better.

I also moved the anubias out of the betta's tank in to the 40. The plants were getting covered in algae and I knew the otos would handle it.
Covered in brown algae, but an oto came to the rescue









Clean and pristine this morning









I'm going to keep the anubias in this tank. Slow growing and needs something to help keep the algae off it so it can hopefully thrive. I have the roots just planted in the substrate so they should do ok.

Didn't spot the gourami at all. I hope it's ok, but have a feeling that it's dead somewhere in the tank. Really hope I'm wrong.

Forgot to mention that I had to euthanize that one tiger barb the other day. Found it stuck between the glass and wood breathing heavy and just looking like it was going to die soon. Other than the reddish gil, it looked ok. Even that gil didn't look as red or swollen as it had been and there didn't appear to be actual damage to it on the outside.
/shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So.... this happened just a few minutes ago









Yep... those are the new cories in the breeder box on the 40.

I've been checking the quarantine. Everything was ok. Feeding minimally. Doing everything you're supposed to do and.... a very very slight ammonia reading this morning and a bunch of very unhappy and dying cories.
SOB!

One of them is still doing really poorly.









I hope it pulls through.
But yeah... so much for quarantining them.
I had to get them out of the tank and in to clean water. It was barely a 0.25 ammonia reading but obviously enough to cause damage.
A lot of them were floating or on their sides like the one in the photo or tail down and nose up on the bottom.

I mean.... really?? Could I catch a damn break already?? Even when I'm doing it right, something still manages to screw up!
Those poor cories 
I think most of them will survive, but there are a few that I'm worried about.
Hoping the clean water will help them and I will obviously keep an eye on them.

In not so depressing news.... FINALLY spotted all 5 otos and all looked good. Still no sign of the gourami though. FX it's ok.
Guess I gotta hope the new cories aren't carrying any nasty bugs with them.

I'm not giving up on the quarantine tank though. Obviously not quarantining the cories any longer, but other fish will go in there. Guess I'll have to reduce feedings even more. Maybe to every 3 days or something . I dunno. Just upset right now.
I really hope they all pull through.

May go ahead and do another water change on the 40. Try to get it a a little cleaner since there is still a lot of snail poop. Will have to remember to keep an eye on the water parameters now too.


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## Ken Keating1 (Nov 22, 2017)

Wow, that Oto really cleaned up the anubia leaves!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just a quick update before I go to bed.
I moved 4 of the cories to the 40. Probably a mistake, but I wanted to see if they would get better faster if they were just in the main tank. 1 of them seemed to act normal but the other 3 were still very stressed out and not moving much. A bit later, 3 had moved around, but one is still very stressed out and didn't move much. 

The ones still in the breeder box seem to be doing better. The one that was on its side seems to have righted itself now. Still some heavy breathing, but they look ok and are moving a little.
FX that there aren't any deaths tomorrow. Going to move the rest of them in tot he 40 probably.
And I did do a small water change. Sucked out poop and when I added more water, it made even more come out of hiding lol. Maybe adding so many snails to this tank wasn't a great idea  lol I may take take some of them out if I can find them lol

So yeah.. keep your FX for my cories everyone. Lets hope that they all recover.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Last night before bed, I checked on the cories. They all seemed to be ok. Decided that I'd go ahead and add them to the tank while the lights were off for the night. Give them time to get the stress out in the dark and adjust to their new home.
This morning, all seems well. Haven't spotted any sick or stressed cories. Counted 10 that I could see at once and they were all scavenging for food. So yay 
Hopefully there aren't 2 that I couldn't see that are dead or dying.... like the gourami may be. I still haven't seen it 

But anyway... pics

Need to fatten up the new cories! 

















The otos all have big fat bellies. WHEN I get a bunch to put in to the 125... those things will be swimming roly polys with the feast of algae in that tank lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I bought a water hyacinth for the 40g. I feel like the light in that tank is enough to possibly grow floaters (that isn't duckweed) and I like the HUGE roots that hyacinth get. I think the fish will love it and I'm hoping they'll use it to spawn. That's if it survives and thrives.
We'll see I guess.
Plus the 40 seems to have excess nutrients so... FX that it grows! I just hope hubs can come up with something for the light. I really want to get it above the tank somehow. Taller brackets or hang it. Whichever.

Roots are tiny for now.
Oh but if this does grow as I'm hoping it does... Maybe I could get some shrimp for the tank eventually. Baby shrimp will have the roots to hide in from the fish. I want to add more rocks to this tank and the 125, but that can wait.
And look at all of the duckweed stuck to the filter intake. I cleaned it off both times I did a water change this week. That's how quickly this stuff grows and gets EVERYWHERE lol









It looked pretty good for the most part. I've never handled it before and it's a pretty beefy feeling thick plant.









Look at all that poop lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

40g fish seem to be doing ok.
The hyacinth is growing. Has new roots and I think new bulb things on top too.
Haven't been able to do a water change. Or more like, it has been too dang cold to do a water change. Will do one tomorrow probably in the larger tanks and do one in the 5g today.
Everything is ok for now though. FX that it stays that way.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The hyacinth is growing! YAY 









See the new little offshoot on the right? Yay 

New pretty fluffy roots









I can definitely see why this stuff is illegal to sell in some places. Put it in the wild and it would overtake the place in no time. It sure it pretty for my tank though and hopefully helping to control the algae.
Still a lot of algae in there though. Need to do water changes. Been a very stressful week so haven't done any.
I WILL get them done this week though.

Was also thinking that maybe I should give up my hope of getting chili rasbora. I'd settle for some regular harlequin ones too. Just wanted to keep the fish small and those grow just a teeny larger than I was wanting. They're still pretty small though and I've had them in the past. I dunno. Just eager to finish stocking the 40 so I can get more for the 125 next lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Spotted an oto that didn't look too good and I could move it pretty easily so there was definitely something wrong. I left it in the tank though. Looked kind of bloated so hoping that maybe constipation that solves itself.
I dosed the tank with more kanaplex though just in case.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Haven't spotted a dead oto so yay.. hopefully. I've only spotted 3 at one time but the tank does have a lot of plants.
40 seems to be doing well though. Cories are super active when the light comes on but are a bit shy once I come up to it. Just got in some quality algae wafers just in case the otos need more food. The ones I've spotted look pretty fat and healthy.
The cories are also doing well from when I see them seem very happy going up and down the tank when lights on and scavenging. So happy to see that 

Bought a power head for the 125. Needs something. I think taking off the other filter really helped the algae problem I'm having now. It's blanketing all the leaves. Really want otos for that tank. Anywho, I'm hoping with a little more water movement, it will help to keep some of it under control. It's not a strong powerhead but strong enough to move things.
So hopefully it helps while I try to get an army of otos 😁


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Few photos I took this morning before feeding. 

Didn't want to get too close and scare the cories away. They're looking good though 

















Otos are so cute  I saw them scavenging for food this morning when I fed the tank too. Added a couple of algae wafers as well so hopefully they're eating those along with the flake food.

















Still that annoying slimy algae in the tank, but the growth has slowed waaay down.









125 this morning before feeding. It's so fun seeing the fish get so excited  Tried getting some photos of the swimming hotdogs, but they were moving so much 

















You can see in the lat photo how much the duckweed has taken over. It was never a problem before bc there was enough water movement to keep it from getting out of control. Should be getting that powerhead in today though and will set it up.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So, Hubs took me out yesterday to different pet shops looking for more fish to buy me for Christmas. Awww. Would've preferred if he had actually called to order some and make sure they had them in but it was still sweet lol.
We went to Pet Supermarket first. They had in some new green cories, but other than that, it looked like they hadn't gotten anything new or kept up with their tanks very well which is unfortunate.
We then headed to Petco just to see what they had and theirs was even slimmer pickings. Also looked like their store hadn't seen a new shipment of fish in quite a while.
I didn't leave empty handed though.
Got one of these









Wasn't sure what would be in it but from what I could see, the plant looked nice.
It came with this one








And this much smaller nana? looking one








Pretty good deal for just $6  They also had more nana petite anubias, but they were SO tiny and were $10. Meh. I'll just wait for mine to grow.......in a few years /cry. lol
I was tempted to get one of these HUGE anubias plants they had for just over $10, but wouldn't have had anywhere to put it.

I also got 2 bamboo stalks that were $3 each. Both were fully submerged though.
This one is in the 5gal and the other is in the 40. I think I'm going to cut a hole in the top of the mesh on the 5g and put it in there. Nervous keeping the filter top open b/c of my 2yo.
Also found a little pond snail on this one and put that in to the 5g. We'll see if it lives.
Curious to see how these do outside of the water. Not sure why folks think bamboo is aquatic. When is the last time you've seen fully submerged bamboo in the wild??









I also got this....

























Yep... I got a new betta for my 40g tank  It's a female elephant ear. She's still pretty skittish a day after, but it was fun watching her explore the tank when I first put her in. Yep. no quarantine bc I'm terrible.
Meh.
She's so pretty though! She looks like a little opal.
I was tempted to buy these 2 little females that were just labeled 'baby girl'. They were SO tiny and I was hella curious to know what colors they would be once bigger. Oh well.
They had some really nice bettas there though. Beautiful males, but I went with a female in hopes of her getting along with the other fish in the tank. I've had female bettas with cories before, but nothing else.
If she starts showing too much aggression later on, I still have that mesh cage I could put her in. Really don't want to, but it's an option.
Or I could always pop her in to the 10g quarantine since it seems that's going to be up for a while with no fish. I got options. Not the best, but they will do.

I also noticed in the 40 that I had some BGA growth on the filter intake of the small filter. Removed it and rinsed that off well.
Then I noticed it ALL over the place in the 125. I'm not sure if that's what it was before, but that's what it turned in to now. Lots of the stuff on the left side of the tank has BGA over it and the duckweed had just seemed to take over overnight.









Finally stopped procrastinating and installed the powerhead. It's not super strong which is what I wanted, but it's a little stronger than what the other filter was putting out which IS what I was hoping for. 








Think this particular pump was 20something on amazon. Not too bad IMO.
I'm counting it as a Xmas present to myself lol.
Honestly probably should have just bought another filter. Maybe one to replace the sponge one and to give extra flow and filtration. Oh well... maybe down the road I'll do that. Just such a pain in the butt adding something big to a plant crowded established tank. The pump was easy. Just a magnet on the inside and one on the outside holding it in place.

I also added a small dose of erythromycin. That seems to be helping already with the BGA. Need to add in another dose and possibly buy more..

So yeah... that's what has been going on here lately. Going to try to get some good photos of Superman today if I can. He's so pretty but for some reason, SO difficult getting pics of now lol.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Pretty betta. Love seeing your cories and otos- I miss having catfishes in my tanks. Looks like the otos are doing a good job cleaning up some of that algae for you! i bet the duckweed helps, too- I still am glad I have it in my betta tank.


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## asliceofkate (Nov 3, 2018)

my favorite thread 

I've been tempted to buy those baby betta too. Have been wanting to get one to raise with cherry shrimp to teach it that shrimp are friends not food, but not sure if you can overcome nature. Setting up a 5.5 gallon and a betta and shrimp would be ideal for me. Super scared of mass murder though, so the tank is empty for now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Lol, I don't think I'd ever trust a betta with shrimp. If you ever do get one of those baby girl bettas, document it on the forums! I would love to see what one of them grows up to look like


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

My betta lives with seven amano shrimp. I keep waiting for him to turn on them someday, but he hasn't yet. In fact he shies away from the shrimps- I think they pinch his fins sometimes- going after food smell where the betta is feeding.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> My betta lives with seven amano shrimp. I keep waiting for him to turn on them someday, but he hasn't yet. In fact he shies away from the shrimps- I think they pinch his fins sometimes- going after food smell where the betta is feeding.



Aww poor guy lol. Aren't amano shrimp pretty large too? That could help them from being seen as food too. I'm sure it just depends on the betta as with most of them. Just gotta hope for a mellow one and give shrimp lots of hiding places for that extra bit of protection just in case.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Yeah, my oldest amano is nearly same length as the betta's body. It definitely pinched him the first time they faced off over a food flake- and since then the betta always seems to think the shrimps will hurt him. The smaller amanos I'm sure he could easily tear apart if he realized it!


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

You take such marvelous care of your bettas!  

The blue male betta in my avatar was originally a "baby boy" in a cup from Petco. He was an old fashioned type veil tail and I had him several years. Was in Petco yesterday looking at the bettas and had to make myself get out of there LOL


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So slight disaster in my 40g.
The big filter died on me. Did a water change and I have to unplug the filters b/c they start sputtering which isn't good for the motor. So I go to plug them back in and... nothing. It has happened before but usually cuts back on, but nope.
Took it all apart which made a HUGE mess. Cleaned it all up (it wasn't that gunked up though) and it cut back on when I checked it, but then wouldn't once everything was back together.
Great......
Took a trip to Petsmart and picked up another filter. Thankfully they have some on sale and I picked up a top fin one like the one on my betta tank. Adjustable flow and all that.
I couldn't put all of the filter media from the old filter in to it though, but I put as much as I could.










Hopefully that's enough to keep the tank from cycling, but with my luck, I'm sure I'll be dealing with it. I may move the sponge filter from the 125 or the quarantine to help. Will be keeping an eye on things.
Also having to treat the tank for blue green algae. It came back with a vengeance on the smaller filter and was all over the output of the old filter.
Forgot to buy more meds though so have to go back to Petsmart for that.


The fish are ok for now though.
Big plump otos. I've seen 4 at once. No idea if the 5th is alive. I hope so. Petsmart had otos for sale and it was tempting, but it's Petsmart. I said I would never buy fish from them again and I meant it.



















The snails always come out after a water change 










Blurry but shows her colors well. She seems to be getting along perfectly. Always swims up and begs when I'm around the tank and eats like a little hog when I feed. She's all around the tank and just so fun to watch.










One of the cories. They're all doing extremely well and have grown a lot since I got the new batch. I love watching them swim with eachother. They're a bit skittish around me though.










The floating plant hs grown a considerable amount. Started off with one plant and now have about 6 small ones.










125 is doing ok. Still a lot of algae and blehness.
Had to scoop out net fulls of duckweed. Accidentally scooped up the female killi and a dojo loach.. twice.
This is how much of the duckweed is left. I took out A LOT of it and there is still a lot in here. I'm fine with it, just have to keep it more under control.










Spotted this HUGE trumpet snail when I did the water change. I don't think I've ever seen a trumpet snail this big before. I tried getting a pic with my finger, but it was at an angle so didn't capture its size very well. It was over an inch and a half long.










The powerhead is helping some I think, but the tiger barbs don't seem to like the extra flow. They've been hanging out in the calmer parts of the tank. Oh well.








Still lots of algae. The tank needs its army of otos. Hoping I can start building that army soon.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got another oto. Swung by pet supermarket to pick up the meds and saw a lonely little oto in the tank. Couldn't just leave it so I bought it 
Hope it's nice and happy in its new home.
Also dosed another packet of the meds to take care of the BGA.

Think I'm going to move the 125 sponge filter over temporarily while the new filter cycles itself. Will do that later tonight or tomorrow.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... I saw 5 otos in total last night and that was including the new one. Not sure if all original 5 are still alive, but I hope so. The original ones are all so fat and have grown so much. Hoping the new one gets nice and fat too. It's so little and skinny compared.

I did wake up to see a little bit of water behind my 40g under the new filter. That's when I noticed the water sputtering really close at the top. Thinking it's bc I overfilled it with all the other media. Had to turn the flow way way down to lower the water level in it. I'll have to see where I can put some of the media to get it out. I want the flow back up more than what it's sitting at.

I also moved the sponge filter from the 125 in to the 40. Just temporarily until the new filter matures. Do not want to go through a mini cycle and hoping this helps.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

BLEH! Found one of the otos dead yesterday. One of the bigger ones. Pretty sure it was one of the ones I had seen the night before with the new one so now there should only be 4 if I'm right... which I think I am.
The others look like they're still grazing with fat little bellies so /shrugs
The new one is grazing too. Can't tell how big its belly is but hopefully its finding food. I'm putting in 2 great quality algae wafers in at night and I put in plenty of flake food during the day if they're not getting enough algae.
I dunno.... maybe it didn't tolerate the meds in the tank well... which I need to redose today.
I checked water parameters and everything thankfully has been perfect so far. Will be keeping my eye on that though for the next couple of weeks.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

lisals said:


> BLEH! Found one of the otos dead yesterday..... maybe it didn't tolerate the meds in the tank well... which I need to redose today.


Otos are scaleless catfish- kind of sensitive. Some meds you have to do half-dose to be safe for them. I'm not sure about what you were using- but if you do a search probably someone else has info on if they're safe for otos and at what dose.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Otos are scaleless catfish- kind of sensitive. Some meds you have to do half-dose to be safe for them. I'm not sure about what you were using- but if you do a search probably someone else has info on if they're safe for otos and at what dose.



I was dosing erythromycin to treat for the blue green algae. I didn't do a full dose of it. Dosed 1/2? (I think.. I'll have to look at the directions) of what it should've been for a 40g tank.
/shrugs I wouldn't be surprised if the meds killed it. Poor thing 


And my female killifish is sick. Spotted her resting on one of the plants this morning. Scooped her up and put her in to the breeding box. Put in some meds with her and will keep an eye on her. She could just be getting old, but it does appear that she has a whitee patch on one of her eyes and her resting on a plant is not normal behavior.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Don't killifish usually live for just one year?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Don't killifish usually live for just one year?



Yeah some of them live for a very short amount of time, but the golden panchax/wonder kind live longer... I think. Found one website that said about 3 years. So yeah.. still short but not as short as some killifish.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

She's definitely dying. Maybe b/c of old age. I dunno.
She perked up a little when I put her in the breeding box, but she's vertical now and resting on the bottom a lot.
Boo 
She was a really good fish. Not shy at all and always right at the front to see what I was doing.
Plus it was always fun feeding her or the male flies that I caught.
I don't have the heart to euthanize her... at least not yet. Dangit


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Female killifish died. She kept resting on the bottom of the container and eventually started laying on her side.
Decided to euthanize her to put her out of her misery.
Golden Wonder/Panchax Killifish. They're beautiful and not shy at all. If you're looking for a wonderful top dwelling fish that won't shy away from you (and your other fish are big enough to not get eaten)... get some of these. They're such great fish. it's just too bad that their lifespan isn't longer.

I haven't been able to do water changes in my tanks. Or well.. I haven't wanted to do any b/c it's been so cold. It is supposed to warm up later this week and I'll get it done then.
I scooped out a lot of the duckweed from the 125. A LOT of clumps. It doesn't look like a lot in the cup, but it is









And there is still a ton I need to skim off









The 40g also desperately needs its algae sucked out. I'm not sure what else I can do in this tank. I think taking off one of the lights will help, but need DH to make me something so I can hang the brighter light over the tank.









Random photo of algae covered glass, 2 dojos and a pleco in the back









And more photos of Superman finally! I tried getting him to flare, but he was very skittish. Whenever I put the mirror up against the tank, he'd bolt to the other side and hide, so these were as good as I could get. He's still a pretty little fish 

















The filter on this tank has been janky. Finally took it apart and there seemed to be a little piece of foam that was stuck by the propeller and now it's working fine. I had already purchased another filter though to replace it. Oops. Ya know... oh well. More filters aint gonna hurt anyone and it was only $10.
The 40 could always use another one. Or I could just keep it on hand just in case the current one does break. It won't go to waste


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Finally got some water changes done. Couldn't leave the 40g any longer or else it would've been choked to the brim with hair algae.
It's still SUPER clouded up b/c of it though.
Some small changes..

I added the breeder box to the back w/ the filters. Was going to put the new filter on it, but it's too damn small to fit over the brim of the tank. Grrr. I wouldn't even be able to use it in my 5gal tank. So stupid.
Anyway.... I need the flow in the new filter to be higher and I figured it was getting all messed up b/c there is too much I put in to the media area. Didn't have anywhere else for that stuff so in to the breeder box it goes. I actually like all of the bamboo in there.








I think the new filter is just being clogged up by all the algae though. It seems the filter pads that come with the filter are already super gunked up with the stuff.

So.. I took the older light off the tank too. Hopefully the plants will be ok, especially the floating ones.
Which btw are doing great!








They really are nice. Not really a set it and forget it type though bc you have to check them weekly to pick off bulbs that are dead/dying. It's simple enough to do though.
Anywho... going to leave off the other light for a week or so to see how things go. Maybe it will help with the algae.

After the water change. SO clouded over. The fish seem ok though, but were definitely running out of room. I love the little betta so much. She's not shy at all and leaves the other fish alone. Actually saw her swimming with the rasbora until she noticed me standing there and she loves swimming up under the hyacinth.









125 is looking a little better with algae. Still a lot of fuzz, but it's slightly better. Could've been b/c there was so much duckweed soaking up everything though. I've scooped a good bit out though so hopefully it remains ok.









I moved the powerhead to the front of the tank and a little more towards center. Couldn't move much b/c of the plug but oh well. Just to help get more water movement.
Also moved the sponge filter back in to the tank.









And just some random leaf damage the pleco has done. She hides 99% of the time unless there is some zucchini in the tank.









Thinking I'm going to add some of the hyacinth to the 125. I think the fish will like it and hopefully the plant will do well.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tanks are doing ok.
40g algae is still going crazy. Can't really tell if taking off the light is helping or not. About to do water changes.

5g betta tank is looking better finally. Actually looks like the crypts are FINALLY coming out of their dormant phase and growing again and filling things out. Still getting hair algae but it's definitely not as much as before.

125 has reduced algae growth too. Still a lot of BBA, but not as much brown or fuzzy (whatever kind that was). Better, but still not great.

All fish are ok for now too. but I just said something so that means one of them will pop up dead tomorrow :\


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water change only in the 40. I wanted to focus my attention on it and really try to get as much of the loose floating hair algae out of it. There is still a TON in the tank, but I got a lot out I think.

From far away it looks nice at least lol









A lot of the plants are really filling in finally. I'm sure the snails are helping by stirring the sand up.
Honestly would NOT do a just sand tank again. It just hasn't been working out as I had hoped. Next time, I would mix sand with a plant friendly substrate.

Cory hiding under a plant. just thought it was cute when I spotted him/her 
As you can see in the photo though, I wasn't totally successful at getting all the hair algae out lol.









Grabbed a flashlight and took some great photos of Miss Betta. She's so darn pretty and such a personable fish too. Right up at the front of the tank when she sees me and she wasn't scared at all of the brine shrimp net I was using to scoop out the algae either. Love her so much. She was an impulsive buy and I'm glad I did it 

























Quick photo of one of the dojo loaches resting in their fav spot (on the cabomba). I wonder if they'll ever breed. Maybe not with the tiger barbs in the tank. I still want to get more big rocks for this tank so any potential babies they could possibly have would have somewhere to hide.









And my little lonely female BN pleco. She's still doing great. Got some zucchini and algae wafers after I got her photo









And finally a horrible photo of the 5g. It needs a water change which will happen tomorrow. I know there is hair algae in it still but trust when I say that it's definitely not as much as there would've been before. The crypts are finally growing again and filling it all out. Slowly but surely.
Tempted to add more to it. I might..... Do have a few little ones in the 125 that I can pull up and move over.


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## JAMarlow (Jan 16, 2018)

Miss Betta has gorgeous coloring! It looks like she's posing for the camera.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

She is so pretty. I know I've been gushing over her, but she's such a wonderful fish. I've never seen her picking on any of the other fish, she always come up to the front when she sees me and she's pretty fearless. Will swim right in to my hand when I'm messing with stuff, will swim over to whatever I have in the tank to investigate.
She's a wonderful little fish.

AND good news.. saw all 4 remaining otos today in the 40! I was afraid that only 3 were left b/c that's all I was seeing, but as I was exercising, all 4 came in to view at the same time. So.. yay! 
Algae in that tank is still pretty bad. I honestly can't tell if taking off a light is helping or not. 

FINALLY did a water change in the 5g yesterday. I came down with a bad cold and just felt terrible, but finally got it done yesterday. Hair algae is still there, but it's definitely not as bad as it use to be. I added 2 little crypts to the tank. There's really no room for anything else. The crypts already in it are definitely finally growing again.

125 is still chugging along. Definitely doesn't look great, but it's ok. I think I just need to commit to dosing with some metricide for a week or 2 to try to kill off the BBA. 
I'll get some photos of everything this week. 
Will try to get some good ones of Superman if he doesn't wuss out and hide when he sees the mirror lol.


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## asliceofkate (Nov 3, 2018)

Hello! Just popped in to say good work, keep it up! I love reading about your tanks both the good _and_ the bad. My tanks are ok for now since they are pretty new, but I have definitely been there struggling with algae in the past, and love that you show that side of you tank too. The average person's tanks aren't always perfect amazing aquascapes like you see in contests with 0 algae. I love that you keep it real!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks  I try to keep it all honest here  Have to show the bad with the good. 

Just a couple of photos

125 looking a little cleaner after the water change. Going to do metricide doses this week to try to get rid of the BBA that has built up all over the place.









And the 40. Exercising and spotted 3 cories swimming together against the side of the tank. 2 smaller with a big fat female who was holding eggs!! WOO! Not sure if they'll be successful or if the eggs will survive, but how exciting is that?? I would love to see little baby cories in the tank  Free cories?? Yes please!









Unless something comes up tomorrow, I'll be doing another water change them. There is SO much of this dang algae floating around. Once a week water changes isn't cutting it. It's warming up this week for a few days so will take advantage of the warmer weather to do some extra water changes to try to get the water cleaner. I hate that there is so much free floating stuff every time I mess with the tank.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Would be so fun if you got baby cories. I used to have peppered cories, they spawned frequently, several times I saw fry hatch and one survived to juvenile size. Wow, that was fun. I took so many photos!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Would be so fun if you got baby cories. I used to have peppered cories, they spawned frequently, several times I saw fry hatch and one survived to juvenile size. Wow, that was fun. I took so many photos!



That's awesome  It's always so exciting when you get baby fish. Even easy ones like live bearers.. always so cool seeing new little fish in your tank  Just hoping the betta doesn't eat all the eggs if she spots them lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So I was looking for some suggestions on good plant substrate that I could add to my 40g. Something that wouldn't cloud up the water too much.
Someone asked why I was having problems with just sand yaddayadda...
I mention having a problem with algae and they suggested peroxide to kill it.
Decided... meh.. what the heck, I'll try. 
So I dosed the tank. Just plopped the peroxide in.... quickly realized hmm.. should I have turned the filters off?
Went and looked it up and YUP! DOH!
So yeah... I transfered over the sponge filter from the 125 and hope I didn't kill too much of the bacteria in the tank.
I also saw that you should dose some excel too so I added in a dose of that.
And this morning... like most of the green hair fuzz algae is gone! WOO!

All fish are ok. Tank is still a bit cloudy, but hopefully it's all ok.
Right before the water change I did before dosing









And this morning.
I took some of the cabomba out that kept getting stuck to the filter intakes.
And there is some BBA still, but the green stuff is almost completely gone. WOO!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, that made a huge difference! it looks so much better


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## NightHedgie (Mar 17, 2017)

How much peroxide / excel did you dose ? i'm curious. Did it affect the BB?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

NightHedgie said:


> How much peroxide / excel did you dose ? i'm curious. Did it affect the BB?



I used about 30ml of peroxide and the same for the excel. Well it's not regular excel. I use stuff called metricide. It's about 2x as strong as excel.
The person that suggested the peroxide said to use about 10ml of it per 10 gallons of water. 

Turn your filters off though! The peroxide can kill your beneficial bacteria. My tank has been ok so far. I think I just got lucky though but I'm keeping an eye on it.
I'm not sure how long to keep the filter off.. maybe 30min to an hour after you put the peroxide in.
You need water circulation so the peroxide can reach all parts of the tank. Oh and half the dose if you have shrimp in the tank.

The excel can kill some of the BB but it's usually ok to use. It may cloud up your water.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Almost disaster in the 125. Came home today from taking daughter to school and noticed all of the barbs at the top gasping. Got closer and 1 glowlight red barb was dead and the albino was dead. The rest were gasping. Dojo loaches seemed ok and pleco was on the side of the tank.
I guess there just wasn't enough oxygen in the tank or something.
Emergency water change.
I also took the opportunity to move the powerhead to the other side so hopefully it will help. Maybe I should just add an airstone or something too to help.
I did a decent cleaning though. There was A LOT of gunk built up on the right side of the tank.
Fish seem ok now, but sucks that I lost 2 fish 









Was surprised that there are A LOT of little new swords in the tank. I knew there were some, but there's a lot more than I realized. Not sure what to do with them. I think my outdoor bin idea is a bust. It just gets too hot here for that unfortunately.

Also went ahead and did a water change in the 40. I was going to wait until tomorrow when it warmed up, but meh. Since the hair algae was gone, it opened the tank up to brown algae... I think. I'm not sure, but the tank also needed a good cleaning. Got a lot of gunk out, but it could use more.
And it's still cloudy and this dang BBA in both tanks is some hardy crap! It does not want to die! Think maybe it built up a resistance to the metricide. lol









And just a bonus photo from the top. The lily has 2 little leaves up and of course my sweet little betta was munching on some of the food I had just put in.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The dang 40... I swear.
Some of the algae is coming back. I knew it was going to happen, but also the tank in general just has a lot of... stuff floating around now. Maybe dead algae?
I spotted (and accidentally destroyed) some cory eggs though!
Scraping the glass and scraped some off before I knew what they were, oops.









They were in 2 spots. It looks like the fish have already gotten to them though. Maybe a couple are still ok. It's difficult to say, but a lot of them have definitely been munched on.









Yeah.. a lot of algae and debris still in this tank.
Tank was still cloudy before the water change and still cloudy after lol.
I added more root tabs and took out the final 2 dwarf sag from the 5gal and added it to this one. The carpet plants seem to be doing ok in this tank though. Lots of new little dwarf grass that I accidentally uprooted too lol. 









I did see a video from Foo the Flowerhorn of a betta tank he has that he grows potato plants in. Uhm.. HECK YEAH I'm gonna do that now!!
The roots that were growing were insane and I'm sure would suck up a lot of excess nutrients along with giving some potential fry a place to hide.
Definitely want to try it out as soon as I figure out how to put some in my tank.
Do that for the 125, 5 and the 40  lol

While I was trying to free some pothos from under the glass, I found another dead barb. Looks like it had probably died when the others did and its body got stuck in all the roots. Poor thing. Couldn't even tell what type of barb it was.. other than.. not a red glowlight one. /shrugs

That tank is doing well though. The loaches seem to really like the powerhead on the other side of the tank. I always see them swimming towards it and then letting the flow push them away. It definitely appears as though they're playing in it which is super cute


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Try sweet potato vine- its very pretty- I use it in my 33 Long.
I like your overhead photo of the betta and lily leaf.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Try sweet potato vine- its very pretty- I use it in my 33 Long.
> I like your overhead photo of the betta and lily leaf.



Thank you 
And I will definitely look for that when I'm at some type of garden center. Need bigger pots for a few of my house plants anyway  

In the video I saw, he used sweet potatoes. The plants were very pretty and I would love to have something like that in my tanks 
Just gotta find something that would be able to hold up a big potato plant. Good sturdy piece of plastic or... something. Will have to look for that too 


And b/c his tank cleared up some. Superman!
He's SO incredibly shy. I wish he would flare for me to show how pretty he is.
















Think I'm going to add more plants to his tank... and maybe a snail to help keep things cleaner. The trumpet snails all died that I put in this tank for some reason.
Maybe an apple snail would do better.


Beggin for food










Couple of them were resting on the cabomba. See the little bubbles?? That there is a loach fart lol










It's still a big mess, but I do love my tank (and the others). Can't wait to try to get the potatoes or just something else. Turn the entire room in to just a giant green space  I love growing things


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

You can just cut a piece of sweet potato plant and stick the stem end thru a gap in tank lid. If end of stem is touching the water, new roots will grow. Plant itself doesn't weigh hardly anything- it doesn't need much support.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> You can just cut a piece of sweet potato plant and stick the stem end thru a gap in tank lid. If end of stem is touching the water, new roots will grow. Plant itself doesn't weigh hardly anything- it doesn't need much support.





Great to know! Thanks so much for the info


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

You know what I haven't posted about in a while?
My walstad jar.
Yep, I still have it set up. Don't do much with it actually. Just leave it sat where it is and keep the lid slightly screwed on.

Algae has built up in the water








The last thing I did was add a little stem of wisteria and it's not doing so well. Just some plants seem to do ok, others not so much.

The dwarf hairgrass has grown in the tank though. Not a ton but there is more of it than there used to be.

















There's also one little stem of cabomba that also isn't doing so great.









The dwarf sag though has grown a lot! I hope it spreads  I don't get it though. Why is it doing so much better in this jar than it's doing in my 40g and 5g??? Maybe just b/c of the soil?? Frustrating but at least it's doing well in here.









Also have some duckweed floating. Lots of roots falling off of them, but a lot still alive too. Wasn't sure how well it would do with a semi-sealed opaque lid, but it's hanging in there.









I think I'm going to try to buy a light for it and move it to my room or maybe just by the 40g or something.
I'm definitely going to try a different stem plant in it to see if it will grow. Not sure what it's called,but it's in the 40g. If it does well, yay, if not.. meh. I'll just hope the hairgrass blankets the bottom and the dwarf sag starts sending off runners I can use for my tanks 

I do want to start up another jar though, with its own light. Use a gravel top instead of sand so there will be less of a chance for me to make a giant mess of things. If I can get a larger than what I currently have jar and it's successful at growing plants, then I'll get shrimp for it once it's cycled and ready. Could put that in my room on my dresser.... right after I clean all the junk off of it lol.

So yeah.. that's the plan. No garden this year and spring is right around the corner so I'm itching to grow something. Hopefully it will be another walstad jar 
Will test the jar water soon and I may add a couple of snails to it.


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## asliceofkate (Nov 3, 2018)

I know exactly what you mean about itching to grow things. We have had way more rain in the past 2 months than is normal for this time of year and I'm really missing the sun. I've stared seedlings for the garden already out of desperation. I have also started a Walstad jar myself out of an old pickle jar just a few days ago with nearly all the baby crypt wendtii from my 5 gallon. I love the look of it so much that I'm now on the hunt for a glass vase to fit on my window sill with the dimensions of around 15" wide and 10-12" tall but only 5 or so inches front to back. There's something so fascinating about just setting something up and seeing what happens isn't there?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

asliceofkate said:


> I know exactly what you mean about itching to grow things. We have had way more rain in the past 2 months than is normal for this time of year and I'm really missing the sun. I've stared seedlings for the garden already out of desperation. I have also started a Walstad jar myself out of an old pickle jar just a few days ago with nearly all the baby crypt wendtii from my 5 gallon. I love the look of it so much that I'm now on the hunt for a glass vase to fit on my window sill with the dimensions of around 15" wide and 10-12" tall but only 5 or so inches front to back. There's something so fascinating about just setting something up and seeing what happens isn't there?



Yep yep and yep. It's why I haven't taken the jar down. I saw the dwarf hairgrass growing in it and just wanted to leave it alone. I can't really grow the stuff well in my tanks, but if it wants to grow in a jar? Sure.. why not lol.


Alright, so I just tested the water and no ammonia, but also no nitrates? That's weird. I did the test correctly so.. I dunno. Maybe the algae and plants in the tank suck it up enough that there isn't any? /shrugs
I added a stem of the erm.. whatever kind of stem plant from my 40 (will get pics eventually) and a clump of the dying monte carlo? I think that's what the stuff is called. Carpetting plant I wanted to try out that never did anything in my 40. If it dies it dies.... meh. It will feed the other plants in the tank.
Also leaving the lid off for a little while. Let some evaporation occur and top off with fresh water then close it back up.
Not sure I want to add any trumpet snails to it with those water parameters. Maybe... still debating. Even though they are considred by some to be pests, I don't want to plop them in only for them to die b/c the water is toxic.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

While waiting for my coffee to heat up, took a look at my tanks and the cories were laying more eggs. Before they (or any of the other fish) could get to them, I put up a little barrier in hopes of keeping the fish away.
I'll have to look up how long it takes for the eggs to develop and keep an eye on things. I hope I get some babies soon!  (3-7d from what I've seen))








I used the little barrier things that came with the breeder box I have along with some craft mesh to block off the side. There's still a spot on the top that's a little open that a oto could get in to but I doubt they will.

They also put more by the lily. Nothing to protect these so... we'll see what happens.









And an algae filled pic of the stem plants I put in to the jar. Whatever it is. It was doing a lot better in the 40, but then the green hair slime algae stuff took over.









I have more craft mesh. I think I'll try to make a little suction cup box I can use to put over eggs. Wouldn't have to be too big. If I could get some kind of really small mesh cloth to go on the bottom and sides too so it would catch the baby and prevent them from falling out, that would be awesome.
If I come up with something I'll take pics


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I have no idea if the eggs are viable. The ones that appear white on my photo have this white little spot in them. Leaving them alone and hoping for the best.
I've read that they should turn to a brownish color as the fish develops, but /shrugs We'll see I guess.

Also getting the fire under my butt to finally declutter. I think I may have to recycle the 10g quarantine again. Haven't even thought about getting new fish since Christmas and I've only added a few shrimp pellets here and there. IF I do ever get more fish, I may just switch out the one from the 125 (that's currently in the 40).
Not worried about that right now though since we just don't have the money for it.

And that's really it so far. Just waiting to see if the eggs are viable. The cories did pretty much start breeding not too long ago so they're still figuring it out. I'm sure I'll have a ton of them eventually 
I've seen a lot of videos where folks take them out and put them in to a little container with a bubbler. I may do that next time.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The first little bunch of eggs were bad. Developed fungus on them. Scraped them off during water change on Saturday.

There were a few new eggs Sunday morning and these already looked better right off the bat.
4 looked like good ones and one looked milky
I put a barrier up b/c I was just going to leave them, but after watching a few videos, I decided to take them out.









Gently got the 4 good looking ones off the glass and put them in to a cup with an airstone and a few drops of peroxide (as I saw someone do on youtube) to help keep the eggs healthy.









The eggs this morning have turned a light brownish color. I can't see any possible fishy fry developing, but FX that it happens. It does look like I scraped off a little bit of algae with them, but hopefully that won't be a problem. I change the water in the cup and added a couple more drops of peroxide.

The milky egg that I left in the tank is gone. One of the fish had itself a good snack lol.

And bonus pics
The otos hide a lot but seem to be in good health









Have you ever seen an obese cory? B/c I have one! It acts normal and obviously eats. I guess it's just a very fat female. She's not the one that has been laying (as far as I've seen). Maybe she needs to though. Yeesh!









I love this crypt in the 125. I loved it more when it was shorter and bushier but it's still so pretty and unique compared to the others. It gets A LOT of algae on its leaves though. But that's pretty much all the plants in this tank right now. SIGH









Just trimming what I can in here and cleaning up what I can during water changes. Taking off the old FX filter really screwed the tank over in terms of algae growth/flow. I probably just need to clean out the filter b/c I'm sure it's probably clogged up like crazy. Won't happen this weekend b/c of a birthday party, but maybe next weekend.









And that's about it. Fish seem to be in good health. 
40g is still cloudy and just so debris filled. Will be doing another water change to try to help with that.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Hmm... not sure the new eggs are viable either. They look like they might be getting milky. I'll keep doing little water changes in their cup and adding peroxide though and hope for the best.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

BAH! Found a male cory floating this morning. Looks like he injured himself somehow. Lots of fuzz around his head and looks like one of his eyes is popping out some with blood under it.
Put him in to a cup with a little bit of meds and a few drops of peroxide. I don't think he'll make it. Floating and keeps flipping belly up, but I'm gonna try to nurse him back to health.
No idea what could have happened. Maybe got stuck on the heater somehow? Stuck in between the rocks? Wood? No clue.
All the other fish still look good. Other cories were out and about eating.

Nothing new with the eggs. Haven't fuzzed up, probably b/c of the peroxide, but it doesn't look like anything is developing in them. Just gotta wait and see I guess.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The cory died yesterday. I knew it wouldn't make it, but I tried my best. Wonder what happened to it though. It looks terrible and fuzzed up and also like it hadn't been eating. Hopefully it hadn't been sick and slowly dying beforehand. Don't want my others to get sick too.

Also weirdly only 3 eggs in the cup. The 4th one is completely gone. Erm.... ok then. The cup is too high for any of the fish to jump in to and even if one somehow jumped in to it, it's weird that they would only eat one egg instead of all of them lol. /shrugs
The other 3 still look the same though.

Came home to cories trying to lay more eggs so waiting a little bit before feeding them.
And that's about it for now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

OMGOMG... I've got babies!! Checked on them this morning and they looked the same as I posted earlier. Checked on them again this afternoon and they had little tails popping out!!!
So excited! 









