What Did You do With Your Tank Today?

[Lokilow]

Thanks. And yes, the green bit is for my cory's to spawn in. I cycle two mops in from the main tank and the breeder box hanging, that way eggs are always hatching inside the box.

Making these is simple, its just yarn wrapped around a cork.

 

[Autumnsky]

Got some Crab Cuisine for the Isopods culture. Looking about making up some food for them. Also ordering a special natural food with"a “broad spectrum” of Carotenoids from whole ingredients (no synthetics)" to enhance the Powder Orange Isopods colors, and should work for fish and shrimp too. And help with general overall health.

Planning the side job of improving their Isopod home which is presently a rectangle shaped vase. Then make a number of side cultures to sell locally or to the fish / reptile store... Hoping this makes it worth the tiny effort and small cost. Since I am amused by "raising" these I just needed some for a couple projects. They are interesting - always liked the Rollie Pollies. And these are orange, lol, hahaha! But now have soooo many especially tiny and small ones just starting to grow. Wondering if the 6.6G Edge glass only tank would be a nice upgrade with a couple plants.

Fed all the fish Spirulina defrosted frozen Brine Shrimp (and other foods).

On the less good side of things - bought medication for my Galaxy Koi Betta. Has a bulge on one side of the chest. At this point unsure if it's just a tumor growing or internal infection, so will try treating for an infection. She has been much less active, resting in the leaves a lot more.

 

[Autumnsky]

Had a fun time showing the GK's the Isopods - the 4yo said Isopods is another word for Rollie Pollies, if I said Isopods to my mom she might not know what they are... precious - priceless, lol!

We crunched leaves saved some nice looking leaves. 2 or 3 kinds of Oak and some Elm or Alder, not sure a hobbyist AA friend collected them a few years ago for me from the woods and I had some added too.

Found my Orchid bark planting mix and scavenged in my "maybe I will need this sometime" corner. Found Calcium substrate for hermit crabs (and such), and some coco bark for reptiles. A bag of terrestrial moss that didn't quite live through a hot spell back in the summer and had old wood mixed in - perfect for Isopods yum.

My clearance ZooMed Hyroballs (fired expanded clay), sphagnum moss from my few Orchid repottings and 3 sizes of lump charcoal from the smoker hardwood charcoal, I gleaned from the giant bag. Mostly stuff for plants /terrariums. Clearance stuff / cheap costs.

Anyway, made a colony in a 3G Anchor Jar have to go hunt down the lid (think I know where it is). Moved 15+ Powder Orange into culture containers to sell locally... I can at least get my costs back for buying them and still have a big bunch. They are not uncommon but aren't always available locally at the fish/reptile stores.

Each enclosure has a chunk of cuttlebone, calcium sand, charcoal in varying sizes, a half teaspoon of Springtails, hydroballs bottom layer with charcoal, ABG viviarium substrate mix dry leaf mix on top.

We'll see if that works well. Their numbers have at minimum doubled since I got them.

While I was moving the Springtails, I fed them to a hungry bunch of momma Guppies and a bunch of fry and they loved them!!! I might buy a culture of the large sized ones for the fish.

They are SO easy - just sit in a plastic deli or larger shoe box container with charcoal and a layer of water in the bottom. Feed one time per week or when the food is gone and make sure they do not dry out.

Do not need light or anything really special. Active yeast bits can be added and mushroom chunk. A grain or a few of rice. The Hikari Crab cuisine I add a couple pellets routinely. Seemingly good for them.

It seems a little larger container would be better for the Springtails than the small one I have now which is what they came in an 8 oz round deli. Planned to upgrade it as well. They sit next to the fish food on the shelf and I just look at them at least once per week water or feed as necessary.

 

[Autumnsky]

Bummer - I went to the lfs where I ordered and was called that the Chili Rasboras had arrived Thursday. Then went in there only to see that the tank was QT'd because of the fish had Ich. Asked if they had Microdevario Kubotai - Neon Green Rasbora YES!!!

