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Post by kagome on Nov 20, 2008 20:01:41 GMT -5
Renee--What do you mean by a bubbler? Like an airstone or bubble wand?
38g current numbers: Nitrite= 0 Nitrate= 20 Ph= 7.2 Kh= 80 Gh= 300
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Post by kagome on Nov 20, 2008 15:03:53 GMT -5
So, the filter in my 10g is really dying at this point. I cleaned it again with basically no improvement. I've never done more to filter and had it work so badly. My new filter should get here on Monday. I can't wait to tinker with it since I have had a Via Aqua HOB before. My clown loach that is that tank suddenly seems very unhappy and I am thinking about isolating him. He looks OK but he is doing an uncharacteristic amount of hiding which concerns me. Usually he is visible most of the day, and not only is he hiding now but he is hiding in a completely new part of the tank, in the castle with the pleco. I haven't seen him at all today and haven't seen him eat in three days, normally he is a little piggy fish and always begging for food. If this continues I will isolate him. I really hope he is not sick. I was hoping to just get through the next few weeks and then put him in with the other clown loaches in the new big tank. The gourami is doing much better and his fins have almost completely grown back at this point.
As for the 38g, it seemed to be doing very well except that last night the ammonia suddenly spiked from 0.5 to 1.0. I immediately did a 25% water change and added extra prime. I will test and change out water again today.
Also, my Kh seems to be rather high in both tanks, around 300 since I added the wondershells. Before wondershells the Kh read as being very low, almost dangerously so. I think next time I will break up a wondershell when I see the Kh lowering down again. Perhaps that will help balance things out.
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Post by kagome on Nov 18, 2008 0:51:43 GMT -5
Thanks guys. The tap water where I used to live had loads of calcium init and so I'm used to getting that sort of build up out of the filters. I usually try to break down the filters once a month and clean out any build up. I took the stupid filter apart and cleaned it thoroughly with vinegar and water. And actually I've been hearing this funny noise for a few days that I thought was coming from the fan in our room but since it was chilly the fan wasn't on and I realized it was the filter motor. I have fiddled and cleaned and adjusted and brushed out and disassembled and reassembled that thing for so long today to no avail! I wish I did have a filter I could borrow but none of my friends has a spare. Frankly, I have never been happy with that filter and so I went ahead and ordered a new one from Carl today. My current filter is not worth the hassle of tracking down a replacement motor and impeller, it wasn't that great from the day it came out of the box brand new.
Renee--Thanks for the offer, honey, that's really sweet. (imagine that said with outrageous southern accent)
For right now the pleco is still very small and when he gets bigger I will put him in the 38g and get another smaller one for the 10. The guys at the LFS where I shop said I could trade for smaller ones if I needed to.
The big tank is still holding at 0.5 ammonia so another water change and another dose of Prime. But man are those clown loaches growing! It's crazy! They're so cute!
Hopefully pictures will be coming soon!
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Post by kagome on Nov 18, 2008 0:13:30 GMT -5
I would like to preface this by saying that this is just my personal opinion and I'm not trying to judge in any way or make you feel bad. If it were my fish I think that I would not euthanize at this point. My reason for saying this is that you mentioned that the ram is still swimming around and eating well. It's been my experience that truly doomed fish don't act that way at all. I am an ardent advocate of euthanasia when an animal is overtly suffering and has no chance of making a meaningful recovery or of having a decent quality of life. However, it seems like perhaps this guy could turn the corner and start doing better and the poor thing has already lived through so much that it seems like he deserves more of a shot. I know you are also worried about your other fish, so perhaps isolate him? If he was isolated from the tetras you could then do full strength medication.
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Post by kagome on Nov 17, 2008 15:13:56 GMT -5
I can sympathize with having a neat freak husband! I have to make sure to put all my fish stuff back in its "proper" place or hear about how I never put stuff away. I couldn't really tell for the picture whether or not your tank is on a stand with a cabinet or if is on a table. If it's on a stand with a cabinet, could you put water you're setting out in the cabinet and hide it from view that way? Or if it's a table I would suggest buying a piece of cloth and draping it over the tabletop down to the floor to make a "skirt" and then you could hide things under there that way. Some time when the tank has little to no water in it you could move the tank for a minutes and put the cloth under it. You could even get cloth that would match the rest of the decor in your living room and then your husband couldn't groan about the appearance of things.