Unfortunately, right now it only looks like one of them may be alive. One is definitely dead and has white fuzzies growing on it. I think it's the one on the left. It had what looked like that white fungus stuff all around it so I tried to take as much of that stuff off of it as I could but I think it was already dead 
And the other one, I'm not sure it is dead or what.
So excited though. I hope the remaining 2 are alive tomorrow morning. I put the airstone back in to the cup, but I think I may take it out before heading to bed.
Also spotted more cory eggs that I transferred to another cup. 5 in total and some brownish ones there too. FX that I'll get some babies from this batch too 
Now to just convince the DH to let me buy a breeder net b/c I REALLY don't want to clean out the one with all the bamboo in it lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I Think the 2 remaining babies are alive. I've only seen one of them move, but the other isn't fuzzed over or anything so.. /shrugs

Finally bought some sweet potatoes today too. Just need to figure out a way to put them in my tanks.
Will get pics of everything after water changes tomorrow


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Very slowly making a dent in the debris floating around the 40. Very slowly.









Finally remembered to get sweet potatoes and found a thick piece of styrofoam. Cut a hole in the middle, used my heat gun to seal all sides and wedged it in the corner of the tank.








Want to figure out something a bit more pretty, but this will do for now 

Obviously I had to take the top off. Makes me nervous b/c I don't want the fish to jump, but it's not like the top covered it completely before anyway.









Pic shows 2 babies, but there's only one left. The other didn't make it 
The remaining one seems healthy though and wiggles all around the cup still. I hope I don't kill it.









The eggs I collected are gone. There were 5 total, next day there was only 2, and now nothing. Oh well... there will be more eggs in the future and more babies hopefully 

And bonus pics. My big crypt (that I have no idea what kind it is) is growing new leaves. Guess it just needed some of its old ones trimmed off.









And pic of the barbs just b/c


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

You got- an actual potato? Oh. Is it organic? because otherwise might have something on it to inhibit sprouting (while in transit to store and on shelf) and thus won't grow. I think it's better to get ornamental sweet potato _vine_, grown as a house plant, you can find it at a nursery. Looks like this: 








or this (there's several varieties)








Then you just cut a piece of stem, put it in a jar of water for a few days, and when it starts to grow roots, slip it thru a gap in your tank lid. No need to remove the whole lid or make supports. Here's some of mine:
























Every time I tried to grow a sweet potato into a houseplant, the bottom of the potato just rotted. Had to change the water in the jar every day or two, too. Maybe the potato method will work for you, though. But I would let it sprout roots in a jar first, then just rest the potato on your tank lid w/only the roots going down thru a gap, if you can.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I watched Foo the Flowerhorn's videos




And saw him use 2 sweet potatoes in his tank. That's where I got the idea from lol.
They're not organic (have another in a jar) so I'll keep an eye on them and will remove if they don't sprout.
I was thinking about doing that (just keeping the roots in the water) once there are roots. We'll see if they do grow or not though! 

I'll still keep an eye out for the ornamental vine still though b/c I would still love to get some of those too


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Oh, that is a very pretty tank. His sure seemed to grow no problem! Did he make those circle cutouts in the plexi himself? Very neat that leaf-shaped floating divider. Sweet potato is great at sucking up excess nutrient, too.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Potato has some new roots. Yay  I pulled off the old brown ones after I took this pic.









The one in the jar still hasn't grown any though. I used corn on the cob things to keep it propped up lol









A lot of the big floaters have found their sweet spot in the 40 and look gorgeous. One advantage of not having a top.









Also broke down and bought another breeder box. It's the same type as I have all of my bamboo in except that it's less than half the size. Will be great for eggs too 









And look! Baby cory is still alive and kickin. Going to try to feed it some frozen baby brine. It's so cute and tiny. So scared that I'm going to kill it!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Baby fish- wow, so cute.

Hey I guess I was doing it wrong, those times I tried to grow sweet potato in a jar. I should have stuck it in a tank! Nutrients. Didn't have any tanks back then, though. . . .


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Jar potato hasn't grown any roots yet. Decided to flip it to the other side to see if that would help at all.
Tank potato's roots are coming in nice though 









I really hope it helps keep the algae under control once it grows more. It's not the hair algae I was getting. This hair stuff has more substance to it. It feels like very fine hair instead of slimy like the previous stuff.









I took out all of the cabomba in the tank. It wasn't flourishing and was only catching debris and getting everything messy if it was disturbed. I also moved the onion plant more towards the back and moved the wood piece in the back to rest on the back glass instead of the side. Not big changes or anything.









I do love being able to see all the floaters b/c of the open top. It looks like a little natural pond and I love it 









Someone had to make sure everything was back in place after the water change

















Bonus dark photo of a couple of the loaches. I love my fat little hotdogs! I can't wait for them to get longer too 










And baby cory is still alive. Since the breeder box sucks in water from the tank, it sucks in a lot of the debris too so I've been going in with the little syringe to clean some out. Bought baby bites for it too so hopefully it's actually eating.
Also the cories laid more eggs yesterday. There are 4 or 5 of them and they all look pretty good. Hopefully I'll have more babies to worry about.


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## JAMarlow (Jan 16, 2018)

Great update pictures! Love how the floaters look, and you have a nice variety. You are right, it's like a little pond right in kyour house.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

JJ09 said:


> Then you just cut a piece of stem, put it in a jar of water for a few days, and when it starts to grow roots, slip it thru a gap in your tank lid. No need to remove the whole lid or make supports.
> 
> Every time I tried to grow a sweet potato into a houseplant, the bottom of the potato just rotted. Had to change the water in the jar every day or two, too. Maybe the potato method will work for you, though. But I would let it sprout roots in a jar first, then just rest the potato on your tank lid w/only the roots going down thru a gap, if you can.


At my parents house, we have these Japanese sweet potatoes in the garden. Got original potatoes at the asian grocery store I think. Wasn't marked organic or anything. Planted a couple for the heck of it. They are unkillable. The first year after we had them, we purged the crop after the season ended to plant something else. So not knowing what we now know, we pulled up what we could find and chopped the rest of the vines for mulch to regenerate the garden bed. Tilled the soil, buried them with fertilizers and set up for the next crop. Lo and behold, after some rain and couple weeks all those chopped vines started sprouting!!! Now, we simply cant kill it. My in laws love it because they eat the leaves. When it gets older and messy, just hack it all back and let it regrow again. So long story short, if you want these guys as a houseplant, it couldn't be easier. Just throw a piece of the vine in soil!!

They look like what's in this blog and their behaviour is reflected in the posts. http://socalgarden.blogspot.com/2009/11/growing-okinawan-sweet-potatoes-in.h

Sorry for the sort of sidetrack since it was about terrestrial potato growing.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

ipkiss- Hey.. great for your inlaws at least since they enjoy eating it  We have a couple of flower bulbs in our front yard that my husband can't get rid of. I can't remember what they're called, but we planted them like 11 years ago. My husband has worked on the area, removed the original bulbs and thought he got rid of them all, but more and more pop up every year lol. I think they're pretty (big pink flowers that grow up a stalk).

Almost disaster from the 40g.
I noticed yesterday that the water in the 40 was a lot lower than it should have been. It was at where it usually is after a week. I didn't think too much about it until today when checking on the tank.
After saving more cory eggs, I noticed that there was moisture on the bottom of the 40. Thinking that I as just being super messy and must've dripped more water out than I thought, I cleaned it up. Couple minutes later, I noticed it again.
Ooooooh crap. Something told me to look behind the tank and that's where I noticed a big water stain on the wall behind the main filter along with water on the table. CRAP!
Thankfully I had an old bucket that just happened to be in the right spot to catch a lot of the water that was coming out.









There was about an inch and a half-2 inches of water in the bucket.

Oh, but that's not the only place... the air line hose for the big breeder box was also situated just in the right spot to where the water traveled along it and in to the containers I use to clove oil fish. THIS container was filled up to the brim









I know that wasn't all of the water out of the tank. I'm sure there's probably a nice big wet spot on the floor too.
I then checked the filter and it was running, but looked to be overflowing just a little. So I took some tank water and cleaned out all the media. Took some out and put it in to the breeder box and just gave everything a really good swish. Seemed to do the trick b/c once the filter came back on, even with the flow increased some, it's not going up towards the top like it had been. Lesson learned!! I'm just glad I caught it when I did. YIKES.

Anywho, like I said, I saved a few more cory eggs. Think it was 4 this time.
They're bubbling some b/c I had just put in some peroxide









Also little cory is getting bigger. Still teeny tiny, but slowly getting bigger  Blurry photos, but meh

















Also my tank potato has grown some little nubs! This photo was taken yesterday. Forgot to take some today, but they've gotten bigger already!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tank potato has really started to grow fast. Will be sporting some leaves soon I think 









Sporting a lot more roots now too 









I also saved 3 more eggs this morning. Accidentally squished one of the ones from yesterday though. Woops. Hoping to have more babies to obsess over soon 

And thankfully no more leaks to report on for now. Woot!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Daily tank potato update? lol I'm sorry, just excited about it and my little fry 

I can see little leaves on the nubs









A lot of new root growth









And baby cory is still doing well. Getting a little bigger, but still so teeny tiny









Had to take out 3 eggs from the container. They had a milky fuzz on them. May start treating that little container with just a sprinkle of antibacterial meds.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Your sweet potato is definitely growing!
What are you feeding the cory fry?
Would it make sense to do frequent little water changes on their container, rather than add meds or peroxide?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Your sweet potato is definitely growing!
> What are you feeding the cory fry?
> Would it make sense to do frequent little water changes on their container, rather than add meds or peroxide?



I've been giving the living fry Fr bites. I also have frozen baby brine to give to it.
The eggs are in a different cup. I do water changes in it almost daily and add a few drops of peroxide to it. You're supposed to stop once they hatch.
I think I may have killed a newly hatched one today though. None were hatched this morning, so I did the usual of cleaning up the cup a bit and a small water change. Added more peroxide and a little tiny sprinkle of kanaplex. Checked the cup a little while ago and there is a dead newly hatched fry  

It didn't look like there were any about to hatch or anything. Sigh... I think I'll just stick to adding fresh water every day and sucking out debris for the remaining ones.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Almost disaster AGAIN!
Getting my water change in the 40 going and the python knocked the light in to the water!!
Turned everything off and got it out ASAP.
It was still working in the water so hopefully after it dries out in the sun, it will be ok to use again. May try to open it up a bit more to make sure there isn't any water inside trapped.

When the light dropped in to the water, it knocked the potato upside down. In my panic to get it out, I grabbed it by the roots and pulled 99% of them off /SOB
All of these.... gone









Also knocked off one of the little stems, but thankfully the others look ok









I have the broken stem sitting with the bottom part just barely in water. Maybe it will grow its own roots.

Thankfully I have the other light that use to be on the tank. It's not as bright, but that's ok.
Yeesh though. 

I saved a few more cory eggs and I think 2 of the ones in the cup are going to hatch soon. You can see them on the right side. They're darker in color.









I cleaned off all the eggs in the cup as well as I could along with doing a good water change. I've taken out the air stone b/c I'm paranoid that it may have been why that last little fry died.
I hope more fry survive. I'm sure the one little survivor would like some buddies.
Once the fry is bigger, I'm going to clean out the 10g quarantine well. Make sure it's still cycled (or move the other definitely cycled sponge filter in to it) and use it as a grow out tank. Need more sand for it though. OOO maybe even turn it in to my shrimp tank that I want. MUAHAHAHA


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The 2 eggs hatched this morning and..... I accidentally killed one of them /SOB
I'm so sorry little dead fry!! /CRY
It had white fungas fuzz all over it so I was trying to gently swish it off and I ended up I guess popping its yolk sac or something. UGH I feel terrible  Poor little baby fish.

The other one is still alive though and I transfered it in to another cup.
My little potato stalk that I had just in some water is missing though. The suction cup I was using to hold it in place unsuctioned itself and I can't see the plant anywhere in the tank. Will look for it again soon.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

New little fry seems to be doing really well.
I just moved it in to the other breeder box with the bigger one.
It was so cute watching it. I could see its little fins wiggling.









Also, look how big the older one is! It actually looks like a little cory now. Look at that big ole eyeball! heh









Also tank potato is doing well. Probably would've grown faster if I hadn't accidentally pulled off the majority of its roots, but it looks good so far.









Not sure if I mentioned it, but I threw away the other potato. It seemed to be dead so it wasn't going to grow anything except mold.
I also bought some methylene blue for the eggs and to help keep fungus and whatever else off the good ones.
Been reading more from people that have a lot of success raising fry and keeping the eggs from going bad. Eventually I'll get it right and will have more baby cory to add.

Will be cleaning out the quarantine tank as soon as the cory are a little bigger. Give them room to grow.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I know I'm posting a ton of photos lately, but I'm just excited over my potato growing AND my cory fry lol.

Speaking of... cory fry!

Here's the one I moved in to the breeder box with the older one. Seems to be doing well. I can still see it's little pectoral fins moving.









AND new fry today! One hatched earlier









And then this one with its head stuck in the egg hatched while I was picking up my daughter from school. Hoping the other dark egg beside it will hatch too.









The cories were busy yesterday and laid a lot more eggs. FX for some viable ones


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The one with its head still in the egg sac got out of it no problem. Also the other dark egg hatched over night  YAY! 3 more babies to keep alive 
Also this morning, cories laid more eggs. She laid some on the glass and under an anubias leaf. Got them all and put them in the cup with fresh water and a drop of the MB.
Oh and I moved the 3 new fry to the breeder.

So excited to have some babies! Maybe if I get enough survivors I can have a nice big group in my 125g  That would be awesome to see. A giant group of them swimming around in there.

EDIT: Oh and I just found the little sweet potato stem that broke off. Looks like it has actually grown some. Stuck the bottom part in a little water so we'll see what happens.

I think I'm going to have to put the light that fell in the water back. The water hyacinth isn't doing too well with the lower lighting. Lower lighting has helped keep the algae at bay, but I don't want to kill all the other plants in the process. Will take it apart this weekend to be 100% sure there isn't any remaining water in it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

5g tank!
It's looking sad. I don't know why the plants aren't thriving. It's like one moment they are, and then the next the crypts die back and lose their big leaves.
I ended up taking out the aponogeton from the 125 and putting it in to this tank. I don't knw how well it will do but obviously crypts aren't completely working and anubias only got algae all over them before. /shrugs









Some photos of my shy little Superman. He's still a pretty boy. If a fish could ever look panicked, this would be that look lol









He's giving me some serious side-eye in this one









My pretty killifish. He's become a bit of a bully towards the tiger barbs. Not sure what area he's protecting, but he'll chase them all over the tank









Weather loaches doing what they do... oinking out

















Took out 2 rocks from the 40 and added them to the 125. We got the bottom rock b/c we thought it was a funny it looked like meat lol









Middle of water change, but looking ok. The dimmer light has definitely helped to keep the algae under control, but I need to put the stronger light back on it soon. The floaters aren't doing so well.









Babies are doing ok. I know there were 5 of them but only counted 4 this morning. Really hope I didn't accidentally suck one out while cleaning out the bottom.
Have a TON of cory eggs in the cup. Some are getting dark so hopefully will have more babies soon.









And tank potato has grown... A LOT. Still waiting for those big pretty leaves to come out. It has some small ones.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Only 3 little fry left. No idea where the others disappeared to. Accidentally sucked up one of them yesterday, but thankfully it was ok.
LOTS of eggs though. Just waiting to see which will hatch now.
And for future egg collected... don't collect them right after they've been laid. They're still a little soft then so there's greater chance of squishing them when trying to get them off whatever surface.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

lisals said:


> Only 3 little fry left. No idea where the others disappeared to. Accidentally sucked up one of them yesterday, but thankfully it was ok.
> LOTS of eggs though. Just waiting to see which will hatch now.
> And for future egg collected... don't collect them right after they've been laid. They're still a little soft then so there's greater chance of squishing them when trying to get them off whatever surface.


This is awesome. Really hoping you get a big school of them going in the 125, such cute fish.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

4 new little fry have hatched so far! These are SUPER tiny ones. The last couple of fry born were much bigger. Weird. I'll try getting some photos but doubt my phone camera will be able to focus on them.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Very interested in your Cory raising! I'm getting 6 corys soon and am thinking about raising the fry if they lay eggs.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

frogmanjared said:


> Very interested in your Cory raising! I'm getting 6 corys soon and am thinking about raising the fry if they lay eggs.



I'm learning as I go and hopefully there won't be too many casualties b/c of my mistakes.


Eggs... SO many eggs! You can see some of the fry in this photo.
Debating if I should take out the white eggs since I've read those are the infertile ones.










I carefully put the 4 fry in to a different cup. 2 seem to be alive, but the one in the red circle is definitely dead and I think the obvious one with no circle was dying. Just circled the other 2 to make them easier to see.
Next fry I'm just leaving them in the cup with the eggs. I don't want to stress them out trying to move them too soon like I did these.










I put the survivor with the other cories. Not sure if that was the right choice, but we'll see I guess. I need to get a dropper. Something I can use to gently suck them up to move them to another container.


And tank potato is doing well. It's tallest stem looks like a vine. Probably b/c there isn't direct light on it so it's growing long instead of staying short? I dunno. Wondering if I can take off some of the stems and if they would get their own roots?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, one more post today.

Some new little babies in the cup with the eggs. I took out a lot of the bad eggs earlier. I'm sure there are still some bad ones in there, but once I saw that there were new little babies, I didn't want to disturb much else.









And some photos of the larger fry

Chillin with the new little one I added.









Hanging out on the edge









And this one decided it wanted to be high up on the cabomba
Boo.. didn't realize it was blurry. Oh well


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

5 new baby cories. I went ahead and transferred them to the breeder box. I probably shouldn't have though. Next time I'll move them to a different cup until they're a few days old. Just didn't want to keep them in the cup with all the eggs.
Also took out a few more bad eggs. Looks like there are still a lot of good ones though. FX for more babies! I'll be more patient with the next ones. Keep them in that cup for a day or so, then move to a different cup, THEN after a few more days, move them to the breeder box. Or something like that. I'll move them in to it once they have no more yolk sac. /nodnod

EDIT: Couple hours later... already a new little fry in the egg cup. Few darker eggs in there so may get even more within the next few days


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Woke up to 6 more wigglers and another hatching on the side of the cup. Yay 

















The ones in the breeder box look ok as far as I can tell. I was cleaning out the bottom every day, but some of them are so small that I've been afraid to. Don't want to suck any up by accident. But I'm going to need to soon. Probably tomorrow during water changes









Almost disaster with tank potato again. It's too top heavy and ended up tipping over. I had to add more water to the tank and turn the potato so it would wedge itself. Not sure what to do other than trimming some of the stems off, but this problem will just happen again. Need a more permanent solution. Probably finally a good idea to go to home depot or something to look for an egg crate for the top.

It has grown a considerable amount









Roots have regrown and look amazing


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, you have a lot of cory fry! And your potato has grown tons. It might be less lanky and make larger leaves, if it got more light.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Another update!

Even more fry have hatched. Think I counted 9.
There are a lot more dark eggs on the sides too so I think the number is going to jump up even more.









I also cleaned out some of the gunk from the breeder box. Extremely careful to not suck up any of the fry. There are a couple that are really small and light in color so very difficult to see.
They all seem to be doing well though.









See the big original one in the middle? Still tiny but so much bigger than the other ones too 









Blurry photo of 2 small ones









And a photo of the big one and guessing the 2nd one I didn't kill. Loooook. You can see their little whiskers and big eyes! So cute!









With so many surviving and hatching.. I'm going to have to clean out the larger breeder and move them in to it. Will do that tomorrow during water change. Going to be a pain in the butt, but the fry will need more room. Not sure where I'm going to put it either since the side of the tank isn't large enough for the box. Maybe I'll scoot it over to the back side so I can still look in to it. I dunno. I'll figure something out.

So excited to have surviving babies!

Bump:


JJ09 said:


> Wow, you have a lot of cory fry! And your potato has grown tons. It might be less lanky and make larger leaves, if it got more light.



Yeah, that's what I figured might be going on w/ it. Really need to get the hubs to make my some kind of overhang for the lights. I have an idea that should work. Just need to go to the store to get it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... got some stuff DONE! lol

First up.... 32 new fry! *32!!!*
I guess that shouldn't be surprising since all of the eggs were collected within a few days of eachother. But still.. WOW! So many bebehs!









Cleaned out the bigger breeder box. Moved all of that stuff in to the smaller one. All babies are now in the larger box

































































All b/c of these 3 blurry cories. 2 males chasing after this female.









Also bought some shelving brackets for the lights. They're not quite long enough, but they'll work.









And bought an egg crate for the potato plant. Also trimmed some of the longer stems on it. With the lights above it, it shouldn't get like that again... maybe.









The potato is actually out of the water completely now with just the majority of the roots in the water now.









It's not the best set up but it wasn't expensive at least. The brackets cost about $6-7, few bucks for the screws. The egg crate was 6something on clearance.
Big shout out to my husband for setting it all up for me. He's not an aquarium person, but I think he just likes doing little handy work stuff lol.









May have problem with the lighting though. With them sitting up so high, it's basically low light reaching the tank. Need to save up so can't buy anything expensive, but maybe once we have a little more money, I'll buy another stronger light to replace the lower light one. We'll see how this whole set up goes though.

Also my big bloated female cory died. Whatever was wrong with her finally caught up. Looked like just too much fluid in her. /shrugs. Poor thing


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

One little fry dead as far as I can tell. Not one of the newer ones. Boo  Wonder what happened?

Also noticed one of the tiger barbs looking weird. Looks emaciated and like it has a prolapse or something. Really hope it's not something that will spread.... lordy don't need that happening again.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Cories have been busy laying and I've been busy collecting. I've probably smooshed half the ones they've laid though. Trying to collect them too soon after so they're still soft.
Looks like there are 2 females laying too.

Not sure how many eggs I have collected so far, but hopefully they're good ones. I can just picture an army of cories in my 125!  lol

Babies look ok in the breeder box. Little more difficult to see them all since it's larger, but from what I could see, they're looking good. Fed them some frozen baby brine this morning.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Cleaned out some of the breeder box and some of the little fry didn't make it. I guess that's to be expected, but it's still sad.

Collected a lot more eggs yesterday too so FX for some new fry next week


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

lisals said:


> Cleaned out some of the breeder box and some of the little fry didn't make it. I guess that's to be expected, but it's still sad.
> 
> Collected a lot more eggs yesterday too so FX for some new fry next week <a href="http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/images/smilie/icon_smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" ></a>


Re. dead dry
Could it be food intake? Once the yolks gave gone they need food readily available. I'm not sure but baby brine could be too big? Have you got first bites?trying to think what else could be a simple food solution, spirulina?
Deaths do just happen. I used to breed l81 places back home in Australia (where they are much more expensive) and used to get very upset when they died. Had a whole operation going as well. 3 grow out of different sizes for the fry with daily water changes, still I had deaths.
Chaulked it up to failure to thrive. It happens.
Great work though. Hey if you get enough raised, you could enough sell them on.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Jamo33 said:


> Re. dead dry
> Could it be food intake? Once the yolks gave gone they need food readily available. I'm not sure but baby brine could be too big? Have you got first bites?trying to think what else could be a simple food solution, spirulina?
> Deaths do just happen. I used to breed l81 places back home in Australia (where they are much more expensive) and used to get very upset when they died. Had a whole operation going as well. 3 grow out of different sizes for the fry with daily water changes, still I had deaths.
> Chaulked it up to failure to thrive. It happens.
> Great work though. Hey if you get enough raised, you could enough sell them on.



Yep, I have first bites and feed them some every day  Or well, I do now. When they were still new I'd add some every other day.
Maybe I should add more of it b/c I was only adding a very small amount since they were so tiny.
I have some repashy too. I've heard that using that dry can be fed to fry, but not sure how big they need to be for it.
I'll start giving them more food though just in case that was the problem.


More pics!


Looks like there are maybe only a dozen babies left.  I must've done something wrong with so many deaths.
Didn't notice that the one on the right was dead until after taking the photo :crying:











Tank potato is doing well
I also saved the vines I snipped to see if they grew roots and they did 


















I just love the roots. The rasbora seem to like them as well. They're very skittish though so any cover they'd be happy with.










And just b/c... pretty lady betta hunting for cory eggs


























She's definitely the reason why I check for eggs so often now. She's gotten a taste for the eggs and actively hunts for them quite often lol.
I've saved a lot of eggs though. There are a bunch in the cup. Hopefully some good ones in there.
THIS time, I'm going to leave the babies in the cup for about 2 days before moving them to the breeder box.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

New cory fry. Over a dozen and still more hatching AND the cories just laid more eggs. Go cories go!

BUT only seems to be 4 of the older cories left. I don't know what went wrong there  So many babies and almost none of them survived  Going to have to watch and rewatch videos and look up more information. 
Not sure what went wrong but hopefully it won't happen again. Poor babies.

EDIT: Watched one video and seems like maybe I wasn't feeding enough. Maybe once a day wasn't enough for that many fry. I thought it would be but I'll try feeding more, especially once the new ones are moved in to the breeder in a couple of days.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

Just be careful as to not foul the water with the extra food. It's all a balancing act!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Jamo33 said:


> Just be careful as to not foul the water with the extra food. It's all a balancing act!



Definitely. I have to clean out gunk in their breeder box every day from what gets sucked in to it from the main tank. 

Going to be more difficult once the new babies are in the box, but I'll try my best.


A LOT more babies have hatched and there are still more hatching now. Counted 20something just a few mins ago and saved more eggs in the tank.
FX for better survival rate for this new batch of fry!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, final update for today..
Bought some droppers off amazon but won't be getting them until mid next week. Thanks Amazon Prime :\ (lol how spoiled did that sound?)

Hopefully the ones I bought will make it easier to transfer future babies.

Last time I counted, there are now 32 baby fry. Yep.. 32 again. Might be more now b/c it looks like there are a lot of eggs darkening and getting ready to hatch.
All of the dots on the side of the cup are eggs. A lot of them have tails popping out of them too









Most of the ones that have hatched so far. There were some on the sides of the cup too. There are a few really clear colored ones as well. Wonder if those hatched too soon maybe?









And 2 of the babies in the breeder.
This one was clinging to the side of the box









And the big one trying to hide from me









Fed them again after taking the photos.
FX that most of the new ones make it!
I've been trying to clean the cup out some... like the bad eggs, but I kept sucking up the lighter smaller fry.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Quick update.

I moved babies in to the breeder. I probably could've left them in the cup for another day but oh well. Too late now.

















I counted about 40 fry. I'm sure some of them were dead. I fished out 1 dead one before putting them in to the box but I'm sure there was probably more that didn't make it too.
Going to feed twice a day of the first bites. Which reminds me that I need to do that. I'm also going to put a wash cloth over the top. Algae is starting to grow plus I think the babies would probably just like it a bit dimmer.

Looks like one of the older ones with the new ones

















It's been pretty exciting trying to take care of the babies. It sucks that they pay for my mistakes though. Hopefully I can figure it all out and keep as many as I can alive from now on.

Oh and tank potato is doing great! I really need to trim off more of the stems. Only keeps a handful actually attached to the potato.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Start up an infusoria culture, or try to get microworms. I've read/watched a ton lately since I plan to breed my corys when they are old enough.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

You are going to have soooo many cories!
The potato plant looks great.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> You are going to have soooo many cories!
> The potato plant looks great.



I hope so! 125 is big enough to hold a bunch! lol


Most of the fry are doing well. Have had some casualties, but I guess that is to be expected. Cleaning out the breeder box raises my anxiety though. Can not help but suck up some of them, but thankfully I got in my new droppers so it makes collecting them back up from the bucket a lot easier now.


I had already collected a cup full of fry.. this was the 2nd cup.










Also put a wash cloth over the breeder. It doesn't keep all the light out, just dims it some, but it seems to help as far as I can tell. Whenever I peak in, the fry seem to be a lot more active and the bigger older one has put on some size since I started feeding more. Going to give it some baby brine later. The new fry are probably still too small but that one along with the slightly older ones will probably enjoy it.


Also collected A LOT more eggs today. They were only laying about 3-4 clumps of 3-5 eggs, but today there were about 5 clumps of eggs, 2 of which had around 10 or so. I smooshed some by accident and some fell off my fingers as I was trying to collect, but I got most of them.
Can't tell if some of the eggs in the cup will be hatching soon b/c it's getting algae. Going to have to clean the cup really well soon.


And finally... I really need to clean the 125 filter. It is SO clogged up that it's barely pushing out water. I can't do it until our washing machine is fixed though. Need towels to soak up the water that's going to come out and kinda sorta need towels for the family to use for showers and of course my kids have decided now is a good time to get sick so.. ugh.
The filter is top priority at the moment though. Hopefully we'll get the part we need for it soon so I can do that this week.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More eggs and newly hatched fry. There were 4 or 5 that I spotted.

And here are all the fry that I sucked up today lol. They're getting bigger so I'll take that as a good sign 









And a pic of the big one w/ some littles. They're just so darn cute!









Also collected more eggs today too. Busy busy!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

3 babies dead. I'm definitely feeding enough and I clean out their box every morning. Maybe I should clean it up just a little at night too? Or maybe they died just b/c... I dunno. Just don't want another disaster like last time.

Also counted 17 new babies. Will transfer them to the breeder box tomorrow. Think I'm going to remove the bamboo stuff and put new babies in to it. Just need to figure out where the heck the bamboo is going to go.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Dangit.
Found a dojo loach dead.
Planned on doing a water change today and while scooping out duckweed, I spotted it. Dangit.
I'm just going to have to use towels b/c I NEED to get that filter cleaned out.
It's my own fault. I should've reduced feeding a lot and done more water changes to keep water quality better. Sigh....
I did a 50% water change today. Will clean filter tomorrow (need DH's help to pick it up) and another on Sunday as usual.


























If I can convince hubby to take me and the store takes them, I'm going to get rid of the 2 big swords on the sides along with the swords in the 40g too. The light just isn't strong enough in the 40 for sword plants. Especially not with the potato over that area.
I could replace the sword that's over there with a big anubias  or just keep it empty and let the crypts fill it in... or both.









Wash cloth over the breeder. No idea if it helps, but maybe so that's why I'm doing it lol. Keeping the light dimmer and to keep algae from growing too much in it too.









And a pic of the 'big' fry. Sucked it up yesterday and forgot that I took a pic of it.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

How are you cleaning out the detritus in the fry tank? I've heard using an air stone in the tank and siphoning out water, but I'm clueless as to how to safely get the gunk out of the bottom.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

frogmanjared said:


> How are you cleaning out the detritus in the fry tank? I've heard using an air stone in the tank and siphoning out water, but I'm clueless as to how to safely get the gunk out of the bottom.



I've been using air line hose to suck it all up. I suck up A LOT of the babies with it but the other end goes in to a bucket so once I'm done I use a dropper to get the babies back out and put them back. Seems to be ok so far.


Did a small clean up last night before feeding again and found another baby dead. Rest of them looked ok though.
Pics were taken before cleaning 


















I also went ahead and moved new babies in to the smaller breeder after cleaning it out.










There was already a new fry in the egg cup this morning and will probably be more in the next few days. Lots of eggs getting darker.
Think there are a few more eggs in the tank to collect too. May just leave them and let the other fish have a snack lol. Pfft, who am I kidding.. I'm gonna go save them


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

lisals said:


> I've been using air line hose to suck it all up. I suck up A LOT of the babies with it but the other end goes in to a bucket so once I'm done I use a dropper to get the babies back out and put them back. Seems to be ok so far.


I used a similar technique with my danio fry, but it seemed like a few always came out injured. I do have pipettes, It would be tedious but maybe worth the piece of mind if as many don't get sucked up. Who am I kidding, I'm not even sure of when my corys will be breeding size!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Might be tedious but do what you think is best. Danio fry are SO teeny tiny so maybe doing that until they're bigger would be a good idea.

Couple new babies in egg cup and the current ones in the breeders are looking good still. The ones in the big breeder are putting on a little more size too. Yay  They're also a lot more active now too and actually try to avoid the hose when I'm trying to clean instead of just laying there like a little dead lump.
The ones I sucked up today.
See the larger lighter color one? Really curious to see what it will look like once grown. Probably the same as the others I'm sure lol










Also got the 125's FX6 filter cleaned yesterday. Didn't take as long as I thought. Just a ton of sludge/slime jam packed in to the sponges that I squeezed out.
Flow is SO much better now thankfully.

And yep.. that's about it for now. Just hoping 125 doesn't decide to go through a minicycle. I used tank water and dechlorinated water to clean the sponges off. /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Another dead baby. Looked recently dead too. Could even see the food in its stomach. Poor thing.
They are growing pretty fast now it seems too.

None of the new ones have died yet so yay.

Had a few new ones in the egg cup but a couple of them were dead already. I really need to clean that cup out. It's getting filled with algae and just debris from the bad eggs. I try to suck the gunk out but it's getting ahead of me. Will be doing that soon (probably tomorrow).


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

2 more dead babies. Think these were my fault for not cleaning out their box last night (got home a little late) and feeding too much. Things were really mucked up in there this morning.
Going to have to remove them all and give the breeder a thorough cleaning. There's a lot of gunk on the bottom that is stuck and won't suck up.

Did manage to clean out the cup today too. Just sucked up all the eggs and went through each one, one by one. A lot of them were bad, but there were a few good ones. A few more newly dead babies though. They looked really tiny, like they hatched too soon but I'm sure the dirty cup didn't help.
Scrubbed it down very well and put the good eggs back in with another drop of met blue.

Babies in the smaller breeder are looking really good. Think there was one dead in it. Looked to be one of the newer ones I had put in. All in all though.... the ones that are left are looking ok and the majority look to be growing well.
There is a small one in the big breeder that is a lot smaller than the rest of them. Maybe just a runt or maybe I've forgotten about a younger one I had put in there? /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Another dead baby last night. I cleaned out the big breeder. Transferred all babies to the bucket and I'm not sure if I did something or if it was already dead but definitely dead when I was collecting them back up. SIGH.
There are still a bunch of them though









I saw a couple of these little lighter color ones. I really hope they make it b/c I REALLY want to see what they look like when grown. Will they look like the rest? Will they only have a few spots? Lighter spots?









I also can't put the hand towel over the breeder any longer. Twice now, somehow, the cloth ends up getting soaked and starts dripping water everywhere. No clue how b/c I make sure the flow in the breeder isn't overflowing. I just get up and check and there's water flipping everywhere.
So instead of a towel.... I decided to bust out the painter's tape. Taped the tops of both the little breeder and big one and the inside (the part that faces the tank) of the larger one.
Did it to help dim the light some and to help with algae that was starting to grow inside of the breeders.









I really do like these little breeder boxes though. If you don't have room for another tank these are fantastic options. Really easy to clean and maintain. Provide a safe place for fry to grow. Gives the fry some gentle water movement and grows them in the same water that they'll be living in (well if you put them in to the same tank)... etc.
I got these off amazon. They're Marina Hang-On Breeder Box. There is a small, medium and large sizes. All super affordable. You do have to have an airpump and line, but that can be purchased for pretty cheap too.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up...
Found a barb dead. Think it was a black ruby. Looks like a regular tiger is also bloated. UGH I hope this isn't another mystery outbreak. 
Going to do a water change in it tomorrow.

I've been dosing it with metricide to combat the BBA which is finally turning red. 
I may have finally convinced hubby to take me to the fish store across town. Not this weekend but next.
Hopefully by then, the swords will be free of the BBA and the store will actually take them from me for some store credit. Going to have to call and ask first I guess.
If I can find something decently priced and good quality... I may get a light for my little 10g quarantine and just make it another planted tank. Spread out some of the crypts. Plant a compacta sword in it.. whatever and maybe.. maybe make it a shrimp tank.
We'll see though.

As I mentioned before. I want to get rid of the 2 side swords and the compacta and all the little ones in the 40g as well.
They're great plants and I do love swords so much, but they're completely shadowing the smaller variety in my 125 and I would very much love to see those flourish. I'll still have the middle amazon sword though so I'm not getting rid of them all.
And in the 40.. just not enough light. They're not just flourishing in that substrate for some odd reason. I'm gonna have to figure something out for that.

Also another baby cory dead. I dunno. I just hope this doesn't keep happening. I'm definitely feeding enough. Maybe them getting sucked up all the time is causing too much trauma. I certainly don't do it on purpose. Just difficult to avoid the little ones when trying to clean their home.

And finally.. there are already 2 new fry in the egg cup. One is definitely alive, but the other is super teeny tiny. Not sure if it's alive.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Had to put down a female cory yesterday. Noticed her hanging out on the anubias in the top corner of the 40g.
Placed her in a cup but she was only getting worse.

No idea, but I hope this isn't the start of another wipe out b/c... I just can't again. There's no reason why another should start. I haven't gotten new fish in forever. I keep all the tanks as clean as I possibly can. I just don't know and I hope these recent deaths are just coincidence. 

I thought my pleco might be dead too, but she's just been hiding out. Saw her this morning and she looked ok thankfully. Hopefully ok though. Hard to really tell since i only saw her underbelly.

I can't wait to get rid of some of the swords. Free up so much room in both of the tanks.
Oh crap, just remembered that I need to clean up the breeders and feed babies again. We've been gone most of the day.
All babies seem to be doing well. Didn't find any dead ones today and transfered 2 new ones over to the small breeder


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Sorry to hear of your fish struggles. Hope you get to sort everything out!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Dead baby in the smaller breeder. Dunno if it was dead before, but it was stuck in a little slat where the water flows out. Poor thing. Hope it didn't get stuck and died that way.

The rest of them looked good though. Actually took out quite a few of the larger ones and put them in the big breeder.









I also moved 3 new new babies in to the smaller breeder. 

The ones in the big breeder are doing well. They're mostly strong enough to avoid getting sucked up now. I gently tap on the bottom if they're in the way but sometimes, they just get right in the way. Oh well.
Aren't they just the cutest though??

















Tank potato is doing great. REALLY viney though. Going to have to do some trimming, but it's obviously still doing well.
I did learn that potato vines that I've snipped do NOT like metricide (excel). WHen I was treating the 125, I had a couple of vines in it that were doing well. As soon as I treated it though, the vines started dying.

















125 is doing ok. Lots of dead BBA everywhere, but it's slowing going away. I'm debating if I should take the little swords off and plant them for the week. I think I will but there is very limited room.
I tried getting a photo, but there is so much of it it's difficult to tell what is going on lol









Couple pics of the dojos
The remaining ones seem to be doing ok. Fat and eating like pigs.

















And finally, I also got around to replacing my ugly DIY top on the 5g with a better looking DIY top.
Lets in MUCH MUCH more light. I know it will cause some algae problems, but hoping it helps the plants. I might add in another small compacta sword and see how it goes since the lighting is stronger and could support one now.









That's about it for now. Just eager to get rid of the swords to free up room. Think the store has jungle val. I MIGHT get a few if they still have some, but it would mean I couldn't use metricide any longer. 
We'll see what happens though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just a few more pics. Just got done doing water changes and had a bit of fun with my dojos.

































And saw this HUGE trumpet snail and had to pick it up and get a photo. I've never seen one this size before. Definitely one of the newer ones.
Good to see their shells healed up too 
Think I'm going to pull out some of these and put more in the 40 and try them in the 5 again too.









Oh and I forgot to mention that I ordered a light for the 10g.
Debating what sort of substrate to put in or just leaving it bare for now. Would love to try a plant substrate in it. We'll see.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I'm not giving frozen baby brine shrimp any longer. I thought it was coincidence before that I'd have dead babies after giving it, but after feeding the babies the shrimp the other day and now ending up with about 5 more dead. It's not coincidence.
Not sure what's going on with it, but nope.. not going to risk it anymore.
They seem to be doing just fine on the first bites.
I'm going to try repashy next week. I'm sure the bigger ones won't have a problem with it and I'll still be giving the first bites too.
Just bought culture of vinegar eels off amazon too. Sounds fairly easy to take care of them and should be good for the babies and just the fish in general.
Just need to go buy more apple cider vinegar and figure out a container to put them in once I get them.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Maybe you just fed a bit much of the brine shrimp, and it polluted the water? try feeding less, or cleaning the tank ten minutes after they eat or so. Also if you put a bit of mesh or coarse sponge over the end of the siphon you're using, can suck out the mulm without getting the babies. I used to rubber-band some loufa over the end of my hose- several layers- new and never used in the shower, of course.

Your potato is looking so lush!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I've been cleaning their breeder out twice a day, but maybe w/ the shrimp it has to be cleaned sooner like you suggested. 
One little frozen cube doesn't seem like too much though. 
I'd rather not risk it anymore though. Not right now. Maybe in the future I'll give them another try.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

When I use the frozen foods, I cut a cube in half or thirds, and that feeds all my adult fishes- two angels, two paradise gouramis, one betta, four kulhis, seven shrimps plus three juvie cories. Even then sometimes it looks like I put too much in there (I can tell because the trumpet snails start swarming out of the substrate). I'd try giving your babies just a fourth of a cube- they really are tiny, don't eat much at once.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> When I use the frozen foods, I cut a cube in half or thirds, and that feeds all my adult fishes- two angels, two paradise gouramis, one betta, four kulhis, seven shrimps plus three juvie cories. Even then sometimes it looks like I put too much in there (I can tell because the trumpet snails start swarming out of the substrate). I'd try giving your babies just a fourth of a cube- they really are tiny, don't eat much at once.



