RightTurnClyde's 29 Gallon Build!

[Fresh2o]

Happy anniversary (to your tank). Looking very healthy. I really like the rock+moss on the right side. Looks like Easter island meets chia pet.
I will be contacting my LFS to see if they will take my 2 danios. Nothing wrong with them but I plan to get some nano fish and the danios can be bullies. Of course, catching them in my tank is a whole different matter.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Brookster123]

Looks healthy and clean in there man! Nice work!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Happy anniversary (to your tank). Looking very healthy. I really like the rock+moss on the right side. Looks like Easter island meets chia pet.
I will be contacting my LFS to see if they will take my 2 danios. Nothing wrong with them but I plan to get some nano fish and the danios can be bullies. Of course, catching them in my tank is a whole different matter.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Haha... Thanks Fresh. I'm proud of my chia head lava rock. That started as just a small loose clump that I stuck on the top without tying it or anything. Not sure exactly what my plan is for that. It's kind of an experiment to see how it spreads and clings with regular trimmings.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Looks healthy and clean in there man! Nice work!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Thanks Brookster. It's a lot less clean when you look closely in person, but yeah, my Amanos and Nerites do a pretty good job in between algae scrubbings.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Fresh, regarding the Danios, I agree. That's part of the reason I got rid of mine. They're just too crazy. People say they need at least a tank that is 30" wide, but after keeping them in exactly that for so long, I think they need at least a 55 gallon to spread out their energy a little more.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[pittbully13]

Looking good man. I wish my ar would grow.

Sent from my Z667T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Ho. ly. @#$%. Disaster tonight!

Something bad got into my tank when I added 2 Platies two weekends ago. One of my existing Platies, and one of the new ones, have been severely clamped, sluggish, and not eating. They flash occasionally as well. The newer one is at the top a lot gasping. I originally thought gill parasites. But after a couple days treating with Prazi, they were acting even worse. So I did a couple big water changes, ran some purigen for a day and then started treating with Seachem Paraguard, since that's solved a lot of problems for me in the past. Tonight I come home and find my favorite Platy dead in the back corner of the tank. 20 minutes later, one of my Cories, who I didn't even think was sick, was laying on his side gasping. He was dead minutes later. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate all check out fine. Is it possible I'm dealing with something bacterial? Clearly they are having trouble breathing, but I can't figure out what could be causing it. I've got plenty of surface agitation and plenty of plants. Oxygen should not be a problem.

Arghhhhh!!!

 

[Fresh2o]

Sorry to here about this. I have no experience with what your describing so I can't offer my two cents in terms of treatment.
When this is all said and done, get a QT with small filter and heater if you don't already have one. I used to not think it was a big deal until I once brought home Ich and introduced it into the main tank. Not the end of the world but it was a pain in the but. I currently have some new arrivals in the second week of QT.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Yeah, I know a QT is the best way to go. I just don't have room anywhere for another tank and the wife isn't too thrilled with the idea either. But I'm thinking maybe a clear plastic container with a heater and a cycled sponge filter would do the trick as a temporary thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Fresh2o]

Yeah, I know a QT is the best way to go. I just don't have room anywhere for another tank and the wife isn't too thrilled with the idea either. But I'm thinking maybe a clear plastic container with a heater and a cycled sponge filter would do the trick as a temporary thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

That will work. You can put it in a closet if need be. It would be nice to have some media on hand in the main tank and use it into the QT as needed. You put the QT in storage until you are ready to use it.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[fish wrangler]

If you use the bin make sure it is strong enough to not blow out from the water.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[venymae]

I use a mop bucket with a sponge filter and heater. The closet is the way to go.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Thanks guys. Another Platy death this morning. I'm expecting one more when I get home tonight. After that, all the others are still looking and behaving more or less normally. I'll probably do another water change tonight and then continue treating with the Paraguard. Well... I was looking into making some big changes in this tank. Maybe this is the trigger. But sheesh.... Painful. Even though my water tests fine, I can't seem to keep a fish alive for more than 3 or 4 months, except for the zebra Danios that I recently got rid of.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Well, that's 4 out of my original 5 platys now dead. I think it was a bad case of Hex. Everyone left seems to be in good health. My remaining platy is very active and has all fins spread out beautifully. I managed to see her poop last night and it was solid brown and didn't hang off her very long at all. So I think she's out of the woods. I do have one cory cat that was more lethargic than the others last night, so I might lose him. But I've already vowed an end to any new cory cats in my tank as they just don't last long for me.

On a perhaps related topic: Does decaying plant matter in the tank negatively affect the fish's health? Because I'm sure I have a lot of that, but I don't see how you can avoid that with any significant planting in your tank. My tank water always smells strongly like freshly cut grass.




Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[pittbully13]

Man sorry to hear that.

Sent from my Z667T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[fish wrangler]

The decaying plant matter would increase ammonia and if your BB removes that then more nitrates would be produced

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[RightTurnClyde]

The decaying plant matter would increase ammonia and if your BB removes that then more nitrates would be produced

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

That's the only danger, though? I have strong biofiltration. Ammonia is always zero and nitrates are always quite low too.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[fish wrangler]

The plant matter would create major cloudy water if it is stirred up...like mine is right now

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Just an update after the disaster a few weeks ago and some extensive plant trimming yesterday.

Fish-wise:
Fish health seems to have stabilized. I got some NLS "Hex Shield" medicated food and fed everyone on that for the recommended 3 days. My single remaining Platy is the healthiest I've ever seen her. Tail fin spread wide, dorsal fin straight up, very active and constantly grazing for food. And of course, the white clouds are indestructible as usual. I also have two remaining Peppered Corys that seem to be in good health, but it's tough to tell with them, since part of their normal behavior is to sometimes rest on the bottom and not do anything. But they do get very active when food is in the tank. Since my stock has been decimated, I'm thinking about going in a slightly different direction and getting a breeding pair of Kribensis and giving them a nice cave.

Plant-wise:
I mowed all the moss as best I could and did a major thinning out of the AR mini and replanted the healthiest looking tops. I also cut quite a few inches
from the bottoms of the Bacopa stems that were flirting with the surface. I went a little overboard though. A few of them are behind the driftwood and can't even be seen. I'm not worried though. Those are by far my fastest growing plant. I seem to have found a good balance with everything. I have very little algae at the moment, aside from a little BBA that likes the Java Fern roots on the driftwood.

Geek-wise:
I got an API GH/KH test and found out that my KH was not nearly as high as I thought. So I've been adding a little bit of Seachems Alkaline Buffer after water changes to bump it up to about 6 dKH. It has no noticeable effect on the pH. It was measuring at 2 dKH a few days before water change, so I wonder if I was having some pH swings and that contributed to my fish's disease. pH should be rock solid now.

FTS:

 

[pittbully13]

After the crisis the tank looks to be in great shape and everything is growing nicely. So clean.

Sent from my Z667T using Aquarium Advice mobile app