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Post by kagome on Nov 17, 2008 13:59:46 GMT -5
So I get up this morning and the filter in my 10g seems to be dying on me. I fiddled with, swore at it, tinkered some more, shook my fist at it, but all to no avail. I wanted to get a new filter, but now I'm afraid that I'll order the new one and the old one will completely crap out on me before the new one gets here.
I have just been struggling and struggling with this tank lately. It's funny how a tank can sometimes go on for years needing nothing more that routine maintenance and then all of a sudden something goes wrong and then you have to tinker with it and drive yourself crazy for several months.
I'm really hoping I will get better flow out of the Via Aqua and that the surface skimmer will permanently solve the oil slick problem. Of course my husband is dubious about having to order filter cartridges but since I'm sure I'll be making other orders to Carl for other stuff I'll just get stuff all at once and try to space out the shipping costs.
I wonder if I should go ahead and order a powerhead now or if I should wait to see if I really need it with the new filter. I mean you can't really have have too much flow in a tank, just the extra money right now is the issue. We seem to be just bleeding money right now.
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Post by kagome on Nov 17, 2008 13:40:49 GMT -5
I'm so sorry that you're still having trouble with this ram! I got a bad pair of angelfish that had similar problems once. They died the second day of showing symptoms but luckily everybody else in the tank came through it ok without ever even seeming sick. Hopefully your other fish will be just fine since they have been with you a long time and so have had proper care. Good luck!
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Post by kagome on Nov 16, 2008 20:20:19 GMT -5
Renee I don't know about the symptoms, but as far as keeping her warmer is it possible for you to put her container on top the refrigerator? It's much warmer up there, that's where I put bread to rise when I'm making fresh bread. That should keep her at a much better temperature than 67.
I hope she turns out to be OK. Bettas are awfully tough so hopefully it will turn out for the good.
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Post by kagome on Nov 16, 2008 20:13:08 GMT -5
My 10g tank has finally settled down after a few weeks of craziness. In that tank all I have is a male blue gourami, a 3" clown loach, and a 3" common pleco. When we had to make our super quick move out here to my parents' farm and had to sell my big tanks, I had to reduce down to only this 10g and only those three fish. It was hard and broke my heart, but at least I still had the one. Everything had been going great until about a month or so ago when it became clear that my clown loach had some sort of protozoan infestation. It didn't look like Ich really, more like velvet. I treated it with Quick Cure, but as Carl pointed out, the directions on Quick Cure do not have you treat it nearly long enough, especially if you have to treat at half strength with scaleless fish. So everybody looked great and then two weeks later the gourami showed signs of fin rot. He started looking very depressed, lost his appetite and his fins looked AWFUL! So I put a medicated wondershell in there and now everybody looks great. I really thought I might lose my gourami, but now he looks really great and is back to his old self.
Another problem cropped up because I noticed that my gourami, Spot, was acting kind of stressed out. I realized that he wasn't hiding in his cave inside a castle decoration. I wondered why until I saw him try to get in there and the pleco swam at him very quickly and chased him back out again. Apparently, that is now the pleco's castle and no one else should even try to go in there. So I had to try and find something with a cave big enough for Spot to get into, but small enough to fit in there with the castle, hollow tree decoration, and the plants. Luckily, Petsmart had a hidey cave that looks like a small mountain range with a waterfall. Not only is it actually the perfect size to go in the tank, but it even matches the base of the castle and so matches the decor.
I plan to eventually make changes in this tank. I want to replace the filter with a via aqua. Depending on the flow I get from the via aqua, I may or may not add a powerhead. I'm also considering adding an airpump with a bubble wand. Once the protozoan infestation is completely cleared up I want to move the clown loach from that tank to the new big tank. He's getting too big for that tank and he's the only clown loach in there. If I put him into the big tank he'll have three little buddies and shouldn't outgrow that tank for several years. I think once I make that switch I'll get two little cory cats because they don't get very big.
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Post by kagome on Nov 16, 2008 14:31:19 GMT -5
For the most part I have my 38g set up. It's been up and running for about a month now. Currently in it I have three small clown loaches that are doing very well and seem very happy.
The ammonia reading has been holding steady at 0.5 for the last two weeks. I'm trying to be patient as I wait for the bio-filter to kick in and drop the ammonia. Nitrate and Nitrite are both at zero.