I'll definitely try that whenever I decide to give them another go. Thanks for the advice!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got in the new light yesterday. Seems nice and bright and should work well in the 10g. 









Now to just figure out what the heck to do with it. 
Definitely set it up for the cories to grow out in it. I'll probably have to switch the sponge filter in the 40g w/ the one that's currently in it b/c I'm not sure if it's cycled or not.
Would definitely love a shrimp tank and I can always set up a bin or something for quarantine down the road. /nodnod

Going to have to start moving them soon though. The big breeder is getting full. Moved in 2 more from the smaller breeder in to this one.









All of them seem to be doing well though. New ones and older ones. 









Already have a new teeny tiny one in the egg cup too with a few more eggs getting ready to hatch.

Also potato plant is doing great. SUPER viney though. Didn't even notice that one of the vines has decided to take root in the small filter in my 40g.
Just thought that was neat and unexpected 








It's kinda clogging it though. Those roots loooove the gunk, but b/c of the gunk, it doesn't let the water flow properly.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

3 more larger dead fry.
Not sure what is killing them. Maybe getting sucked up constantly is doing it. While they are better at getting out of the way, sometimes they zoom right to the tube and in to the hose they go.
I'll try using one of my new little basters to try to clean up their box and see how well that works. If I'm still sucking up too many, I'll go out and get panty hose to cover up over the hose and try that.

Also transferred over 4 new babies in to the smaller breeder. I would've left them for a couple more days, but the cories were BUSY this morning and laid a ton of eggs. Needed to add more meth blue so decided to go ahead and remove the newly hatched babies.


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## CatsMeow (Nov 9, 2009)

I have that same exact light - er - "had". Make sure it does NOT get wet. I was putting baby boy to bed, and my 4 year old bumped it into the water and even letting it completely dry, it killed about 1/2 the LEDs. 

When it was up, it worked well, but caused algae growth pretty bad. I raised it up a few inches, and that helped. Of course, you might be looking for algae growth for food, and in that case, it's perfect as is!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

CatsMeow said:


> I have that same exact light - er - "had". Make sure it does NOT get wet. I was putting baby boy to bed, and my 4 year old bumped it into the water and even letting it completely dry, it killed about 1/2 the LEDs.
> 
> When it was up, it worked well, but caused algae growth pretty bad. I raised it up a few inches, and that helped. Of course, you might be looking for algae growth for food, and in that case, it's perfect as is!





Thanks for the warning!
Thankfully the tank is in an area that the kids shouldn't bump in to it but well... kids :| lol
I plan on making a top for the 10g though out of the egg crate so even if the light does somehow get knocked off, it shouldn't get in to the water. Hopefully.


2 more dead babies this morning. Big ones too. /shrugs I don't know. Not even going to try to guess why.
Using the little dropper/baster thing has been working pretty well. Easy to get all of the bigger clumps of food out without sucking up the fry. It doesn't get the tiny particles all that well or thoroughly but it works well enough I think. I'll probably still have to use the hose every once in a while too just to get more of the smaller particles out.
Also started trying out the unprepared repashi powder in the big breeder. Just a little w/ the first bites. The bigger ones seem to like it.


I should be getting the vinegar worms in soon. Still need to get a few containers for them and figure out where the heck to put them so it doesn't make the house smell like vinegar lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Forgot to mention that I had to euthanize 2 barbs last night.
There was one that developed popeye and started swimming sideways and in circles.
I also caught the one that looked like it had a prolapse and was slowly starving and euthanized it as well.
Hopefully no other fish decide to get sick.
Also hoping that Hubs doesn't flake out on me and we still go to the fish store this weekend. (I do need to call them).... so I can get rid of some plants and give the 125 a REALLY good cleaning and reorganize. I think that will help the overall health of the tank.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And the majority of the swords are gone!
Hopefully they go to good homes b/c I would hate to think those big pretty few year old plants don't get bought.
The amazon swords are in the bucket. One of them had 2 runners coming from it with lots of plants each. Also snipped off the runner from the sword I'm keeping. A lot of them... a WHOLE LOT.
The ones in the gallon bag are the compacta swords and the little bag is some java moss.
Pls excuse my foot 








I should've gotten pics of the swords once out but oh well.
Took a while getting their roots cleaned off from the clay pellets I put in. And then had to go through most of the plants to get off all the really bad leaves. Most of them looked good though. Some brown algae on a lot of the small ones, but meh.. brown algae isn't a big deal.

Big middle sword that I'm keeping. The biggest out of the 3 and still going strong. I do need to add more root pellets.









I shifted the big crypt in front of it up some so it's not quite so shaded all the time. It's such a pretty plant! I hope it sends off some new runners soon.
Would love to have more of these.









What the tank looked like a few weeks ago









And today.








You can see how bad the algae is on the back glass.
I did a water change yesterday when I pulled the plants up, but will be doing another tomorrow and trying to clean the glass up more to get off all the dead BBA.

Bonus of the pretty killifish.









Dojos resting after having a snack









Lonely pleco hiding while I was near the tank









Anywho.... I got $42 store credit for all of the plants. I was expecting like... $20 lol. I know they charge $20 for their big swords (that aren't grown fully submerged) so maybe they'll charge a lot for mine? I dunno.

I was going in expecting to buy some plant substrate but they wanted too much for a bag. I can get it cheaper off amazon.
So... I got some fish.

6 siamese algae eaters and 2 albino dojo loaches
Came home and cleaned the 10g out. Replaced the sponge w/ the one from the 40. Cut out a top w/ the egg crate and added the light.








Really like the light! It's nice and bright and whatever plants end up in it should do really well.
The sponge filter in it was faulty or something. Wasn't pushing any water out of it so instead of putting that one in to the 40, I had to use a new one. Not a big deal or anything since I do have a couple of extra.
I also added a couple of the water hyacinth in to the tank. I think it's going to like the brighter light. It's not doing so well in the 40g right now. I may move it all in to the 10 and see how it does.

The old filter is completely covered in algae though lol. Hoping the SAE will be able to get a little bit of food from it.









I couldn't really tell in the store, but the SAE are SO underweight. I was going to wait to put the light on the tank, but seeing how scrawny these guys are, I went ahead and added it so some algae would grow.

















The dojos were difficult to get photos of. They're SO tiny. Only about 2 inches long. I'm so used to my big fat hot dogs that seeing them made me go a bit crazy in the store lol. So much squeeing! 
Going to feed all of these new fish well and probably end up doing daily small water changes to get them up to health and keep their water nice and clean. Definitely need to make sure I remember to check their water as well so don't have an incident like I did before w/ the cories when I was trying to quarantine them.
The store had slightly larger regular dojos and then these guys. I couldn't resist and my husband said to go ahead since I had that one that died recently... that was all the convincing I needed lol.
So excited to have some new fish! They'll all be going in to the 125 when they're ready.

Also unfortunately found another larger fry dead today. Seems like the last few that I've found, I always find them stuck in some of the larger clumps of old food. Not sure if they're getting stuck somehow and that's why they die or if they die and just end up getting stuck as they float around.
Going to feed a little less tonight after I clean out the breeders.

Oh and not sure if I mentioned already, but I got in the vinegar eels on Friday. Set up 2 bottles with them along with a few slices of apple and chlorinated water. Paper towel held on w/ a rubberband on both and it's all good. No smell so far which I'm happy about and out of the way so they can't get accidentally knocked over.








Think I'm gonna get a few tonight for the cories. I know filtering them through a coffee filter isn't the best way to do it, but that's the only way I can right now which is fine with me. I can dunk the filter in to the water to try to get them all off.

Oh I also moved the compacta that was in the 125 back in to the right corner where one of the big swords was. Also moved the ozelot sword over a bit more so it's not being shaded by the big sword. Really hoping the ozelot grows better now that it's not so crowded.
I'm actually excited to grow out more swords now though. Grow them out and sell them again so I can get more stuff.
The store still isn't the best.... but they had a lot of other things that I'd be interested in getting. Like more hardscape stuff or other fish I haven't seen anywhere else, etc.

FX that these new fish make it though. And super FX that the tank doesn't go through some re-cycle crap even though that sponge filter should be cycled. The SAE are SO dang skinny.... sigh.
Also going to have to figure out something for the cory fry since I'm quarantining fish now. Woops.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I bet your new SAE are just small because very young. They look pretty healthy to me. And wow, so nice you can trade in plants for credit. I never have that much extra plant growth. Is your tank having less algae now the sweet potato is taking off? wonder if you notice the consumption of nutrients helping in that regard. 

IMHO, there shouldn't be enough leftover food in your fry containers that you have clumps of it. You're either still feeding too much, or not cleaning it out enough. As far as I know, popeye can be caused by poor water conditions. Feeding less and/or cleaning more would help prevent more fry loss.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, the popeye did occur right after I cleaned out the filter and all of the filter gunk got in to the tank. I should've done extra water changes but didn't.

I'm not sure why the food clumps up in the bigger breeder. It doesn't do that in the smaller one at all. I definitely clean them out very well, but I could still be feeding too much. 
I found 3 more dead today. I fed less last night but I'll reduce the amount even more tonight.

I'm still getting a lot of slimy green algae in the 40. Not as much b/c the light is higher up so dimmer than it once was, but the slimy algae has come back. I've reduced the amount of time the light is on too so I'm hoping that starts helping but so far, NOPE.
I'm sure the potato is helping to keep the growth in check though.
On some of the rooting vines, there is algae growing right on it.
You can see it in the photo. It's the floating green clump next to the potato roots









The SAE are young and some of them do look ok, but there are 3 I think that need to fatten up.
You can see one of them in the center. Maybe not the best pic but that one is a lot skinnier than the others.









Did notice that the dwarf sag is actually spreading and growing in the 40g now. I always overlook it b/c it all collects a lot of the leftover food and whatnot in the tank. Still lots of algae, but meh.









2 new dojos seem to be doing well. One of them even swam in to my hand when I was cleaning out their tank.


















Overall everything is ok. Made a HUGE mess in the 125 again scraping some of the back glass. Attempted to get as much of the gunk out as I could but I should probably do another water change mid week.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

The little dojos are cute! I don't have any fish that will approach my hand.

Slimy algae? is it cyanobacteria? I think there's something you can add to the tank to kill that, if so. There should be some threads on here about that.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> The little dojos are cute! I don't have any fish that will approach my hand.
> 
> Slimy algae? is it cyanobacteria? I think there's something you can add to the tank to kill that, if so. There should be some threads on here about that.



Oh no no. Definitely not blue green stuff. 

I just forgot to add in the hair part when I typed out my post.
It's still the same slimy hair algae that I was getting before


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And now there is ammonia in the 10g. Seriously... Seriously??? The heck? I moved the smaller filter that was also on the 40 over to it... the one that had the potato vine rooted in it.
I dunno. Hopefully it helps I guess. I just did another partial water change and will probably do another one a little later b/c a lot of gunk got kicked up from the filter.

Determined to make this work but... seriously, this shouldn't be a problem. That sponge filter has either been in the 40 or the 125 for a very long time now and constantly on. There's no reason why it shouldn't be cycled.

I don't get it....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I asked about why seeding a new tank with media never works on FB. Got only one answer from someone telling me that just b/c the filter was on a mature tank, it doesn't mean it's actually filters and blahblahblah. 
Like... what??? I understand that the bacteria would be shared over the 3 filters that were on the tank, but the sponge and the other filter should be able to handle the new fish well enough that there shouldn't have been an ammonia spike.
I dunno... just frustrated that that never seems to work for me.

I ended up doing 4 40% water changes in the 10g yesterday. Made sure to clean out any food I had given and any gunk that settled on the bottom.
Finally got ammonia down to 0.
Tested this morning and not sure if it's still at 0. Has that tint like it could be slightly green. Will test again in a bit.

The scrawny SAE ended up dying. I think it was already sickly and dying. Damn that store. I should've paid more attention to which fish they were picking out.
You would think with all the popular youtube fish channels now, they'd take better care of their fish. But still... NOPE. That store just doesn't give a flying crap other than to sell the fish as quickly as possible. Oh... they have more selection now, but they still don't bother quarantining their new fish. The store is part of a strip mall and they own the area next to them too so it's not like they don't have the room to set up a quarantine area. Like I said, they only care about sell sell sell ASAP.
SO many sickly looking bettas they had too. Poor things.
Frustrated that that's the only local option.

Fed less to the babies last night and somehow there were more clumps this morning? That was weird. No dead one though thankfully.
Do have 2 new babies in the egg cup.

I think after having the new fish for a week. If none of them are showing any signs of illness, I'm going to transfer the larger cories to the 10g. Ugh.... I may regret that decision since I know quarantine should be longer, but I need to move the larger ones so they can grow properly.

That's all for now. Gotta go watch GoT!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

SOB!
2 more dead babies in the big breeder. Fed A LOT less last night and it still happened. 
Ok... new plan.
No more leaving food in their breeder over night b/c it seems like even just a tiny amount is still too much. Is that the actual problem? I have no idea but I gotta do something b/c I'm tired of seeing my fry die.
There was also a dead one in the small breeder too. I think a few of them are ready to be moved to the larger one.

10g is also staying pretty stable now and all of the fish in it seem to be doing ok. I'm still not sure if the ammonia is at 0 or if there is a really really slight tint of green to it. Might be paranoia making me not want to believe it's yellow lol, but I'd rather be a bit paranoid about it than think everything is fine and suddenly have a bunch of new dead fish on my hands b/c the water quality went to crap.

I see the SAE swimming together all the time. I just hope they're eating. 

Like I said previously, if fish look ok AND the tank is staying stable.... I'll be moving the larger fry to the 10g as well on Saturday or Sunday.

And finally... I bought some flourish root tablets. I've used them before and plants seem to like them. Need to clean up the 5g tank a bit more of the clay tablets in there.
Those clay tablets made such a huge mess. The swords in the big tanks REALLY liked them, but don't use clay if you like moving your plants around or if you use sand! So messy


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Only a teeny tiny pinch of food last night, still 2 dead babies this morning. 
Did find some snail poop in their breeder box. One of the trumpets must have been exploring near the intake. That shouldn't have killed any babies though.
Maybe just one of those things... I dunno.
All the ones in the small breeder are ok though. Just have to figure out something for the larger box and hope I can keep the majority alive.

10g tank is still doing fine. Still not sure about if it's a true 0 ammonia reading. Poor lighting makes it difficult to tell. I'll just say it is but hesitantly. All of the fish in the tank look good though. The SAE school together and the dojos do what they do 
Still doing daily water changes in it though just to be sure.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I may regret this decision... but I went ahead and moved 6 of the larger fry to the 10g.
Parameters have been fine.
Fish all look good (I know it's still early, which is why I may regret this).
I lost one of the larger fry this afternoon even though once again, I fed even less and have been cleaning out their breeder more often. I just don't want to see this keep happening. No idea why it is, but it is so I made the call to move 6 of the larger ones in to the 10.
They're SO teeny tiny in the tank. The fish in it shouldn't bother them. They're too small to eat them... hopefully.
Again.. I may regret doing this but... I did so FX.









And bonus pic of my pretty little BN female pleco. One day I'll get her a buddy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well...... Disaster.
Did a small water change last night and added a little bit of food to quarantine. Not a lot. Same amount I had been giving.
Woke up this morning to one dead dojo, one dead fry and the other dojo dying.
Checked water while I did a water change and parameters are totally fine.
Maybe the fry were carrying something?? Apparently something fast acting and extremely deadly.
Big fry is also dying.
I took the remaining dojo out and put it in a container with water from the 125, some meth blue and an airstone. Probably too late but I had to try something.

All the the SAE appear to be completely unfazed by whatever happened.

Again, water parameters have been nice and steady the last few days so it's not the water. Has to be something the fry introduced and the added stress from moving them in to the tank killed a couple of them. Some of them look ok but I haven't spotted all of them yet. Had to take daughter to school so I'll check once home.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, back home and spotted another baby cory that wasn't doing well in the quarantine. Actually, the only other one I saw. Maybe the others died during the night and got eaten.

I dunno but getting ready to clean out that tank again b/c I just found this on the bottom of it.
Thought it was debris until it started moving on its own.









Anyone have an idea what it is? Keep in mind I don't feed live food so it's not a bloodworm that I've fed or something like that. Doesn't look like a bloodworm anyway except that it's a little red. Thinking it may have come out of the dead dojo when it died.

I have some prazipro that I'm using in the tank now, but if there is something better, I'm all ears.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just found another. 
Folks on FB was saying the worm was a leech, but I don't think that's right. Well.. unless there is one with extremely long bodies.

















/shrugs

I went ahead and euthanized the other loach too. It wasn't going to make it. Just suffering. 
I pulled out the fry that I could see. I know I run the risk of infecting my 40g since I put them back in to the breeder (small one for now so I can keep an eye on them), but oh well.
The 3 I've pulled out look stressed, but I hope they make it and REALLY hoping the whole tank doesn't get infected so will have to keep an eye on things.
Some of the SAE have spots on them. Not ich, but like injury fuzz spots.
Was already treating the tank with kanaplex, but also put in anti parasite stuff and another antibacterial. May have to put an anti fungal in it too.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Someone in the forums said it was camallanus worms. Certainly looks like it could be. I didn't notice anything coming out of the dojos, but that's not to say they aren't in there.

Also lost the largest cory fry. Sigh. 2 of them are still alive but not sure for how long and there is one that I've seen still in the 10g. Just leaving it while I treat the tank.
Ordered some parasite medication (that was not cheap...) to treat the worms and.. yeah.... hopefully the cories I put back in the breeder box aren't infected and infect my 40g. Going to have to wait and see.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I've had that same issue w/running a smaller sponge in an established tank, but it doesn't hold cycle when I move it to use in the QT tank. One time I managed to add new fish to QT w/out a cycle- but it was by adding a sponge, some rocks, fake plants, and handful of gravel from the main tank. I guess it just took _more_ stuff w/the bacteria established on it.

Are your fry still eating enough w/the reduced feeds? (do their bellies look nice and round)? It might just be a thing- some fry will always be weaker and just not make it. . . ? (I had breeding peppered cories, but only ever managed to raise _one_ fry!) Dunno what the worm thing is. Sure hope anti-parasitic takes care of it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> I've had that same issue w/running a smaller sponge in an established tank, but it doesn't hold cycle when I move it to use in the QT tank. One time I managed to add new fish to QT w/out a cycle- but it was by adding a sponge, some rocks, fake plants, and handful of gravel from the main tank. I guess it just took _more_ stuff w/the bacteria established on it.
> 
> Are your fry still eating enough w/the reduced feeds? (do their bellies look nice and round)? It might just be a thing- some fry will always be weaker and just not make it. . . ? (I had breeding peppered cories, but only ever managed to raise _one_ fry!) Dunno what the worm thing is. Sure hope anti-parasitic takes care of it.



I'll remember that for next time.
I moved in a piece of wood in to that tank too, but maybe it just needed more.
I don't think any of these fish are going to make it. I cancelled the order for the parasite med. I don't think it would arrive on time to save any of them.
So pissed off right now. Damn that fish store....


The fry seem to be eating. From what I can tell they look nice and plump. They're so small though so it's difficult to really say.
I did lose a couple more today from the breeder box. /shrugs I dunno anymore. I've kind of given up on trying to figure out what is wrong with them. The majority are still doing well though.
I'm going to try the vinegar eels tonight.





I watched a video about treating columnaris. Maybe the fish were stressed and that is floating around and made them sick/caused them to die. I know it can kill really fast.
The guy in the video talks about needing to keep electrolytes up in your tanks so I bought some shell things that dissolve in the water for the main tanks. Maybe that will also help the fry out if that's a problem.


/shrugs After the last fish dies in the 10, I'm going to drain it and let it dry out completely. Also going to drain the filters and let those dry out too after scrubbing them down. Certainly can't put them back on the 40 right now.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And they're all dead.
So pissed off.
I thought it was something the fry may have introduced, but I don't think so. This was something the fish already had. A ticking time bomb and only coincidence that it happened after adding the fry. I wish I had waited, but too late for that now.
Still need to drain the tank and empty it all out. Will be dipping the plants in some solution just in case too and putting them somewhere.
I'll probably do it in the tank. A bleach dip in the tank so it sterilizes the tank too.

I think there is still 1 fry alive out of the 6, but who knows for how long.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Sorry to hear it. That's so very frustrating. I really hope you can figure out what the cause was.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Down to only a few fry. Ok so maybe the fry did have something. That's not to say the new fish weren't already sick though.
Bought some wonder shells. Been reading up on them and seemed like a good purchase for my tanks. Broke off two chunks and put them in the breeder boxes along with putting some shells in all the other tanks. Ordered larger ones for the 125 although from what I've read, you don't need to use the amount it tells you on the package.
Still, it seems like they do help with overall health in your tanks and that's what I'm hoping for. Just overall health.

Think I'm going to have to start doing weekly breeder box cleanings too. Just to get all the algae and stuck on food off and keep things extra clean. Yes, it's all a learning experience but it would be nice if I didn't unintentionally kill anything while I learn.

Can't post any photos right now. PC is acting up but will get some soon.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

One more dead fry.
I cleaned out the breeders very well and next day a dead one. I dunno.
I've been cleaning out their boxes at least 3 times a day. Removing the majority of the food I feed and feeding a lot less.
I think I'm going to move the largest fry in to the 40. I think it's big enough to not be seen as food by the Betta.
Going to move it to ight and hope it survives.
I harvested a few more eggs the other day. They're definitely not laying like they were though since removing the swords. That's ok though.
No photos. I can't remember what my password is here and the reset link for it is all messed up so can only post from my phone lol. I'll figure it out.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, still can't get in to the hard drive with all of my stuff on it, but here are some new pics anyway. Can't edit them so they're not the best lol

I moved the largest fry in to the 40 last night. Instantly disappeared in to all the plants and I haven't seen it since lol. Hopefully it's ok.









Here are those wonder shells I mentioned before. They're supposed to be good for about a month and from what I've read, you only need about half the amount the instructions call for. I bought a pack with a giant one, a large one and then 3 small ones like the photo. The first ones I got were just 2 packs of the small ones and they've dissolved a good bit. They don't seem to be hurting anything though and they're not too expensive so I'll keep using them.









The potato vine climbing up the blinds









Just think it's cute how the barbs like hiding under this crypt. There are so many places to hide out, but they pick the plant that's right up front lol









Lazy hotdogs doing what they do when not searching for food









Pretty little huntress. I wish I could release more of the babies in to the tank but she is EVERYWHERE in the tank and squeezes in to all the little nooks and crannies. I even spotted her right in the middle of the thick potato roots lol. Love her!

















And 40g overall is doing a little better. Still getting hair algae, but I'm guessing the reduced light time is helping to keep it somewhat under control. And while the dwarf sag is growing and spreading in this tank, any debris clings on to it like crazy. Makes clean up somewhat easier but still annoying b/c I don't think this tank will ever have a nice clean look lol.









And yeah... that's it so far. Going to have to do bucket water changes in the 40... at least when I vacuum up the gunk. Don't want the little baby to get sucked up and dumped outside without me knowing about it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, about to do first water chance since adding in the baby cory. Hopefully I can spot it swimming around. If not.. well.. hopefully it's just hiding really well and is ok.
Haven't had a dead baby in a while which I'm happy about. Helps when there aren't that many left though I guess.
Do have a new freshly hatched batch in the egg cup though so yay. Think I counted 9 the last time I checked and I just collected more eggs this morning.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Had a short while with no dead babies, but there is one dying. Definitely eating enough b/c it had a full little belly. /shrugs
Just transfered over a bunch of new little babies from the egg cup. FX that I'll be able to keep more of them alive.

Bought 6lbs of ceramic rings. Going to eventually replace the crappy HOB media w/ them, but it's gonna take a while since there isn't a lot of room in there. I got them mostly to fill up the FX6 though.

Still haven't spotted the baby in the 40 if it's still alive. Hopefully it is and it's just really good at hiding.

Will try to get more photos soon.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Transfered over a lot of new little babies in to the small breeder. A couple of them have died, but most are still ok.
Have new eggs and looks like going to have a couple of new babies soon too.

Also had to clean out the big breeder. It keeps sucking up stuff from the main tank and for some reason hair algae is growing really fast in it. /shrugs

Quick picture of the largest fry. This one actually survived my disaster quarantine tank. Thank goodness too. It's gotten much bigger since that incident and appears in good health.









That's about it for now. All the other fish look ok.
I just bought some almond leaves off amazon for my betta tank. Hoping it helps him. The algae in that tank is going crazy right now and... ugh.. that tank is a constant frustration. The plants don't want to thrive so the algae goes crazy and just..... it's annoying.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

All fry seem to be doing ok for now.
I've continued feeding less and cleaning out their boxes more often. I had to switch back to using the air line hose for the big breeder though. So much gunk gets sucked in to it that I just can't get it all out with only the dropper.

Haven't done water changes yet this week, but will get that done tomorrow morning. it's been SO hot here lately that if I wait too long, it's already too hot to do a water change. 
Fish overall look good. I need to figure something out for my betta tank. The stronger light is causing bad algae issues.
Algae in the 40 is starting to get bad again too. I haven't increased lighting or anything. It's just slowly building up.
The hyacinth isn't doing so great in any of the tanks. /shrugs

Also spotted a sword growing in one of the outside bins. The bins have no water in them, but the sword was growing. It's one of the ones that had the long stem with small leaf at the top. I can't remember what they're called.
I took it out and put it in the 125. I'm sure it will take a while to adjust but it should. I was just surprised it was still alive outside.

Will get some pics as soon as I stop being so lazy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Finally a few random pictures. 

Fry from the big breeder. Cleaned out their breeder (mostly just algae covering everything) and decided to get a quick shot of them.
They seem to be doing well though. I haven't lost one of the bigger ones in quite a while.. /knock on wood









Bought some Indian almond leaves a while ago. Ripped one up and put some in to the bettas tank and 1 whole leaf in the 125 for the hell of it.
The betta seemed to really like having some cover while it was still floating and I still see him hide behind one chunk of it.









125 is doing much better with algae now. Still some spots of BBA but not nearly as bad as it was. I've only been dosing the metricide once a week. I may stop it for now. I don't want to dose it for no reason.
















It's doing really well though overall. The 2 swords that were being shadowed by the larger one are starting to grow in nice. Doesn't feel as crowded anymore which I like. I can actually see everything lol. Really glad I got rid of the 2 big swords. I love swords... love them, but you need a lot of room for a big regular size one.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

My poor Superman betta has injured himself somehow. Looks like he has a cut on his head. He's been hiding a lot and not wanting to eat and I guess that has been why. Poor thing.
I just cleaned out his tank VERY well. I would get a photo but it's cloudy and sad looking.
That's going to be my next project. The 10g can wait... I'm going to replace the substrate in the 5g. The clay root tablets... while the sword plants LOVED them and they're ok in bigger tanks are a disaster in a smaller tank. They constantly get disturbed during water changes and keep making everything cloudy afterwards and get this silt like debris over everything.
I'm just going to have to completely remove the substrate in it and replace it all.
Maybe for a birthday present for myself... I'll get a couple bags of planted substrate and some new plants for it too 
I'll just have to put up with it in the meantime and make the best of it.

I'm going to leave the light off in that tank for a couple of days as well. WAY too much algae has been building up too quick.

Also reduced lighting on the 40 to just one light. The algae in it has been building up pretty fast recently.
It could use a little less for a week or so.
It's a dang mess right now.... but one day I'll have it looking... at least ok  lol









Gave the potato a good root trimming today too. Was getting a bit too crazy and the food I was dropping in for the cories was getting caught in it.
I also moved a couple of the anubias to the back right corner. Put them in a shaded spot to get rid of the algae, plus give the cories back some shelter for eggs again. They really liked to lay their eggs around the swords that were up against the glass and I think this might help them lay more in the future. I still really want to get one of those giant anubias for this tank.









I try to keep the vines somewhat controlled. I hate trimming them, but it's not like it's lacking 









I also bought more filter ceramic rings a while ago. Going to slowly start introducing them to my HOB filters and eventually put the rest in to the FX6. I definitely think the FX6 needs more bio filtration along with the HOB on the 40. The crap you get with those filters just isn't enough and keeps getting clogged from the slimy hair algae.









125 is looking pretty good. Some BBA trying to come back, but will be dosing metricide this week to take care of it.
Did a much needed trim on the cabomba and overall, it's looking good. The crypts are especially nice looking right now. Really flourishing now that they're not covered in algae.









Compacta sword that was moved in to the back right. It has exploded with a ton more new leaves.









Ocelot sword has been slower to grow and flourish but it's looking so much better now that it has the room and light to grow









Baby sword up front that I didn't think the store would want. When I planted it it was only about an inch long with 2 leaves and no roots lol. It's slowly growing 
And see how pretty the crypts are looking? Love it!









Couple of compacta sword babies I just planted today after taking them off the runner. Their roots were getting pretty long so figured I might as well plant them already.









The sword I brought in from outside. Hasn't really grown and you can see that the leaves are starting to die.
Surprised the pleco hasn't munched on this one yet.









Baby cories are doing well. Haven't had a death in a while now thank goodness. I have been distracted (kids) so haven't been doing as many water changes, but I do at least 2 a day still. About to go do the final one for the day now that I'm thinking about it.
Have some new babies that hatched just yesterday. Didn't think I was going to get anymore. A lot of the eggs that I had harvested were bad.
Oh well. Can't all be winners.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Damn.... 3 deaths.
1 smaller one in the small breeder, 1 of the smaller from the big breeder, and one of the larger ones from the big breeder.
I was planning on cleaning the breeders out tomorrow during water changes, but that prompted me to clean them today.
Not sure what else would have been the problem. Their breeders weren't that dirty. Just some stuck on stuff on the bottom here and there and algae growing on the sides again.
Hate seeing one of the bigger ones dead though.

Tempted to release the largest in to the aquarium but I really don't want them to be killed by the betta. I don't know if she will do it, but they're still really tiny compared to her... so I'll wait.
Will try harder to do at least 3 cleanings a day.
I've started putting in tiny little pellets in to the larger breeder for the bigger cories. They should be big enough to eat them. Hoping that wasn't the cause of the deaths.

Superman betta still isn't eating. 

All other fish seem ok though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Damnit. Another one of the larger ones dead. Getting ready to do the last clean up last night and spotted it.
I dunno what is going on. I'm definitely feeding enough. Cleaning enough.... why suddenly are they dying again??


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## RollaPrime (Jul 27, 2018)

The only thing I can think of is nitrate and higher than normal organics. Cory rigglers are supposedly more susceptible to both. I really hope you get to the bottom of this.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Does your breeder box sit in a larger tank and have flow into/out of it? I can't remember. I remember how sad and frustrating it was losing almost all my zebra danio fry because it was my first attempt at raising fry from eggs. Hopefully things take a turn for the better soon!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

The breeder boxes have an air line attached that feeds water in to the boxes and an outflow that lets water go back in to the main tank. They're basically low flow HOB air pump filters.. minus the filtration part lol.
I guess it could be a nitrate problem. I'll have to remember to check that maybe... midweek to see what it is.

I accidentally killed one of the larger cory babies today  Doing the usual morning cleaning and it swam right in to the air line tube. It was almost too big for it which is what I think killed it b/c it didn't come out right away. I think it got stuck for a few seconds. 

They've been ok though. I did lose a couple more of the smaller ones since I last posted but I think they've been overall ok so far.
I think I'm going to be moving the larger fry in to the 40 soon. I was thinking I'd do it today, but I think I'll wait until midweek. I'm going on vacation in a little over a month and need all of the fry to be big enough to survive in the larger tank. We'll be gone for 4 days. I know the larger fish will be ok without eating, but the fry definitely won't be. They're going to have to survive in the bigger tank. Hopefully will come home to the fry still alive and betta still alive. I know cories have spikey fins to keep from being swallowed. Would hate it if the betta tried to eat one and get killed.

Superman betta still isn't eating. He's not bloated, pineconing, no visible signs of infection or anything of the sort. He's just... not eating and I don't know what to do. I've tried feeding him with lights off. Dropping food right on top of him etc but nothing. I have some garlic stuff that I think I'm going to soak some pellets in and see if that will entice him to eat.

Anywho.... just one photo. Baby cory pile


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Had 2 more larger cory fry deaths. Sucked one up yesterday and thought that I had killed another by accident but its tail was fuzzy. And another dead one today spotted this morning.
Prompted me to clean out the box again and transfer the larger ones in to the 40g already

All of the ones from the larger breeder









The 5 largest I let loose









Size comparison of the fry vs the adult cories









My version of Where's Waldo. Where's the Cory Fry??









And finally tank potato. Still going pretty strong. I just trimmed a lot of vines off it this last water change so it looks a little scraggly.


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## aquanerd13 (Jun 22, 2019)

I love the mesh tunnel idea. I might have to do that myself.

Bump: The corys are super cute! What type do you recommend?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

aquanerd13 said:


> I love the mesh tunnel idea. I might have to do that myself.
> 
> Bump: The corys are super cute! What type do you recommend?



I honestly don't know much about different types of cories. Some of them like cooler temps, some tolerate slightly warmer. Some grow bigger, some are a little smaller, etc. I'm definitely not the right person to come to for a recommendation lol.

Baby cories are overall ok. I've had a few more die, but overall they've all been good and growing.
I just moved 2 more of the biggest ones in to the main tank. Just have 6 more to grow as big as possible before our vacation.
I moved the 5 in to the tank 2 weeks ago and just today spotted them. They've grown so much. Still little, but twice as big as they were. I think I counted 4 separate ones. Really happy I did spot them b/c I didn't see them when doing the water change and thought they might've died.

Superman betta still isn't eating. I just don't know what to do for him. I really don't want to euthanize, but I may have to in the end. He's already gone about a month now? (could be less but it feels like forever) without eating anything. Nothing is physically wrong with him as far as I can see. I can see his eyeballs moving and looking at me when I get near the tank. He swims off and hides if he gets spooked. Etc.


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

lisals said:


> Superman betta still isn't eating. I just don't know what to do for him. I really don't want to euthanize, but I may have to in the end. He's already gone about a month now? (could be less but it feels like forever) without eating anything. Nothing is physically wrong with him as far as I can see. I can see his eyeballs moving and looking at me when I get near the tank. He swims off and hides if he gets spooked. Etc.


Is he looking skinny or stressed? If not, don't euthanise. My betta went over a week on several occasions when I initially got him - turns out all he'd been fed previously was bloodworm. If the tank's established (which I'm pretty sure it is?) then there'll be plenty of other things for him to eat in the tank.

Of course, if he appears to be suffering with no realistic cure, then euthanise.

By the way, I can't seem to find this, but what sorts of food are you feeding him?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thelongsnail said:


> Is he looking skinny or stressed? If not, don't euthanise. My betta went over a week on several occasions when I initially got him - turns out all he'd been fed previously was bloodworm. If the tank's established (which I'm pretty sure it is?) then there'll be plenty of other things for him to eat in the tank.
> 
> Of course, if he appears to be suffering with no realistic cure, then euthanise.
> 
> By the way, I can't seem to find this, but what sorts of food are you feeding him?


I feed him pellet food normally. He used to eat it with no issues, but I don't know what happened. He just started not eating. 
He hasn't eaten anything in over a month. when he is at the top of the tank, I try giving him food, but he's just not interested and either swims off or floats. Uuuugh. I still haven't euthanized him obviously. You can still see his little brain working and he's still aware, but he just won't eat anything. 

I also found the remains of a dojo today during a water change. I've been doing them once every two weeks while we still have houseguests and it's building the bba back up. I think I may have poisoned the dojo by dosing metricide. I did a 50% change today so hopefully none of the others get sick. Need to give the quarantine a good scrub down. Let it dry out again and then after vacation get some more dojos from the pet store I got the others from. It can be an early birthday present lol.
Thankfully all the other dojos look ok and came out and ate like normal when I fed the tank.

I also went ahead and bought a bag of eco complete so I can redo the 5 gallon. I wanted to try something different but you just can't beat the price of the eco complete and one bag should be plenty for that tank. I can't stand it anymore. Those clay root tabs are ok in theory if you have a big tank. When one gets uprooted in a large tank, it's messy but not a huge deal, in a little 5 gallon?? Horrible horrible decision.

And finally, I started getting more and more baby Cory deaths. The ones in the main tank seem to be doing well and growing faster, so I went ahead and released the remaining ones in the breeder in to the tank. There were still 2 pretty small ones but I did see one of them after doing a water change. I also put the end of the hose in to a bucket just in case I sucked any up, but everything was ok.
So 4 more babies in the 40. And no more breeders set up at the moment. The larger cories haven't laid anymore eggs that I know of. Good thing though since we're going on vacation soon.
The 40 is also starting to get overrun with bba bc of the once every other week water changes. 
Flipped off the more powerful light and turned on the lower light one. Will keep it just that one for a couple of days and with house guests leaving this week, should get back to normal weekly water change schedule again. Really don't want to use metricide in the tank with the cories.

Oh and last week I found one of the Otos dead. No idea what happened there. There is no shortage of algae in that tank. It didn't look skinny or anything.

I dunno.... I just hate how clueless I am when it comes to my fish dying.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I got him to eat!!!! I got Superman to finally eat!!
Before I made the final decision to put Superman betta down.. decided to give bloodworms a try. I hadn't before b/c I just never gave it to him before so didn't think to try it.
I thawed a cube and tweezed one out and dangled it in front of him and he ate it! Gave him 2 more after that and he ate both of them happily! Holy crap. Thank goodness.
Thank goodness I had a feeling of hesitation to euthanize. When I've done it before, I knew it was the right thing to do, but this time... I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Hopefully this means he's ok and I dunno... maybe just didn't want to eat the pellets anymore? I dunno.

I also got in the substrate today. Will be redoing his tank soon. Eager to get it done. Hopefully it won't mess up the cycle in the tank. It shouldn't since there should be plenty of media in the filter to keep everything cycled.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, first up.
Still not sure Superman will make it, but I did get him to eat 2 more bloodworms yesterday. I tried earlier in the day but he wasn't having any of it and just wanted to rest. I noticed him later in the day at the top, but his pectoral fins were moving like he was actually awake/aware, so I thawed more bloodworms.
I'm not sure if he ate the worms more out of instinct or b/c he was hungry if that makes any sense. It didn't seem like he was eating out of hunger, but more attacking out of annoyance?
Either way, he ate them so that's all that matters right now. 
I bought some fish vitamins that I'll be soaking his food in (and giving to the other tanks too) that will hopefully help him heal and get better.

I also redid his tank on Monday. Didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it is only a 5g tank so not sure what I was expecting lol.
Not nearly as many crypts in the tank as I thought. A lot of really small ones.
It's a bit scraggly right now but hoping with the better substrate that the plants will grow better.








I also added in 3 more compacta swords and a stem of.. something. Maybe wisteria? Not sure what it is lol. It came from the 40g.
I also added in larger crypts from the 125 and a few of the smaller ones as well. I'm sure most if not all of them will melt back some.
Also added in a couple of cycled ceramic rings to the filter so hopefully the tank won't go through a mini-cycle.
Keeping an eye on it though.

40g is doing ok. Still an algae farm, but oh well. Fish seem to be doing ok. Wish I could get a photo of the cory fry in the tank, but they're difficult to spot let alone get a photo of.









Lady betta is easy to photograph and boy is she still pretty. Look at that grumpy betta face!
















She got her first taste of bloodworm when I gave some to Superman. She didn't know what the heck to make of them at first, but ate one and then quickly went after all the others lol. Wish I could give more to the 40 for the cories, but this little piggy would gorge herself on them.

And just a couple pics of the planted compacta swords in the 125. Doing well and growing a lot. I wish they stayed this small instead of getting slightly smaller than a regular size one lol








B/c there are A LOT more still stuck on the runners.....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got Superman to eat again. Bloodworms again. Worried that it's too much, but he only ate 2.
Just don't want it to cause him to bloat or anything.
BUT he did actually seek out the bloodworms to eat. So yay!

Weirdness in the 40g though. During Sunday's water change... found a floating dead snail. Not a big deal. But just now I spotted a fuzzy dead on in the tank. Not sure what would be causing deaths and might just be coincidence. I haven't put any kind of chemicals (other than Prime and the wonder shells) in the 40 b/c of the cory fry. /shrugs


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

Glad to hear that superman has come round on the bloodworms! Have you tried other frozen foods, e.g. daphnia, mysis shrimp, or brine shrimp?

What are the parameters and temperature of the tank?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I haven't tried anything else yet. I think I have some mysis shrimp. He's still weak and hesitant to eat most of the time. I'll stick with bloodworms for now and will try other things once it looks like he's perked up more.
He's still pretty weak. You can see him in the back resting on the top of the heater.









I tried giving him some bloodworms this morning when I usually feed the other tanks, but he wasn't interested.
Getting in the fish vitamins today so I'll be soaking his food in that stuff to hopefully give him the boost to get better quicker.