But as the guy came back to see me looking at fish to tell me that they had some spots and he noticed after they were being bagged. So NO fish today But happy they aren't at my house with ICH!!!

I did buy a half pound of decorative cork for the Rollie Pollies and my terrariums... Left there cheap. For $7.00. Anyway. Got to show off my 80G tank plan and was told they'd throw in an extra fish next time. There is a sale the first week of December so I would get the sale discount and the extra fish . I would take what I can get!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did a couple pwc, had a phone call about helping tank care of fish for a person who was left with them and doesn't know too much about fish keeping.

Had a big pwc 60% in the Guppy QT. A Mystery snail died and (different tank than the other MS death... ) Needed to get the water quality up. Doing another one or two tomorrow.

Tomorrow the 72G gets a water change.

 

[Tacit Blues]

Aw man, that sounds awfully like my hillstream loach problem a few days ago. Like, I don’t want sick fish at home but I want THOSE fish.

 

[Autumnsky]

Employee mentioned that is a problem this time of year :/

 

[Tacit Blues]

Huh. I wonder if it’s a cold weather stress thing or something.

 

[Autumnsky]

Guy was sort of talking as he walked away from me in loud bubbling tanks... Sounded he said the ups and downs of the temps, and the "cold" - as an issue. Of course cold will increase the Ich in stressed fish. I never thought of this time of year as a big issue. But it seems to make sense.

 

[Autumnsky]

Not much today.

Received confirmation that Current USA for ECOXOTIC Series E- Full Spectrum LED (Refurbished) - 24" E-60 light purchased which was doing a frequent random type flashing was under warranty and being replaced. It took a few days of trying things to double check what might be going on but was lightning fast at finalizing the issue was internal and not a connection of power supply.

This morning the confirmation was received and new light mailed! Impressed.

Also received my Finnex Planted + ultra slim LED cliplight. Came a day late due to the snow storm we had looks great.

Water resistant splash guard will not keep water from soaking into fixture when it sits in the water. Duh!

The last one was a used one I am still using for the Wine Glass the water soaked in but didn't shock the fish - and after drying out was still working. It has a off side design and would tip into the tank sometimes. And the last time it shorted out a bunch of Daylight LEDs on the water dipping side / reds stayed fine.

I thought it was a goner way back. But after it still worked I tossed into the storage for a while.

New light is great. Will be sure to be more careful to tighten. The off center style helps it work perfectly with a HOB filter and still center over tank. <3

Will be ideal
26 Daylight 7000K
16 Deep Red 660 nm
4 Blues

There is a gap on the splash guard. Maybe it is for dispersing heat. But it seems to be a weak spot.

Overall, will just need a SW light now since the SW is still not working correctly.

Time to clear out the misc. stuff I will not be needing as I get the "best" for the conditions and circumstances tanks set up. There is extra misc. for sure (but I am a pack rat /saver jic).

There was another drop of Endler and Guppy Fry. I need to move the 12G to the shelf and get the 20G long set for the babies getting larger and after the large fish go to the 80G the nearly 1/2 inch ones can go to the 72G if they look like males, leaving the females in the grow out for awhile.

 

[Tacit Blues]

Did a water change on the 40g tank and found a few pockets under some plants that really really needed vacuumed. I’ve been also working on a new overflow with a second inlet to try and reduce gurgling and give a bit more redundancy. I haven’t seen the new hillstream loaches since the first day but the tank is a crazy loach hidey hole maze what with all the Anubias so I’m not super worried. There’s plenty of surfaces for them to munch on. The White Clouds are as excited to play in the flow as always, silly little creatures.

 

[Autumnsky]

My tanks are causing me madness! There seems to be something going on in nearly every one.

Treating the Galaxy Koi Betta right now with bacterial medication and hoping it works.

The Guppy tank gets continues to multiply with only 2 mommas. I will be picking a few healthy looking females and soon moving the rest to the 20G long tank.