I have the tank fully decorated except for a piece of driftwood that I need to order from Carl. I have tall medium and short plants all along the back glass to provide hiding places for the loaches and rams. I also almost completely concealed the sponge filter from view if you are looking through the front glass. You can just barely see the powerhead sticking up but pretty much you have to know it was there and be looking for it to see it. I fiddled with it extensively to make sure that the flow in and out of the sponge was not impaired. I also have a very large sitting Buddha that has a great big hiding cave with three entrances that will be great for bigger fish later or a whole school of little fish right now. I also have a 13" pagoda that also has swim through caves. The doors are very small though and so I think most of my fish will outgrow going inside it. However, the tiered rooftops and balconies will provide shelter for quite a while. Right now the loaches are more than small enough to fit in there and have claimed it as thier own little house. Along the front of the tank is a wide open swimming area for the angels if they want to cruise back and forth. I bought a background that technically is supposed to be for a terrarium, it's a rainforest scene, but it goes perfectly with the southeast Asian theme of the tank. It depicts broad leaved plants and flowers. I'm not sure what kind of plants are in the picture, but they look a lot like lotus plants and so I thought they went rather well.
As for filtration I have a Whisper 20-40 with biocartridge and a sponge filter with a Via Aqua 480 powerhead. When money permits I would like to replace the Whisper with a Via Aqua but other stuff is currently more of a priority.
Now it's all a testing and waiting game. Come on nitrifying bacteria! Mama wants some new fish!
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Post by kagome on Nov 16, 2008 13:29:18 GMT -5
I love it that you name your fish! I name mine, too. I did a similar family tree filing system like this when I bred rats so that I could keep them from being inbred. I also came up with a system for tracking temperament, adult size, and litter numbers so that I could decide which bloodlines were the best for breeding both good feeder rats and good pet rats. Believe it or not, rat temperament is closely linked to to color! Some colors have 90% chance of having a bad temperament and some colors had a 100% rate of good temperament. Also, hooded rats are 75% more likely to have a good temperament than any solid colored rats. It's crazy what you can determine when you breed enough generations of an animal and keep good records.
Ooooo! I just had an idea! You might want to think about having a way to mark down if any of your fish get sick, and if so who does and doesn't do well with treatment. You might find some interesting patterns and be able to breed for disease resistance! Keep up the good work!
Kagome
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Post by kagome on Nov 16, 2008 13:16:10 GMT -5
I am super lucky in that there is a responsible breeder in my local area and his fish are BEAUTIFUL!! When shipped to the LFS where I do my shopping they have only been transported across town. Also, the guys who run the LFS are totally awesome and really know what they're doing. The same guy who breeds the rams used to also breed discus but they don't sell well around here because I live in an area where people tend to be super cheap unless they're the serious marine tank keepers. But now he breeds rams, angels, and a whole bunch of fancy plecos. I wish I knew him, I'd love to go to his house and see his tanks!
Renee--the memory card on my camera is full, as soon as I get a DVD made I'll take and post pics of the new tank.
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Post by kagome on Nov 15, 2008 23:52:51 GMT -5
Thanks guys. I'm going to wait until this new tank is COMPLETELY done cycling before I put any more fish into it. Other than ammonia, which I am treating with Prime, my water parameters are good. I have a lot of flow in the tank with the HOB filter on one end and the sponge filter with a power head on the other. The temperature has been holding perfectly steady since two days after very first set up and water conditioning. I have a wondershell in there now and I got a bunch of extras last time I put in an order. Probably going to order driftwood the next time I put in an order to Carl. I'm actually lucky enough to live in an area where the water is excellent for discus, rams, and angels in general. Ph has also been completely stable and ideal. I just have to keep plugging along with testing ammonia, replacing 2 1/2g a day, adding Prime to change water, and making sure not to overfeed the loaches. Once my ammonia numbers go down and I'm sure that nitrates and nitrites are where they're supposed to be I'll start adding fish. I know I'm doing the right thing, but sometimes being patient is not the most fun thing in the world. I'm anxious to see if I can get this to all come together with the rams and angels. I hope I can pull this off!
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Post by kagome on Nov 15, 2008 17:30:08 GMT -5
Only a pair of angels? I thought it was bad to only have two of any sort of fish, but especially of any sort of Cichlid. How about 3 angels and 4 rams? Part of my thinking about this is that the rams don't live any where near as long as the angels do, so I thought that probably by the time the angels got to a good size the rams would be at the end of their life expectancy.
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Post by kagome on Nov 15, 2008 14:57:19 GMT -5
When I went to check the temperature in my 10g tank a few minutes ago I noticed that all of a sudden there is an oil slick on the surface of the water. What should I do?