Parameters








Ammonia... booooo
Did a water change after I checked. About to go pluck out a few more cycled ceramic rings from the 40 and switch them out for a few of the 5g ones. Hopefully that helps.
All other levels look good though.

Spotted the cories this morning getting frisky. Freaked out when I saw one of them on its side and not moving. Thought it was dead/dying, then I spotted the other one... ahem.. doing things to it. Doing what they do when they're looking to spawn. So wrong lol
Then about an hour later spotted these newly laid eggs. They haven't laid anything in a month so this was a surprise.
Not taking them out though. We're going on vacation in a week and a half. If these hatch, I wouldn't be able to take care of the fry. So... we'll see if these survive or not. Doubtful, but ya never know.









Lowering the light on the 40 didn't really help with the algae though. BBA is trying to spread everywhere. Really don't want to use metricide in the tank. Will have to look up other ways to get rid of it.









And the 125. BBA is once again trying to take over, but overall it doesn't look too shabby  Still super lush looking. Just need to figure out how to control the BBA


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And just like that, all of those eggs are gone this morning lol. Makes me think that they have actually been laying. I just haven't seen the eggs before something eats them lol. Oh well. Not looking to raise more fry right now anyway.

But in possibly bad news. Superman might be in the early? stages of pineconing. I noticed it when I got him to eat the first time, but brushed it all aside as nothing, but I'm pretty sure his scales are popping out a little. Not full on pineconing. He doesn't look bloated, but not sure how bloated a fish would look after not eating for a month.

It's difficult to see it though b/c of where he's resting. I saw it yesterday when I tried feeding him (he didn't eat). So.. I dunno.

I got in the fish vitamins yesterday and added some to the tank. Not sure how much it will help him now though. But not giving up yet.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Damnit.. yep.... he's pineconing. Probably not as bad as it normally would be but only b/c he wasn't eating.









Damnit damnit damnit 
It wasn't that noticeable before which was why I just brushed it off... and a good helping of denial too.
Damn....... so upset right now. I really thought he was going to pull through all of this since he ate. But... doesn't look like he will. Now just to decide when to end his suffering. Uuuuuuugh this sucks. My poor little Superman


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

Sorry to hear that his condition has worsened.

Any ammonia reading can be fatal, but that looks looks like .5-1.0 to me. Massive water changes necessary, as in 80% twice over 12 hours, retesting between.

The fact that you don't have any nitrite or nitrate readings means that your tank isn't cycled. 

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this will be why he wasn't eating


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thelongsnail said:


> Sorry to hear that his condition has worsened.
> 
> Any ammonia reading can be fatal, but that looks looks like .5-1.0 to me. Massive water changes necessary, as in 80% twice over 12 hours, retesting between.
> 
> ...


The tank is cycled or well.. the filter is cycled. It's going through a mini-cycle b/c of the complete substrate change. It's the same filter that was on it before with the same media that was kept wet for the couple of hours it wasn't running and it has some media from the 40g in it too.
The nitrites are the cycled 0 color and not that uncycled blue color it has right out of the bottle.
And there are nitrates.. it's light orange which is right below the yellow 0 reading on the chart, just low since it was a 100% water change when I redid the tank.

Still though... definitely ammonia reading which was about a 1 or slightly more. I did a 50% water change and added a little more Prime since it neutralizes ammonia. I also exchanged some more media with the 40g so hopefully it helps to get this mini cycle done faster. 

I just rechecked ammonia again and it's inbetween 0 and 0.25. Almost pure yellow, but not quite so I added more Prime to it.
I'll recheck all parameters tomorrow just to make sure everything still looks ok though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I put Superman Betta down this morning. Poor pretty boy. Pineconing became worse. Still didn't have that swollen bloated look, but once he was dead I could see that his stomach was a little big.
I checked water parameters after and ammonia was up just a little to a 0.5. 0 nitrite and nitrate was between 5 and 10 color. Added even more media from the 40. 
Once the tank is done with this mini cycle... Not sure what I want to put in it. If I can find them... Maybe cherry shrimp and a couple of snails.
If I can't... Couple of snails and another Betta.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Still a slight ammonia reading. Less than it was yesterday though so that's a good thing.
Probably won't be getting anything for the tank until next weekend or late next week since we'll be out of town.
That's fine though. Just need to add a couple of shrimp tablets or something to keep things fed and going.

Some melting on the crypts in the tank. I think whenever I do get something for the tank, I'm going to buy more plants for it. Maybe anubias or something.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Been home for a few days from vacation. Ammonia tests were coming back 0 right before we left, and is 0 once back so went ahead and got myself a new 5g resident.

Went to Petco b/c I really wanted one of those baby betta girls. But I only saw one and just wasn't feeling it. They did however have A LOT of gorgeous male bettas.
White and black dragon scale ones that were... breathtaking. Just absolutely awesome looking and I wish I had another tank to set up b/c I would've gotten one of them.
BUT... the ones that really caught my eyes were their "king" bettas. From what I've read, "King" is just what they call giant bettas. Some folks don't think they are while others do. I reead a post from someone that had "giant" bettas and also had these "king" ones and said at full size, they were all the same size give or take just a little. 

Anywho, they had 2 of these kings. One was a dark deep blue color. BIG BIG male. The other... a koi type of coloring and he's the one I got.
Big beefy boy who is already like.. double body size of my female. He's about the length of my pinky finger.
He's super beef and such a pretty guy.

My recently turned 3yo named him Fish  lol My hubs wants it's name to be Steve lol

















The 5g tank still looks pretty scraggly. I left the lights off the 4 days we were gone to try to keep the algae from taking over. That hair algae still showed up on everything. Maybe not as bad as it would have.
Water is cloudy b/c I did a water change before putting in the betta









Thankfully it looks like the crypts are doing ok overall. Not too much melting going on.
Oh and I also bought a little pack of aponogeton bulbs and plopped them in to this tank. Hoping they'll grow to give the new guy more surface cover to blow lots of happy bubble nests in.
He was the typical betta in a new tank though.
Looked around at everything. Flared a few times and then looked for food. I gave him a couple of pellets but nothing much yet.

Other tanks were fine for the most part after vacation.
I did find one of the rasbora dead in the 40g. That was weird.
I thought it was one of the baby cories at first. Only saw the tail sticking out from under a plant, but nope.. one of the rasbora. It was pretty scrawny, but not eating for 4 days shouldn't have been a big deal. /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Keeping an eye on ammonia in the 5g. So far so good. Yellow with no hint of green, but now that he's getting fed regularly, I'll have to check it often for a little bit just to make sure.

I've reduced lighting on the tank to see if it helps keep algae under control. Really hoping the bulbs I bought grow. I know those will help to suck up the nutrients from the algae.

Things are good though.

Fish is a lot more personable that Superman was. Comes up to the front of the tank whenever he sees someone to beg for food. 
I read somewhere that someone thinks the "King" bettas are just fully grown slightly larger than normal plakats. Hey.. that's fine with me. Adult bettas need good homes too. 
Lol, dunno if that's true or not, but just thought it was interesting that no one knows lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I dunno what is going on with my 40g and the snails. Just more and more dead ones for apparently no reason. I've been testing the water here and there, but it's perfect. No fluctuations or anything that I've caught. The tank gets fed plenty. I either feed a lot in one go or will do a sprinkle of flakes in the morning with a few shrimp pellets at night. So the snails shouldn't be starving or anything like that.
I don't understand why they would be dying like this.

The fish for the most part seem to be ok though. Spotted a lot of the baby cories today. The older ones have gotten so big now and I spotted one of the newer little ones. The cories did lay more eggs the other day (they're all gone now). Not ready to raise more just yet but soon... maybe lol.

The tank is.. meh though. LOTS of BBA and the last of my water hyacinth is dead. Just not getting the lighting it needs. Too bad b/c it was a really pretty floating plant to have.
I just can't get this tank balanced for the life of me.
I know why there is BBA all over the place. Since I haven't been doing weekly water changes, it threw things off. But the other algae.. I just can't get rid of. I reduce the lighting and it slows it down but doesn't get rid of it. I reduce how much ferts I put in but that doesn't do anything.... I dunno.
More plants?? There are already a lot, but a lot of them are slow growers too.
I think... since this tank is open top... take more advantage of that and get plants that will grow out of the water. 
Thinking about either putting the tall sword from th 125 and putting it in the corner... or waiting for the regular amazon sword to throw out a runner and taking one of the new plants and putting it in the corner to grow out of the tank. Or maybe both. Put the tall sword on one side of the filter and a regular amazon in the corner. Might do that actually and might help suck up nutrients from whatever is going on with the tank.

















My pretty girl, but you can see all the poor algae covered anubias below her. I think I need to move it all to an area that gets less light. Like under the potato









125 is how it usually is.... just once again covered in BBA lol. Always going to be a struggle it seems. Need to dose metricide again but be more careful with it. Try to get it under control without poisoning my fish.









And 5g is still growing algae like crazy even with a big reduction in lighting time. I might try to do the same thing in this one that I plan for the 40. Get some sort of plant that will grow out of the water. Something that will help keep the algae under control maybe. 
In the meantime, just gotta suck it all out.
Phish is going well though. Not shy at all and comes to the front of the tank begging for food.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water change in the 5g today. Phish actually took it all pretty well. Freaked out some but overall didn't freak out a ton. lol
Good Phishy 
Used an air hose most of the time so I could suck out the algae without ripping up the plants and taking out too much of the water before getting as much algae as possible. Then used a regular hose to take a little more water out (and promptly took up a couple of small crypts).
I also took the tall sword out of the 125 and put it in this tank. With the limited space in this tank, I thought this would be a better fit since it would be mostly stems in the water while the small leaves grow out of it. Really happy with the results and I hope it does well. Need to buy more fertilizer and make more root tablets.

















And bonus photo of the 40. Still trying to figure out what kind of plant to get for this one that will hopefully grow out and do well. I really want something that looks like an amazon sword growing out. Nothing stem-y and floppy that would need support.

The potato is doing extremely well as you can see. Some vines die off but others flourish. No rotting or anything and the roots grow super fast after I trim them. Need to trim again all over the place.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Started metricide dosing yesterday w/ water change. Just a tiny amount that I used to do. It seemed to help before without messing up anything. It's about 1/4 of a c worth. Going to try it for a week or will stop it if it looks like the fish are being affected by it.
The BBA in the tank isn't that bad YET. Well.. no.. it's bad, but not like completely terrible. lol

The 3 new compacta swords that I planted are growing like crazy. I really wish they stayed this small. It would be a much more popular plant if it did b/c they're gorgeous little things.

















I took out a TON of duckweed in the 125. SO much of it grows in 2 weeks time. Decided to take a photo after I took out the majority of it b/c I'm interested to see how much has grown by the time I do another change.

















I did a little bit of rearranging in the 40g. Took up all the anubias at the front right corner and dipped them all (just the leaves) in a metricide water mixture. Hope it helps to kill the BBA on them b/c I'm not dosing this tank with it.
I then moved them to the back left corner where it's shaded by the potato plant.








You can see all the furry leaves. I should've tried cleaning more off but it would've taken forever and I was impatient lol.

There were a few stem plants free floating that I planted in the spot the anubias were in.
Still looks like a giant algae mess.. and it is, but oh well. I think these plants will benefit from being more in the light than where they were.









I also found a surprise wisteria in the 40 as I was cleaning it! I completely forgot that I had even saved any of it until I saw it and was shocked that there was some still alive lol.
So I uprooted the little stem and planted it in the right corner. 








I still need to get to the store to buy more fert, but I did by a little pack of root tabs off amazon to try out. Will put one under this and I'm going to let it grow out of the tank. 
Also thinking about removing the sponge filter and moving the little fake decor and putting a clay pot w/ a plant where those are. Put some of the eco complete in it along w/ some root tablets etc and see how something grows in it. Get a new amazon sword from petsmart or something. Something that was already grown above water so it should do fine with that type of set up. I dunno... still debating.

And a photo of my pretty girl from above


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Most, including myself that use met as an agaecide would recommend much higher doses..

1/2C.cC/gal if you are serous about getting rid of bba..

Trickle amounts just annoy it.. 

Only need to dose every other day for about a week..
YMMV..


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

jeffkrol said:


> Most, including myself that use met as an agaecide would recommend much higher doses..
> 
> 1/2C.cC/gal if you are serous about getting rid of bba..
> 
> ...


Yeah, using more would definitely work, but when I used more before, I think it may have killed my fish so I'm just experimenting to see if this smaller dose will help do anything.
This is the dose I used to do couple years ago when the tank had no algae problems in it. /shrugs
Just trying it out and if it doesn't work... well then I'll know


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## Desert Pupfish (May 6, 2019)

Do you have any algae-eating critters besides the snails? Oto cats do a great job, but you might not have enough space for those in a betta tank. I got some cheap ghost shrimp from Petco that really help keep the plants clean, and will also feed on any dead leaves you might miss when cleaning. The ghost shrimp are usually about 1" or so when you get them, and will grow to about 2". Not sure if your betta would find them a tasty snack, but at 50¢ each it might be worth a shot.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

lisals said:


> Yeah, using more would definitely work, but when I used more before, I think it may have killed my fish so I'm just experimenting to see if this smaller dose will help do anything.
> This is the dose I used to do couple years ago when the tank had no algae problems in it. /shrugs
> Just trying it out and if it doesn't work... well then I'll know



Well to b honest (and really contrary to many heavy dosers even more than my recommendation) I did, once, kills some fish.
2 Buenos Ares Tetras that already had a bad case of columnaris and a CAE (yellow/white type).


Other than that.. Tiger barbs, angels, guppies, platys, red blue tetras, green tetras, albino cory, parrot cichlid, african cichlid, zebra dainos, bladder snails, olive nerites.. no issues..
The "kill" may have resulted from an accidental direct pour on top of them..

at least w/ the Algae eater..


Like I mentioned some "acclimate" inhabitants..


I certainly can't say it's perfectly safe..
Since everything is now in control I reserve "prophylactic" doses to being pre mixed w/ top off water.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, your potato has really grown like crazy. I bet the anubias will do better under its shade. Maybe you should get some livebearers- platies or swordtails- or a flagfish. They eat algae. I also wonder to ask, are you careful to do a water change after uprooting/replanting those swords etc? Stirring up stuff from the substrate could add a lot of ammonia and nitrates into your water column, which feeds the alage.

Your female betta is very pretty. The new guy is, too (although I've never been partial to the marbled or koi types myself).


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Desert Pupfish said:


> Do you have any algae-eating critters besides the snails? Oto cats do a great job, but you might not have enough space for those in a betta tank. I got some cheap ghost shrimp from Petco that really help keep the plants clean, and will also feed on any dead leaves you might miss when cleaning. The ghost shrimp are usually about 1" or so when you get them, and will grow to about 2". Not sure if your betta would find them a tasty snack, but at 50¢ each it might be worth a shot.


In the 5g, it's just the betta. I don't know how he'd act around them, but with how actively he searches for food, I think I have a good idea of what would happen lol. Tempted to buy some sort of snail for his tank, but again, I'd be afraid he would attack it...plus the tank only has an egg crate for a top so a snail could easily get out if it wanted.

Bump:


jeffkrol said:


> Well to b honest (and really contrary to many heavy dosers even more than my recommendation) I did, once, kills some fish.
> 2 Buenos Ares Tetras that already had a bad case of columnaris and a CAE (yellow/white type).


Yeah I can't 100% say that the metricide killed some fish, but it did happen during a time when I was heavily dosing the tank. I would just rather not heavily dose if I don't have to. Hopefully this smaller dose actually helps and causes no issues with my remaining fish, but time will tell.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> Wow, your potato has really grown like crazy. I bet the anubias will do better under its shade. Maybe you should get some livebearers- platies or swordtails- or a flagfish. They eat algae. I also wonder to ask, are you careful to do a water change after uprooting/replanting those swords etc? Stirring up stuff from the substrate could add a lot of ammonia and nitrates into your water column, which feeds the alage.
> 
> Your female betta is very pretty. The new guy is, too (although I've never been partial to the marbled or koi types myself).


I would like to get more fish for my 40 and 125... eventually. Other than some planned fish (like more dojo loaches and getting more otos) I don't really have a plan for what type of fish I would want. Something that would eat algae would be nice though so maybe livebearers 

Yep, I was doing a water change when I took the anubias up and moved things around and did a water change in the 125 the day after I uprooted the sword to move to my 5g. So i managed to suck up any stuff that was trapped under the plants or in the substrate 

I'll have to check nitrate before next water change to see what it is. I don't think ammonia is the problem, but nitrate could be an issue.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok, so the first little pack of plant ferts I bought. I should've read the reviews on it first. Seems like people were getting ammonia spikes after using them. No thanks! I'll save them for something else. Maybe just use them in my little window jar.
Saw a post on FB that was asking about ferts and a lot of people were suggesting Thrive so off I go to Amazon to buy some.
Bought a 60c bottle of the root tablets and I've put some in the tanks. Will see how well it does. I want to put a couple more here and there in the 40 and 125.

I put one underneath my big noideawhatitsnameis crypt, b/c I want this plant to just get tons of leaves and look gorgeous!









Also put one underneath the ozelot sword. Need to scoot it forward just a little.









I'll put another root tab under the big amazon, the big compacta and then 2 or 3 under the crypt area. That should be fine for right now.

The moss in the 125 has gone crazy. I took out a big handful of it last water change and it's still growing on everything.

















You can see the BBA still holding strong lol. I wouldn't care about it if it just stuck to the artificial stuff. Free camouflage  It's just when it starts growing on leaves that it starts looking bad imo.

I also put a tablet under the wisteria. Wisteria is liking its new spot and seems to already be growing better.









Also put one under the water lily b/c I would like for this plant to send up more surface leaves more frequently. Hoping the extra fert will help with that.








It was already sending a new one up when I added the tablet. Perfect pretty little leaf









Also added a tablet under some of the dwarg sag and somewhere else that I don't remember lol. Maybe under some of the stems? I dunno. Want to add 2 under the groups of anubias. Will be doing that next water change.

Water change in the 5g today. SO much algae builds up in a week.
Sorry for the cruddy photo. Lights out for the tank when I was cleaning it. You can still see a good portion of the algae.
















Thankfully Phish doesn't seem to mind it and always comes to the front to beg for some food.

The sword plant isn't doing too great. Going from being out of water, then back in to the water and finally adjusting to it to back out of the water. It's going to need some help which is why I added a tablet under it.
The out of water leaves are crispy on the edges and obviously dying. So I hope the fert will help it grow some new leaves ASAP.









Also added 2 more tablets to the 5. One in the middle of the compacta swords and one in the middle of the crypts. Even though algae is all over them, they all look like they're slowly but surely finally acclimating to the new setup.

AND... I need to do some major cleaning in the sunroom bc my husband jokingly said I could have more aquariums as soon as we get it cleaned and the exercise stuff out of my "aquarium room". Uhm.. scuse me? You don't joke about that b/c you best believe I'm gonna take it seriously and jump at the opportunity to have more tanks!! I don't really need to buy more though. I have my 10g for quarantine and we have a 25? or something gallon old bow front. But even just getting something from petco during their dollar per gallon. 
Oh... hubby don't know the door he just opened. MUAHAHAHAHAHA
Shrimp tank, guppy/livebearer tank, some other crap I haven't thought of tank... here I come!!!!! More plants, more algae and headaches but.. I don't care! lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes in the big tanks and an unpleasant surprise

Was doing a water change in the 40 and took the top off the HOB filter b/c I have to mess with it to get it to restart correctly after I unplug it.
See 3 stringy red things and I poke at them w/ my tweezers and.. they move.









I'm pretty sure these are the same things as what was in the quarantine tank. IF it is, I have no clue how it transferred over unless these things were already in my 40 and I just never noticed them before. 
I'm hesitant to say it, but I don't think they're parasites. They're just too big to be. If they were in any of the fish in this tank, those fish would be bursting at the seams. They're just too big to fit... I THINK. I could be wrong and they could actually be those callamanus worms though. 
I have no idea what they are though. COULD be detritus worms from what I've been looking up. Show up b/c of overfeeding and I definitely do in my big tanks. Going to cut way way down on food and see how it goes.

















If anyone has any idea what these could be.. please let me know. I bought some parasite meds just in case. I don't want to use it unless I have to though.
There were also smaller clear colored ones in the filter too. /shrugs

I sat and tried to get a good look at every fish I could to see if there were any worms poking out of their butts, but I didn't see anything. Difficult to see on cories of course, but the few I did get a good look at looked ok.
I managed to get some bad photos of some of the babies though. They're getting so big!

















So yeah.. hopefully not parasites and it is just some harmless worm that showed up b/c of overfeeding. Will have to do a good filter cleaning. Should've done it today but discovering the worms really skeeved me out.

I also remembered to check nitrates before filling the tank back up and it was at about an 80. So.. pretty high and I'm sure that high b/c of the overfeeding. I did spot a couple of small snails still alive in this tank though so, there's hope! lol
Just have to remember to not feed as much as I was. 

And b/c she's just so pretty and deserves some photos posted.. my lady betta looking all gorgeous and being so photogenic

































I also added a few more root tablets throughout the tank. So hopefully I'll start seeing better growth soon.

125 still looking ok. Not great, but not too bad either. Haven't dosed metricide in a couple of days. Just giving it a rest right now. Also put in more root tablets and scooted the ozelot sword up just a little. Nothing drastic.
OH! But I did buy 2 plants for it off etsy. Red tiger lotus and madagascar lace. They'll be going on the left side of the tank. I may have to remove some crypts but I can just put those in to the 40g. Hoping to get those in later this week 

Tiger barbs









How much duckweed grew in a week


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I forgot to mention. I think DH gave me the go ahead to buy more fish! LOL... At least.. that's how I'm taking it!
When I was venting about the worms I found and what they could be, I mentioned the detritus worms and why they show up and his response was "You don't have enough fish in that tank. You need more." Uhm... scuse me??? Who are you and what did you do with my husband???

Not getting fish just yet. I'm going to buy another filter and let it run on the 125 for the quarantine tank. That way there should not be ANY reason why ammonia builds up in it after putting fish in to it. I already have the filter that was on the quarantine on the 40 (it was dried out since I stopped that tank AND I cleaned it extremely well and replaced all the media with new stuff). I just want extra filtration if I have to medicate or something.
And yeah... I think that's it for now.
Will get one ordered and will write down all the fish I'd like to get and hope the fish place can get them for me


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... I found 3 or possibly 4 (not sure if there are 2 stuck together) more of the worms in my filter.
I think I'm about 60% sure they're not parasitic and they are in fact sludge worms which means I'm definitely doing a filter cleaning soon. They should be relatively harmless, but indicate that I'm way overfeeding which I've already reduced the amount I've been feeding.
You can see how long these things are on my finger and this is after they contracted back in some. The thicker parts (like the one on the left) is just where they were doubled over.









Asked on facebook again if anyone had any ideas and apparently a lot of people have no idea what bloodworms look like b/c quite a few suggested that lol.
But one person that did have experience with callamanus worms said that these definitely don't look like those, so that helped put my mind at ease some.

So yeah... hopefully I'm right and these are harmless.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got my order of the parasite medication in.... plus 11 more to make 12 total.
I had to double check the order to make sure I didn't accidentally order that many lol. Nope. They just sent me 11 extra.
SIGH... now I have to return them bc ya know.. that's what good people do or something something lol.
Seriously though. They'd just end up going to waste. 12 containers w/ 3 packets each of anti-parasite medication. Guess it would be good for quarantining... dern. Should've said I only had 10 or 9 extra  lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Early water change in the 5g. 
This is less than a week of algae growth.









I know it's not an overfeeding thing. It's totally just the lights. Need to get some metal rods so I can get the light up off of it. Get it situated higher up and hopefully that will help. 
Would've gotten an after shot but it's mid day lights out time. I sucked out as much as I possibly could though. Also cut off all but 2 of the bigger swords leaves. All the ones out of the water were basically dead. There is a new leaf growing. Want the plant to focus its energy on that one. Hopefully any new leaves that emerge will do better.

I think the Thrive root tablets are working.
I've never seen this crypt have this many new leaves at once.









Dwarf lily is sending up a new leaf too. But look at all that algae around it. Sheeeeeesh. Darn BBA is such a PITA!! I'm sure my overfeeding before wasn't helping anything. I'll have to remember to check nitrates again when doing next water change. Maybe do a larger one if they're as high as they were before.









Sweet potato and pothos like it all though.









Still waiting to get my tiger lotus and lace plant. No idea if they've ever been shipped yet. Supposed to be getting it by this weekend I think? If I don't will contact next tuesday


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Before I head to bed... few more photos.

Cute little cory found itself a shrimp pellet

















And after the water change and lights came back on.
Obviously couldn't get all the algae out, but I think I did a decent job getting a lot of it.









Only one of the aponogeton bulbs is growing. The other 2 having gotten fuzz on them yet though so leaving them in for now.









And always begging for food. Big beefy Phish
















Really curious to see if his colors change like a lot of koi types do

Oh and I did contact the plant seller about my plants. Got one saying that he was backed up some which was fine, but then got an email saying my order was shipped and I should get it by Friday. So yay for that I guess lol.
Hopefully with the weather cooled down just a little, the plants will get to me healthy. FX!
Reading more about the lace plant. I may have to move the little power head to blow right on to the plant... or move the compacta sword to the left side and put the lace plant in front of the filter outlet.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Well I royally F-ed up.
So I got in the new filter yesterday. GREAT! Time to set it up really quick and I can take this ugly algae covered sponge filter out finally and unplug this loud air pump! WOO!

Did the usual thing this morning and spotted a cory laying on its back breathing heavy. 
All the other cories were also not really moving much and not going after the food as they normally would.
Hmm.... Bad off cory looked to have injured itself on its back area. Ok... but then I noticed one of the smaller cories flicking. Uh oh. Parasites? No.... so...
Checked ammonia and HOLY CRAP... It was almost the 8 reading color. Dark dark green.
WTF????

There are still 2 cycled filters on this tank. WHY did the ammonia jump up this flipping high??? I don't understand.
Thankfully I hadn't thrown away the sponge filter and the sponges were still pretty wet so I'm hoping whatever bacteria on them is still mostly alive. Also with the new filter, there was a cartridge that said it helped to take out ammonia. I moved some of the ceramic rings out of the way to make room for that. 

I don't understand why the ammonia got that high. I could kind of understand a small ammonia spike. Like a very small one if any, b/c like I said... still 2 cycled filters on this tank with a lot of ceramic rings in both of them. Anyone have any ideas???
I'm so ticked off at myself for underestimating just how important the sponge filter was.

I did a HUGE water change and sucking up the food I had just put in. Took out everything except for about 2 inches of water. The remaining cories perked up once the fresh water hit the tank.
I didn't know what to do for the bad off one. Didn't want to keep it in the cup I had it in, but didn't want to put it back in to the 40 in case the ammonia shot back up again.
So I put it in to my DIY mesh thing and stuck it in the 125 with the powerhead blowing in to it.
Hoping with stable mature water going through that it will help it heal. I doubt it, but I can hope for the best at least.

I can't test ammonia again. Out of the solution for it and of course I can't go to the store to get another b/c my youngest has a stomach bug this morning. I ordered another off amazon so should get that in a couple of days. 
I'll dose with Prime and will do more large water changes until I can check it again.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So according to some folks... apparently my sponge filter was housing most of the beneficial bacteria. I don't understand why the HOBs aren't doing their jobs then?? Are ceramic rings in them just not effective enough?? 
Maybe I should put the weird cottony cartridges back in to them?? At least along with the ceramic media??
I dunno but I'm so worried about the tank right now.
I hate not being able to test the water. I'm probably going to dose the tank with prime a few times today until I do another wter change tomorrow.

And bad off cory is still hanging in there, but not doing any better. Obviously need to give it more time to hopefully recover. Hopefully.....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

UUUgh. So still ammonia this morning.. There was just enough solution left to test it again.
Reading was about 2-4.
I added prime to the tank all day yesterday and then a good bit before bed too. Seems to be helping b/c fish look ok as far as I can see. Can tell that something is wrong though bc the snails that are left in the tank were climbing the glass.

About to do another big water change today and just hope whatever bacteria is in the tank hurries up and multiplies again.
Still so ticked off that this happened. 2 flipping filters going and not enough bacteria in either one of them. Guess the sponge filter is in there for good.

I'm probably going to have to euthanize the bad off cory. Still alive but the weird injured marks on it looks like it has spread. I dunno if it was just the ammonia spike that did something to it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... one more update.
I euthanized the cory. Its tail was looking terrible and poor thing was suffering.

All other fish as far as I can see still look ok in the 40.
Did a massive water change and also took the opportunity to clean out some of the gunk from the filters. But of course it spewed some of it back in to the 40 after I turned the filters back on. Hopefully that doesn't cause any problems... but it could. I'll try rechecking ammonia later today if there is enough solution left.
Will be dosing prime throughout the day again too.

Rearranged some of the ceramic rings in the older smaller filter and put in one of the cotton fiber cartridges in to it. Anything to add more bacteria to.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

OK... definitely don't have enough ammonia test stuff left. Used the very last bit of it to test the water again.
Test came up to show about 0.50-1 now. So that's a little better at least.

Just got back from Petsmart. I wanted to see if they had anything that could possibly help with the ammonia and I also got impatient and bought an ammonia test too. I guess always good to have backup right? lol
I bought this stuff..... whether or not it helps.. we'll see. I saw something on amazon from Seachem called Pristine. Some sort of bacteria that helps to clean up gunk. Saw this stuff and thought maybe it could be the same thing?









I also bought this....








I know it's not true aquatic. Hell, it even says so on the label lol.
I got it b/c well.. it's pretty and I'm really hoping that it will be like the potato/pothos. Where the roots will grow in to the water.
It cost $10 and had 7 plants in it









Put 2 in the 40 until I can figure out somewhere else to put them









2 in the back part of the 5g









And then I cut off a little piece of egg crate and put the remaining ones in my jar by the window (jar is so full of algae right now)









Sooo.. yeah... hopefully they do well. I think it would be absolutely gorgeous if these did grow well and grew to be big beautiful ferns on my aquariums. Can you imagine??
We'll see though. Hopefully I didn't waste $10 lol

And just b/c... the bamboo I took out of the tanks and stuck in a jar by the window. They're doing pretty well I think 









Got home to my ordered plants in the mailbox. They seemed ok and came with a cold pack so I appreciate that. (bought them off an Etsy seller, I'm sure they would pop up if you looked for red tiger lotus on it)
Both plants looked a little beat up, but overall not bad.
Tiger lotus I THINK is 3 plants. Like 3 coming out of the same bulb. The smallest one was already separate from the other 2. I just left the other 2 together









Bad photo of the little one I put in to the 40. Will move it somewhere else if it survives. Maybe move around things in the 40 to accommodate it if it does well.









The lace plant was pretty huge. A few leaves melting but I think that's to be expected. I took one off but kept the other on along with the healthier looking leaves. I'll end up snipping it off in a few days. Just want to give it a chance to acclimate a little in the aquarium.









Both plants had really healthy roots though so I'm hoping they will do well in my tanks 

And finally a giant trumpet snail I saw and my finger to show how big it is. Still doesn't do that thing justice.
The tip of the shell looked deficient though. May have to buy invert specific foods or something.










Oh I also moved the powerhead down some so it would blow on to the lace plant. I also bought another one off amazon so I could still have one at the surface of the tank too.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

Wow a lot going on in this right now. Probably a big hit to your bacteria colony when you removed the sponge I agree. Keep up with water changes and try to keep the tank as clean as possible. Hope it all gets better!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah.... huge huge mistake on my part and I feel terrible about putting my fish through this.

Thankfully it looks like maybe the bacteria could be catching up.. at least a little bit. I just checked ammonia again and it's a definite 0.5 reading now which is less than what it was when I checked it earlier. Definite lighter green color so thank goodness. Will continue to dose prime through the day and see what I'm dealing with tomorrow.

Bad news... the ferns are all slumped over & limp and look terrible. In their little tube, it was nice and humid for them. Outside of it with just their roots in water... not so humid.
I hope they'll recover.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

About to do some water changes.

Slightly good news. Ammonia test is slowly slowly going down. Did another big change yesterday. Was still a 0.5 reading even after it which was weird b/c that's what it was before the water change.
But test this morning is lighter green and between 0.25 and 0.5. So it's slowly going down. Doing another big change in it today as usual schedule. Fish in the tank seem to be hanging in there ok.

Few new pics for a new month.
All of the water changes has really cleared up the tank. Or maybe it's that bacteria stuff... but probably the water changes lol. I don't think the water has been this clear since I first set it up.









These stem plants are doing really well in this spot. They collect a lot of debris though so I often have to shake them off during water changes.









I just love the left side of the tank though. Well... once the roots have been trimmed some. It gives the fish a lot of cover and the lower light plants underneath can grow well without getting algae all over them.









Couple pics from the 125
One of the loaches chilling on its bed of moss and cabomba. They love this spot and I can't blame them. Looks comfy! 









Underside of the big mystery crypt. Photo doesn't do it justice. It's such a pretty purple color. Wish the tops of the leaves looked like this too









Bad photo of where I put the lace plant and lotus. Might try moving more of the crypts out of the way, or keep it like this and hope the new plants don't get completely overwhelmed. 









And 4 days of algae growth in the 5g. Good grief! lol I'll be doing another water change tomorrow. Hoping to go to home depot today to get something to lift the light up.









And yeah... $10 wasted. DON'T buy that peacock fern unless it's going in to a humid spot. That's how they're raised, that's what they like. Gonna see if I have a jar I can plant them in w/ the lid lightly on it to keep moisture in. See if I can save any of them (doubt it, they're all dried).
Also will look to see what home depot has if we go. Maybe they'll have some sort of plant I can add that doesn't need high humidity


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Okedoke.

Water changes done in the big tanks.

Ammonia is definitely 0.25 which is an improvement.








Hours after the water change and it has lightened up more. Hopefully it's even more yellow tomorrow. If it is and it doesn't go up anymore by noon, I'm going to just leave it and dose Prime. Check is the day after and take it from there.

A few of the adult cories were schooling with the larger juvenile ones for some reason. Was just neat to see. Tried getting a photo but well









I also got a 1gallon jar (I have a lot of them), put some of the eco complete in it b/c we don't have any potting soil, along with a couple of root tabs. Planted all but 2 of the ferns in it. I left the 2 on the 5g b/c I'm curious to see if they survive. They're very very limp, but ya never know.
Filled it with some tank water. Enough to submerge them a little but if they perk up, then their top leaves will be above water.









And yeah...
125 still looking ok. BBA hasn't gotten too much worse. Maybe a little more on some of the crypt leaves, but it's basically the same as it was before. 









I have an idea for a tank, but I'm not sure what I could put in to it.
Maybe get another 40 breeder, but I'd want a proper glass hood for it. That way I could do a paludarium?? set up. I'm not sure if that's the right term.
Have most of the tank water, but only have it half or so filled and have a little island with a big fern or some sort of plant on it. Was thinking maybe some sort of freshwater crabs? But I'm not sure if those would make use of the island. I would want something that would go out of the water and in it. Or something that could live on the island and then something that lives in the water. I dunno. It's not happening any time soon lol. But I really love the idea.

Oh and no home depot today. Should be going tomorrow though.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Wow, it looks a whole lot better now! Love seeing your dojo loach chilling on the moss- yeah, he looks comfy. I've always liked the idea of a paludrium myself, too, but don't think I'll ever actually set one up.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Okedoke.
So I couldn't find any plants at home depot. They had peace lilies, but they were HUGE and $20. I don't want a big one. I'd rather something small for now that will eventually grow huge lol.
I also bought the small metal rods for the 5g light. Think they were 3ft long and only cost just under $3 each. Also got a pair of heavy duty pliers to help bend them.

Was kind of bummed about the plants, so when we got home, I looked up some of the other ones I wrote down. Chinese evergreen. Turns out... I think I already have it. A LOT of it! My mother gave it to me years ago. I had no idea what it was. lol








It's a bit leggy b/c I didn't really water it regularly, but it survived and is definitely thriving now that I am watering it more frequently.
There are about 6+ plants in this pot AND it's a good thing they're leggy too b/c it means the leaves will be out of the water.









I was thinking about putting it in to the 40 at first, but it's not tall enough and I just don't have a spot.
So decided that the 5g is where it's going.
I moved some of the crypts and made a big space for it in the back corner. I Also had to cut out a little hole in the egg crate and had to trim the roots way down bc they're really thick and big.
I also added a bit more eco complete substrate around it.









After a lot of cursing b/c tiny metal rods are still difficult as hell to bend.... I managed to come up with a really ugly awkward..... thing for the light to sit up higher. It looks really unstable, but (no idea how) I managed to get it to sort of clamp on to the side some so it's not going anywhere without someone coming and moving it on purpose.
























The leaves from the chinese evergreen shades the left side which is fine since it's all crypts and the aponogeton.

Lol... it's not pretty but it will do.

Oh and I tested the nitrates for the 5g while I did a small water change and they're SO high. I don't understand why. I definitely don't overfeed and there were a few dying leaves here and there, but most of them are ok. Not really doing great lol, but not dying either. So... /shrugs
Guess that explains why the algae grows so darn quick in this tank too. Hopefully with the light up higher, more shade and the new plant in it, algae won't be a problem anymore. FX for that!


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## Desert Pupfish (May 6, 2019)

lisals said:


> Okedoke.
> So I couldn't find any plants at home depot. They had peace lilies, but they were HUGE and $20. I don't want a big one. I'd rather something small for now that will eventually grow huge lol.
> I also bought the small metal rods for the 5g light. Think they were 3ft long and only cost just under $3 each. Also got a pair of heavy duty pliers to help bend them.
> 
> ...


Serendipitous find with the Chinese evergreen. Did you want it in the 5g to soak up nitrates? If so, I'm wondering if it'd do so more efficiently if the roots are just in the water, and not planted in the substrate?

Bummer that they didn't have small peace lilies. Anthuriums are often grown hydroponically, and you can often find them small in various colors. Just wash the soil off the roots, and stick the roots in the water. Same with the ornamental sweet potato plants sold at most garden centers--they come in a lime green/chartreuse color, and a purple-black. Or you can just put cuttings in the water.

Golden creeping jenny is sold as both an aquarium plant & garden plant, and grows well spilling over the side of the tank. Purple waffle plant is also often sold as an aquarium plant, but grows better out of the water. As will any emergent plant--once they breach the surface they'll grow quicker with more access to light & CO2, while sucking nutrients out of the tank. 

Good luck!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Desert Pupfish said:


> Serendipitous find with the Chinese evergreen. Did you want it in the 5g to soak up nitrates? If so, I'm wondering if it'd do so more efficiently if the roots are just in the water, and not planted in the substrate?
> 
> Bummer that they didn't have small peace lilies. Anthuriums are often grown hydroponically, and you can often find them small in various colors. Just wash the soil off the roots, and stick the roots in the water. Same with the ornamental sweet potato plants sold at most garden centers--they come in a lime green/chartreuse color, and a purple-black. Or you can just put cuttings in the water.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for the info 
Yeah a lot of the roots were at the very bottom of the stem, but see the little nubs right above the substrate? Those were roots coming in. I can always pull it up some too though b/c I would like it to start sucking up the excess nitrates. It's just flopping all around right now which is mostly why I put it in the substrate. But I guess once the roots start growing, they'll probably naturally grow down in to the substrate anyway..... I'll pull it up some this weekend. Just want it to acclimate a little first 

I'll have to look around for a peace lily. I used to have one that was years old, but managed to kill it (putting it outside so it got burned by the sun it wasn't used to and just... stupidity on my part) :\ I think it would look awesome either growing out of the 40 or out of the top of the 125.


In horribly frustrating news. So since I added in the evergreen... I wanted to test ammonia just in case.
Holy crap I was not expecting the result I got.
The ammonia is so high in the tank that the result was BLUE. Like a deep deep dark aqua green/blue color. I've seen high results before, but NEVER that high. I don't know how my poor Phish survived.
The ammonia wouldn't have gotten that high over night so I think the tank wasn't cycled to begin with and the ammonia was just slowly building up.
How it wasn't cycled??? I have no GD clue and I'm truly sick of this crap.
These ceramic rings are not working at all in my HOB filters. I'm so frustrated right now. So completely frustrated.
I guess I didn't test ammonia long enough when I got him or else I would've caught it when it first started going up.
And yeah, I understand I took out a lot of BB when I changed the substrate, but would've thought an ammonia reading would've showed up before this which it didn't. And shouldn't the filter have been holding a lot of the BB?? Keeping the media in water while I redid the tank (which only took a couple of hours) shouldn't have done much of anything.

Took out a lot of the ceramic rings and some crap sponges I had shoved in to it and added in cotton fiber filter stuff. It's not the best stuff in the world, but I never had a problem w/ cycling tanks using it before.
I'm just..... beyond frustrated at this point.

Obviously did a large water change. Got ammonia down to about a 2 now. UGH...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Uuuuugh.
Ok so I couldn't leave the 5g with that high of ammonia so did another big water change.
Took some photos while I did.