There will be some new young males coming along and I wanted one particular male to father some babies. He is my top favorite. This will be a shot at getting something similar. I haven't found another just one like him anywhere. I was not planning to keep breeding Guppies, but I will have a bunch of room in the 72G and maybe see what comes of it.

The babies are looking good so far but the 20G long tank needs a clean out before they get moved, it was the outdoor green water tank. Will be bare bottom and every other day pwc.

On the fun side of things, will get to go to the CAS (Colorado Aquarium Society) Christmas party with a brown bag white "shark" gift. I am thinking DIY terrarium with Orange rolly pollies and spring tails.

Hoping for all to turn around for the positive.

 

[Autumnsky]

A few things to report...

The sad part is the Galaxy Koi Betta passed today. Bummed a lot.

The fert caps I bought do not seem to be doing my plants any good after a couple weeks I would have expected more.

My Ferka Rosetta and Stemma fert caps magically turned everything beautiful. My 2 big Swords have mostly dying leaves, contorted limited amount of new growth. Also very disappointed, and yes I was expecting miraculous results. I do see a shadow of greener leaves in a couple of the small Swords.

One of my Anubias looks like the end leaves are yellowing. I guess it does not approve of fert caps. Where it was doing just fine before.

Will reserve bad comments of disgust for later if this turns out worse and will admit my initial unhappiness as temporary if it improves substantially.

And the good news is that there is one and possibly 2 more Pencil fish little ones in the 12G Edge!!! I happened to notice that there were too many in the two groups I was watching upper and lower in the tank.

The four really big ones were hanging out in the top of the tank and there were numerous ones scooting in and out of the plants and moss which equaled more than 7. It seemed 9 but they are really swift in moving through plants disappearing and popping out somewhere else, and hard to feel confident in the count.

For sure there was a new half incher and they were seen when they were feeding otherwise the little ones know how to hide. As I hadn't noticed it before now and they do not start out life as half inch fish . I was watching them this last week and never noticed.

This is the tank with the nano fish - Boraras Brigittae (and 1 or 2 Boraras Merah), the Pencilfish nannostomas marginatus, and some WCMM and a few male Snakeskin Endlers.

Methinks the Endlers and the WCMM will move over to the 72G and leave the Pencil fish with the tiny Chilis and add a group of dwarf Cories.

A couple nights ago I was surprised to find a snakeskin endler in the overflow compartment in the end of the Fluval Spec. And it has been a month or so probably in there since I moved it and those fish!!!

It quickly and easily jumped back and forth between sides of the compartment as I tried to scoop it out!!!

Then as I cleaned the filter side of the Spec V and was using a turkey baster to suck up and remove some gunk in a pwc, and was startled by seeing one of the Kuhli Loaches pop out of the filter sponge I was vigorously jamming the turkey baster in for more than 5 minutes.

Moral of that story is Spec V is not a good tank for those fish!!! Getting them moved this week end - and the Hornwort in that tank is a monster jungle right now, the Guppies can't even hardly swim through it - so thick. I never have great luck with Hornwort. Aquatics surprises. Shocked for the bad and the good.

 

[Autumnsky]

My terrestrial moss order arrived later than expected.

Monday I will be working on getting the 80G tank ready for installation.

Hoping to move the Guppy and Endler fry to the 20G still this week.

Shared 2 cultures of my Powder Orange Isopods.

Going to set up another terrarium or 2 - 1 with the Powder Orange isopods and springtails one with just springtails.

 

[Autumnsky]

Only got part done...

cleaned out the 5G Spec V.

Took the 6 Kuhli Loaches and put them with the Guppies to eat left overs.

Took 2 Male Guppies and 6 male Endlers and put them in the Wine Glass tank.

Took the 1 female Guppy and put her back into the Spec V. She looks like she has parasites, or something. Her belly is thin. So I need to order some medicated flake.

Cleaned all the Hornwort of its string algae, and put back 2/3 of it.

Part 2 will be cleaning the 20G Long and moving the Guppy and Endler fry and mommas. The youngsters - some, are about breeding age, very young but likely can get pregnant soon,

And trying to separate the sexes should be an ongoing drama.

