55 Gallon Freshwater Tank

[daileene]

Good to hear about your updates girl. I had missed you. And with regards to my 20G, I am so tight with my budget that I haven't found a light for it yet. But surprisingly, the crypts you gave me is flourishing. I guess it helped that the tank is near a window so the sunlight actually helped it grow for now. The amazon sword is still alive but not quite green. I am hoping I can get a little break with my budget next month, which is starting tomorrow, and I could finally get a light fixture. Unfortunately, the nor 'easter over here in MA didn't help my tanks. I haven't had any electric since Saturday around 5:30PM. I am so afraid that the beneficial bacteria in my 20G long will be dead? This is the first time that I experienced cycling with the power gone for 3 days now. My heat in my house is thankfully on coz I have gas, so even I don't have electric, I hope the temp in the house helped all my tanks to not freeze. My fish are still looking okay. My betta in the kitchen is doing fine although his wound is still somewhat lurking, but I am thankful that he is actually eating good unlike before.

Anyway, I actually got a newest tank. LOL. I salvaged it from a friend. It's a 10G with a ACF and a goldfish that is like almost 4 inches long. Whewww. Talking about overstock. Anyway, temporarily, I wanted to keep them there together since my 20G was not ready yet, I was gonna transfer my ACF(which I truly loved at first sight, the old owner hated it like crazy they were gonna just let it die) to my 20G. But then it jumped out sometime in one day and I haven't found him for like 4 days and of course, he is already dead. I cannot believe he jumped. I wanted to get a new one maybe in the future. Your idea of a 5G with 2 ADF gave me a good idea. Maybe next time I will do that. Anyway, the goldfish is all by himself in the 10G. Is that okay? Or am I still overstocked with him?

Hope to talk to you one day darling!!! ((((hugs))))

 

[Newfisher]

i have just a question about the driftwood you used. I bought the very same piece and used it in my newly cycling tank last May and it really messed up the ammonia and Ph values for a very long time. I had a difficult time getting my tank chemicals balanced. I could not get the ph to stay buffered in my water and have dealt with it finally after many long months of researching and trial and error. I worked with some very smart people on this for Forum and we finally tracked down the culprit to all my tank problems to be the piece of driftwood from Petsmart reptile department. I too loved the look of it. I soaked it and treated it in Prime soaked water before placing in my tank and still had terrible issues. I guess I am very concerned that you may face the same troubles as me. Maybe I just had a bad piece or you prepared it better. Just thought I would put it out there for you. As soon as I saw the driftwood...my stomach dropped! It looks wonderful...hope it works for you...just be aware

 

[McLumpy]

Good to hear about your updates girl. I had missed you...

Aww! I've missed ya too, girl!

I'm so sorry to hear about your issue w/ your electricity and about your ACF. Honestly, I don't know how the ACF didn't gobble up the Goldfish. Speaking of which, I think your Goldfish should be ok for awhile in your 10g, but better keep up w/ the water changes.

ACF's are some mean critters... from what I hear. Definitely look into ADF's though. They are so much fun! And, if you get a male and female, play some Berry White, you could get some baby ADF's.

For the longest time, I thought that Sam was a male, (because he is way smaller than Elliott), but he doesn't have the "pimples" near his armpits. So, I'm going to track down a male the next time I go to the LFS.

Speaking of the LFS... I went to Petco on Sunday and picked up 3 Lyretail Guppies for my 5 gallon and they are doing just fine w/ my RCS! I did notice though that the RCS aren't as active, but they're still alive so that's all that matters. In fact, they have a nice home in the moss that I took out of my pond. I, of course, rinsed it out thoroughly before placing it in the tank.

Along w/ the Lyretail Guppies, I picked up 2 Swordtails, (a male and a female), and placed them in my 55g. However, I noticed a white fungus growing on the female's mouth yesterday, so I treated the tank w/ Melafix/Pimafix. Unfortunately, I found the female deceased this morning. I will be going back to Petco this evening. /sigh

i have just a question about the driftwood you used...