First up, the sword plant is finally growing a leaf that is emerging from the water. Yay 








You can see it poking out right at the top of the photo








Doesn't look completely healthy though. Might be b/c of the high ammonia or maybe something else. Hopefully newer leaves look better and this won't be a common theme.

The CE (chinese evergreen) also looks like the little nubby roots have already grown a tiny amount.
I did pull it up a little, but apparently did it a bit too much b/c it completely fell over so now no roots are in the substrate. Oh well. I'm sure once it starts to grow, the roots will grow down in to it.









I also did another water change on the 40. Ammonia had jumped up just a tiny amount. More green again instead of more yellow. Still only a 0.25-0.5 reading but that's still an increase.
It's still good though that it hadn't jumped up a lot. Will take that to mean the bacteria is slowly trying to build back up. Just wish it would hurry the heck up.

UUUUGH I'm so tired of these mess ups. Crap that shouldn't have been IMO but still managed to happen anyway.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

About to do another water change in the 5g.
It looks nice though. Really liking the dimmer light in the tank and the big CE growing out of it. Just need to get the ammonia in control while the tank cycles or whatever the heck it's going to do.









Anubias area in the 40 is looking good and look! One of the 2 remaining otos 
You can see the dead BBA on the anubias on the left. Not really worried about it for now.









The tiger lotus is doing SO well. Already straightened out and gotten bigger. It's so pretty. I can't wait for it to get bigger and look all gorgeous!

















I thought the lace plant wasn't doing well, but spotting this new stem popping up from it. So yay! 









Ammonia in 40g was closer to yellow this morning. Will see what it is tomorrow morning. FX for not greener and completely yellow!

Ammonia in 5g was still at about a 1 though. I had taken out some of the ceramic media and put them in the 40g HOB since there wasn't room in the 5g filter, but ended up just plopping them in to the tank. Figured that there should be some sort of bacteria on them so hopefully it will help.
I think I'm going to buy a bottle of some starter stuff. I know that crap usually doesn't work, but if it's cheap enough.. I'll try it out. Anything I can do to help.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

40g ammonia was still mostly yellow this morning. Good sign? Hopefully.
5g was still at a 1 though so another water change in it this morning.

The CE is loving it though. Already growing a new leaf!









Phish is looking ok though thank goodness. I still feel terrible for accidentally putting him through this. Just have to keep up with water changes while the tank cycles again. So annoying.
Was suggested that I should replace the ceramic media with sponges instead. I think the cotton fiber stuff will work for now and then down the road, I'll replace the ceramic rings with sponges instead. There's just no room in the filter for anything else right now.

Anywho.. photos of Phish!









Just noticed that he's colored up since I first got him.
When I first got him









Compared to now


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ammonia was a teeny bit higher in the 40 and the same in the 5.
I bought some Bio-Spira stuff off amazon to use. Figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out for $11. Added half to the 40 and half to the 5. Will see what happens. Also dosed each tank w/ a little more prime. 
So FX that it works and helps to cycle the tanks faster.

And spotted another stem from the lace plant coming up AND the lotus also looks bigger today! SO flipping happy. 2 plants I've always wanted.
Next plant is an aponogeton ulvaceous. But that won't be any time soon since I have nowhere to put a plant that gets that big.
I love its crinkly leaves though. So pretty!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

You could try aponogeton crispus, aponogeton capuronii or crypt balansae instead of the ulvaceous. The leaves are crinkle edged but skinnier. They do get just as tall though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> You could try aponogeton crispus, aponogeton capuronii or crypt balansae instead of the ulvaceous. The leaves are crinkle edged but skinnier. They do get just as tall though.


OO thank you for the suggestions! Those are really pretty ones that I didn't know about 
I really like the capuronii one. 
That crypt is pretty too. Will have to keep all of those in mind for the future 


So in... what the heck are my tanks doing now??... news....
cories in the 40 are lethargic.
Checked all parameters. Ammonia was still a little green, but ammonia hadn't gone up any more since I last checked it. 0 nitrites and about 30-40 nitrates.
Maybe just the ammonia finally getting to them since I hadn't been doing as many water changes since this all started.
I did do a big 90% one though. I wanted the bio-spira stuff to do its thing, but seeing my cories like that. I had to get some fresh water in the tank.

The bio-spira stuff seems to be working though. Ammonia in the betta tank was down to almost the same color as the 40. A tiny bit more green, but not by much. So yay for that. 

Hopefully since I put some of the bio-spira stuff in to the filters and not just the tank... it will still do its magic and get these tanks ok again.

Will end up doing another water change in the 40 tomorrow probably and just... hope for the best still. Hope that I won't wake up to more dead fish.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Found one of the older baby cories dead. Others still aren't doing well.
Not sure why but there is a lot of debris all over the place. Maybe uneaten food.
Dosed the tank with more prime. It's too late to do another water change so will be doing another tomorrow morning.
Really hoping I don't wake up to more dead fish.

My poor fish. So sorry I screwed up!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Cories were still lethargic this morning, but thankfully I didn't see any other dead ones. Did another large water change and they seemed to perk up a little.
Checked ammonia and it was at a 0.25. Probably b/c of all the uneaten food. I sucked up as much as I could this morning though and they're not getting fed today.
I dread to think what our water bill is going to be this month. Yeesh!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I think that Bio-Spira stuff actually worked.
Ammonia test in 5g and 40g were both down.
40g one looked yellow to me and 5g was almost completely yellow.
Cories in the 40 are acting normal again too.
I hope this means I can stop worrying about it now.

I'm definitely getting more of that Bio-Spira stuff again though. Not too expensive.
PHEW!
Can't relax just yet. Have to make sure, but still a huge relief that the ammonia hasn't gone up in either tank!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nothing much going on, just wanted to break up the wall of text.

Both the 40 and 5 seem to be stable w/ ammonia. Both yellow now thank goodness.

Brown algae bloom in the 5g, but bumping up the light and adding in the plant seems to be doing the trick to keeping the hair algae gone.









40g. BBA has gotten worse, but meh. Cories are back to acting normal thank goodness









Lace plant has grown a considerable amount. The 2 new leaves keep getting bigger. Haven't noticed any new stems coming up but it's still fairly new so not worried about it.









Lotus is also getting SO big. I can't get a good photo of it to save my life though. I can see it clear as day, but the camera just can't get a good photo lol









125 is doing ok. BBA is spreading though. I added a little when I did the water change, but I just don't like using metricide anymore. I'll live with the algae. I just think the metricide is hurting my fish. They always.... just don't seem right after using it.
Anyway, some dojo appreciation! 

















Pretty sure this one is completely blind or almost blind. Its eyes have been clouded over for a long time. No idea when it started. It eats just fine though as you can see by it's plump body 









Only have 5 dojos left and I really want to get more eventually. Would love the albino ones, but I'll take more regular colored ones too. 

Might start cycling the 10g quarantine again. Actually get ammonia to fishless cycle it steadily. Get it ready to get me some Xmas fish! lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I'm going to have to move that sword plant in the 5 back to the 125. The leaf out of the water is dying. Just not going to work out how I hoped.
It's either going to have to grow completely out of the water or completely in. No inbetween.

40 and 5g and both stable 0 ammonia. Thank goodness.
Cories were happy in the 40 too b/c there were A LOT of eggs. More than I collected and yep... I collected them.
They laid them behind the sponge filter. Was tempted to just leave them, but hey why not add in the stress of raising baby cories again?? lol 
I would like more of them though so that's why I set everything back up.
I had to set the louder air pump back up though. BLEH! Oh well.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I think my female betta might have a tumor. Thought it was just her stomach, but it's only one side that is bulging out and it looks like it's getting worse.
I'll try to get photos of it tomorrow. 
Worried though. She's not that old... or maybe she is. I don't know if she's grown since I've gotten her. Maybe she was already older when I did?
Still though.... worried about her.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Few photos

Water changes yesterday as usual.

5g is looking sooooo much better now w/ the light higher and the plant in it. I also took out the sword and put it in the 40g. It was looking really rough. Not sure it will make it.
Anywho, the hair algae is now under control. Still a little bit on the right side of the tank, but nowhere near the amount that was growing before. Hopefully the plants will start to thrive now that they're not being covered with algae.
Still some brown algae, but it hasn't gotten that bad. Not worried about it at all.

















All of the cory eggs that I had collected. Hopefully will start seeing some hatch soon.









The tiger lotus and lace plant have gotten so big! I love them both so much. Picture doesn't do this plant justice. It has a pretty purple color to it.









Tried getting a photo of the lace plant, but didn't manage to get a good one. It still only has its 2 leaves, but they've gotten huge. Really hoping to get more leaves soon 

I had a green barb die yesterday. Noticed it upside down where the loaches hang out. Fished it out and it died pretty quickly in the cup I had it in. No visible signs of something wrong with it. /shrugs
I dunno. Maybe it was just old and its time to go. No clue.

Other fish look ok for the most part. Some scrapes on one of the black ruby barbs but it was still eating and acting normal.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Small update..
None of the cory eggs were viable. Oh well. I did leave a couple in the tank though that may have hatched. FX that the babies survive. They were laid right by the fake ornament that has a ton of moss growing on it so hopefully if they did hatch, they went in to that so they can hide.

This was the 40 a couple of days ago. As you can see.. the let side was heavily shaded, so I did a massive trimming on the potato plant. Forgot to get photos. I took off a lot of the vines... a bit too many lol and trimmed the roots.









My betta girl still has the huge bump on her side. She's still acting normal and eating... so... I dunno. I can't really do anything for her other than just making sure she's living her best life for as long as she has left  UGH it's gonna be a sad day when this thing takes over.








She's still my pretty girl though

















5g is still doing well. Still brown algae everywhere, but that's ok. Better than BBA and that hair algae.









Phish is doing great and keeps coloring up more and more









The chinese evergreen is also doing well. That one leaf still hasn't grown more and opened up, but as you can see, the roots have grown a significant amount. Hopefully that means the actual plant/leaves will start to grow more









125 is still covered in BBA. Booo
Need to look up more on how to get rid of it WITHOUT using excel or peroxide. That's every single thing I've come up on. I really don't want to use either in the tank even though people swear by it.
If I can't find any other info, I'll use this one technique I saw someone post. He mixed peroxide w/ excel and while the water was down from a water change, he sprayed all of the BBA and it killed it all.
Might do that next water change.

Oh and yesterday my killifish got himself stuck in the water change hose. Just the intake part and thankfully didn't manage to get in to the actual hose itself. It traumatized him though and he hid for the rest of the day. He's ok.

And finally... the compacta swords had themselves a growth spurt recently. This big one got a lot of much bigger leaves.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Looking at reddit... looks like bettas get these tumors often. Damn horrible genetics. I guess that's to be expected when we want these super pretty nice looking bettas. Same with pure bred dogs. All of them have something horribly wrong that is common but they keep being bred and keep getting worse and worse.

Damnit.
I've only had her since Dec of last year and this tumor got that big in just a month! I'm sure the crappy water quality didn't help, but still.. UGH.

It's going to break my damn heart when I have to put her down.
She's ok for now, but with how quickly it is growing... I'm sure it's going to start impacting her soon


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just wanted to share how pretty Phish is from the top!!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just a small update.
Really nothing significant to report on.
Water change day as usual and wanted to get a couple of photos of the 5g and Phish.

Still a lot of brown algae and a little bit of hair algae, but it's all good. I think the plants will finally start growing and digging in to the substrate.









The Chinese Evergreen roots have grown a significant amount. Really spreading out and looking pretty cool.









And phish still looking good and just as cool from above.

















40 and 125 are doing ok. BBA still all over the place so I decided to try the metricide mixed with peroxide. Only sprayed a couple of spots in the 40 and quite a few in the 125. Made sure the filters were off and kept them off for at least 10min.
Dunno if it will do anything but meh.
All the fish look good and happy so far though.
Well... Lady betta still has her giant tumor. Looks like it might be fluid filled but I dunno. It looks like it's very close to bursting. it's SO big.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More pics!
Everything is going well for now.

5g. Chinese evergreen roots are growing really fast now and the leaf is slowly slowly growing.
Still lots of brown algae, but that's ok









Phish is doing great. Wants to eat ALL the time and isn't shy 1 bit. He's so beefy and he's coloring up even more 

















40g
Sweet potato is slowly growing back.
I may have to remove the actual potato soon. The skin on it is starting to peel and look a bit gross. The vines should be ok though. Going to let it grow back a bit more and will eventually snip the vines off and throw the potato away. Will be a shame, but it's been a good experiment 









Tank itself still having some issues with algae. A lot of stuff is getting caught on all the stem stuff. Not sure why w/ 3 HOB filters on here. I'm just gonna have to face it.. this tank is never going to be pretty. It's always going to look like a swamp and that's ok lol









125 is doing fairly well even w/ all the BBA all over the place.
Some of the areas that were completely out of the water that I sprayed are red/dying, but none of the spots that I sprayed that were under the water or even slightly in the water that I sprayed were affected at all lol. Meh. Oh well. So that stuff kind of worked
Looking a bit overcrowded, but it's all good.









The tiger lotus is doing amazing. Has 2 floating leaves and a whole bunch of bottom ones.
The lace plant behind it has also gotten 2 or so more leaves too. Difficult to spot new growth on it.
This lotus plant... love it. LOVE IT. I will be getting another for a new tank. It's an absolutely lovely plant.








The tiger barbs like hanging out under the leaves of this one now.









Whenever we decide to start moving exercise equipment out of the room... I'm going to get our old 29g bow front and redo the silicone. It's been up in our attic for years now and it's at least 12yo now. It needs to be done. I have plenty of plants to go in to it. Substrate will be a mix of eco complete and a different plant substrate. One of those ones where it looks like pellets maybe? I don't think I'll ever do just sand again. I dunno what people are doing in their sand tanks to get their plants to grow so well, but it is not working for me.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

lisals said:


> More pics!
> Everything is going well for now.
> 
> 5g. Chinese evergreen roots are growing really fast now and the leaf is slowly slowly growing.
> ...


Great photos I like your "messy" tank LoL esp the Lotus. Probably can't have one in a 10 gallon?

Nice Betta very cool coloring -:is he a Coi? 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak said:


> Great photos I like your "messy" tank LoL esp the Lotus. Probably can't have one in a 10 gallon?
> 
> Nice Betta very cool coloring -:is he a Coi?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


Yep, he's a koi betta. He was labeled "King" betta at petco.

I think you could do a lotus in a 10, but you'd have to trim the leaves so they stay shorter. I've read that a lot of people snip the ones off that go to the surface and cut any taller leaves to train the plant to stay shorter.
I could definitely see it working in a 10 though. Would certainly be a very nice centerpiece plant


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Few photos

Chinese evergreen roots. They keep getting crazier and crazier. Pls excuse the algae lol









Phish being all cute... and my finger in the one photo lol. He's a greedy eater.

























Lady Betta and her tumor. It's gotten SO big  Looks like it's partially fluid filled but has some solid looking things in it along w/ big pool of possibly blood? at the bottom of it. Difficult to get a good solid look at it since her fins are long and cover it. She's still acting totally normal though, but... I dunno. With how huge it is and how it looks. I think she's a goner whenever it decides to rupture.









With the last water change... I took out the piece of wood from the 40. It was time. It kept losing the smaller branches and it was just time to remove it. It was a good piece of wood.









Sprayed more of the BBA in the 125. Still though... anything that's not fully out of the water isn't affected by the spray at all. OH well.









Tiger lotus is gorgeous as usual. I think there are 2 plants, but I think the big upper leaf is part of the one I would want to take out. Not going to right now, but it's a possibility. 









Their floating leaves are super pretty too


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

lisals said:


> Few photos
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow amazing looking tank!

Sorry about the tumor do you think Betta fish are more prone to things like tumors, dropsy Etc? 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak said:


> Wow amazing looking tank!
> 
> Sorry about the tumor do you think Betta fish are more prone to things like tumors, dropsy Etc?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


It certainly seems like it. Looked up bettas and tumors and there are A LOT.. and when I say a lot I mean just a ton of links of people that have had bettas w/ tumors. I'm not sure which ones are more prone. Maybe the fancier ones since I'm sure their bloodlines would have to be really really selective/inbreeding to get the right attributes?
Just feels like bettas are going the way of guppies now. I remember when people used to say guppies were hardy fish and now? Not so much (at least the last time I had guppies they weren't considered hardy any longer)


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Very interesting yes I agree the Splendens with the long finnage seem prone to a lot.

That's why this afternoon I picked up a hybrid "Alien" at the Aquatic Experiencnce in Meadowlands, NJ. 








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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Don't know why that's posting upside down?

Maybe tomorrow I'll get a better shot. He's turquoise blue. 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Oh he's gorgeous! Spade tail. How cool! 
The tumor on my female looks horrible and has gotten even bigger. I dunno how she is still acting normal but she is. It's so huge on her and looks terrible.

Also more bad news, had a dojo loach die.
Noticed 2 days ago that one of them wasn't eating and saw an injury on it. Thought it was more by/behind it's pectoral but it looked like the gil was damaged somehow.
Didn't look like it was damage caused from another fish. Not sure what would've caused it.
But found it freshly dead this morning ☹


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

My poor Lady betta.
Her tumor is getting bigger and bigger and looks so bad. I'm not sure if it's her guts in the tumor along w/ fluids and who knows what else. Thinking about possibly giving her a salt bath to see if it could help.
(pls forgive all the algae on the glass)

















Definitely fluid in it which looks like that's the majority, so maybe doing an epsom salt bath could help draw some of it out.

Difficult getting a shot of just how far it's sticking out









I dunno how long she has left, but she's still acting normal and she's still my pretty girl while she's here.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

So sorry about this. It doesn't seem to be the guts it's off to the side guts are directly underneath.

It seems like a tumor because if the swelling were due to water retention (dropsy) the fish would be gone already or very very sick.

Seems like an Epsom salt bath would only stress the fish out without medicinal benefit. Without a diagnosis it's impossible to know what to do because everyone on the internet is just guessing (but hey I'm guilty of trying to diagnose myself that way....). 

I know it's hard to do "nothing" but throwing meds at a fish without a diagnosis is expensive and usually not helpful. My observation about your Betta is just an educated guess. I once lost one to dropsy and once his belly swelled up he was gone the next day. 

Keeping fingers crossed 

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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

I apologise if the pic is gross but I wanted to show you what fluid in the guts looks like. 

Also, I don't see your girl pineconing so that's a positive.









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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, I've had a lot of fish die from dropsy and thankfully at least she doesn't have that going on, not even on her swollen section.. which is kind of surprising with how huge the area is.
I did end up giving her a 15min epsom salt bath but it didn't do anything. She seemed a little freaked out by it, but seems ok after putting her back in the tank. I wasn't planning on trying to treat her with anything else.
Just going to let her live her best little life in the tank.

Anywho...
Lots of pics!!

I am in love with the red tiger lotus. If you can get one... DO IT!
I had to trim off most of the floating leaves. All but one looked like this








Figured trimming them would allow the plant to focus on growing new leaves

There was one healthy one though. Big pretty floating one the size of my hand









The leaves below are just as beautiful. Seriously... if you can find one... buy it!









I did a lot of trimming in the 125. Tried pulling off a lot of the BBA covered crypt leaves and a giant ball of moss. See the black mass sitting on top? That's a giant softball size clump of java moss I took out just from the right side of the tank where the loaches hang out.
They still have a big bed of moss to hang out on though 









40g is kinda... meh at this point. Just NOT a fan of the sand substrate. I'm not sure what is wrong with it. Again.. I see SO many people that have gorgeous planted tanks with sand. Not sure what's wrong with mine and why it's not doing that great.
Or maybe it is and I'm just expecting too much out of it lol.
Did some trimming of the potato vines during water change. Still a lot there though.









And the 5g. Evergreen is getting a new leaf and I THINK the plants are growing? It's hard to say with slow growing ones, but they haven't melted back or anything and the brown algae seems to be more under control.

















Had myself a Phish photoshoot after doing a water change in his tank. He does not like water changes, but that doesn't stop him from begging for food. He's also a really personable little betta and I love it!

















































Love his pectoral fins. They look like someone sketched them


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

WOW magnificent photos and tanks! Is the sweet potato growing submerged? 
Love the lotus - next tank for sure 

Glad your fishy doesn't have dropsy. Only happened to me once and freaked me out. 

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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Wat cool looking Betta and again love the emersed look! 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak said:


> WOW magnificent photos and tanks! Is the sweet potato growing submerged?
> Love the lotus - next tank for sure
> 
> Glad your fishy doesn't have dropsy. Only happened to me once and freaked me out.
> ...


Nope, not submerged. Only the potato roots are in the water.
When I first started it, I cut a hole in some thick styrofoam so just the tip of the potato was in the water and once the roots were growing and long enough, we eventually bought the egg crate to put it on. I think the potato would definitely rot if it sat in the water constantly. The skin started to peel off of it a few weeks ago and the sweet potato itself looks a bit more shriveled than it used to. I'll eventually have to just snip the vines completely off the potato and throw it away, but it seems to be ok for now.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

I've always wanted to do one of those - looks awesome. 

I didn't think it was submerged, but it looks like the water level was lowered then? Maybe I need to go back and look again lol. 

So an egg crate fit across your aquarium? That's a great idea! I've rooted some Pothos for my 10 gallon and not sure how to attach it. 

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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Oh ok I zoomed in but it doesn't look like an egg crate?

I also see you've got Pothos as well. Do you add liquid ferts to that tank? TIA.

I've seen the lotus bulb at various places like Aquarium Co-Op. I'm inspired to grow lotus/water lillies in a patio tub like attached (thinking of Spring already hahaha).









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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak said:


> I've always wanted to do one of those - looks awesome.
> 
> I didn't think it was submerged, but it looks like the water level was lowered then? Maybe I need to go back and look again lol.
> 
> ...


The water level drops a little over an inch over the week since it's an open top aquarium. Even when filled up to the rim, the actual sweet potato part isn't in the water. Just the roots 

Yep. It's a 40g breeder tank. The egg crate was only a few dollars at Home Depot and would've covered the entire top of the 40 w/ some leftover. I'm not sure why it's called an egg crate TBH lol. I've seen others call it that and when you google it, it's the thing that comes up. /shrugs 

OOOO I would love to have a summer tub with big pretty lotus and lily plants and some outdoor type of fish. You could always give it a try


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Few photos to share

Pics of the sweet potato. There is another part where the skin is getting a little mushy, but the actual potato is still pretty firm. But you can see it's not in the best shape and will eventually have to be removed.









Experimenting with some herbs in my aquariums to see if they'll grow.
I have a big pot of mint and thai basil outside that I need to bring in soon. Decided to snip a few to see if they'd root in to the water in my tanks.









The basil in the back is a bit wilted today b/c the tip wasn't in the water. Hopefully it'll perk back up. If not.. meh. I still have plenty of the stuff outside.


















Didn't notice the bloom on the basil yesterday. Just thought it was pretty and wanted to share 









I'm going to cut more of the egg crate to put on the right side of the 40g so I can add more. Would smell amazing in the room if the mint is successful growing. Only a thin strip of eggcrate though. Don't want to shade that section of the tank too much.
Going to move the stems around a little too. I just put them wherever yesterday but want to make it look a bit better.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

That is SO COOL thanks for sharing! I've never seen Basil flower 

Appreciate the clarification on the "egg crate" funny name but the application is ingenious I'm going to borrow it 

Keep the photos coming great job  

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thank you for taking an interest in my messy tanks! lol

So here's the new little strip of egg crate holding on mint stems
Shouldn't shadow the plants underneath too much and easily moves. Now it's just a waiting game to see if they'll survive and thrive.









Also snipped more basil off and placed by the potato and in the 5g
I think the mint will do well, but not sure on the basil.


















In other news..
5g green hair algae has turned in to this brown fuzzy looking stuff now. /shrugs
I'm not too concerned with it, but I do wish the plants would grow better. I still have some osmocote gel caps to use. Will add a few of those this weekend when I do a water change.









The sweet potato vines need a trim.
They start getting a bit scraggly above the light. The room gets ok ambient light, but not enough to make the vines happy it seems.









Oh and cory eggs! And lots of black beard algae on the dwarf sag.









Not bothering collecting them again. Just don't have the energy to take care of eggs right now. Plus I'm not sure the cories laying them are breeding correctly. Maybe?
There were 3 eggs by the right side filter that I THINK may have been viable and may have hatched before anything found them (not sure but they were there for a while and looked viable, then suddenly disappeared one day)
Anyway... I think if these are viable, the BBA will hide them long enough for them to hatch. 

Think I'm going to lose a tiger barb soon. Looks like it's one of the glolight ones.
It's been hanging out in the upper left corner for the last few days.
May try to net it out to see if there is something physically wrong with it.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Cory eggs niiiicceee!

I've just discovered a new use for egg crate! I've got some spiderwood soaking for this 10 gallon but it's still floating after two weeks...

Fit some egg crate on the bottom of the tank, put some clear zip ties through it, pour on the aqua soil and voila! [emoji2957]

Sorry one of your fishes isn't feeling well :/.









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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, I've seen people using egg crate on the bottom to help build up their aquascaping. Great idea and I'm sure saves a lot of money too.

Nothing much to report on. Lady betta is still hanging in there. I haven't been able to do water changes in a week, but will this week. Things in the tank seem ok for now though. Will get more photos soon.

For now though

Chinese Evergreen roots
They're getting pretty crazy!








Thinking about taking out another from the main pot and putting it in to one of the 1g jars I have.
The ferns that I bought a while ago have all melted and died so I have that one I could use. Was thinking about trying something else in it though. Maybe more dwarf sag after treating the BBA on it. I dunno yet. I have a ton of gallon jars so I could always do both.

I think this plant would look amazing in a black water type of tank. Or just one with no other plants. Let the roots completely take over the entire tank and have like a pea puffer or betta or something in it. Or even shrimp. That would be pretty cool. They'd have this giant root system to graze on.

The mint and basil are rooting nicely too









Thought it was neat seeing a mint runner in the 40g
I guess they like the tanks  I do need to do water changes to at least raise the water level though. Have had some mint and basil dry up b/c the water level dropped too much. Oops


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More photos

First up... my new fav plant b/c.. come on... just look at it. Photos really can't do this thing justice. 








I had to trim off a few damaged/dying leaves, so I'm sure I'll be seeing some new ones pop up. Yay 

Also a nice surprise
Baby lotus!








Not sure I'm going to keep it there permanently but will for now and let it grow and mature

Chinese evergreen's new leaves are finally opening. The leaves grow kinda slow, but the roots... check out the roots!

















The basil in the tanks is meh. Kind of hanging in there, but not really thriving. They're getting roots though so I think once their roots grow more, they'll start to look better. 
The mint though is doing great! Growing roots and runners super fast. I love messing with them b/c you just get a nose-full of minty goodness.

















I'm trying to position some of the runners out of the water b/c I'm really not sure how well they'll grow submerged.

I also set up the free jar I had w/ lots of root tablets and 2 small BBA covered compacta swords. I dunno how well they'll do, but it's not like I'm short on sword plants lol. There are still a ton in the 125.

I am itching to set the 10g back up. I have to go to the store tomorrow and if I think about it, might pick some stuff up to get it started again. Just need some substrate. I have a little bit of eco complete, but not enough for a 10g tank. Not even enough if I wanted to do a dirted tank. Hell... I dunno where a light is I could use for the tank. The one I had on the 5g has disappeared lol.
Anyway... won't be happening any time soon, but will hopefully next year.
Would love to have it as a shrimp tank eventually, but for now, just a place to put some of these extra plants in to. Take all of the dwarf sag out and try to get all of the BBA off them. Grow out some of the compacta swords to sell or give away or whatever. Things like that.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just some tank shots. The good and the bad

5g
Brown algae still all over the place. I added a lot more osmocote root tablets last water change so I'm really hoping the plants start growing better. I THINK the crypts are growing ok, but the swords... not so much.
I also added in dry ferts to all the tanks. It's been a few months since I have.

















40g
All of the BBA glory at the bottom. Those cory eggs were there for a while and weren't with the last water change. If they did hatch... hope I didn't suck up the babies.

















125g
Really looking forward to starting up the 10g. Just waiting for some extra $$ so I can buy a few things for the tank. Mostly a bag of plant substrate to try out and a new light. I plan on taking out the ozelot sword and growing out more of the compacta baby swords to get them out of the way and eventually giving them away.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Picture time!

FX6 filter started buzzing which means I had to take it apart to clean the motor. Easy but messy.
Figured I'd do a water change to use the water to clean the filter while I was at it. SO gross. I hate cleaning the filter but it needed it. Lots of snails in the filter. I also took the opportunity to add more filter bio rings to the filter too 
The lotus has really exploded with new leaves
My photos really don't do the colors justice

































Also the experiment mint and thai basil plants are doing pretty well. The mint especially, but there are some basil plants blooming still so taking that as a good sign 









































And finally my Lady betta. She's still hanging in there. Still eating, but definitely resting more. Her bump has gotten HUGE and translucent bc it's so filled with fluids. I wish I had a tiny syringe I could use to drain it. I really don't see it not bursting soon. I wish I could do something for her. I feel so helpless.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

So sorry about your fish but your lotus is amazing. May I ask what substrate you're using and what are the other green plants? 

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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I've been in lurk mode on your journal for a while. Great progress on the tanks, sorry about the fish. My pandas have started spawning!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak said:


> So sorry about your fish but your lotus is amazing. May I ask what substrate you're using and what are the other green plants?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


The substrate is a mix of eco complete, play sand, pool filter sand, there are some rocks buried in it (not on purpose lol), and crushed coral in spots. This tank has been set up for 11 years. I dunno if it's the combo of all the different substrates or just the fact that it's an old tank so probably has built up nutrients in it that help the plants grow so well.
I do also use root tablets (osmocote DIY ones and have tried others) and I use dry powder ferts every once in a while.

The other plants around the lotus is a Madagascar Lace plant behind it and crypt wendtii green all around it. There's also java moss on some of the stuff too in that area.

Bump:


frogmanjared said:


> I've been in lurk mode on your journal for a while. Great progress on the tanks, sorry about the fish. My pandas have started spawning!


OOO that's exciting! Are you going to try to raise them or just leave the eggs alone and whatever happens happens? Baby cories are so cute! And come on.. who doesn't love free fish?  lol


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Very smart of you to mix various substrates. Terrestrial gardens frequently mix soils, aquarists hardly ever do, so there can be deficiencies.

11 years? Nice! The lace plant and crypt are such a nice green. 



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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

lisals said:


> OOO that's exciting! Are you going to try to raise them or just leave the eggs alone and whatever happens happens? Baby cories are so cute! And come on.. who doesn't love free fish?  lol


I got a hang on breeder box, since they weren't starting out so well in the 10 gallon. Six have grown enough to put in the 10, and I'm still collecting eggs. It really makes me want to get a rack of 20 longs to breed different varieties! There are pics/story in my 29 if you're interested.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So first up. Did a water change on the 40 on Monday? Decided I was sick of the BBA covered dwarf sag so pulled most of it out and dipped in peroxide/metricide solution.
Here it is a couple days later. 
It's too bad BBA doesn't start off this color. I think people would be less likely to get rid of it lol.









I also ended up snipping a lot of the BBA covered crypt leaves too. Still a lot in the tank, but oh well. I don't want to dose metricide in this tank so I'll just have to live with the BBA.

SO incredibly happy that the mint and basil is growing well on both tanks. I just thought it looked nice so took a quick photo









And a couple of bad photos of me trying to get a scale shot of my dojo loaches. lol You still can't really tell how long they are since I couldn't get a straight on shot but oh well. I TRIED OK! 

















And finally... update on Lady betta. Her tumor thing finally popped... or more like ruptured. There wasn't a big gaping hole or anything and it only leaked a little of the fluids out. There's still a giant lump on her and the first 2 days after, she was still eating, but she didn't today. I dunno if this is the end for her, but I'm waiting and watching.









She has nice spots near the surface to rest on. I'll wait for as long as possible, but if it looked like she's still not eating and looking worse, I'll do what I need to do to end her pain.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Sorry for your betta. I didn't get another after my last one had to be put down- so many times they die young. I had one that grew a lump which ruptured, but it was nowhere near as large as yours had...

Your larger tanks are looking so much better nowadays! Seems like adding more plants helped? Hope the metricide does in that BBA for you. I hate that stuff.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Lady betta update. She's pineconing really bad  I noticed that she was looking a little puffy but couldn't get a good look at her since she was resting on the roots and the egg crate is over that area, but did just a moment ago and she's like full on pineconing right now. So upset. My poor girl  Just have to do what is best for her and not let her suffer any longer. Damnit


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And it's done. Damn that was difficult.
Not gonna lie, some fish... not a lot of emotion when you need to put them down. I still feel bad about it, but it doesn't really hit the emotions. 
This one sure did though. My pretty girl was a great little betta and I'm gonna miss her. It sucks that bad genetics probably caused the tumor, but no regrets having her little life in mine, even for this short time.
She tried to fight until the end, but her body was failing her.
I got a better look at her once I netted her and she was way worse off than a couple of days ago. Looks like internal bleeding and her tumor rupture is gaping open more too. I'll get an even better look once she's sat in the clove oil mixture for longer just to make sure she's dead.
Swim in peace my little Lady.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Morbid curiosity got the better of me. I sliced open her tumor to see what was going on inside.
It looked like a lipoma (fatty tissue aka fatty tumor) inside. I was expecting it to be more empty, but no... just all of this fatty looking tissue. I don't know if it was just fatty tissue, just that's how it looked.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

I'm so sorry for your loss such a pretty picture of her love the blue color.

If I were in your shoes I would have had to have a look as well. 

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## JAMarlow (Jan 16, 2018)

Rest in peace, lovely little Lady. So sorry for the both of you.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Didn't want to leave it off on a sad note for long so.. photos!

Potato is shriveling up more. It's still hard though and not mushy at all.









Where I was sitting, just thought all the vines and whatnot looked nice









I love all these roots too. They're trimmed right now and I do wish I could just let them grow crazy (but can't for the sake of the plants below them). They do give this area such a cool... I dunno... boggy? sort of dark look. And I dig it!
I'm sure if I had any fish that liked spawning on mops, these roots would be awesome for them.
The only thing bad about them is that they collect particles of... stuff. So disturb them just a little and a giant cloud of stuff just gets released. Gotta remember to clean them well during water changes.









Got a couple of shots of the cories. Thought this one was pretty cool. Has the peppered pattern but it's also a tan color instead of just being greyish.









And this girl looking nice and plump









Also had a pretty good little cluster of eggs in the corner of the tank. I don't think it was Lady betta eating them. Thinking it was either the otos, cories, or the snails. We'll see if any of these are there in the next few days.
Still haven't spotted any wigglers, but there is a chance that I could've vacuumed them up during water changes too.

I am just tickled pink at how well the mint and basil have done. Like... the mint is doing too well  lol Seriously... if you're looking for plants to grow out of your tank, get some mint. It smells SO nice when you brush them and once they've acclimated to their new home, they grow fantastically. 
The basil is also nice, but I don't like the smell as much. For some reason my nos registers the smell as a BO type of smell. Like BO trying to be covered up by perfume lol.
Anywho photos

























And finally the lotus b/c well... it's the lotus and it's awesome still 

Little one has 3 leaves now 









And the big one!


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

It's like a little garden on top of your tank!


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

I love following this journal! 

Question - what kind of filter are you using (presumably you're using filters but maybe not?) 

Thanks. 

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak said:


> I love following this journal!
> 
> Question - what kind of filter are you using (presumably you're using filters but maybe not?)
> 
> ...


5g is just a top fin HOB filter. Top Fin= petsmart brand if ya didn't know

40g has 4 filterrs on it
Main one is a top fin HOB
2 small marina HOB filters.. 1 for the extra filtration and slight water movement and the other is on the tank just to keep it cycled for whenever I need it for quarantine or whatever.
And then a sponge filter

125 is a FX6 filter. I used to have a FX5 and the FX6 which is think was more appropriate for the size of the tank though.

I'd like to try doing a filterless bowl again one day. I tried it last year? or the year before, I can't remember, but I was too heavy handed and tried the wrong plants and the bowls were too thin.


Anywho.... went to different pet stores this weekend and... I think I'm going to try shrimp in the 40g. I don't think any of the current fish would actively hunt shrimp down. Definitely would eat baby shrimp if they came across them, but meh. Nothing a ball of moss couldn't help with I think.
It's just finding some shrimp now though. I was going to try ghost shrimp but no one had any. Not even the usual tank full of feeders.
I'll check online and see how much that will cost.

I would also like to get more otos for it too. There are only 2 left in the tank and I haven't been able to find more in forever. I wouldn't quarantine shrimp, but any fish I get will definitely be.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Thanks for the filter info! Did you ever consider a canister filter for your bigger tanks?

I'm using HOB the only thing I don't like is the "Niagra Falls" effect if it's not topped up every few days  

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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yeah, I've thought about getting one for the 40g... just laziness and using what I already have and what I know.
Maybe one day I'll get a different one for it but I'm fine using HOB on that and the 5g for now.
Yeah I can't stand how loud the splash is when the water level gets too low. I can usually zone it out most of the time since it's in a different room, but it definitely drives me crazy if for whatever reason I can't ignore it lol.
Maybe it could be my birthday present to myself (from my husband) next year lol.


AND I think I'm going to buy some shrimp off ebay. That's where I used to buy my cherry shrimp years and years ago. Boy they've gotten expensive! lol Cheaper than the stores here though.
Petco, they had their shrimp listed for 3.99 per. Yeesh! I remember buying about 20 for $20... if that much.

May just wait until the spring to get anything if I can't find anything locally by then. Like late spring when the weather starts to warm up for most places. 
Will be on the lookout though! There's a really small LPS by my husband's job. May get him to see if they have any or if they could order some if they're not too expensive. That's IF he wants to though. It's literally right across the street from his job but well... we all get a bit lazy sometimes... me definitely.. him if he has to drive anywhere lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Photos!

40g
I may have killed all of the dwarf sag that had the BBA all over it. Woops. I made sure not to dunk the roots in to the metricide stuff, but oh well. Going to leave it in for a little bit longer to see if it survives. If it does, I think I'm going to move it.









125 is doing well still. Looks like the snails are having some deficiancy though. I've seen a lot of them missing the tips of their shells. Just watched a video that shows that you can boil egg shells, remove the membrane inside and dump those in to your tank for snails and shrimp. Will be trying that out if I remember not to throw the shells away.









5g
Thinking about removing all but one of the compacta swords. They're going to get way too big for this tank anyway if they ever decide to grow. If the dwarf sag survives, I'll try them in this tank again. This is where they started off a long time ago and never grew. Maybe they would now w/ better lighting?
Still looks like a giant mess though lol









And few photos of fish. He didn't feel like getting his photo taken in a good spot so forgive the glares.
You can still see how thick he's gotten though! Certainly is a big boy


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Your compacta looks to be a different species-it should have short more rounded leaves. If you bought from a certain plantedaquarium source (won't give name to abide forum rules) they miss sell amazon sword babies as their compacta (and will rip you a new [censor] for calling them out on it), they also sell 'dwarf' sag as dwarf pygmy chain sword.. and some other plants they mis-represent but I can't recall.. that was not a good time.
Anyways they'll get HUGE for that tank.

Sorry for the crap photo need to scrape the glass. See they're more rounded with a small pointed tip.








Btw lovely betta boy ^^


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Huh,, that's interesting. I got the original one from Petsmart. They list them as compacta swords so that's just always what I've called them.
The original one in my 125 is pretty big, but it's smaller than the regular amazon that's also in the tank. I used to have one in my 40 too that stayed smaller, but still had the longer narrow leaves on it.
Both came from petsmart.
Maybe they mislabel them too?
The ones in my 5g are the runners from the one in the 125.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

BLEH
So bad news out of the way first.
Found my last remaining BN pleco dead. Poor girl  I had a sponge filter thing around the UV filter hose. It had fallen off a long time ago and I thought I had gotten it out of the tank. NOPE. While I was scooping out duckweed, I saw it floating, then saw her stuck and dead in the hole in it. UGH Completely my fault too which sucks even more.
Looks like she had been dead for maybe 2 days or so. Stinky but not too far decayed.
Damn that sucks. She was so unique since she never developed bristles (well I thought she was) and fat and happy. Boo 

Anyway...
Did water changes in all tanks.
A lot of the dwarf sag that I thought had died was actually looking ok. A little bit of die off but not a lot. Still a ton in the tank w/ BBA covering them though.
I took some of it out to put in to the 5g though.
Took out 3 compacta swords that I had crammed in to it and replaced w/ the dwarf sag. 
Also did some root trimming on the basil and mint. Will have to trim the mint back soon. It's loving this tank

















40g got the compacta swords until I get something else to put them in. Also got a surprise lotus plant. It wasn't rooted in the substrate at all in the 125. Just stuck to the main lotus by a runner.
Also finally realized that the plant I thought was just an abnormally large crypt isn't a crypt. It's an aponogeton that I completely forgot was in the tank and has exploded in to this big pretty plant!
I also moved around a few plants here and there and scooted a lot of the stems over to make room for the lotus. I don't know how well it will do in this tank, but I added a root tab under it to hopefully help.
Also did major trimming on all of the roots.

