Cleaned out one plant vase. Watered all the plants in the back room with fish water.

 

[venymae]

My 55 gallon is devoid of all fish.
Both the ranchus are in quarantine tubs so I can treat them better. One just came in the mail last week, but my original dude is out now too and I'm not sure what he's got as he's showing multiple symptoms and I'm fairly new to goldfish. Waiting to get my microscope back and googling furiously so I can figure it out. Blech.

The 5 gallon betta tank is doing fabulous as always. Such an easy tank, never have problems with it.

 

[Autumnsky]

My 55 gallon is devoid of all fish.
Both the ranchus are in quarantine tubs so I can treat them better. One just came in the mail last week, but my original dude is out now too and I'm not sure what he's got as he's showing multiple symptoms and I'm fairly new to goldfish. Waiting to get my microscope back and googling furiously so I can figure it out. Blech.

The 5 gallon betta tank is doing fabulous as always. Such an easy tank, never have problems with it.

Sorry to hear your are having difficulties with the Ranchus. It is the worst when the fish aren't doing well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baby Guppies are everywhere. They are getting bigger.

And both mommas are nearing another drop. One pretty soon.

Mommas are getting to full size which is pretty darn big - kinda surprising the size! Mainly have male Endlers and Guppies, and youngster sized males at that. Sooo much smaller.

Good reason they are called million fish, lol.

Have a line of tanks need set up, rearranged or fish need the next size tank.

Work is too busy. Family is coming soon and need to get the tangle unraveled!

The imported Thai Betta Phoenix has a bit more pronounced bump on his side. Strangely it seems tighter and less blob like, but sticking out a little more.

He seems to look happy otherwise. He is thinner than he used to be so it shouldn't surprise me if something happens. From what read from others similar situations, when they stop being interested in eating the end is near, and so far he wants his pellets morning, noon and night. Thinking that the antibiotic treatment will start Friday for him and see if it helps at all. Just need to change his tank to treat and not damage the plants.

Emailed the Ecoxotic light people again about the light flashing problem. Had to describe whats going on and tried one additional cord switch to see if it helped, but it did not. So waiting to see if it gets replaced. They sent a new power supply back around thanksgiving and I just got done switching the digital control module portion to see if that fixed it. Since I have twin lights I tried that on my own but nope. Still flashes like crazy.

 

[Autumnsky]

Last sent the email about the flashing light on December 10. Haven't heard anything yet.

Working has halted the progress on the tanks and my projects and will for another week.

So goes the way of the world.

Might try to get the 20G cleaned tomorrow and get those darn Guppies and fry in more water.

 

[Autumnsky]

Got sent an email today from the company about the light - they think it is the power supply but based upon my testing it out by switching the parts between the two / twin lights it seems to me to be in the actual light part.

Since the good working light was good with either power supply and either digital module which connects in the middle between to the light. And the bad one doesn't work right.

Edit:
Oh - removed 3 slugs from my Isopods and terrarium containers :/

And did a 3ishG pwc on the Guppies Endler Fry tank, and did not have enough time to clean out the 20G and move them.

 

[Autumnsky]

Got two heavy bags of sand.

One fine grit Garnet beach sand which is rounded particles because of being smoothed the water. Likely from South Africa via an Australian supply company. I need to actually read the bag. Very busy day. It should be light purple.

The other also fine called Starlight sand which comes from Florida when being removed so a vein of titanium can be mined. (from USA).

It should be a really nice dusky color.

In speaking with the seller about sand he noted the one called copper and it is a slag from making copper, but the copper has been extracted and it is heavily containing iron.

Also he mentioned in discussion of the off issues some people have told experienced with the coal slag like the black diamond can be wet down with an additive in manufacturing to keep the dust down and CAN contain some oils.

 

[1midniterider]

All is well... Added new inhabitants. Three Dwarf Gouramis, two Pale Blue and one Sunburst and one "fake" Julii...