Thank you for your post! Honestly, I haven't had any issues w/ my Mopani messing up the parameters. They have always held steady at... 7.6-pH, 0-Ammonia, 0-Nitrite, 40-Nitrate.

Did you use extremely hot water to prep your wood? I believe I soaked mine for 2-3 weeks and changed out the water every morning and night. Then when I noticed it was water-logged enough and no longer leaching tannins, I took a new toothbrush and scrubbed it thoroughy. Then I soaked it for a few more days in dechlorinated water.

There's always the chance that you got a bad piece, but if it's really messing up your parameters, something is definitely wrong. You could try soaking it for even longer, or even boiling it for a little while, (that is if the piece is small enough to fit in a pot). If nothing else, you can always get a different piece from Petco. I don't know if they will let you return the other one, but they're cheap enough to try a different piece.

 

[McLumpy]

Columnaris... OH NOES!!!

... I noticed a white fungus growing on the female's mouth yesterday, so I treated the tank w/ Melafix/Pimafix. Unfortunately, I found the female deceased this morning. ...

Yep! That's right. I now have a Columnaris outbreak in my tank! AH!! I posted a thread about it in the "Unhealthy Fish" section... here is the link.

I never did get a replacement fish from Petco and now I'm hesitant to do so. I don't believe that the Swordtail brought it in, (because I noticed my Gold Dust Molly had symptoms before adding the Swordtails), but now I have a poor li'l Silver Tip Tetra hanging on to dear life!

This sucks.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Yep! That's right. I now have a Columnaris outbreak in my tank! AH!! I posted a thread about it in the "Unhealthy Fish" section... here is the link.

I never did get a replacement fish from Petco and now I'm hesitant to do so. I don't believe that the Swordtail brought it in, (because I noticed my Gold Dust Molly had symptoms before adding the Swordtails), but now I have a poor li'l Silver Tip Tetra hanging on to dear life!

This sucks.

I just read the thread about the columnaris outbreak in your tank. :-( and double :-( :-(
It is strange how was introduced in your tank, did you slow down in your PWC?

But the important part here is to keep going positive with the treatment....I don't have experience with columnaris, but sounds to me that the low temp plus Maracyn 2 is your best bet....

Good luck!

 

[ejaramillo01]

Yep! That's right. I now have a Columnaris outbreak in my tank! AH!! I posted a thread about it in the "Unhealthy Fish" section... here is the link.

I never did get a replacement fish from Petco and now I'm hesitant to do so. I don't believe that the Swordtail brought it in, (because I noticed my Gold Dust Molly had symptoms before adding the Swordtails), but now I have a poor li'l Silver Tip Tetra hanging on to dear life!

This sucks.

:-( and double :-( :-(

I just read your thread about the columnaris, with no experience at all about it, I think that the low temp plus Maracyn II is your best bet...

I hope that you are 100% recover from your back injury, you will need to be fine to keep up with the PWC that you will need to do....
good luck!

 

[McLumpy]

Duplicate posts, Ed? lol

Thank you for the well wishes! It was a chore to do pwc's w/ my back issues, but I've stayed right on top of them, (50% weekly). I really think that my heavy bioload did have a lot to do w/ the Columnaris. I still have my Common Pleco and he's producing so much waste that I should be doing pwc's every 3 days. I've been trying to find a home for him, but nobody seems interested.

Oh, and yes, my back is doing soooo much better!

 

[McLumpy]

RIP Sam

Sad news, guys. A few days ago I noticed that Sam, my African Dwarf Frog, was spending a lot of time floating at the surface. I would nudge him lightly w/ my finger and he would start moving.

Well, day before yesterday, I nudged him and he would twitch a little, but he looked to be paralyzed. The middle of his back was floating out of the water and his limbs/head hung down. He also didn't react when he floated into the current from the HOB filter. He was still alive, but just barely. I decided to place him in my breeder box so he wouldn't get pushed around. Yesterday morning, I nudged him and he twitched again, but just slightly. Then, when I got home from work, he was gone.