Potato looking good for now. I trimmed back a lot of damaged leaves and vines. Need to trim more but everything is so intertwined, it's difficult to determine what is attached to what and where.









Just thought it was neat how the pothos attaches itself to the wall
I'm sure it's not great for the paint, but meh. lol









Lotus got a huge trimming done today. Duckweed in the 125 had grown too much so lotus had sent up a lot of floating leaves. Looks nice, but not a lot of lower leaves.
Before the trim









And after
I left one floater and trimmed back any damaged leaf I saw. Hoping to see more lower leaves show up now that it's getting more light again.









Overview and couple shots of one of the weirdly cute weather loaches  Well I think they're cute at least. Fat swimming hotdogs.

























I am itching to set up another tank though. Just do not have the funds to get the substrate I want. I want to try a different planted substrate to see how it is, but damn are they expensive and with Xmas and 3 kids... it's going to have to wait.
I want to get the ozelot sword out along with most of the compacta swords and a few of the things in the 40 too. Algecide the hell out of a new tank to get rid of any BBA and just let it cycle to eventually put... whatever in.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

lisals said:


> Huh,, that's interesting. I got the original one from Petsmart. They list them as compacta swords so that's just always what I've called them.
> The original one in my 125 is pretty big, but it's smaller than the regular amazon that's also in the tank. I used to have one in my 40 too that stayed smaller, but still had the longer narrow leaves on it.
> Both came from petsmart.
> Maybe they mislabel them too?
> The ones in my 5g are the runners from the one in the 125.


Sounds like mis-labeled swords than. Compacta is suppose to stay small-under 6". You can keep it in the 5g if you cut back leaves as they get too big so it doesn't smother other plants out for light.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alright. No photos right now.
I have a mission though! Operation get an army of Otos! 
I still have 2 lonely ones in the 40g. I'd like to increase their numbers to 10 at least. And then I'd like to get 20+ for the 125. Preferably A LOT more than 20, but 20 to start off with.
It's just the problem of actually finding them though for a decent price. Petsmart has them listed for 2.49, BUT well.. it's petsmart and the one close to me sucks.

And of course I'd like to get shrimp, but I think waiting until spring to potentially get some off ebay will be best. Don't want to have to worry about heat packs or them frying in heat or anything. If I come across some ghost shrimp though, I'll get some of those to test out in the 40.

I'd also like to get like 4? more dojos. Preferably albinos and that's it for now. I mean there are other fish I'd like to eventually get, but for now... that's it 
Not going to happen any time soon, but will be on the look out! I'll get the oto army slowly if I must


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Hmm... had an adult female cory die. I had spotted that something was wrong with her over a week ago. Looked... just weird but she was still eating. Then saw her floating at the top of the tank a few days ago. Still alive, but had popeye in both eyes and these weird... I dunno.. blister/skintag looking things all over her. Not parasites. Didn't look like these spots were a live or anything. I dunno... just weird.
THEN yesterday, I noticed a lot of uneaten food in the 40g and sure enough, ammonia reading so did a large water change. I dunno. That could've just been from me overfeeding the tank though, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

While I was watching the tank though, I had a shock when I saw that there are actually 3 otos alive in the tank. I thought there were only 2 left. So yay for that at least. Now to find more so I can get their numbers up!









40 looks ok though. All the fish look ok as far as I can tell... which is difficult.
The lotus I put in it looks to have a new leaf so yay 









I tried getting a photo of the rasbora in the tank but they're SO skittish. So enjoy this blurry photo of 2 of them lol









Decided to go ahead and do a water change in the 125 too. 
Spotted this in the substrate. I think it's a new lotus plant trying to grow right up against the glass lol









There's this weird algae in it. Looks like dying BBA but much longer and it's definitely not dead since it's growing. Haven't cleaned it out b/c I just thought it looked neat lol









Killifish thinks he's boss of the tank









And my hotdogs
Pretty sure this one is blind or almost completely blind.









But as you can see she/he has no problem finding food









Had all 4 of them trying to eat my hand yesterday, but couldn't really get a good photo of it, but I did get this one. Love my hotdogs!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... got 2 otos last night along with about 20 ghost shrimp.
Probably made a mistake by doing so but not quarantining. 
Otos look ok. They've been swimming a lot with the cories. They're SO small compared to the ones in my tank. Hoping they all find each other though. Would've loved to have gotten more but 2 was all Petsmart had. I'd like to go to a different petsmart one of these days. There's one that isn't too far away. But dragging along 2 boys that are a handful... yeah I'll wait for now lol.

All seems well in the tank this morning. Couldn't get a photo of the otos but managed to spot some of the ghost shrimp and got some bad photos of them.
You know how difficult it is to spot them in an algae/plant filled tank?? EXTREMELY!

























Like this photo... if someone just posted this, maybe not to cropped down... would you even be able to tell that there was a shrimp?? lol









Oh well... hopefully it helps them survive. I don't think the cories will hunt them. The rasbora could try to nip them if the shrimp swim up towards the top though maybe? /shrugs


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Quick update. Just spotted first dead shrimp.... while another was eating it. Didn't expect them all to live since they're just feeders, but so far so good with them I think!
2 new otos seem to have settled in well too. Need to dig out some old pantyhose for the next water change though. DOn't want to suck up any shrimp!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Tourmaline balls are teeny tiny! If you've ever seen a round lead weight for fishing... it looks like those. Kinda ticked off that they're not all the same size too. Some of them are much smaller.
Oh well.... I guess I'll see if they work or not.
Instructions say to use 1 per gallon but pfft, nope. I plopped 2 or 3 in with the betta and a few in to the 40. Not sure how many... maybe 10? I'll probably end up putting the rest in the tank and will get a photo of them before I do.
I mean.... I guess I'm glad they're small, but it's just not what I was expecting lol.

Found 2nd dead shrimp this morning. Hopefully not going to be a common trend. Saw some swimming around too though so hopefully the remaining ones are ok.
Bought some shrimp food for them, but will use it sparingly I think. The tank gets fed enough that I shouldn't have to feed them it every day. Maybe once a week.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Bought 1 more oto (that I think was overlooked when hubs bought me the other 2) and 20 more shrimp while they had some. Was tempted to buy some more peppered cories but they weren't really active so I didn't. Was also tempted to buy a 3.5g kit and a new betta for it but decided against it since I could get a 10g for 10$ whenever that deal is going and give a fish a bigger better tank.

Anyway.. photos!

Tourmaline balls and how tiny they are









The herbs are doing really well on the tank. The mint is growing over the side. Not sure how well that bit is doing since it doesn't get a lot of light.









Some of the basil is getting new blooms. So small and pretty









Got a surprise and saw that one of my potato vines has a bloom! It's so pretty too!









In the 125... this hair algae is pretty funky. It's not growing super fast and I still think it looks neat.









Just wanted to show how much evaporation there is in the 5g before I did a water change. Lots of evap lol









This is before I did a trimming on all of the herbs. Seriously yall. If you love mint or basil... give this a try. Especially the mint. I trimmed a TON of it off and it looks like I barely did anything. Plus the roots don't get that big so not a lot of trimming to do on those.
This pic doesn't even show how much there was.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Photos!

First up... no more potato. Still have most of the vines, but got surprised when doing a water chance when the potato fell through the mesh. Picked it out and it was shriveled soft (but crumbly) and moldy.
Still had really healthy roots on it and 2 vines growing from it, but oh well.









So yeah... potato is going to eventually need to be taken off if you decide to try this out. Not a big deal b/c the vines grow perfectly fine on their own.

Found a few more dead shrimp. Not a huge deal. I've only seen 1 smaller oto. Not sure if it's the same one all the time. Hopefully all 3 of the new ones are ok.
Tank is a big old mess as usual









125 is doing well. Did a lot of trimming in it on the amazon swords and crypts. Pulled off a lot of the BBA covered leaves. Also took out the majority of the cabomba b/c it had gotten uprooted and was just caught up in all of the overgrown moss. Took out a lot of moss too. Just a much needed cleaning up. Still needs more, but it's ok for now.

I also took out the weird algae. I wanted to see what it felt like and ended up pulling the giant clumps of it out b/c it was all attached. Felt like a thick giant booger.
Got some photos of it if anyone can identify it

























I left the little bit on the sword runner. I didn't want to get rid of as much as I did but it all came off together.

And 5g. It seems to be ok. A bit too shaded over the swords, but the algae is being controlled. Still some spot stuff but not a big deal.









Before I scared him









And after









Managed to lure him back out with some food though. He's gotten SO big! Big chunky pretty boy
Pls ignore the glare/reflection. I can't get it to not do it.
He's also colored up SO much. Love it 

























Just to show how big he is in his 5g. I should probably think about upgrading him to a 10, but honestly... me= lazy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More photos of the mystery algae? moss?

The goo around it









And the little tendrils. It does have a moss look to it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Decided to get some shots of the 125 while there wasn't any glare from sun or the 40g.
It's amazing how much better the pics turn out without the added glare lol

First up... my farting hotdogs. They'll have some blonde buddies hopefully next year.

























The barbs. Slowly dwindling down in numbers. As soon as there aren't anymore and the killifish is gone.... not sure.... but something more peaceful.









My big amazon sword w/ the big noideawhatit'scalled crypt that blends in to it in front.
I trimmed off at least a dozen leaves off the sword. It needed it too. Lots of damaged ones and old ones covered in BBA. It still has a few BBA ones left too. Oh well. I'm sure it will be growing some new leaves soon.
The crypt also had/has a lot of BBA covered leaves. As soon as I'm able to set up another tank and move out a lot of the plants from this tank, I'll be scooting the crypt over a few inches.
Maybe do it a little bit at a time so it doesn't shock the plant too much.









Was getting a shot of all the sword runners that are just floating and killifish wanted to say hello!









Lotus is doing ok. Doesn't seem to be putting up as many leaves anymore. I did just trim a lot off this one too. There's a new plant up front. THought it was part of the bigger one, but it's separate. I need to get the 2nd most upper leaf off. I took 2 of them off that had that green algae on it. It almost looks like BGA but I'm not sure if it is. I'll get the leaf off tomorrow and give it a sniff lol.









And full tank









Took out a lot of java moss from the right along with most of the cabomba. Got a good look at the java fern I always forget is in the tank. Looks good and has grown a decent amount. I'll have to try to get a better look eventually.
Not too bad though. Still BBA all over the place but meh. I pulled off a lot of the BBA covered leaves this last water change. Still have tons more but meh. Plenty of healthy growth on everything.


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## Streetwise (May 24, 2019)

What a great jungle you have there!


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

Streetwise said:


> What a great jungle you have there!


Yes, love that lush jungle look in the tiger barb tank!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

New year... new pics!
Unfortunately, I wasn't gifted anything fish related so nothing new. Just my same old same old 

That weird algae? Moss? Whatever it is is still there. It does look like staghorn algae in some photos, BUT also doesn't too. I've read that staghorn is difficult to get off leaves, but this stuff is super easy to remove. I dunno. I think it's neat so I leave it.









REALLY wanting to reduce the amount of plants in the 125 though. I'm this close to convincing my husband to let me have another tank rofl. I'll have to look through what I have and set up the 10g. Just buy 1 bag of some sort of plant substrate and set it up until I can get something more permanent (or bigger at least).









40g also needs to be cleaned up a bit too.I want to get out all of the dwarf sag. I just hate the BBA all over it. I don't mind it too much on the crypts and whatever else b/c it's not too noticeable for me, but it's glaringly obvious on the sag since it's right up front. Plus it would be nice to have the front clear so I can drop food in the area for the cories and watch them.









There are some tiny little bugs on the vines. They've created webs on.. things. Not sure if they're aphids or maybe even baby spiders. I have no idea. Also looks like maybe the vine has some sort of fungal thing going on w/ the leaves. /shrugs









BUT the vines are blooming again. The flowers are SO pretty! They only last a day but pretty while they're there 

















And one of the otos just b/c. I've seen 4 at once since putting in the new ones. I'm sure there are still 5 total. FX I can get my hands on more in 2020!









no photos of the 5g. I couldn't get any without extreme glare. I'll try to get some soon though


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Is it staghorn? Isn't it? I finally found something that says that staghorn is slimy to the touch which this stuff definitely is. Like a giant thick booger.

I removed A LOT of it. Seems adding in some dry ferts caused it to have a bit of a growth spurt

































How much is left. Just curious to see how fast it grows.









No idea where this stuff came from. Just sort of showed up once day on the back of the tank. And it's only in this one spot too that I've noticed. Oh well.

5g tank.
Things are looking ok. I did a big trim on the mint and basil and they're looking a bit rough right now, but not really worried about them.









The 40g foliage is also looking a bit ragged b/c of the aphids that are attacking the potato vines. They must've come in on the mint and basil. I'm not sure what to do to get rid of them. Certainly don't want to spray anything around the tank.
Main reason I took this pic though was to show the massive pothos leaves in the back









Not sure why it's growing so huge but ok then! lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... I've taken off most of the sweet potato vines.
The little webbed creatures... spider mites and they did a number on the vines.
Almost all of the leaves looked like this and the underside of them covered in the mites
















I guess they might have come in w/ the basil and mint and then just spread inside since there is nothing to eat them indoors.

I couldn't find any remedy that didn't involve using something that would harm the aquarium so decided to just throw most of it out. I did keep like 3.. vines. One I couldn't remove from the grate, so I wiped the leaves w/ a soapy rag (not dripping so nothing got in the water) and then dunked the other 2 vines in soapy water for a little bit then rinsed off.
But.. there are spider mites on the mint and basil too. I know they're all on the tops and bottoms of the leaves. These plants look ok for the most part, but I'll have to keep an eye on things and try something if they look to be getting wrecked by the bugs.

I couldn't do nothing in the meantime though so I took a cup and scooped out water from the aquarium and drenched all of the plants on top as best I could. I know it didn't knock them all off, but I had to have gotten a good many of them.

Not as crazy as it was before, but the vines were easy enough to grow before. Hopefully the few I kept will do ok.
Definitely going to keep it a bit more manicured though and not let it get so crazy.
I still think the pothos climbing up the wall is pretty dang impressive. Even the stuff I have potted in soil isn't that big and awesome looking.









Oh and I spotted all 5 otos at the same time after the water change today. Yay 

















5g and 125 are doing ok. Same old same old.
Pretty sure I'm going to need a new light if I want to set up the 10g for plants.
Waiting for spring time garden sales to start up and will be purchasing some soil and maybe pea gravel to put in to it and move over one of the small filters on the 40 to it. Maybe get fish for it, or just keep it for plants. I'm sure I'll make a huge mess out of it if I have to keep removing plants though. Wouldn't want some poor fish to suffer b/c of that... which is why I wanted plant substrate but it's just too expensive. SIGH!
I dunno. Bills and adulting is getting in the way of my fish keeping plans! BOOOOOO lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Yall..... yall. 









Hubs finally let me do it! lol
I'm so happy! 
Now time to get lights for them and figure out WTF I'm gonna do for the substrate.
I was thinking soil and a cap to keep it cheap but I do NOT want to deal with how messy that can get. I mean... yall have seen my tanks. I don't plan anything out  lol
SO.... I think I'm going to do a mixture. Mix bags of whatever plant substrate with gravel or something like that. I'll still be spending a good bit, but not as much if it was just the plant sub.

I'm not buying ANY plants. I'm going to move the lace plant in to the 20 high... along with... whatever... maybe some of the anubias? Find a piece of wood or something I can glue all of the anubias to.
And then probably some crypts too b/c lordy do I have a ton of them and then the ozelot sword probably along with some of the stem plants from the 40 probably.

Then the 20 long can be dedicated to nothing but all the sword plants lol. I know some would probably see it as a waste, but I don't care! I think it will look nice once it's all filled in 

No idea on fish. Not even thinking about that yet. Maybe guppies in the 20 long...or danios... actually no. If I were to get danios, I'd get them for the 125 after the killifish dies. They're such fast hyper fish and I know a big school of them would appreciate a big tank. I dunno know... just thinking way way ahead.

Anywho.. YAY! I'm so excited 
Now to just get all of this exercise stuff out of the room so I can figure out the set up of my fish room! MUAHAHAHA
More messy tanks! MORE messy tanks! WOO!
They're not getting set up any time soon, but I should be able to use a stand we have for a 29g bowfront for the 20 tall and we have a coffee table that MIGHT work. I'm hesitant to use it b/c well.. 20g of water is a lot of weight.

I tried getting photos of the other tanks but SO much glare.

I did get a couple shots of this and that though...

Like this water wisteria. I saw it floating at the top of the tank and thought it had become uprooted, but nope. Just had itself a growth spurt









Duckweed grows so dang fast. I scoop out 90% of it every water change and a week later.. it's already completely covering the top again









And finally... I had to remove the painting above the 40g. The pothos was growing over it and I didn't want its roots or whatever you call these things to attach themselves and ruin it. They can ruin the wall.. that's fine


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I'm so excited to eventually get the new tanks set up!
Room still needs to be cleaned out a bit more, but I know where I'm putting both of them. Will have to get DH to build me a stand, but hopefully it won't be too difficult if he does the King of DIY stand. Seems simple enough. Just gotta make sure measurements are right and everything is level.

For now... my tanks. No water changes yet this week. Cold and I want to wait until the weather warms back up just a little bit. I'll probably top the tanks off though in the meantime.

I can't wait to declutter everything!!

Taking out the swords from the 5g.
The mint and basil just create too much shadow and I don't plan on getting rid of it b/c I like it. I think the anubias might like it in this tank though.









The right side of the 40 just keeps getting more and more wild looking lol. The couple of swords I put in here temporarily are definitely coming out along with a lot of the stems... maybe.









And the 125. As I said already... going to put the lace plant in the 20 tall and remove all of the floating compacta swords and the big ones in the front bottom. All of those swords are going in to the 20 long I think.
The ozelot will share a tank with the lace.
I can't wait..... I can't wait!!! lol









I think I'm going to do the soil w/ a cap in the 10g for now so I can start moving plants and treating them for their BBA problem. No livestock in the tank so I can go to town w/ the metricide without worrying about killing anything (well except for the plants maybe).
I think most places start having soil and whatnot sales in Feb so won't have to wait long. Might check this weekend if nothing else comes up.

OO plus.. I want both of the new tanks to have tops. No open tops... at least not completely opened like the 40 and 5. Just some cheap clear plastic should work. Need to see what is out there though.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And I'd like to call this series of photos "I'm totally not a fish stuff hoarder!!"

First up... the soon to be my fish room so far
Still a lot of stuff that needs to be moved out, but I want to put the 20 tall in-between the 2 windows and the 20 long where the tv is.









Wanted to see what supplies I had so armed myself with a trashbag and dug in to my ministash of stuff under one side of the 125









A lot of junk. A LOT. I keep boxes just in case the something breaks and then end up forgetting I have the box. Whoops.
Found a couple of HOB filters that might work? Will have to scrub them really well and test them out.









Also found this little filter that I had forgotten about. Bought it for my 5g and it doesn't fit over a rimmed fish tank. Boo. But if I ever get a little rimless tank, it'll be great for that I think 









Also found a box full of supplies. Kinda broke my heart seeing the crab cuisine. This is what I used to give my cherry shrimp way way way back in the day.... which reminds me that I haven't seen a ghost shrimp in a LONG time. Dead or alive. Going to assume they're all dead by now.









Wanted to see just how old some of this was... check out the exp date on this melafix
So yeah.. safe to say all this stuff went in to the trash.









Also pulled out a light I was thinking of using on the 10g. It's just a crappy one that comes with a tank kit, but thought MAYBE I could find a better bulb. Doubt it though.
The bulb in this one is from 2006! lol









Also found a glass top that fits on the 10g! Yay! Wasn't really sure what I was going to do for it, but well.. now I don't have to worry  Oh and I found the 10g light fixture too. Again, it's not anything special, but hopefully it will be good enough. Just have to make sure it actually works.









And after decluttering









My view while I was working.
Nothing like admiring the tanks... while listening to the sweet sounds of the dojo loaches farting. I can sometimes hear them in the living room which is quite impressive lol.
The sound reminds me of a kid's bath toy. One of those plastic ones that has a little hole in it and you squeeze it under the water to release the air to suck in water. It reminds me of that sound... squeezing out the air in one of those under water.

























Oh and finally the 29 old bowfront and its stand up in the attic with some supplies in it. A t5? light fixture that might work for one of the 20's. And a super old biowheel filter.









And yeah... that's it for now.
Hopefully going to home depot this weekend for the soil. Might swing by petsmart tomorrow to pick up regular gravel. I'd like to just go with aquarium gravel. I wish home depot sold something that small, but meh.
I have a heater for it already and will be transfering over one of the filters from the 40 to it.
And yep... FX I'll have the 10g running by Sunday or Monday and have some of these plants cleared out of the other tanks. /nodnod

Was thinking I could add fish to it eventually, but that's only after I do everything I need to with the plants and get the other tanks set up. I'm going to be putting in and taking out plants and probably will be making a HUGE mess no matter how careful I am. No fish deserves to be in the tank with all that happening.
After I'm all done, I dunno.... if I didn't make a huge mess, then add in some of its own plants and leave it alone and then add fish or shrimp. Oooo... I do want shrimp.... /nodnod...... shrimp it will be... eventually


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... decided that I'm going to move all the extra swords to the 10g when it is set up. And boy are there a lot.
Taking the 2 or 3 that are in the 5









There's also 1 or 2 in the 40 I'll be taking out
And then ALL of these from the 125. So so many of them. I'm going to have to go through every single little cluster to remove dead damaged leaves. UGH but also can't wait! lol

















Also going to be taking out alll of the dwarf sag. I think there's still some dwarf hairgrass in there too. I'll remove what I see









I was thinking I'd thin out some of these stem plants too, but I think the swords are going to take up the majority of space. Even though I'm sure most are still pretty small.. there's just so many of them.









And yeah.... Hopefully the next set of photos I post will be of the set up and final pic of the 10g up and running  I can't wait!

And a few random photos. I noticed when looking in to the 125 that there wasn't nearly as much BBA on the plants now. Why? I have no clue, but whatever lol. There is still some here and there, but not like there was before.









One of the black ruby barbs wanted its picture taken.... before it zoomed off when it realized I didn't have food for it.









Top of the 5g has gone crazy again. There are a lot of mint runners in the water. Going to need to do a big trim next water change. Just wanted to show what it looks like before that happens


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## Streetwise (May 24, 2019)

Have you named the tank in the last photo? If not, I would suggest Mojito!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Streetwise said:


> Have you named the tank in the last photo? If not, I would suggest Mojito!


Lol... that's pretty hilarious. I've never named a tank, but b/c that's an awesome suggestion, I'll name it that just for you 

Alrighty folks! 10g setup!
We went to Petsmart first to pick up some cheap gravel. WTH? Why didn't anyone tell me gravel was so expensive?? lol I thought it was going to be... MAYBE $10 for a big bag of it. HA NOPE. Flippin $26.
Nope.. no....
Went to Home Depot and got a bag of pea pebbles (which were smaller than I realized) for $5!!








Yes it's not all one size and there are some rough pieces etc, but meh. 25 or 5 dollars... hmmmmmm...
Don't have to think hard about that one.

Also bought this organic potting mix for about $8. I'll either save it or use the rest to re-pot some house plants 









And finally got these bulbs for the hood light that was NOT for the 10g tank lol. Not sure where it came from but whatever. It'll do 
Didn't mean to buy anything fancy like this, but there were limited options for skinny bulbs









I wasn't really sure how much to add to the tank. After breaking up the clumps and taking some of the larger twigs out... I'd say I had a little less than an inch layer
I then capped it with a hefty amount of the pea pebbles.
Used a regular ole strainer to clean the pebbles quick. Scooped out some of the pebbles and rinsed for maybe 20 seconds, then dumped the cleaned off bunch in to a bucket. Wash rinse repeat until I had enough. Easy peasy

















Only 2 swords in the 5g still. Added the nana? anubias and another that looked.. meh.
Thought the teeny tiny new growth was cute









Snipped off a lot of damaged leaves and dipped in peroxide metricide mixture before adding to the tank. I think Phish likes it 
















Did a water change and a lot of trimming on the mint
Really enjoying how well this tank is doing now... FINALLY









DH helped me try to make something to help keep water changes from disturbing the substrate too much. It's cut from a gallon jug of water and holes were drilled in to the bottom. A bit too many, but with the layer of pebbles I put in... they weren't moving at all once I started adding water.









And yep.... didn't make too much of a mess. Think it helped that a lot of these swords didn't have roots yet. Just little nubs of roots. I had to take off a good bit of damaged or warped leaves, but overall they didn't look too bad. Good gracious there were a lot of them. And i'm pretty sure the plants that are separate in this photo are crypts. Wasn't 100% sure though.
They were in a heavily planted spot in the 40g so thought maybe they could've just been swords that weren't getting enough light. /shrugs









There was one sword running in particular that was HUGE and had long nice roots on it. It was growing where there was a lot of moss. I think the moss helped to trap nutrients for this sword.









And all done. Completely overpacked but I think I got all of them out of the other tanks. Did sacrifice some to the trash gods. Had about 3? that were completely covered in that staghorn stuff. I didn't feel like messing with it so just threw them out. Not like I don't have enough swords to take their place...

































Really happy with how it all turned out and I think I'm going to make the 20 long a dirted tank. Since I only plan on these swords going in to it... I won't really need to worry about moving things around and making a huge mess and whatnot.
I can just picture that tank though and while some folks might think it's going to be boring... I think it's going to look amazing! Can you imagine... all of these little swords grown out and huge and lush and just completely filling out a 20 long. Will have to find some appropriate fish for that.

I've already dosed the tank w/ some metricide. There was some BBA on the filter that I moved over and obviously there would be spores or whatever all over every single one of the plants. Thankfully with no livestock in here... I can algecide the hell out of this tank so there shouldn't be any problems getting rid of it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Photos!

Water changes yesterday and did a lot of cleaning up in the 40g.
The I had a lot of the right stem plant trimming all over the tank and it was just cluttering everything up, so I took the majority of those out and left just the right hand side stuff. There are still a few stragglers here and there. I also found a few more nana anubias that I popped in to the betta tank.
I then pushed back the aponogeton so it wasn't crowding the front plants so much.
Also pulled off a lot of the heavily BBA covered leaves here and there.








Looks better I think. Still a giant mess, but better lol.

Also went to the attic to see if I could move the tank stand. NOPE! Too heavy for me. I got the tank off of it though and took the light. I think this will work nice for either tank. Just need to get some new bulbs for it.









I can't wait to move this lace plant. Look how tall the leaves are! Such a huge cool looking plant









After the water change and scooping out 90% of the duckweed. The amount of duckweed this morning has already doubled lol.









And finally the 125 this morning before the 40g lights came on. Looking so much less cluttered now. I took out a ton of moss and as you can see, there's still plenty of it in the tank. I need to trim more of the lotus leaves, but that can wait for another day.


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## Desert Pupfish (May 6, 2019)

Been enjoying your thread--nice to know I'm not the only one with a messy tank LOL

SAE are known for being one of the few algae-eating fish that eat BBA. Have you noticed any difference? Have also read in multiple places that if you dose with metricide, the BBA turns a different color, and then otos & other algae-eaters who otherwise ignore it will chomp it down.

Re metricide & vals: my experience has been that it tolerates the recommended dose just fine. Maybe try starting at a half dose and ramping up? But you'd wanna be consistent (hard with a busy schedule, I know) The only damage I've noticed is if I trim the leaves, then the metricide seems to damage them and the trimmed leaves keep dying back. Mine got so tall they were shading the entire tank, and since they look like crap if I tried to trim them, I ended up pulling them all. Well almost all--sure enough one popped up in the middle of another plant, and is starting to spread. Persistent little buggers. It's going into my new dirted 75 where I'm gonna need some hungry fast growers to hopefully keep the algae at bay.

Love your swords--I'm jealous! My angels would love to spawn on those.....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Desert Pupfish said:


> Been enjoying your thread--nice to know I'm not the only one with a messy tank LOL
> 
> SAE are known for being one of the few algae-eating fish that eat BBA. Have you noticed any difference? Have also read in multiple places that if you dose with metricide, the BBA turns a different color, and then otos & other algae-eaters who otherwise ignore it will chomp it down.
> 
> ...


I used to have some SAE's in my 40g. They all eventually died but they didn't touch the BBA in that tank at all. I think at the time, I was having a problem with that green slime hair algae stuff though so maybe that's why they didn't eat it? I have no idea.
I don't have vals anymore. All of mine died a long time ago. I do remember it dying off when I did dose metricide though. I'm not sure how much I was putting in to the tank at the time. I don't think it was just the metricide that did it.
I do love vallis. My 125 used to have a ton of jungle val in it that also shaded like half of the tank. Looked awesome!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

And now something is wrong with my betta 
He didn't want to come up for food. Used the dropper to check water parameters to get him to move and he went and wedged himself under the heater.
Checked parameters and there might've been a very slight tint of green (we have really crappy lighting so it's difficult to tell sometimes) so I did a big water change and sucked up all debris and whatnot. Think I may go to Petsmart tomorrow and buy some bottled bacteria just in case too if there is something going on w/ ammonia.

Looks like he's still a bit lethargic a few hours later. Boo  I hope he's gonna be ok.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Aaaand my betta is bloated and looks like he's in the beginning staged of dropsy.
It's just his belly that is bloated and pineconing some right now. And when I netted him, he was passing some poop. I gave him an epsom salt bath and then added that water to his tank too in hopes that it will help him pass more if he is backed up or something.
I checked his water again this morning and it was the same thing. Not sure if there was a tint of green or it was just my crappy lighting. I did a water change anyway and did notice there was still some uneaten food here and there so that might be causing some ammonia.

I don't get it. He was FINE before. Begging for food as usual and couple of days later... this. I did take out those swords, but I also did a bit water change to make sure I sucked up any muck that got disturbed from the substrate.
Nothing weird on the anubias.

Just... WTF. Everyone else gets to keep their bettas for years and years and I can't even keep mine for months.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Sorry for lack of photos. I'd get a photo of betta but I'm already stressing him out netting him to give him epsom salt baths. 
He's in his one for today. He seemed a little more active this morning, but his belly is still very bloated w/ scales sticking out. Only on the belly area though. Not his entire body... so MAYBE he still has a chance. I really hope so. Will be adding the epsom salt water to his tank once he's done in it and hopefully it will continue to help him poop or draw out the fluids or whatever it going on with him.
I'm afraid this is probably just going to be my experience with any betta now. They've all been so inbred to get these beautiful looks but have completely lost their hardiness. Didn't that happen with guppies too?

Speaking of guppies... maybe I should get some for the 20 long and then let them just completely take over that tank. I saw some pretty platinum (white) ones at petco when we picked up the tanks. Don't think I saw females though. I dunno. Still not happening right now anyway then I'll have to cycle the tank and blahblah. Just thinking "out loud"


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Sorry to hear about your betta. I've had the same frustration- never can keep one alive longer than a year and a half, two years I think was my max. I hear of people who have theirs seven, eight years, don't know how they do it! Am I doing something wrong or just not getting healthy ones. After I lost the last one, I just didn't feel like getting another for a while. I've got guppies in what was my betta tank, for now. I really hope yours pulls through!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks JJ.... It's good to know that it's just not me b/c I certainly feel like I have the hand of death when it comes to bettas.

Unfortunately, it looks like his stomach is more bloated today. He is trying to poop, so I'm hoping these salt baths are helping, but I don't think there is help left to give honestly. I'm still trying b/c it's just his belly area and not his entire body, but I think with time... it will spread to his whole body and when that happens. UGH.... I can't let him suffer 
Wish I could just go in and squeeze him and get whatever is causing this out, but obviously that would do more harm than good.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Yikes, that looks painful.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So first up
Just so impressed with this pothos and how huge the leaves are. Tried getting a comparison to "normal" size leaves
















Just think it's cool. I've had pothos for a while and this is the first time this has happened.

The red tiger lotus in the 40 that you can't really see lol. I need to move the wisteria in the front.
But what you can see. It's not really thriving, but it's growing and not dead at least lol









Red tiger in the 125 is still doing great, but so is everything else around it too. Soooooooo can't wait to set up the other tanks









Figured out that the plants that I wasn't sure if they were crypts or swords. Neither one... they were aponogeton and I'm pretty sure I killed them. Maybe they'll pop back up but, it's not looking too good.









I spotted an aponogeton in the 5g that I forgot was in there and moved it to the 10g for now. 









The 10g plants are looking pretty rough though. The majority of them had only little nubs for roots so I'm sure that is why they're looking bad right now. BUT there is new growth here and there too so FX they'll bounce back fast.
You can see the tiny little new growth leaf in the previous photo. The sword on the left corner.

























Decided to add a little bit of dry ferts. I don't measure anything. I have a plastic spoon that I use to scoop in to the funnel in to an old glass baby bottle. Then I shake it all up to mix and voila! lol



















In sad news though. I had to euthanize Phish this morning. Checked on him and he was worse. Floating at the surface on his side and once I got him out, noticed the pineconing was starting to occur on his body as well. Couldn't let him suffer anymore so clove oiled him.  Only had him for 6 months, but hopefully it was a good 6 months for him. I wish it had been for much longer.

When I first got him

















His cool little color pattern he was sporting before the blue took over









Couple months ago









RIP Phish


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Sooo.... Swords are having a massive die back
Mistakenly thought they would just grow NP once planted in actual soil! Haha NOPE

Before I did a water change

















All of the older leaves are basically dying. All of them. I'm sure some are actually dead.









I went in and trimmed a lot of the dying leaves off, but didn't get all of them. The ones that I accidentally pulled up though... some of them did have actual new leaves, but no new root growth which is a little weird.

















I went in with scissors and tried snipping off a good many, but then decided that maybe I should just leave the dead ones on. I dunno. I'll see what happens.









I mean... it's not like I won't have more sword runners eventually. Pretty sure I saw one of the swords has a runner right now. Just wait a few more weeks and will have some new sword plants if I need them.

In the meantime though, just going to let these things do what they gotta do. Going to add the heater back to the tank as soon as I find an adapter thing so I can plug it up.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No new betta for the tank yet. I accidentally forgot to plug the filter back up after a water change and it was off all night. Media inside wasn't dry, but I guess it was still enough to cause an ammonia problem b/c it's coming up at about a 1 reading now. Great :\

The couple of sweet potato vines are growing and doing well. Still having some mite/aphid problems on them, but they look ok for now









Couple of the otos hanging out. They're definitely not hiding as much as they used to









Got some of these moisture bags a while back for our house and figured one could be useful in the room with my tanks. Already had water in it by the end of the day









My 40. Just a giant dang mess, but well... that's just how it's always going to be I think lol
I dunno.. Having a nice clean tank setup would be nice, but I also like that it does look wild and natural and ugly lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just a small update

Still a lot of leaves dying off in the 10g, but there is small new growth here and there.
Totally fine though considering that it doesn't look like I'll be setting up the new tanks any time soon.

















No nitrites in the 5g, but still ammonia. It's at a 0.5 reading, not 1 like I had thought. Hopefully it fixes itself soon b/c there are a lot of bettas out there that need a good home.


















The mint has gone crazy though. I did a big trim not too long ago and as you can see, there is a ton of growth. Will have to trim again soon. Think I'm going to go ahead and add more crypts to this tank too from the 125 along with more root tabs









125 crypts have also grown a tremendous amount. They were looking pretty scraggly, but there has been a big growth spurt
Maybe when I tried pulling off a lot of the BBA covered leaves it helped them put more in to growing new healthy leaves









Only thing bad about all of this new growth is that the lotus is getting overwhelmed. I HOPE I can get my new tanks set up soon so I can thin everything out like I want, but... I dunno. Lotss of bills that need to be paid off before setting up a tank. NM that I still need a stand for at least one of them.









And yeah... that's it for now.
Eager to get my new tanks set up finally, but no idea when that will be b/c of lack of funds. I am tempted to do a dirted tank but I'm SO messy and so heavy handed that I know I would make a giant mess of that type of tank. It would be cheap though...... SIGH
I THINK I'm going to do it for the 20 long b/c it's going to house all of these swords and that's it. So no worried on having to uproot anything.
Then I'd only have to worry about saving a little to get some expensive substrate for the reg 20g.
I dunno though.
First need to get a stand for at least the 20 long. Then I'll worry about everything else.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

lisals said:


> Decided to add a little bit of dry ferts. I don't measure anything. I have a plastic spoon that I use to scoop in to the funnel in to an old glass baby bottle. Then I shake it all up to mix and voila! lol


That pothos looks great! Sorry about your betta. As the ferts go, I'd really take the time to weigh them out. I'm happy to share the recipe I use if interested. Also if mixing CSM+B with your macros, I'm pretty sure that phosphates can bind to iron easily, creating an insoluble precipitate so you would be well-served to at least not mix those two. Not to be critical, just thought that might be helpful.


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## Desert Pupfish (May 6, 2019)

lisals said:


> No new betta for the tank yet. I accidentally forgot to plug the filter back up after a water change and it was off all night. Media inside wasn't dry, but I guess it was still enough to cause an ammonia problem b/c it's coming up at about a 1 reading now. Great :\
> 
> The couple of sweet potato vines are growing and doing well. Still having some mite/aphid problems on them, but they look ok for now


I'm surprised your impressive pothos and all your plants didn't soak up the excess ammonia from your filter mishap. Then again, I've read that plants only uptake nutrients during the photocycle, so did you test immediately after lights on?

Nothing wrong with a messy tank as long as it's healthy--mine is messy much of the time. Nature is messy, so just call it a nature tank....


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Blue Ridge Reef said:


> That pothos looks great! Sorry about your betta. As the ferts go, I'd really take the time to weigh them out. I'm happy to share the recipe I use if interested. Also if mixing CSM+B with your macros, I'm pretty sure that phosphates can bind to iron easily, creating an insoluble precipitate so you would be well-served to at least not mix those two. Not to be critical, just thought that might be helpful.


I can't remember everything I mix up off the top of my head. Definitely a little bit of iron. Sure, if ya wanna share your ingredient, I'll happily take a look. Any advice would be great 




Desert Pupfish said:


> I'm surprised your impressive pothos and all your plants didn't soak up the excess ammonia from your filter mishap. Then again, I've read that plants only uptake nutrients during the photocycle, so did you test immediately after lights on?
> 
> Nothing wrong with a messy tank as long as it's healthy--mine is messy much of the time. Nature is messy, so just call it a nature tank....


I did test it a could of times right when the lights came on. For the results I posted.. I can't remember. I'll check it again tomorrow after lights have been on for a while.
I dunno... that tank has just been a pain in my butt. Really unstable for some reason. I mean well.. this time it was my fault that there is an ammonia spike, but before.. just blah.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Hubs brought down the 29g bowfront stand and the 20 high should fit on it fine.









Haven't put it on there yet b/c I have to clean this spot up and we need to move the horsemat that is there right now.
Pls excuse all the leaf litter. Trimmed all the mint and basil and haven't vacuumed it up yet









Going to put it where the glass top table is and... yep. It's slowly slowly slowly coming together lol

Also checked 5g parameters again after the lights had been on for a few hours and same thing as before.

Also 10g has started getting ammonia now too. SO yep. Just a waiting game right now... for everything.
Doing water changes tomorrow.

OH and also noticed that the big compacta sword in the 125 has already put out another runner that is at the top of the tank already. SO yep. If I do lose a lot of the ones in the 10g. MEH! Going to have more to replace them soon lol


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

This guy mixes the same dosage I use. Said to be on the leaner side for those of us who don't change out 50%+ water weekly. It's worked well for me thus far, but I recently doubled the PO4 shown here.


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## Muscleguy (Feb 16, 2020)

Hair algae is often due to too many phosphates in the water. There are products you can add to the water which will precipitate phosphates and you then vacuum it up or you can get resin beads to go in a bag in your filter. Get a PO4 test kit. Consider feeding low phosphate foods as well. 

I had a big problem with hair algae in my 10g when it had the UGF. One factor in getting an external canister filter was to enable the use of the beads and this iteration is much better. it helps that the plants are running rampant without the UGF and a humate sub layer under the gravel. Growing plants will soak up PO4, if you are regularly clipping the plants you will be removing them that way. If your plants aren't growing fast consider an iron fertiliser or CO2. I don't use CO2 but still get excellent plant growth. I have limnia (duckweed) and remove a lot of it at least once a week. It grows very fast and


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Quick question are you cycling your 5 gallon and which method? And how long is it taking? Substrate?

Love that Forrest of crypts. They're okay being so close together? 

I just had a glance back and very sorry about your betta, esp since I know you've lost another one. I have a theory that intense line breeding has made them genetically weaker. 

