callisto9
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Well, it's been nearly a year now since I started my planted aquarium journey. After a lot of frustration, a lot of fish/snail deaths, a lot of money wasted on plants that didn't make it, I have decided to leave the hobby. I apparently don't have the gift of keeping an aquarium and in the short year I've been doing this, over 20 fish have died in my care, as well as about seven mystery snails. I change the water, I do parameter testing, but I just suck at this.
The fish that have died in my care: two peacock gudgeons, over 10 guppies, one glowlight tetra, two kuhli loaches, two galaxy rasboras... I'm sure there's a few more I'm forgetting.
None of my plants have done well. I have all low-light plants, but they all rot and die or get so covered with diatoms they aren't pretty to look at anymore. I didn't want to go down the fancy ferts route, but even with basic care and root tabs, I can't keep plants.
I'm not looking for sympathy or looking to change my mind on this decision. I made one last attempt last night to re-excite me about this hobby and picked up three cobra endlers, two lyretail mollies and two fancy guppies, but two of the endlers died overnight. This is a clear sign I need to stop bringing fish home. The only fish that have done well are my dwarf gourami and my glowlight tetras - the tetras are nearly a year old, and the gourami is over eight months old.
I now do water changes every two weeks instead of every week, but that's a recently thing... wondering if that could be the source of my recent issues. Other than that, I have NO IDEA why any of my fish have died. They have looked fine and then they're gone. Sometimes, I never even find the body (not sure how that's possible).
So, I'm getting rid of all the slightly unhealthy plants and replacing with plastic. I've taken out the spectrum lighting and put the original LED hood back on. What's the best plan of action to keep what fish I have happy and healthy for the remainder of their time in my death tank? Or, should I just cut my losses and give them all away? I'm tired of killing stuff. Should I just keep up with my water changes and wait it out? Any advice is much appreciated.
The fish that have died in my care: two peacock gudgeons, over 10 guppies, one glowlight tetra, two kuhli loaches, two galaxy rasboras... I'm sure there's a few more I'm forgetting.
None of my plants have done well. I have all low-light plants, but they all rot and die or get so covered with diatoms they aren't pretty to look at anymore. I didn't want to go down the fancy ferts route, but even with basic care and root tabs, I can't keep plants.
I'm not looking for sympathy or looking to change my mind on this decision. I made one last attempt last night to re-excite me about this hobby and picked up three cobra endlers, two lyretail mollies and two fancy guppies, but two of the endlers died overnight. This is a clear sign I need to stop bringing fish home. The only fish that have done well are my dwarf gourami and my glowlight tetras - the tetras are nearly a year old, and the gourami is over eight months old.
I now do water changes every two weeks instead of every week, but that's a recently thing... wondering if that could be the source of my recent issues. Other than that, I have NO IDEA why any of my fish have died. They have looked fine and then they're gone. Sometimes, I never even find the body (not sure how that's possible).
So, I'm getting rid of all the slightly unhealthy plants and replacing with plastic. I've taken out the spectrum lighting and put the original LED hood back on. What's the best plan of action to keep what fish I have happy and healthy for the remainder of their time in my death tank? Or, should I just cut my losses and give them all away? I'm tired of killing stuff. Should I just keep up with my water changes and wait it out? Any advice is much appreciated.
guess its not for everybody.
If the DG was the problem, how would I know it? All the snail and fish deaths are rather generic... nothing really sticks out about the deaths...