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Post by kagome on Nov 15, 2008 13:35:55 GMT -5
The initial cycling of my new 38g is going well. The ammonia is holding steady at 0.5 and I continue to do 2 1/2g water changes everyday plus every 2 weeks I do a 25% water change and use Prime as my water conditioner for all new water. The 3 small clown loaches in there are eating very well and seem to be growing nicely. I'm sure it will be a while before I can safely add more fish, but once I can I have questions about it.
1. I want to put angels and rams in the tank, probably the same number of each, how many can a tank of this size (38g) sustain without being overloaded?
2. Should I get the angels at a slightly larger size than the rams since the rams may squabble or should I try to get everyone about the same size?
3. Who should go in first? Should I put the angels in two or three at time and then add rams later? Vice versa? Or should I add a few from both groups at the same time?
Thanks in advance for the help guys, you rock!
Warmest regards, ;D kagome
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Post by kagome on Nov 14, 2008 14:02:08 GMT -5
Just a note about scaleless fish. Generally speaking, catfish and loaches do not have what are considered "true scales" and since there skin is bare they can be more sensitive to things like medication. Some catfish do have bony plates or free dermal plates, even these are not considered true scales. So it is true that your cories are scaleless, and unfortunately these fish are both more susceptible to contracting external parasites but also are more difficult to treat once they do have the parasites. I've been using the Med WS in my tank that has a clown loach and he's doing great. Some other common scaleless fish:
elephant nose clown loach zebra loach yo yo loach ghost knife clown knife and pretty much all the different catfish I'm sure there's way more but all I could think of were these few off the top of my head.
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Post by kagome on Nov 14, 2008 0:17:11 GMT -5
It's funny that you guys should be having this discussion about how Carl should be a college professor because I've been telling everyone that I refer to the website that reading Carl's articles is like taking a mini course in marine biology, organic chemistry, and microbiology. I have learned so much from Carl's articles in such a short period of time that it's just insane. I made an "A" in sophomore zoology and yet I think I've learned way more from Carl. Of course, I keep trying to read the article about lighting and I swear my brain just gets overloaded and smoke comes out my ears. But that's OK, some day I'll draw Carl into a philosophical discussion about the nature of being, prove to him that he can't prove to me that he even exists and then smoke will come out of his ears, mawooohaha. lol!
And Carl, don't worry about college students staring at you with blank expressions. I aspire to be a college professor and having tutored MANY of my classmates throughout the years, I've deduced that a slightly vacant expression is the natural state of about 90% of college students. Most of them are there because they want to make money someday, not to actually LEARN anything.
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Post by kagome on Nov 14, 2008 0:02:37 GMT -5
And now i HAVE A BIGGER PROBLEM This morning when I wasnt thinking and didn't have much time i put the quick cure in the main tank. I know this doesn't help with your current problems exactly, but it is actually OK to put Quick Cure in your main tank. I know this is confusing because it is blue in color, but Quick Cure is actually a combination of Malachite Green and Formalin and is meant to treat your display tank. I'm sorry that you have lost so many fish. As usual Carl is right, if this was a case of Ich your fish wouldn't die that quickly after just a few signs of being sick. My 10g has had some sort of protozoan infestation going on for several weeks now and I haven't lost a single fish even though one is a clown loach. The problem is now being beaten back with Medicated Wondershells. But anaerobic bacteria can be highly poisonous, to people as well as fish so it's not surprising that that could be the culprit in this situation.
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Post by kagome on Nov 13, 2008 19:24:07 GMT -5
I'm so sorry you are having so much trouble with your tank. I know that this sort of thing can be terribly frustrating and upsetting. One thing I wanted to chime in on was to tell you that when you are breaking down your tank DO NOT use any kind of soap or detergent to clean stuff. Use only clean tap water.
As far as quick cure goes. It's one drop per gallon for three days, unless you have a sensitive species of fish in the tank like an elephant nose or some sort of loach or other scaleless fish in which case your would half the dose. On the third day do a 25% water change, on the fourth day start a new three day cycle. Keep going for at least 14 days in order to kill whatever is in your tank. I know the bottle directions differ from that somewhat, but Carl told me after I was having trouble with protozoan infestations popping back up that the bottle does not tell you to treat long wnough to kill the entire life cycle of the pathogens.
Don't beat yourself up about this, these things happen sometimes. I had an angelfish tank for years and I had a party at my house and apparently someone poured some sort of clear drink in the tank and killed all my fish overnight. Then it took months to get it to properly cycle after that, it was awful. You're trying very hard to be a responsible fish owner and that is the most important thing. All of us have lost fish and all of us have gone through frustrating periods of trial and error trying to get a tank straightened out.
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