I've since experimented with "wild type Aliens" and they don't seem prone to disease at all. 
I picked up my male at an Expo, and my female from a guy on eBay. The Thai imports are stupid expensive - a total rip off. If I recall I think you're in Australia (?) so I don't know about availability. Here in the U.S. they can be hard to find, but there's a new person on eBay with good ones for about $25 USD which is a good price. 

No idea why they're called "Aliens" Lol.

Here's a pic of my male and female. She's not fully grown yet. 


















Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Nature Freak- I'm in SC (south Carolina). All of my bettas have just been store bought. I've been thinking about just going for a VT or a regular female if I can find one. Nothing super fancy.... although I do love those. SIGH!
We'll see whenever this tank is done cycling again.
I'm not doing anything to it to cycle it. There's plenty of poop I couldn't get out from the betta along with some decaying leaves and whatnot. I might add in a shrimp pellet. Or I might just buy more bacteria in a bottle and see how that goes.

Yep, the crypts are ok growing like that. That's how they spread on their own. Lemme see if I can dig up an old pic on how it started out
Here ya go. This isn't when I started it back up planted (probably a couple of months after?). It had already grown in some, but the crypts definitely grew in like they are now by themselves. I put them in the spots, and they took over. 









I think since it is a low light plant, I haven't really noticed any sort of yellowing leaves like what happens on the swords when a leaf is blocked from the light.

Yeah I've seen the wild types called alien too. No idea why but they sure are pretty!

Muscleguy- I'll look in to everything you've mentioned. I'm getting some hair algae again in my 40g so anything to help prevent it is most welcome.

Blue Ridge- Thanks for the link! Haven't watched it yet but I will 


Water changes today.
Decided to take some of the dwarf sag out of the 40 and put in to the 10g
Lots of BBA but couple shots of metricide should take care of it.

















Water change in the 125... decided to take out a lot of java moss and pulled up surprise tiger lotus plants









1 larger one and a little baby runner. Put them in to the 40g for now. I guess they'll either go back in tot he 125 once the other tanks are set up... or they'll go in to one of the new tanks. OR once I'm done growing out the swords in the 10... I could try putting one in there and just letting it go crazy 

















Have 3... not 1... THREE new sword runners in the 125. 1 from the big compacta in the back and 1 from each of the smaller ones up front.

















Got photobombed









And finally... couldn't get a good photo of it b/c I didn't want to turn the filter off, but apparently the java fern that I forgot about is doing really well. I can't keep this stuff alive on purpose, but accidentally? Sure! /shrugs
I think it's something to do with being next to the filter outflow.









Oh and apparently one of the glolight tiger barbs died. Had no idea until I was netting out duckweed and spotted the body. Must've been dead 3+ days. The tank smelled gross. Did a bigger than usual water change.
I spotted one of the barbs and it had popeye. I mean, nothing much else I can do for it, but hopefully some fresh clean water helps it.


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## Nature Freak (Sep 30, 2019)

Amazing before shot of the crypts! Hope mine do that. 

But surely you've got a green thumb love all of your photos! 

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Just a quick post
5g has more ammonia now. I added 1 shrimp pellet to the filter. /shrugs I was hoping this was just going to be a quick little blip and would resolve itself in a week, but guess it's just going to fully cycle itself again? Annoyed... just annoyed.
Just bought an air pump and a small sponge filter for it. Maybe then it will STAY cycled even if I accidentally forget to plug it back in lol.

Mint in 40 and 5g seem to be growing really well right now. It was looking scraggly for a while, but has really grown in lush. It means there is a lot of bottom stuff that gets starved of light and ends up dying though so just have to pick out all the dead leaves from the tank









BBA covered pothos roots make a good resting spot.









Crappy photos of the forgotten java fern lol. Looks nice I think? I'd move it to be more visible but I'm sure if I did, it would die 

















The long slender 'stick' is a runner from my regular amazon sword. So 3 runners from the compacta... 1 from the regular. Think I'll snip this one off though. Definitely don't need any regular size swords









Added a dose of metricide the day after I added the dwarf sag and it's slowly dying. Might need to add a little more.
The plants look ok though.
The swords are also doing.. meh. Still a lot of dying off, but there is new growth. Some of the new growth doesn't look great, but just gotta be patient.









That's about it for now.
Hoping to at least move the 20 tall in to its spot this weekend.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got some stuff done yesterday finally!
Moved everything so we could get the horse mat out of the way and moved the 20 tall to where I had wanted it.










Yep, not centered b/c I didn't want to block the outlet. My husband wasn't happy with that and suggested we put the 20 long there since he'll have to make the stand for it and that shouldn't block the outlet. /shrugs whatever

This was where I wanted the 20 long. 









But in the middle of the windows is fine too.

Moving the mat meant we had to move the pot w/ the chinese evergreen in it. Just wanted to show how massive it all is.









It's all flopped over b/c they were leaning up against the wall. There are at least 8 different plants in this pot. Need to get more pots to separate them all.
I think I'm going to add 1 of the flopped over ones to the 125. They have really long stems so it should be ok.. even if it doesn't reach the bottom. 
I think the dojo loaches would enjoy resting on all of the roots once those grow in, plus it's something else to help compete against the algae.

Anyway... DH suggested we move an old tv stand we had in the corner by the 125. It was being used for tools. Meh.. whatever. So we moved all of that and I moved the 20g over to it and... ok. I mean not what I wanted to begin with but I can live with this too 









So yeah... that's about it. It was a lot of work cleaning up the area lol, but it's all coming along slowly 
The 20 tall fits the stand perfectly other than the front bow part. Really happy with that!

The 5g air pump and sponge filter came in yesterday. Set it right up and put the sponge in to the corner of the tank by the HOB.
It looks ugly right now b/c the stand doesn't have holes in the back panel. Meh









Also had to take a quick trip to petsmart yesterday b/c my 40 has ammonia in it now. Pretty sure it's b/c I've been feeding too much lately.
Noticed one of the cories lethargic, so tested the water and yep.
Did a massive water change then next day went to petsmart to see what was available for bacteria in a bottle.
I swear... I wanted that safestart stuff since I always see people mentioning it. Pffft... not for $24 a bottle!!!
They had a top fin brand one that I bought b/c it was on sale though. Just over $9 per bottle. Bought 2 and dumped half of the bottle in yesterday and the 2nd half today.









The fish are acting normal though, but there is still an ammonia reading. Keeping an eye on it.
I bought more bio-spira which I should get tomorrow. Hopefully it actually works. It has before, but I bought one before and it did nothing so.. /shrugs
Again, this is my own fault. Should've realized I was feeding too much but have been a bit preoccupied recently.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More pics!
Decided to take one of the long chinese evergreens and put it in to the 125.

Didn't even think about it at the time, but pretty sure the one I pulled was the original. Pulled... more like broke off. Oops
Hopefully it will be ok though.
It goes all the way to the substrate with plenty to spare at the top.
As you can see.. a dojo had to check it out








Really hoping it will grow roots like the one in the 5g. And with where it is. I'm also hoping it will root in to the substrate as well and just stay put.

The whole thing was bent though so the top was flopped over









Thankfully we have a couple of long stakes that I use for our christmas decor. Taped it to the tank and used bright pink yarn to get the stem more upright. Used the bright color so I wouldn't forget about it. 
Hopefully with enough time, it will straighten up on its own.









And there are FIVE sword runners now.
2 are from the same compacta sword. 1 from another up front. One from the back and maybe one from the amazon. I can't really tell at this point. Going to cut some of them off. Don't need all of this again lol

















And the one from the compacta in the back... but I noticed earlier today that MAYBE my dojo loaches might be showing signs of wanting to mate? The one up front keeps messing with the other one and seemed to not want to leave it alone.
Hey.. that'd be great if I got little babies! I think there are certainly enough hiding places in the tank that a few could survive. The killifish is a good little predator though and I'm sure would gobble up and wormy little thing it spots.








I'll have to look up info on their breeding behavior and all of that.
Gosh I hope they make some babies! OMG would be adorable and I would be thrilled to have a tank filled with my farting hotdogs!

Just thought this bit of the 40g looked nice. I wish I still had some water hyacinth, but oh well. This looks good too. Messy, but that's ok 









And finally... the 40g pothos. Still growing up up up. Will be interesting to see what it does once it reaches the top


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So, first up....
While I was trying to pull off some sweet potato vine that was growing up the pothos, I accidentally pulled the pothos off the wall. It was pretty easy to do it and yes, it pulled off the paint









I'm not worried about the paint though. I didn't pull it all off, but the top part wasn't attached and started slumping over. It's pretty heavy and I don't want it to fall and possibly knock the lights in to the water so I taped it up a little. Will be adding more to try to get it closer to the wall so it can reattach hopefully









Did water changes yesterday on the big tanks.
40g is still showing ammonia which I'm extremely annoyed about. There are still 3 filters on this tank. I haven't left them off for longer than maybe 20 minutes while doing water changes and the sponge one never gets turned off. Why TH is the bacteria in this tank not taking care of the ammonia?? This is the 2nd big water change I've done and I've cut WAY back on feeding (every other day and only 1 sera o-nip).
Annoyed.....
Maybe I should've spent $24 flippin dollars on a bottle of the safestart... although I'm sure that probably wouldn't have worked too. SIGH

I did a BIG trimming on the amazon sword in my 125. It needed it too. So many damaged and messed up leaves. I'm sure i'll see better growth soon though. It's a healthy plant in general.
I also trimmed off some of the runners.
The runner that was hiding in the plants gave me an unexpected surprise though









It's now with the other ones in the 10g. Starting to notice more new growth. Slow going but that's ok









The red tiger lotus was looking gorgeous yesterday. Just a beautiful color. I wish my phone took a photo of how it actually looks in thr 125. Always comes out more green than it actually is.









The ones in the 40g show the color better









Also decided to cut the filter off in the 125 quick so I could look at the sword plant that's under it and got a decent look at the java fern. Had a lot of BBA on it, so I dosed with some metricide on it. Hopefully I didn't kill it.









125 tank shot









And finally. Got a light for my 20 long! 
Sam's had these lights on clearance for $15. Husband bought one for himself and when he was checking it out at home, I knew it would be perfect for the tank. It even has little hooks to hang it too if you want. It's pretty bright and has a lower light setting too.
Yay for a cheap find!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... I got 2 bettas today!
Decided it was time and went to petsmart. Ones from Petco were dying within a year so figured I'd try somewhere else.

Petsmart surprisingly had a lot of really pretty bettas and I was extremely close to buying a peach colored half moon until I spotted little tiny teeny koi boy.
I can't help it. I was going to get something a little more "plain" but I saw him and fell in love









































Not the best photos but it's what I got.
He's so teeny tiny compared to how big Phish was. He's not shy at all and was searching for food and looking all around his tank. He eagerly ate the couple of pellets I gave him.

I also got a female betta. There weren't many. A few crowntail females were catching my eye, but I really wanted a red colored one and luckily they had a couple.
She's not anything fancy but I think she's pretty cute and definitely eye-catching in the tank when she's in view.
I didn't get great photos of her either b/c as soon as I put her in, she was looking at every single inch of her new home. Hopefully she won't be mean to the other fish, but we'll see.
She did chase one of the rasbora when it was swimming close to her, but it could've just scared her since it was basically right after I put her in. And yes... no quarantine.

















I was surprised at the different colors petsmart had. Platinum ones, black orchid? I really REALLY liked those and may get one in the future if they're still available. Peach color, yellow and black, etc.


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## Blue Ridge Reef (Feb 10, 2008)

Your place looks great! I'd center the tank over the outlet, personally, but I'm OCD like that. Koi bettas are fun -hope your makes the changes that mine did! Still wishing I'd photoed him all along for all the pigmentation that came and went. Oh, and I thought "phish" was @Marylandguppy's trademark!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Blue Ridge Reef said:


> Your place looks great! I'd center the tank over the outlet, personally, but I'm OCD like that. Koi bettas are fun -hope your makes the changes that mine did! Still wishing I'd photoed him all along for all the pigmentation that came and went. Oh, and I thought "phish" was @Marylandguppy's trademark!


Yeah my husband wasn't very happy that the tank wasn't centered either rofl. If he ever does build me my 20 long stand though, it can be centered since it shouldn't block the outlet so no OCD triggers then 

Yeah I can't wait for his colors to change! I'll have to try to remember to take photos of him frequently do document it 

As for Phish....trying to get my kids more interested in my fish so I let my youngest name him.. and him being 3... he wanted to name him Fish... just figured spelling it with a Ph on here would be funny


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Both bettas are doing well.
Girl betta seems to prefer the right side of the tank. That's where I've been finding her. Hopefully as she keeps getting more comfortable, she'll be everywhere in the tank. If she just wants to stay over there though, that's fine too 
I love her color!









My little koi boy is also doing really well. Super interested in what everyone is doing. Still gets a little nervous sometimes, but usually comes right up to the front of the tank to check everyone out. He's so darn cute!









I've been keeping an eye on both tank parameters. Still not what I want, but I've been trying out Stability on both. Hopefully it is actually doing something to help.

Cories and otos (and rasbora) look ok in the 40 though. I've been keeping feedings to bare minimum. Feel kind of bad about it, but not going to feed more than what I'm doing until things get back to normal.

























10 plants are looking good. A lot more new growth now than dying stuff.
The new sword I put in to the tank also decided to grow itself a runner now too. Lol... sheesh.
You can see it on the right side of the pic








Happy with how things are looking. I mean.. still doesn't look great, but it looks better.









The super long runner in the 125 has started growing plants on it. The parent plant also decided to send a 2nd runner out. Will have to snip it off soon.
No pics, but after seeing all of the BBA on the java fern. I dosed the tank with metricide. Maybe a little too much? Just enough? Now ALL of the BBA in the tank is dying. I mean.. I'm not complaining, but glad the fish were ok lol. Woops.


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

Beautiful bettas! Which tanks did you put them in?

Love the photos of the corys snuffling about in the sand too :grin2:


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I put the female in to the 40 and the male is in the 5g.

So... I think my ammonia test is bad. Got a bit suspicious that something might be wrong when I tested yesterday and was still getting a slight greenish tint in the 40. A little overfeeding blip should've fixed itself by now, especially since I've reduced how much I was feeding and all of that.
So I tested my 125 ammonia today and sure enough... slightly greenish tint. Nothing has happened with that tank that would cause an ammonia spike so yeah.. I think my ammonia test is just... bad I guess.

Anyway.... on to some pics!

Bad pics of my 2 bettas.
Both doing well. Female obviously a little piglet. Not sure what she's eating though since I'm still not feeding this tank like I used to. Maybe she's found some cory eggs to munch on
I'll have to try getting better photos of the male during the night when there is less glare. Just way too much during the day

















Did a lot more trimming on my swords in the 125 during a water change. Snipped off THREE more runners trying to come up. I've left 2 that have started growing swords

















Chinese evergreen still hasn't grown in new roots yet, but I'm pretty sure the little white spots on the stem is where new roots are going to pop up. Will keep an eye on it









Really can't wait to get my 20 tall going. I want to see this lace plant as the centerpiece plant. The little ozelot sword will be in with it I think.... maybe.









Moved a stem of wisteria in to the 125. It's already grown a tremendous amount in a week. 









Bonus photo of a few of the beggars.
I kind of measured a couple of the loaches. The blind one is about 9 inches long and the smallest one is about 7. Fat lil things! I love them!









I had to add more tape to the pothos growing up the wall. It's such a sturdy plant that it keeps ripping the tape off the wall. I'd duct tape it up there if I could, but well... I'd like to remove this tape eventually lol









And swords and other plants in the 10g are doing well. Still a little bit of die off here and there, but mostly new growth now

















Whenever the 20 long is finally set up and I can move the swords in to it, I want to remove the rest of the dwarf sag from the 40g. The little bit I did move seems to be doing really well in the 10g so far.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So... since all gatherings are being shut down right now, husband had a bit of extra time yesterday and did a thing









YAY! So happy and proud of him. He followed King of DIY video on making a stand and I think he did a great job 
It's still sitting on our porch to let the waterproof staining dry completely.
I can't wait to see the 20 long on it though!

Also dug out the 2 crusty old filters I had and cleaned them off as best I could. Thankfully just sitting them in some hot water seemed to get most of it off and thankfully they both seem to work so yay! I have filter media I can use in them both already so don't really need to buy anything 









And just putting them on the tanks for now. I'm not sure it's going to be the best option for the 20 long, but it should be ok for now. I also found 3 air pumps hiding away in the back of my 125 cabinet. Not sure how loud they are, but if they're not so bad, can always get another sponge filter to add to it

















To keep things on the cheap... I decided to dirt both of them. OOOO I might regret that decision though. Bought more pebbles and also bought play sand to mix with it. I don't mind the look of the 10g right now, but I wanted a mixture of substrates over the dirt.

But look what I found inside the soil. I left it out on the porch and well... some bird saw it as their perfect spot. lol









Thankfully no eggs or anything in it. Moved it to a bush nearby so hopefully the bird finds it there. If not... sorry little birdy, but you've been evicted!

Also... check this out
THREE flipping runners in the 10 gallon! WTH?? The plants must put out some sort of chemical that makes them start growing their runners. /shrugs no idea. Just thought it was crazy









The dwarf sag in this tank looks amazing though!! 









I'm definitely pulling it all out of the 40g.

I still need tops for both tanks, but should be able to set up the 20 long today! Not sure how I'm going to cycle them though? I mean, I guess the soil will release ammonia? I'm not sure, but I guess I'll find out. Will need to buy a new ammonia test.

So excited though! I can't wait to start setting them up!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Delayed set up for the 20 long still.

The water proofing stain didn't fully dry. DH wants to wait at least another day just to make sure it doesn't stain the carpet. That's fine. Waited this long, I can wait another day.

I bought more t5 bulbs off of amazon. Like a 5 pack for $17 which isn't bad at all considering I used to pay about that price for one bulb. That should be coming in on Saturday. I'm going to get all of the substrate and stuff rinsed and in to the tank before then though. Stuck at home so what else am I gonna do right? lol

THIS crap is annoying though. Went to pull off the sticker on the 20 tall and almost all of the damn sticker glue remained on the glass!









Thankfully we have acetone, but used like half of the bottle getting this stuff off. So dang annoying. The one on the 20 long came off as it should though.
BUT underneath it almost gave me a damn heartattack.
Didn't get photos of it, but it looked like there was a giant crack in the glass. I grabbed my X-acto knife and took the blade out to scrape it and thankfully, it was just a thin silicone line. Wooo that scared me though. It looked just like a scratch/crack in the glass.

Hopefully I'll have more photos to post up soon. Wont be anything super exciting for others but it's exciting for me! lol

Oh and I'm going to use plastic wrap on both tanks until I can get proper tops for both of them. But well... with the whole "social distancing" thing going on now... don't want to go to the store to look for anything atm. Plastic wrap will work just fine for now /nodnod


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## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

https://i.imgur.com/Nh0gMTN.jpg

This picture is in this thread on post #13. It seems to be a sword plant but
Looks different the the others. Do you remember what kind it is?

Thanks!

Doug


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

doug105! said:


> https://i.imgur.com/Nh0gMTN.jpg
> 
> This picture is in this thread on post #13. It seems to be a sword plant but
> Looks different the the others. Do you remember what kind it is?
> ...


Looks like it was in the 40, so 99% sure it was a compacta sword


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## doug105! (Aug 2, 2016)

Thank you!

Love this thread!

Doug


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes today!

First up, my betta boy looking adorable. I don't think his colors have changed much.

















40 is looking... as messy as usual. Accidentally cut my big pothos roots. Hopefully it doesn't effect the big growth up the wall.









The tape failed and it flopped over. But the temp hook things I had are working well









Got rid of 98% of the mint on the right side. Just needed to start fresh over there. A lot of it was intertwined and was dying off under the taller stems making a big mess.









Also did a smaller trim over on the left side of the sweet potato vine
But I left most of it alone b/c it's just looking so pretty right now 









10g got a water change too. Before and after. Oops. A lot of mulm resting on top of the rocks got kicked up. Oh well. 
The plants are looking good though. 
I ended up cutting off the 3 runners

















And water change in the 125. Root nubs on the chinese evergreen are growing a little more. The old roots have died off and the snails are eating them I think









Going to have plenty more new little swords for whenever the stand is ready and I can set up the tank (hoping for tomorrow)

















And finally bonus pic of my pretty boy killifish


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Substrate added to the 20 tall!
Not really sure I added a thick enough cap though. Guess I'll find out eventually. I know the sand will probably sink down in to the soil.
It's a mixture of play sand and pea pebbles on top of the soil. Looking at it, I think I'm going to add a little more sand.
ANd lordy is that stuff DIRTY! Feels like we're gonna have a super high water bill by the time I start cleaning sand for the other tank. Yeesh.









Still haven't set up the other one yet. The stain is still coming off for some reason. That stuff should've been dried by now. /shrugs

Now just gotta wait for the bulbs to come in Saturday.
I'm really excited to get the 20 long going though and get the rest of the dwarf sag out of the 40 and just... everything! I can't wait!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I filled it with some water! Want the sand to settle and just to try out what will work to keep me from disturbing the substrate. THink I figured out a cheap option.









We have some styrofoam empty egg cartons that I punched a bunch of holes in. I should be able to use the python if I just make sure the hose is pouring on to the egg carton.

Poked through the substrate and there seemed to be quite a lot of air pockets, especially up around the edges. You can see where the sand filled them in
Looks like I may need to add more to the cap now that it has settled down. Not as thick as it looked when drier









Checked my amazon order and it looks like delivery won't happen until Sunday now. I know they're prioritizing items right now so it's ok. I have other crappy lights I can use if I want to set it up before the bulbs get here. (and I probably will tomorrow lol

So excited to get it set up obviously!
Will probably drain most of this water out though so I can get my pretty little ozelot and lace plant in with as little mess as possible. I know the ozelot is going to have a ton of roots which is going to be a giant PITA to get in without making a huge mess. I'll probably have to try to move the cap over then cover it all back up once it's in place. I dunno but... I'll figure it out

















Think I'm going to move the dwarf sag that is in the 10 in to this tank and then move the ones in the 40 to the 10 /nodnod.

Hopefully I'll have more set up photos to share tomorrow!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Lots of pictures incoming!!

I did more stuff! 

Took one of the media bags for a different HOB filter. Took out the plastic stuff and emptied out the carbon. Was going to cut it in half, but I figured folding it would be better. Give the bacteria more to live on.









Moved the lace plant and the ozelot sword over.
Both had nice healthy roots. I did have to remove a lot of leaves on both, but they both look nice and healthy overall.

















I was going to put the lace plant in the middle. Have it as the centerpiece plant, BUT after thinking about it, I thought it would be best to plant it by the filter where it will get water flow through its leaves and since it's so long, the leaves will be blown across the top of the rest of the tank which I think will look really nice.
The ozelot will be my nice little centerpiece plant (for now).
I also moved the small red tiger lotus I had in the 40g over to the right side of this tank too 









Obviously the water is cloudy. Thought it looked a little spooky and a bit Lovecraftian lol

















Removing the lace plant didn't really change the look of that area of the tank much lol. The crypts are taking over this entire spot









Removing the ozelot opened it up a lot though, and I will be removing all? or at least 2 of the compacta swords from this tank. Hmm thinking about it, I think there might be 4 or 5 total actually planted. I dunno. I'll have to dig around and then take it from there.









I also moved all of the dwarf sag out of the 10 and in to the new tank. They look really nice and I hope they'll do well









I couldn't really see where I was putting the dwarf sag b/c the water was cloudy. I'll probably move things around a little once it clears up.









I moved about half of the dwarf sag from the 40g to the 10g. I'll be able to get the rest out once I set up the 20 long (FX this weekend)... and can remove a lot... or maybe even all of these swords out.
I had to crowd he dwarf sag a bit, but again, I should be moving most of these swords out soon, so should be able to spread them out more.









I dosed the 10g and the new tank with a little bit of metricide since I'm sure a lot of BBA spores transferred over.

So JUST using plastic wrap isn't going to work. No way to keep it tight over the top without it drooping in to the water.
Thankfully I still have some egg crate left that was enough to cut a top for the top of this tank. I then put the plastic wrap over the top of the egg crate and just sort of tucked in the edges (which was a giant PITA fyi). I mean... it's not the prettiest thing ever but it'll work for now!









Also placed my old t5 fixture on. One bulb is still working. Pink hue and it's flickering lol, but it'll do for now. I bought 6500k bulbs and I think just one should be enough for this tank. Will have to see though.

















Also bonus... if you have the cut off end of lettuce.... try putting it in your tank (like I did with my sweet potato). I dunno if it would be safe to eat for people lol, but if you have fish that enjoy some lettuce, it would be an easy way to get continuous food for your fish.
I tried it out with the remains of romaine lettuce and this is the growth just after 2 days. I imagine it would probably grow great w/ all the nutrients in fish water. Thought that was pretty cool

















And double bonus
After the water change in the 40 the trumpet snails have been out a lot for some reason. I used the ammonia test (even though it might be messed up) and it showed 0 ammonia so /shrugs
Photo of one though









And blurry but my pretty girl. I love her color! She's so bright and really stands out in this tank
Helps that she's a little piglet so is always up front when she spots me.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Woo, welp. I got to set up my 20g yesterday finally.
There was some issues with the wood warping so the tank was wobbling a lot, but DH figured it out.









Now...
With the 10g and the 20g. I put in the soil, put the cap on, then filled it up. NP other than getting out air bubbles, but not a huge deal. Worked like a charm and was easy. Yeah well.. I decided to try something different and BOY was that a mistake!

First up..
I added the soil. I know a lot of people that do dirted tanks take out all of the larger bits... I don't b/c well.. I'm lazy. Plus I think the larger bits might actually be beneficial since it's not so compacted down and will give the roots better ability to grow out.









I thought wetting it down some would be a good idea. SO I did. Not a big deal. Thought... ok, maybe I could try to add some of the bigger swords before adding the cap. Mistake number 1. HUGE mess trying to add the cap around the plants. Also didn't help that there was a lot more water being added b/c there was a lot of water on the sand I was adding which started making the soil float and move around.
Yall...... it was a giant disaster!!!
I finally managed to get the cap on the soil (after removing the swords) and just...... it was a mess. HUGE MESS
This is what it looked like AFTER I had already did a water change on it. The color before was straight up dookie water w/ a lot of floating soil all over the place. Thankfully I have my trusty little brine shrimp net that I used to scoop out a lot of the debris









2nd mess... which I knew was going to happen was when I was taking out the swords from the 10g. It's why there isn't any livestock in the tank. HUGE mess in it too and also resulted in dookie water.
The swords definitely grew some nice long healthy roots though... roots that pulled up A TON of the dirt.
This is after it cleared up some and after I had already scooped out some of the debris.









You can see though, there is just a giant mess all over the place and I still didn't get out all of the swords (mostly b/c I couldn't see what I was doing)

















Going to try cleaning it up some today after removing the rest of the swords. Letting it settle and then adding the dwarf sag from the 40 tomorrow.. or maybe just a little later depending on how I'm feeling.

The 20g is going to be like 90% plants lol. I'll have to figure out appropriate fish to put in here. Guppies maybe. Guppies and shrimp  lol
But... yall... there are SO MANY SWORDS!!! And this isn't even all of them. I dunno if this was a good idea, but I'm really interested to see how it goes!

















This morning









Oh and the cheap discount work light that we got isn't going to work. Maybe if we hung it up it would but we don't have a set up for that and the middle droops. Can't have that with no top on this tank.
Ended up just using one of the crappy stock lights that came with the 125. It might actually be enough. It looks bright enough. The bulb is old though and we might be able to get something better for it. But i think it will work for now. A proper aquarium light is only about $30, but not something we can afford right now.

The 125 looks a bit more open now. I decided to leave the large compacta sword up in the front, but ended up removing 5 or 6. Like 2 large ones and a the rest were small.









There are still 2 runners with at least 4 or 5 swords each. Going to snip them off today and plant what is on there. It's too much. WAY too much in the little 20g but... yep lol









And finally the 20 tall.
I haven't changed the bulb yet so still pink colored. The water has cleared up though.
Looks empty, but just have to give the plants a chance to grow and fill it all in. Other than more dwarf sag, I do not plan on adding anything else to this tank.









Oh and removed the smaller filter from the 40g (same type of filter that's on the 10g). It still works, but the motor started rattling and wouldn't stop even though I cleaned it. Nah. Aint dealing with that. Took out what I could and put some of the media in to the 2 new tanks. Hopefully there won't be a problem in the 40 again with it wanting to cycle or anything. It still has 2 filters on it though so should be ok.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Welp!
Another problem....

The t5 fixture. Something is wrong with it. Not sure what. I put in a new bulb and it comes on for like 2 seconds then cuts off.
Thought maybe it was the bulb, so put the old one back in, nope. Doing the same thing now.
So now I'm having to use an old weak light on the tank right now. No idea. Could order a light from amazon but since it's not priority, it would take a month to get here. I mean... I'd be fine with that too though just money I had hoped we wouldn't have to spend.









Oh well... work with what we got.

I pulled out the rest of the dwarf sag from the 40g. Most went in to the 10g that is just... it's a mess, but it will work fine to get this stuff healthy enough to move eventually.
I tried cleaning out some of it, but the hose keeps sucking up rocks and the larger bits and getting clogged... so oh well. It's fine how it is for now.

















The bits that didn't look too bad, I moved to the 20g. There were a few little clumps of dwarf hairgrass still too which I also put in to the 20.
I think this tank is going to look fantastic once everything starts to grow! Hoping for a nice little carpet of dwarf sag w/ big beautiful lace and red tiger lotus w/ my little ozelot in the middle. /nodnod
Not sure what sort of fish would look nice in here though. It would have to be something easily gotten though.
Oh and I added a little bit of eco complete to the substrate. I have a little leftover still. Not sure if I'll add the rest or not. 









Oh and the new leaf that was already growing on the lace is still growing so yay for that 









There does seem to be a weird film on the ozelot though. Not sure what it is. Maybe some sort of dust that I didn't fully wash away that was on the sand?









I put most of the swords in to the 20 long. I think I missed 1 or 2 but meh. Not worried about it right now.
I think guppies will definitely be a good choice for this tank. 









That's really it for now. I may be able to get new lights. Saving money on gas since we're not exactly going anywhere now lol. No $30-40 weekly trips to the gas station. So that's 2 lights right there! lol
SIGH
Such a weird time we're all living in right now. Just makes you appreciate how easy we had it just a week or 2 ago.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I mean... there's really not much to post about right now......but I'm going to anyway!!

20 high still looking the same lol The new leaf on the lace plant is growing though so yay  I can't wait for the lotus to get big! Think it just needs time to adjust and hopefully with that good soil part, it will get huge and beautiful and make this tank look a lot less empty.









And even though the ozelot was in the front in the 125, I could never get a good photo of it. Look at it now though. Look at the pretty colors of the new leaves!









I also added the discount work light to the top of this tank. It really doesn't add much, but it's something at least until I can get something better









My 40g that definitely lives up to that "messy" word in my title lol. The big empty spot where the sag was is covered in little tufts of BBA. Will try to suck that up next water change. 









20 long is taking a while to clear up. Not surprising.
Can see just how full this tank already is from all of the swords though. Excited, but also kind of dreading the maintenance this tank is going to require lol.

















And finally my little betta boy. My youngest child wants to name him A...... yep.... just A. So everyone.... here is A looking all adorable and pretty


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Water changes for the big tanks yesterday (20g included in that category)
The play sand debris was starting to foam at the top of the 20 long and cover the ozelot in the other tank. 
Both looking pretty decent though

I don't think there is any new growth in the 20 long just yet which is fine









20 tall, I had to trim off all of the old lace plant leaves. It has 2 new ones though so wasn't worried about it. I know it will look the way it did before soon enough.









Pretty sure the little tiger lotus has new leaves though. Hasn't gotten bigger, but again... with time it will help to fill up this tank 









There's a new little one in the 40g that I might transfer over once it's a little bigger. Haven't decided yet. I know I don't want to keep it in the 40 though.









After doing a water change in the 40... decided I wanted to add a little bit of the play sand to the bare area. Thought the cories would like the finer textured sand. The sand was leftover, already "cleaned" from when I was setting up the other tanks.
This was from... maybe a cup worth of sand. So cloudy... so so cloudy lol









I put a sera onip in to the tank to see what the cories would do with this new area and they weren't phased at all.

















Lady betta (Ruby) is an oinkchop though. Good grief she's FAT! Bettas really are small gluttons









125 water change finally and it's looking really good. Had to take out a lot of moss, and decided to rip off a lot of crypt leaves from around the lotus. Give it some breathing room.
It's looking might gorgeous though I must say
Again, photos really don't do this plant justice. The colors are so pretty

















I also decided to just pull off leaves of random crypts here and there. My little forest is getting thicker and thicker. Plus this seems to help them grow healthier leaves.
It's still super dense and packed in there though









Intended to just get a photo of the wisteria in the back to show how much it has grown but I think the pic just came out looking nice









And yeah.... still looks extremely packed lol. I had big dreams and hopes that I could thin things down more than this, but this works too lol. I'm certainly not complaining about it b/c I love the way it looks... it's just not what I was picturing after removing some stuff lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not much really to report on.... I would love to go get some fish but with everything going on, nope. Don't need to go in to stores and risk it for some fish.

So... here are my tanks as of yesterday and some photos this morning.

20 long is definitely getting some algae issues. Looks like brown algae maybe? Not really sure.









Hopefully sooner rather than later, this down view will be filled with the plants.. and guppies  I'd like to get some other fish for this too. Something small and community of course, but not sure what since it would need to be something easily available too. Any suggestions would be most welcome!









Just imagine the tank filled with little swords. Just thought it was a good pic showing the difference in size of the compacta up front to the amazon sword in the back. I did have one compacta that did get almost as tall as the amazon but it has since gone back to being about the size of this one.









Saw this lone little snail in the 10g. I haven't been checking the parameters at all so hopefully it's ok in there. There's plenty of algae for it to eat.









I THINK my tiger lotus has grown some already? Maybe wishful thinking but whatever! lol









I still have 1 of my gallon jars set up. Gosh... I have no idea how long it has been set up now. It's like 1 dwarf sag in there and lots of little tufts of hairgrass and duckweed. I want to clean it up soon so I can actually see what's going on in it. Will probably do that in another day or so.









And update on that lettuce I was trying to grow from stump scraps.
I had to throw away the 2 original ones I started. The tutorials I saw had the water come up about half way, but keeping it that way just made them start to mold and rot.
I had this shallow dish and a few romaine lettuces to eat and decided to try to grow them. I cut of a thin slice at the nub and placed in shallow water.
These are doing MUCH better than the 2 previous ones. This is about a week's worth of growth.
BUT as you can see, none of them have actual roots. It's weird.
So I think if you wanted to try this in your tank, make sure it's just the tip in the water.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

More photos! WOO!

Finally did a water change on the 5g and... no more thai basil  None on the 40 or 5g anymore. I had no idea they were annual plants, but welp, now I do! lol One week they were alive and seemed to be doing well, next week, dead.
The mint is still doing fine though. Gave it a little trim









The actual inside of the tank after a root trim looks pretty sad though lol. Just the lack of light is keeping growth really slow and maybe the addition of the sponge filter is encouraging brown algae? Not sure, but it's on everything
Still trying to figure out the sweet spot for this tank. I will say that eco complete does jack crap for plants. I know one person mentioned it before, but since it was cheaper than other planted substrate and I use it in the 125, figured I'd give it a shot. Nah.. do not recommend it at all for a planted tank. It's just black gravel.









Managed to get some not so glarey photos of my boy A though!  He's still so tiny but so pretty

























The sweet potato vines on the 40 have grown a lot, but the bottom ones look weird. Not spidermites again, but some sort of deficiancy. I'll have to look it up









Allowing the vine to grow up the pothos again b/c well.. I learned my lesson from last time when I pulled it off and pulled my plant off the wall.









Chinese evergreen on the 125 is doing ok I think. The nubby roots on the stem still haven't really grown in yet. Just starting to here and there, but nothing like the 5g just yet. I can't remember how long that took to happen. Doesn't feel like it took this long though? /shrugs









The pothos on the 125 seems to be doing a lot better right now. I put up some of those temp sticker hooks so it would start growing up the walls and since doing that, it all seems to be growing in fuller.

















I plan on putting some in both of the new tanks too. Plenty of walls to fill up with plants and I can't wait!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Algae! So much algae in the new tanks lol. It's all good, just unsightly. 
I think some of these swords are showing some deficiencies now. Maybe iron like the sweet potato vine. Looks kind of similar w/ the veins in the leaves dark but the rest of it lighter.
Plus this brown? whatever kind of algae is on a lot of the leaves... along with some hair algae. Lights out in this tank today. Maybe tomorrow too.

















10g. I think I could transfer the rest of the dwarf sag soon. And I counted about 7 small swords in this tank still. I see the lone snail in this tank every once in a while









Cleaned off most of the spot algae from the glass. Pretty sure it's b/c of the sunlight that comes in. Meh. Not a big deal. Still waiting for the lace plant to get more than just its 2 leaves. They have gotten bigger though. Just.... grow more!! lol









The lotus is slowly getting bigger now though









Spotted some BBA on some of the dwarf hairgrass. Will have to remember to dose the tank next water change









There is definite growth in the dwarf sag which I'm super happy about!

















40 is still looking the same as it does lol. The color on the lotus in this tank is really nice. A deeper reddish color. Very pretty!









Pothos still growing up the all and looking so cool 









Scraggly 5g tank. Not really sure what to do with this tank lol. I don't want to add more crypts b/c I was hoping the stuff in it would fill out. Maybe it needs more hardscape. Stuff I can put the anubias on and help fill things out better.
Hmm.... maybe.... maybe.









125 looking about the same. Think the moss in it is growing a big faster now. Or maybe now that I can actually see it better, it just seems like it is lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Not much of an update. Just water change today
Pls excuse all the glare but.. well... can't really help it

40g looking as scraggly as ever. Lots of BBA just all over the place. 









I cleaned out the filter. Just really gunked up and needed a good de-gunking. I replaced the crappy HOB filter media with a new one. Old one was falling apart. Hopefully won't see an ammonia spike. Will keep feedings low for a while and test.

Decided I'm going to leave in the smaller tiger lotus. Might move it up some, but it looks like it's doing well so far in the 40 and I think this tank would benefit with more surface leaves helping to keep algae down.









125 still looking pretty good. Had to pull out the powerhead b/c it stopped working. Had moss clogging up everything, but working fine now.









Just thought it was impressive that the wisteria is already at the top of the tank.









20 tall looking ok. Still looks empty but will for a while.








I was going to add in som wisteria, but no... going to stick to what I wanted.
Didn't want to add some and regret adding it and making a mess trying to remove it later.


Tiger lotus growing slowly but surely









Dwarf sag seems to be really taking off in this tank though. 
I also took out some of the larger dwarf sag from the 10g and put it in to this tank.

















20 long is doing well too. Most of the stuff on the leaves just came off with a wave. Pretty sure I did see some BGA on a leaf though so will be keeping an eye out for that.









Took out all of the anubias nana from the 5, took out a small piece of wood from the 40 and tied them loosely to it.









Not exactly the best thing over but it will do and hopefully they'll attach themselves before the string deteriorates.
A LOT of brown algae in this tank though. I added a wisteria trimming to it. Thinking maybe something faster growing could help control some of the algae issues.









"A" was looking mighty cute after the water change









Power went out for about 2 hours this morning. Hopefully nothing to worry about but with my luck. Who knows!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

On phone so can't post any photos. Not that there is much to post right now.
I went to PetSmart.
First time actually setting foot in to somewhere in over a month. I was wearing my mask I made and used my hand sanitizer so hopefully I was ok. Lots of people though.
Anyway, I got the bug in my butt to get fish. I THINK my tanks are ready. If not quite ready then close enough with some stability.
But unfortunately, PetSmart had almost nothing in stock. Should have known, but oh well.
So..... Trying out buying online. Found someplace with decent prices that wasn't sold out of everything. I also bought 3 gold dojos too.
Not sure when they'll be shipped but hoping for Monday.
Soooo expensive though. So expensive.....

Most of the guppies will go in to the 20 long, will put a couple in the 20 tall and the dojos of course will go in to the big tank. Hopefully they'll come in decent shape. Never bought fish online before so I'm nervous about it.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I swear... I can't take a straight photo to save my life.
Anywho, was enjoying sitting in my fish room yesterday and took some photos

Forgive the mess. I probably should've cleaned up some but well....









































Now to just get a lounger for the room so I can go in there and just.... lounge 

Lone trumpet snail in the 10 is doing ok! Growing and doing snail stuff









Plants in the 20 tall are slowly growing. The lace plant is FINALLY getting a new leaf. Not sure if it always grows this slowly. It was blocked by the lotus in the other tank so I never got good looks at it.
















And I'm not quite sure if the water is yellow b/c of tannins or b/c of the light. Maybe both?