The parameters in the tank are normal and he wasn't that old. So, I did some research. All of the symptoms seem to point to Chytrid fungus, (which has been known to wipe out large frog populations within days). From what I've read, the fungus can only be killed when exposed to extremely high temps.

My other ADF, Elliott, seems to be doing ok. She is hiding a lot though, but she's still eating. Sadly, in order to do the high temp treatment, that would require me to toss all of my live plants, perform a thorough cleaning of the tank, gather up all of my critters, (snails/RCS's), and move them to a different tank, (which I don't have). /sigh I have no choice but to just keep an eye an Elliott and hope she doesn't have it.

Anyway, I thought I would post this in hopes that it helps others if they run into this nasty frog fungus. To learn more about Chytrid fungus, click here.

RIP Sam!

 

[siva]

Sad news, guys. A few days ago I noticed that Sam, my African Dwarf Frog, was spending a lot of time floating at the surface. I would nudge him lightly w/ my finger and he would start moving.

Well, day before yesterday, I nudged him and he would twitch a little, but he looked to be paralyzed. The middle of his back was floating out of the water and his limbs/head hung down. He also didn't react when he floated into the current from the HOB filter. He was still alive, but just barely. I decided to place him in my breeder box so he wouldn't get pushed around. Yesterday morning, I nudged him and he twitched again, but just slightly. Then, when I got home from work, he was gone.

The parameters in the tank are normal and he wasn't that old. So, I did some research. All of the symptoms seem to point to Chytrid fungus, (which has been known to wipe out large frog populations within days). From what I've read, the fungus can only be killed when exposed to extremely high temps.

My other ADF, Elliott, seems to be doing ok. She is hiding a lot though, but she's still eating. Sadly, in order to do the high temp treatment, that would require me to toss all of my live plants, perform a thorough cleaning of the tank, gather up all of my critters, (snails/RCS's), and move them to a different tank, (which I don't have). /sigh I have no choice but to just keep an eye an Elliott and hope she doesn't have it.

Anyway, I thought I would post this in hopes that it helps others if they run into this nasty frog fungus. To learn more about Chytrid fungus, click here.

RIP Sam!

So sorry about Sam It doesn't sound like it was necessarily Chytrid fungus, though it is possible. ADF's should be kept at 80F, and at that temp there should be very few cases of the fungus. If I'm remembering correctly, you've had these frogs for quite some time, and had they been infected, symptoms would have shown before now. I would be surprised if any infected frog did not show symptoms within 1-2 months of purchase. You probably would have noticed milky skin, thrashing about, difficulty shedding, and refusal of food for a while before death. At the end, the frog would be desperate to get out the water..trying to climb out whichever way it can, as they are actually suffocating to death. If the frog was bloated, it's more likely that it was dropsy, which is what your description of his symptoms sounds like.

 

[McLumpy]

Thank you for the reply, Siva! I had actually considered Dropsy... but he wasn't bloated at all. In fact, towards the end, he was quite skinny. More than likely due to the fact that he couldn't swim down to eat.

One thing I did notice, and didn't realize at the time, was that he was spending a lot of time at the top in my 55g. I had some Water Wisteria floating so they could lounge in it, and he seemed to lounge a lot. I'm thinking that he's been ill for awhile, but I just didn't notice it until I moved him to my 5g.

My other frog, Elliott, is doing well. Oh, and I got a good look at "her" yesterday... yeah, she's a he. lol He has the pimples under each arm. I guess that's why they never mated. HA! DOH!

Anyway, I appreciate your advice about the Dropsy! I'm hoping you're right and that was all it was because I read that Chytrid fungus is difficult to get rid of and very contagious. As a precaution, I am going to wait probably a month or so to add a new frog.

 

[McLumpy]

Update Time

Well, folks, I have both a sad and happy update...

First w/ the sad update... Mini Mimi, my Gold Dust Molly, didn't make it. As you read in a previous post, I was treating her and one of my Silver Tip Tetras w/ Maracyn II to help get rid of Columnaris.