And I didn't want to walk out of Petsmart completely empty handed so bought this thing when I spotted it. Hoping it will help keep water changes in the 5g a bit less destructive.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Finally cleaned my gallon jar up yesterday
It surprisingly didn't have algae actually in the jar. Just dried gunk built up here and there and needed the outside wiped off









I guess it has gotten to its happy place? The dwarf sag in it looks a bit sad and it's weird that it hasn't produced any runners. But as you can see, the dwarf hairgrass is doing pretty well.

























You can see the mulm build up in the last photo. It always gets ALL over the place when I add water. I tried sucking up what I could, but with no cap in there, it's difficult. I did what I could though and put fresh water in to the jar and put it back where it was. No idea why I keep it up. I can't even see it where I put it (other plants blocking it), but it would feel wrong taking it apart now since the plants in it seem to be doing well enough.
Maybe I could one day take a trip to the local lake (at the front of my neighborhood), get some of the water and put it in the jar. See if I can start my own little wild pond jar.

I did take out the little stem of.... whatever this plant is and put it in to the 20 tall. It's either ludiwgia that managed to survive or it's a sad little wisteria stem. Either way.... I planted it in the 20 tall for a reason









B/c of this..... whatever this algae is.
Thought the completely covered in it leaf might be BGA (and the spots are just reg algae), but I'm not sure. I dosed the tank w/ some meds to kill it if it was BGA, but it hasn't done anything, so thinking it's just some other type of algae.
I think it's just spot algae though that I've allowed to get to this point. This tank is right beside the window and it gets a good bit of light from it. I'll have to adjust lighting to try to keep things under control. Hopefully as the plants acclimate and actually start growing, this won't be a problem anymore down the road.









BUT this is why I've decided to add another plant to the tank. I think it's going to need something faster growing to help keep algae down. Not sure which stem to add though. Wisteria would definitely be a fast grower, but it gets SO big and I won't want it to block the light. Or I could put in some stems of the stuff that's in the 40. No idea what it's called, but it is pretty and might look nice in the background and should do well in the tank I think.
Going to do some water changes today in the smaller tanks and figure it out. Will post photos tomorrow.
Hoping the fish I ordered get shipped out today so I'll get them tomorrow.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So, I ordered new lights for my tanks. Figured I was already spending $100 on some fish, might as well spend another 60 on lights.
Welp... got one today for the 20 tall










YAY right?
Welp, I didn't read the entire description for this particular size b/c turns out, it's actually only about 16 inches long and the brackets will fit up to 20-24 inches.

This is what I'm stuck with








/facepalm
I could put the brackets back on it, but there's just no point right now, plus resting it like this allows the light to reach all of the plants instead of just the front ones. Still though..... sigh..... my own fault for not reading EVERYTHING about it lol. Woops

I mean, it's not a bad light though. Much brighter than the crap light that was on it before.









And as you can see... I did add the stems to this tank. 4 stems total with the middle 2 having multiple offshoots.
(this photo was when I still had the other light on it. You can see how much brighter the new light is now)









Decided to just stick with this stem plant instead of also adding wisteria. This one won't completely overwhelm everything else in the tank like wisteria would probably do.
Here's the wisteria in the 125. It's at the top of the tank and looks like it's sprouting 2 new off shoots.









It would be easy enough to maintain it to keep it from overshadowing everything else, but so will the one I put in. 

Had a hitchhiker come in with them though. It can happily live in the tank /nodnod
(blurry upper right corner)









And yeah, that's about it for now.
Waiting to hear back from the fish place I ordered from. And waiting for the other light to come in.
I also bought Flourish. Not excel flourish.
Read about it possibly helping with the spot algae. /shrugs Guess I'll find out!

My fish room (dang it's nice to say that! Will be nicer whenever we have the $$ to get a nice chair for the room too.









Oh and tested the ammonia for both of the new tanks.
20 long has ammonia reading but 20 tall none.
About to go test nitrites and nitrates too.
I dosed both tanks w/ stability and have been putting shrimp pellets in to the filters. The tall was set up a little sooner than the other one was though.
Not a huge deal or anything. Fish can go in to the 20 tall while the long one finishes cycling.
And I'm screwed for ammonia test though. Amazon is out of it and Petsmart apparently doesn't sell it any longer. 
I'm not completely out, but will run out too soon.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

I got my fish finally!! Got the email today that they had shipped them off yesterday. Eagerly awaited all day and they finally got here a couple hours ago.

All of them looked healthy so yay. But they did leave out a pair of guppies I had ordered... and I think they sent the wrong color ones. But honestly I wasn't even looking for specific colors. I mean, it's a bit... shady, but for myself, not a big deal.

Anywho, lots of pictures!

Decided to split them in to both of the 20s. I think they would've been fine in just one of them, but figured since I'm not entirely positive the tanks are actually cycled, to split them up. Will be doing water changes in them tomorrow.

In the 20 long is the variety pairs. No specific types. 

























































And the pairs in the 20 tall. It's supposed to be 2 red cobra and 2 blue cobra.... I don't think any of them are the colors they're supposed to be lol (other than having the pattern). It's ok though b/c I think they're pretty
First pic was when they first got put in to the tank. Washed out colors, but they all colored up pretty fast









































Look how cool the tail color is on the one in the middle! It's so pretty!


























My 3 dojos looked good too. They're SO tiny though. I'm actually afraid the killifish might eat them. Yep, I added them straight to the big tank. Might be a HUGE mistake. Hope not though.
Bad pics. I let them loose in to the moss where the big ones hang out and 2 of that I could see came out once the lights went to blue









FX for everything being ok tomorrow when I wake up.

I dosed the 20's with more stability after putting the fish in. Hopefully it helps. I've been checking water parameters all day and they've looked good. Kinda low nitrates though which has me a little worried that the tank isn't cycled, but I also could have messed up on the test too (I did shake it and all that like you're supposed to, but maybe I didn't do it for long enough. I dunno).

Oh and I also decided to add a heater to the 20 long. It's the one that used to be in the 10g. I don't think it needs it, but put it in more for peace of mind.
20 tall doesn't have one though. I shouldn't have to get it one until October.

Oh I also got the light in for the 20 long. It's better, but I miss the pinkish color from the crappy one lol.
And yep... that's all for now.
Hopefully I'll have pics of even more colored up guppies and totally ok tomorrow. I have the breeders (that I was raising the cories in) that I can put them in IF things go bad. Hopefully it won't come to that.


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## Thelongsnail (Dec 2, 2015)

Love your tank/plant corner!

Those guppies' tails are looking a little worse for wear but I'm sure they'll be great in no time. Would probably do some extra water changes over the coming weeks as a precaution though, just to make sure they end up in tip top condition


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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

So the nicrew light only stretches out to 24” max and frame on tank is 24.25”+? Basically if you had a rimless tank it would probably have worked?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

DaveKS said:


> So the nicrew light only stretches out to 24” max and frame on tank is 24.25”+? Basically if you had a rimless tank it would probably have worked?


Oh it fits with the brackets on, but with where I have to put it in the front of the tank, I felt like the light wasn't reaching the plants in the back so I took the brackets off and just put the light back on the way I did 
I think once I can get a better top for the tank, I'll put it back on or figure out something a bit better than just resting it there lol.



Thelongsnail said:


> Love your tank/plant corner!
> 
> Those guppies' tails are looking a little worse for wear but I'm sure they'll be great in no time. Would probably do some extra water changes over the coming weeks as a precaution though, just to make sure they end up in tip top condition


Yeah, the one w/ the blackish body has some damage along w/ a few others. Will definitely be doing extra water changes in the tanks


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So this afternoon was unexpected.
Checked and feed fish this morning. Everything was normal.
This afternoon, went to do some water changes in the 20s and found a suicide attempt by this damn guppy from the 20 long









It must've did it a minute before. I went to pick it up and saw it wiggle and plopped it right back in to the tank. It swam a little wonky for a couple of seconds and seemed to be fine (swimming wise) after that.
The hell fish????

So I did a small water change and dropped the water to about 2 inches from the top. It was at 1 and a half before, but guess that wasn't enough to keep this little bastard from trying to turn himself in to fish jerky








Soooo yep. I tried making a top w/ the scrap egg crate I had left, but it's just too janky... even for me lol. 
Need to see what's out there and get something ASAP

The ones in the 20 tall were fine though thank goodness.
My daughter is completely in love with the little male that has the dark body (and named him Rainbow boy... lol)









I thought I'd be most excited about my guppies, and I am really happy to have them... but what I'm most excited about are my little albino water noodles. I LOVE THEM! I am completely in love with my new little hot dogs!
They are so gosh darn adorable.
If I had any question on what fish was my fav before (I didn't)... my reaction to my 3 new dojos is plenty of confirmation lol. 
They're just SO darn cute! SO tiny.
Thankfully none of the other fish seem to be picking on them and all 3 seem to be doing ok so far. Difficult to find them in the tank though lol

















Just... I love them. LOVE THEM! It's not even close. Bettas come in 2nd. Not sure what's third lol.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So far so good I think.
All the new fish are still pretty skittish around me, but I think they're warming up some. The guppies in the 20 tall seem to realize I bring the food lol. And it appears they gave me yellow cobra skin guppies. No reds at all. It would've been nice having some red color, but oh well.

My daughter's fav one. Rainbow Boy









The suicidal one hasn't made another attempt or well... at least now he can't make it over the edge. He seems to be doing well though. He had some stringy slime coat issues that first day but looks ok now. Not acting weird or anything.
Hmm, looks like soil dust all over the glass. Will have to try to clean that up next water change.









I did forget to water change yesterday. After posting going to check parameters to see where everything is at. Or well.. at least ammonia.

My tiny pool noodles seem to be ok. I saw 2 of them this morning really quick, but unless they're out in front, it's impossible to spot them in the tank. I just hope they're ok. I've been giving the tank a little extra food during the day to make sure they're getting something. 
I've also cut up a net bag and put it over the output of the UV light and had to put it over my siphon when doing a water change. Don't need to accidentally suck up one.

Was worried the killifish was going to try to eat them, but I think it recognizes them as just smaller versions of the big ones b/c it follows them around like it does the larger ones, looking for food.









I got a decent comparison shot of the smaller one by one of my fat hot dogs.

















Pothos on the 40g seems to be well. At least the leaves above the lights









Not sure why the ones below the lights are yellowing. I've noticed that it happens on my 125 too. If a leaf is under the light, it will yellow and die. Just thought maybe it was getting too hot or something? But... that light doesn't really get hot and the leaves on this one aren't close enough to get heat off lights even if they did emit some. Anyone have any ideas?









Just really appreciating the tiger lotuses in the 40 and 125.
My goodness... it's such a lovely plant. Seriously. if you have the tank size for it... get one. SO worth it
The one in the 125 is getting a bit tangled, but it's still gorgeous
Can not wait for the one in the 20 to get bigger

























And bonus pics of some of my bigger hotdogs!!

Top view... look how FAT it is!!! I love it!!









And cute weird little fat faces
I never noticed that they had reddish colored eyes. Always paid attention to the blind one, but not really to the normal ones.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Love the pic of your new little dojo next to the big one. Pothos can get yellow leaves when they have too much light (or too much water, but since yours growing up above the light is normal color, it's probably the light). I'd just trim off the leaves that have yellowed.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Getting ammonia readings in the new tanks. Greeeeeeat :\
I've been doing every other day water changes, but may have to go back to every day. I've been using that stabilize stuff but I guess it's not working? 

Guppies seem ok. The one that jumped out looks a bit rough. Pretty sure I saw a spot of something on one of his fins









The rest seem ok though. Still extremely skittish, but look to be eating at least b/c they all have little bellies on them.









The 2 tanks have been growing really well since I started using Flourish Advance. It's supposed to help growth and it certainly seems to be doing just that.









You can notice a BIG difference in the 20 tall though. The dwarf sag has grown a ton

























You can't see it that great b/c of the glare, but the lace plant is growing another new leaf too. But you can see the old ones are turning a brown color. I just want it to get big and lush dernit! lol









The guppies in the 20 tall are still skittish, but definitely not as much as the other tank. /shrugs I dunno
Some tail damage still, but if I can get parameters better, hopefully they'll start healing









They sure are pretty though. Little swimming butterflies

























Blurry but I absolutely love this female's tail. It's similar to the male one my daughter loves. Just looks like it's glowing. It's so pretty. Really hope to get more like these. Guess I could separate all of them except for her and the male until I get more that look like them.









Finally spotted all 3 of the new baby loaches this weekend. Lucky to spot even one of them lol. From what I've seen, they look like they're fattening up which I'm happy about. 1 or 2 of them were pretty scrawny when I got them.
Did manage to get more size comparison shots when one of the larger was closer to one of the little ones

























I just can't get over how adorably small they are!! Have I mentioned how much I love them? Yes?......... well I love them!

And slightly blurry but pretty picture of my boy A









I've been putting some of the Flourish Advance in his tank too and I'm seeing new growth, but you can see that there's a lot of algae in his tank too. Hoping with new growth coming in, it will help reduce the algae.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So, we decided to take a family trip to Petsmart today. And by that I mean, husband went inside (masked up of course) while the rest of us sat in the car lol.
He said no fish in their tanks (wonder if it's like that everywhere?), but he did get me a hood for my 20 long. It's just.. I can't use it yet b/c of the filter.
Womp womp.....

So, bought a sponge filter and a new air pump for it on amazon and will be setting that up as soon as I get it. I'm either going to try to seed it in the 125 or just put it straight in to the 20.

20 long right now.









Must say, it will be nice having the sound of the water once I can take that filter off. It's been driving me crazy.

If you look up front on the left side, I had to add the rocks b/c the filter was creating a crater. Guess that was pointless now but whatever lol.
Also in the back left corner, I added a stalk of bamboo. I'll have to add something for it to sit up on once I'm able to get the water level back up.
So yeah... 

20 tall is doing ok still. I trimmed the stems and replanted in to the tank to fill the back up a little more. Things look about the same though, but coming along slowly


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Got in the new sponge filter and air pump.

Decided to go with this sponge filter I saw on amazon. A bit more expensive than a regular one, but thought maybe it would be better w/ the bio balls along with the sponges.
Also picked the one that came with all the little accessories

















Air pump is the tetra whisper. Great pumps that are actually quiet IF you put something soft under them. The one I have on my 40 has a wash cloth underneath it.
I had to tape the air lines to the stand b/c where I put the filter kept making the air lines rest against the outlet. So dangerous if there was ever a leak.









I had to gently push some swords around, but thankfully the cap is thick enough that it didn't release anything other than a few stray pieces of the soil.









It's pretty glaringly there in the tank right now, but when the swords get bigger, you shouldn't be able to see it.
I don't understand how sponge filters work. It looks like the air is only going in and coming right back out the top lol. but whatever. If it works it works.. I don't have to completely understand it lol

I also added more pebbles to the corner of the tank where the bamboo is so the leaves won't be in the water once I can raise the water level. Looks like a dang mess, but again, once the swords grow in more, shouldn't be able to notice it from the front. 
The bamboo is happy though. Already has new roots.

























And yep.... now I wait for the sponge to cycle.
Think it's going to be about another month before I can remove the HOB and put the top on the tank. Oh well... no rush


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

SO I got a surprise yesterday!
Turned the light back on the 20 tall to try to get some photos and that's when I saw this









A baby!!! Already!! I feel so bad though b/c I wasn't expecting to have babies pop up this soon so I haven't exactly been safe during water changes. I really hope I haven't accidentally sucked any up 

But look at it! It's so cute and big! So stinkin happy 

It made an appearance in one of the photos I took and I didn't even notice it.









Anyway... just super excited. I know breeding livebearers is like breathing air.. it's just gonna happen lol, but it's still exciting 

More pics of my little swimming butterflies in the 20 tall

















































The plants in the tank are growing pretty well I think. I really think that flourish advanced stuff helped tremendously.
I've been taking off some of the heavily algae covered sword leaves here and there, but mostly leaving them b/c I've see the fish pecking at the algae.









Even the little water wisteria (that's def what it is), the sad little stem that I got out of my jar is growing well.









The dwarf sag is doing great though. Must've deleted the pic by accident, but in the front, one sent a runner down to where the soil is and right up against the glass where it gets a lot of light from the window lol.









My lace plant keeps only wanting to have 2 leaves at a time for some reason though, but oh well. Hopefully it will start growing more. It still looks pretty empty and I know the algae would bother some. I don't exactly like the algae, but guess it's good to have b/c of baby fish being able to eat it.









40g... I once again took out most of the sweet potato vine b/c of bugs. Spider mites along with some other type of aphid. Just all over the place. I left a couple of vines, but thinking about taking those out too.









It's leaving that part of the tank open to the light now though so I put some water wisteria trimming on that side of the tank. Overall.. still super messy 









The tiger lotuses in the tank are doing well though and SO pretty
















photobomb









20 long is doing good too. Haven't spotted any babies in this tank, but the females are pretty fat and I've seen this little red guy bothering them








But you can see how much the swords have grown in. Will give plenty of cover for babies born in there









And finally some photos from the 125.
Big tiger lotus before some maintenance on it








And after. ( removed the dying leaf after I took the photo)









Top view of some of the leaves









Crypt jungle









Top view of the java fern that I had forgotten about but seems to be doing great









I knew the wisteria would love the tank since I had some in here before, but it's still impressive how much this one has grown


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

So, I did spot another baby guppy in the 20 tall last night, but pretty sure it got eaten. I'm sure that's what happened to any other ones that had been born.
Decided to pull out some java moss from the 125 and stuck in in to the tank. Hopefully it will give enough protection to any other babies born.
I've since moved it over to the other side of the stem plants right behind the sword just so it's not blocking the wisteria









Lol funny how I said at first... Nope... just THESE plants in the tank and now I've added other stuff  lol At least the moss will be easy to get out.
Pic of the clever big small baby in the 20 tall. It's a girl!









And a total surprise this morning in the 20 long! More babies! I counted 5, but there could be more. These looked... new new.

































So excited, but also worried.
These tanks are just.... not cycled.
I dunno what the heck I do wrong all the time. I put in some mature media in to these tanks filters. I added shrimp pellets to feed bacteria and it still doesn't work. I wish I could find pure ammonia, but that stuff is difficult to find NM the whole pandemic stuff going on too.
Frustrating. Hopefully the water changes I'm doing help keep everyone alive. (put a sponge filter over the hose so I don't suck up any baby fish)
I just ordered more start stuff for the tanks and... maybe it will work.. maybe it won't. Hopefully it does, b/c I can't keep buying more and more things that aren't going to help anything.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I'm sure you will soon have more guppies than you know what to do with! They're actually pretty tough, too. Once I forgot to plug the heater back in after a water change, it went an entire day like that, still didn't loose any fry. I started with three (two females, one male) and now have fifteen plus have fed six batches of fry (ten to twenty in each batch) to my paradise fish over the past six months. They just keep coming (and I separated the male from females early!) They all look female when they're that little. I wasn't able to discern male characteristics until they were four or five weeks old. But congrats! They sure are darn cute, aren't they? "Swimming butterflies" is pretty apt. I wish I could get more blue ones, of different types. I like my blue pandas much better than I expected to.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

JJ09 said:


> I'm sure you will soon have more guppies than you know what to do with! They're actually pretty tough, too. Once I forgot to plug the heater back in after a water change, it went an entire day like that, still didn't loose any fry. I started with three (two females, one male) and now have fifteen plus have fed six batches of fry (ten to twenty in each batch) to my paradise fish over the past six months. They just keep coming (and I separated the male from females early!) They all look female when they're that little. I wasn't able to discern male characteristics until they were four or five weeks old. But congrats! They sure are darn cute, aren't they? "Swimming butterflies" is pretty apt. I wish I could get more blue ones, of different types. I like my blue pandas much better than I expected to.


I used to have guppies years and years ago along with platies, so I know how fast they can multiply. For some reason my brain just didn't think they'd be popping them out this soon lol
But I guess it makes sense since I'm sure the place I ordered them from kept them together.
Yeah I realized I was looking at the wrong area when I was trying to see what sex they were. So still unsure on the larger fry 

I would love some blue ones and red ones, but I think by the time stores around here actually got more in, I'll be overrun with them lol. Not like I don't have a big 125g tank where I'm sure the killifish would probably pick off the smaller ones, but I'd feel so bad about it. I don't know if i could feed little babies to my other fish lol. 
I'm such a bleeding heart.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, so I think I'm going to have to remove any new new babies from the 20 tall.
My big guppy girl that I love in there (with the glowing tail) seems to have a taste for the tiny babies.

Saw another baby in the tank, that she quickly spotted and she went after it pretty aggressively. I netted it out and put it in to the other tank

20 long now has 7 total baby guppies in it (that I know of) and all the adults seem to ignore them even though most of them are hanging out in plain sight at the top of the tank

















The new one hiding in the swords. This tank is going to be a great place for fry to grow and survive. Plenty of cover for them


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Ammonia in both 20s keeps climbing. So SO annoyed. I don't know what else to do.
I got some safe start that I'm using. I hope it's not a dud like everything else and helps.
The fish all look ok... FOR NOW, but I know that won't keep up if I can't get something to work.

20g long looks good though. I'm sure the plants on the left will catch up. Those were the smaller plants so obviously they're gonna look smaller now too. But everything is filling out really well I think









The babies are doing ok. Starting to venture away from the top of the tank, but still mostly hanging out there. And either I was wrong with my count before or there were only 5 in the tank and I added the 1 from the other 20. But there are only 6 in this tank.









The one from the 20 tall is still doing ok. Haven't spotted any new ones









The tiger lotus is finally putting out a surface leaf. 









I''ll remember one day to get more photos of this tank at night when there is no glare.

40 looking like it usually does. 









Don't know why my pothos decided to climb the wall, but so glad it did too. I think the leaf above this one is slightly bigger, but this is the one I could reach lol









Otos being all cute and deserve more love. I really hope to get more one day

















By betta girl Heart (daughter named her) being a piglet. Good gracious she's fat. I'm gonna have to skip some feedings on this tank b/c of her









While I had the tape measure out and while one was still
It's not completely stretched to it's potential but still gives an idea of how big my pool noodles are









Another one. Just thought it looked neat... snakey









I usually only spot 1 MAYBE 2 of the new albinos at once, but did spot all 3 of them really quick earlier. But from the looks of them, they've all put some weight on so yay 









Oh and I'm probably going to have to cut the stem on this chinese evergreen that is in the 125. The roots have grown from the closer to the top instead of all along the stem. The stem isn't mushy, but probably will be soon. Will probably do that next water change. Not sure if I can suspend the plant in this spot still.









And finally.. the killifish. For some reason, my daughter thinks its lips are the funniest thing ever.. so these photos are for her lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

SIGH.... so this had to happen this morning









If you're not sure what you're looking at, that's my large fry container thing hanging off the side, and my janky DIY thing in the tank. Both holding all of the guppies from the tanks.

Janky one is holding the 20 long fish (really difficult getting a photo of them)









And the nice one for the 20 tall fish. Really wishing I had 2 of these right now lol

















I figured I was going to need to do this with the way the ammonia kept going up and everything I was doing wasn't working to get it to just... cycle.
The fish in the 20 tall were acting fine, but the ones in the 20 long were noticeably stressed. Hanging out at the top of their tank and just not looking happy.

Hopefully the babies in the janky thing won't get out b/c I'm sure my betta girl would gobble them up ASAP.

Anyway... I put in a few shrimp pellets in to the filters and now.. just gotta wait I guess. Will add more every few days and get these tanks finished cycling already.
Just do not understand why seeding new tanks with old media just does not work at all for me. So frickin frustrating.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty... so I did another thing.
Took my FX6 and squeezed the top layer of sponges in to my pitcher to get all of that gross mulmy goodness
Thought it was interesting how the gunk was separating from the water









I then poured said gunk in to the 20's. Pour some over the sponge filter in the 20 long and then the rest in to the HOB on both.
GIANT mess in both tanks, but it should help right?

This was after an hour in the 20 long. The brownish gunky look cleared up surprisingly fast.









Not so much in the 20 tall though. Stayed soupy for a while. The other HOB is definitely getting put on to this tank. It needs it.
You can see the mulm build-up on the bottom. It's going to be a giant pain cleaning up the mess, but if it helps them cycle, then so be it.









125 always gets cloudy and gross whenever I mess with the filter so I did a water change on it to help clear some of it up. It'll need another though. I didn't really clean the filter out and I unclogged a lot of gunk apparently









Also yes, I added the cheesy rock to both tanks. The little one in the 20 long is a broken off part from the big one in the 20 tall.

Look what else I found
A giant sponge filter I completely forgot I bought!
I can't even remember which tank I got this for. Maybe I thought it was smaller? B/c it's HUGE. Putting it in the 125g wouldn't hurt though. Tnk could always use more filtration









Also, look what else I found!!









In one of the drawers that the 40g is sitting on. I do not remember putting this in there. I guess it went on my 5g b/c it's a pretty small light. It would've been perfectly fine for it. It's not dim or anything. I just totally forgot that I even had it. Didn't want it going to waste, so I made some room for it (timer went on the 20 long)










Sooo yep. I'm going to check parameters in about another hour. Then will check again tomorrow and so on and so forth. Hopefully it helps to cycle the tanks. That stuff should have had plenty of beneficial bacteria all in it. There should be plenty of poop and shrimp pellets in the tanks to get them cycled.
FX this works so I can get my guppies out of their tiny little temp homes and back in to their tanks.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Fry are so fun to watch. I agree with your daughter- from the side, your killifish looks like it's smirking!


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, so....
The fry escaped my DIY box. I should've known it was going to happen, but it still caught me offguard. You know how difficult it is seeing those teeny tiny little things in the 40? REALLY difficult!
But I managed to find all 6 of them and placed them in the breeder box.
Didn't get a pic of them, but they seem to be doing well.

Welp, this morning I woke up to

















That's right, the guppies from my janky box escaped b/c it ended up falling in to the water. /facepalm
Thankfully it doesn't look like my betta really cares. I saw her eyeball the red one, but nothing more than that.

Unfortunately. Looks like we have a casualty. Daughter went to go look for her Rainbow Boy and he wasn't in the breeder box /heartsink.
Found him dried up completely in my tub of supplies. Kids are upset about it.
Not sure when it could've happened. Probably soon after I put them in b/c I put the top on the box right away. Or maybe when I was trying to get the fry out of the 40. Either way.... Swim in Peace little guppy.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, I decided to move all of the adult guppies in to the 40g. 
I did see the betta flaring some at one of the guppies, but she hasn't seemed to bother with them.
I don't know how long it's going to take for the 20's to completely cycle and felt bad leaving the adults in the small breeder so I made the decision to just take them out. I'd rather struggle trying to catch them in the 40 than keep them cramped up.
Plus, this could just be a good excuse to get more fish for my 20's too if I 'can't' catch them  lol


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Small update.
I should be getting the ammonia I ordered in today. Thought it was coming Friday so I'm glad I'm getting it a few days early.
Will be adding it tomorrow to the 20 gallons right after I do a water change on both to clean out some of the mulm I put in.

The 20 tall has the most in it. I cleaned out some of it on one side of the tank, but there is still a lot of it on the right side and on the sword.
The plants look good though. New growth on everything.









I also went ahead and took out the HOB from the 20 long (and put it on the 20 tall). Figured since I'd be using ammonia in the tanks, I could just go ahead and take it out and just cycle the sponge.
You can see how gunked up the sponge got in the back. 









Just excited to finally get these tanks going.
The guppies seem perfectly happy in the 40. I tried putting the larger fry in to the main tank, but the rasbora kept picking at it.
Really want to get the guppies out ASAP b/c any fry born is going to get picked off. While there is a lot of hiding places, as soon as any fry goes to the top of the tank, they're gonna get eaten.
The fry in the breeder are doing ok too. Which reminds me I need to clean it out and give them some cabomba or something to pick at.

And finally.. just my 10g. Plants in it really aren't doing great since the light isn't that great in it.









I added a few more snails to it to keep the one that was in it company and it appears one had babies









Spotted this next to them too. Just thought the pattern of them eating through the algae was interesting.









The one that grew in this tank has a nice healthy shell. The ones I put in (from the 125) all have very deficient looking shells so I hope they grow healthier shells in here.
I don't feed this tank at all. Just top it with dechlorinated water when it needs it.

I'll have to look up ways to get my snail shells healthy in my tanks. Pretty sure cleaned egg shells works. I'll look it up.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Hmm. Something is wrong with my big blind dojo loach. Noticed yesterday that it wasn't eating. Same today. Seems to just want to hang out at the surface. Physically she looks fine. Not breathing heavy, no weird wounds etc etc.

Did a big water change. If nothing improves tomorrow, will do another either same day or the day after and hope it helps.
Nothing has changed in the tank, but maybe when the filter spewed out all of the gunk, it dirtied up the water too much.
I did 2 big water changes after that happened, but maybe it wasn't enough. It has remained slightly cloudy since.
All other fish seem ok though.

And ammonia... I went ahead and put some in to the tanks yesterday.
Added about 25 drops per tank which brought ammonia to around a 2.
Looks slightly less than 2 this morning but only slightly. Hopefully the cycling process goes faster since there should be SOMETHING in the tanks already.
Going to check later tonight and add more drops or just leave it. Maybe test nitrites too.
This is the ammonia I bought off of amazon
Just a small bottle of it. Doesn't smell at all and comes with a dropper screw on top.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No pics for now. Haven't been feeling great.
I have been keeping an eye on ammonia and it looks like it comes down a little in 24hrs, but not all the way.

Blind dojo still isn't doing well. She is breathing hard, but not fast. I dunno what's wrong, but I'm probably going to lose her.
My other 3 large ones and the 3 albinos seem to be ok along with the rest of the fish. So.... /shrugs Upset that I can't help her more.
I don't want to lose another dojo but seems inevitable at this point.

I have an antibacterial that I've been dosing the tank with but it doesn't seem to havee done anything to help. Water change tomorrow.

And yep.... nothing else much to report on. Just waiting waiting waiting.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Dojo is still poorly. No physical problems other than she's pale. Really lethargic though.
I dropped the water down by half and am treating the tank with general cure. Doesn't seem to help, but I wanted to do.... something.

In not so depressing news though... I saved 3 baby guppies from the 40! I think I saw one that got eaten though, but well... not going to save them all.
This is the first one I saved. The other 2 I found a few hours later

















40g b/c why not. I don't usually take close up shots of this tank b/c of all the algae, but I dunno, it has its own messy wildness to it that isn't so bad. I do wish I could get rid of the BBA without having to add excel or something to the tank though.

























And a shot of one of my big noodles resting. I caught it giving a great big ole yawn









































2 20's are still doing... something. No nitrites and ammonia is going down slow. There are nitrates though so hopefully the bacteria in both of the tanks finally catches up enough to take care of the ammonia and get the tanks cycled already. I haven't done water changes in either yet. Just waiting for them to get to the next 'stage'.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty, so I caught a bunch more babies from the 40g. I didn't keep count b/c I was just too focused on trying to find them once I spotted that there were more.
Good grief, SO difficult spotting these fry in this tank, but I managed to get most of them I think.
Teeny tiny babies mixed with the slightly larger ones









I ended up moving the biggest fry to the 40. It kept chasing after the new fry and I figured it had grown enough that the fish in the 40 wouldn't go after it. No pics, but she's doing ok (can actually tell it's a female now).

The larger fry still in the breeder

















While I was getting pics, my fatty Heart came over to see what was going on

















And no pics, but in hopefully good news... poorly blind dojo ate some today. Noticed that it looked like it was trying to lazily eat when I fed the tank so I put a couple of shrimp pellets by its face and it sucked them down. Definitely still really weak, but it's improvement.
I used the last dose of general cure yesterday, but started dosing an anti-bacterial too b/c well.. desperation.
I dunno if it is what is helping, but have 3 more days of treatment using it. I don't exactly have enough to treat the amount of water so I've been trying to sprinkle the meds near her so she'll get a good dose of it.

I did notice yesterday when she was doing really bad (laying on her sides at the top of the tank most of the day), that it looked like her gils were pinker. Not red, but just noticeably pink? So maybe she suffered from some sort of gil damage?
I checked ammonia a couple of days ago and it was 0, but I guess I should've checked it after the filter spewed gunk in to the tank.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

My blind dojo died. She just got worse and started to go belly up and breathing slower. She had wedged herself in the corner by the wood (right side of the tank). Didn't want her dying down there so put her in to one of those veggie containers you get from stores that has like strawberries and whatnot in them and kept her near the top of the tank. Checked on her a few hours later and must've been minutes after she died.
Swim in peace my noodle. Swim in peace.

In better news though.... been fishing out more baby guppies today. I have no idea how many more but it looks like a few of the females are about ready to pop. 
Can't get photos of them, but there are a TON in the breeder now. These 20g need to hurry up and cycle already! SO SLOW!

It's so difficult finding the fry in the 40, but thankfully it seems like they always end up in this spot








And they like to hang out at the surface. Bad b/c it's easier to see them from the fish, good b/c it's easier for me to spot them too.

While I was sitting trying to find more, I spotted this little guy munching on some flake food. Just rare to see them out and about during the day.









20 long is a bit more filled out. I'm glad the swords are staying a bit shorter









20 tall... finally remembered to get some pics after it got dark (so no glare).
Algae city, but the plants in this tank are doing phenomenally well. 

































I think for both of them... I'm going to do water changes tomorrow. There hasn't been nitrites and there has always been nitrates so I'm not worried about that. It's just that the bacteria is taking FOREVER to multiply. Hoping maybe giving some fresh water will help... plus I'll be able to clean up some of the mulmy and algae covered areas.
Oh and I also took out most of the moss from the 20 tall. The stem plants in that tank are just.. they're growing extremely well and I think any fry will have plenty of cover so long as they don't try to hide at the top.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Fishing out more and more fry. Tried getting some photos.

All the little blurred spots up front are baby guppies too

























It must be a couple of the females popping them out now. Or maybe it was just one.. I dunno.
I just REALLY hope the 20g just... hurry up already.
Been thinking about how I want to separate the fish. Maybe just stuck all the fry in one tank and the adults in the other? I'm sure by the time they're done cycling, I'll have a few more dozen fry to add... SIGH!


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## zmartin (May 1, 2018)

Haha but I’d say all the boys in one and the girls in the other. The first batch of fry is a lot of fun but so easy to be overwhelmed by them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

zmartin said:


> Haha but I’d say all the boys in one and the girls in the other. The first batch of fry is a lot of fun but so easy to be overwhelmed by them.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



LOL I think I'm gonna have to. I was expecting babies, but holy smokes... this is A LOT rofl.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

What, the crud folks.
No photos right now.
I'm just.... frustrated.
Why aren't the 20g cycling??
I did a very small water change the other day. Just to get some fresh water in to the tank and to try to clean some of the mulm that has covered everything.
Added in enough ammonia to bring it to about a 2 reading. It's now 3 days later and.... ammonia has gone down 1. That's it.
How long have these tanks been set up? How long have they had mature media in them? Like... damn... you would think things would've caught up by now.
WTH??
I'm just at a loss for why it's taking so long.

Maybe low ph again? But I really don't want to start messing with that again. I remember years and years ago, I was having a similar problem and saw that the ph in my tanks was really low that could have delayed cycling so started adding baking soda to my tanks which actually did seem to help. But.. UGH I don't want to do that again.


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

No photos for now.

First up
I ended up adding baking soda to the 20g tanks. 2 days later, both have a brown algae bloom, cloudy and HOPEFULLY now are actually cycling as they should. Frickin wasted what.. 2? months trying to cycle these dang tanks.
So annoyed.

Also, betta in the 40g is dying now. Greeeeeeeeat.
And I'm fairly certain it's b/c she has literally eaten herself to death. Gluttons. Straight gluttons. No more bettas in community tanks. They're just too greedy for their own good. Poor thing.

Saved more baby guppy fry. About a dozen more. The older guppies should be ready to be moved out by this weekend I think.

Had one of my big dojos try to make an escape yesterday during a water change. Wondering why the water wasn't draining, look over and one of the dumbdumbs was stuck. Thankfully too fat to have gotten in to the tube. It plopped back out after I cinched the hose. It's fine. Was eating like normal this morning.

And yeah.... mostly just annoyed at the betta and these dang tanks that are taking FOREVER to cycle.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

I think your 40 is looking better- those crypts are pretty nice. And what great pics of your dojo yawning! What are you going to do with all the guppies, ha? All those fry would fill one of your larger tanks nicely. Have you separated male from female of the parents yet (I might have missed that detail). Sorry to hear about your betta. She was pretty. I lost one of my first that way- in a community tank also- he literally choked on the food right in front of me. I was so upset. Kept them solo after that, with just snails...


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

First up, I think the 20s are finally cycled.
Ammonia level of a little over a 1 going to 0 in 24hrs. Never had nitrites pop up so I guess it was just getting the pH up enough to allow the bacteria to multiply like it should.
Took frickin forever, but FINALLY!

Did water changes in both tanks and started moving some fish!

ALL the babies that were in the breeder were moved to the 20 long. These aren't pics of the same fry.. no no. This is 3 cups of fry that came out of the breeder.

























Sooooo many. AND there are more in the 40 that I haven't bothered scooping out.
I also moved the 5 adult male guppies to the 20 tall.

I spotted this little baby with a growth on it. Not sure if it's maybe an attached 'twin' or just a tumor like growth or what. I'm pretty sure I saw another with something similar on it. It was a much smaller fry but maybe from the same female or male.









Sooo.. yep. Keeping the females in the 40 for right now until the fry in the 20 long get a little bigger, then I'll move them over. So far, all of the larger fry have been female. Wonder if water conditions cause fry to be one sex over the other? I mean it's not like there are more than 2 they can be lol, just thought it was weird how they've all been female so far.

Bonus glarey 125 dojo photos
1 of the albino noodles









And rare pic of all of the remaining big noodles together









OH and I spotted something interesting this morning.
Was feeding my tanks as usual and saw this little plant growing in the pothos. Thought maybe it was just some weird growth from the pothos but nope. It's actually a flippin SWORD runner that is growing out of the tank!! From what I can see, there are 2 baby swords and a cute little bloom at the end of it
How cool is that?


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## lisals (Jun 21, 2017)

Alrighty. Haven't updated in a while.

Killifish has disappeared. Pretty sure it's dead and has been eaten or it's stuck under something. Also had a barb die too but found that body.
Hopefully they're not related and it's just old age getting them.

Guppy tanks are doing well. 
First up, the fry tank.. 20 long









I have no idea how many fry I have... I just know there are too many and I'll probably have to put them in to the 120 once they're grown. 
ROFL. I don't know what I was expecting but.. YEESH! 

















I did take out 3 males? from the fry tank and put them in to the 20 tall. I thought all of the larger fry were females, but I guess their little male appendage takes a little longer to develop. I never paid attention to that before when I had guppies or any other live bearer. 
At least I really hope I'm right that they're male and not just a female w/ that fin clamped in a little lol

















20 tall. Excuse the glare. I keep forgetting to take photos at night.
Some of it is doing well, like the dwarf sag and the tiger lotus. But then some of the other stuff is just sort of... hanging on. I let the lotus send up too many huge leaves that was shadowing everything else too much I think.









The lotus only has one floating leaf right now, but you can see its leaves are still shadowing everything else under it.









Also the lace plant has died back quite a bit. Again, not sure if it was b/c of the lotus shadowing it along w/ the pothos roots. I scooted it over a little bit but it's had this small single leaf for a while now. /shrugs Maybe it's in its rest/dormant phase or something.









And the males seem to be doing pretty well. Algae had built up quite a bit on the glass, but I cleaned it off the other day so I could get a good look at them. They're so pretty. You can see the 3 new ones I put in with them
Hmm, wonder who the daddy is?  lol (hinthint... all of the new males are all showing orange  )

















40g is doing well. Just recently had to clean the filter out b/c it was leaking water out from the top b/c too much gunk was clogging it. Oops.









I also did a lot of trimming in the 125 and accidentally pulled up some of the crypts. Decided to put some in to the 40 for the otos (so they could eat the algae on the leaves).
Water is cloudy b/c of the filter thing and doing a big water change.
I just thought it was cool to see how huge the 125 crypts are in the 40g.









125 is doing ok. Like I said though. Have had some losses in the tank for some reason.
Last water change, I trimmed the crypts a good bit (ripped off a bunch of leaves and whatnot), took out a ton of moss, trimmed off a lot of the wisteria (it was growing across half the tank), trimmed off A LOT of tiger lotus leaves at the surface. There was a giant tangled mess of leaves. It needed the trim.... and of course took out a ton of duckweed.
The sword stem that is growing out of the water is doing well for now.
The one at the end looks good, but the other one has a few dried up parts on its leaves. THis same runner also has swords growing in the water too.

















I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the 2 of these. Maybe try putting just their butts in the water to see if they'll grow w/ just roots in water?

Anywho, 125 looks pretty good overall though I think.









And bonus pic of one of my chonkers. Just thought the photo came out decent


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

Love the set up in your fish room! 

On the guppy fry, as they develop you can start selecting for the colors and traits that you like and continue to breed those over succeeding generations. Guppies are a lot of fun---enjoy!


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## ksimdjembe (Dec 19, 2013)

Wow, that is some amazing plant growth!


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