One week after treatment, my Tetra is showing no signs of having it, but the fungus returned on Mini Mimi. I noticed it last night when I was getting ready to add carbon to the filter. I decided to pass on the carbon and see if keeping her in the medicated water a few more days would help, (I did stop dosing the meds though). Low and behold, I found her deceased at the bottom of the tank this morning.

She was the last of my Mollies and had quite the personality. I'm going to miss that little girl, but I know that I tried all that I could to help save her. RIP, Mini Mimi.

Now for some good news... there seems to be LOTS of love in the air, (or in this case, water). It looks like Scarlet made friends with the new male Swordtail, Merlin. He has been chasing her and, at first she was avoding him, but now she's swimming w/ him as he does his little "love dance".

And in my 5g, I have 2 males/1 female Lyretail Guppies. Yeah, I know, it should be 2 females to 1 male. I goofed and thought one of the males was a female. Regardless, they're both, um, taking turns doing their little "love dance". She doesn't seem agitated at all and there has been no nipping between the boys, so that's a relief. It's still too early to tell, but she is looking a bit bigger.

Also in my 5g, I have a few RCS and some pond snails. The snails are laying eggs like there's no tomorrow, but I haven't seen anything from the RCS yet. Of course, I also have a mound of moss in there, so they could have eggs hidden. We'll see.

As far as pics/vids... expect them soon! I just added another light fixture to my 55g last week and the plants are really bouncing back nicely. However, I did notice a mild algae bloom today, which I should have under control in a few days. Once that happens, my camera will be in hand.

 

[siva]

It may have been neither and just something else all together. I'm pretty confident it's not chytrid though. I wouldn't worry too much. An infected frog would show symptoms within a couple months of purchase and die within a few days of first exhibiting symptoms.

Oh yes, if you have a male and a female you will constantly see two frogs locked together! When you do add more frogs, I would try to get Elliott two lady friends. If you end up with just 1M and 1F or worse 2M and 1F things can get rather exhausting for the girl.

 

[siva]

RIP Mini Mimi

 

[McLumpy]

It may have been neither and just something else all together. I'm pretty confident it's not chytrid though. I wouldn't worry too much. An infected frog would show symptoms within a couple months of purchase and die within a few days of first exhibiting symptoms.

Oh yes, if you have a male and a female you will constantly see two frogs locked together! When you do add more frogs, I would try to get Elliott two lady friends. If you end up with just 1M and 1F or worse 2M and 1F things can get rather exhausting for the girl.

Well, seeing as how I had Sam for quite awhile, it's quite possible that it was something else. I just hate not knowing what happened. Of course, I go through that w/ every death. But, all of that comes w/ the hobby, right?

Oh and yes, I don't want anyone getting worn out. lol I was going to add 1 female at first, then wait a few weeks and get another. I found a new Aquatic store close to my work and he's going to order them in for me. I just want to help eliminate the possiblity of inbreeding.

I do have plans to convert my 10g to a Guppy tank, (once I'm done using it as a hospital tank). I haven't told my husband about this yet though. lol I figure w/ all the breeding going on, my frogs, RCS, and snails should have the 5g to themselves.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Well, seeing as how I had Sam for quite awhile, it's quite possible that it was something else. I just hate not knowing what happened. Of course, I go through that w/ every death. But, all of that comes w/ the hobby, right?

Oh and yes, I don't want anyone getting worn out. lol I was going to add 1 female at first, then wait a few weeks and get another. I found a new Aquatic store close to my work and he's going to order them in for me. I just want to help eliminate the possiblity of inbreeding.

I do have plans to convert my 10g to a Guppy tank, (once I'm done using it as a hospital tank). I haven't told my husband about this yet though. lol I figure w/ all the breeding going on, my frogs, RCS, and snails should have the 5g to themselves.

I'm sorry for Mimi Mini.....:-(

Regarding the tank, the 10 G for guppy's will be a great choice, some people could argue that could be small, but in reality a 10G is a good size for guppy's , as long as you don't add too many!

Good luck

 

[McLumpy]

I'm sorry for Mimi Mini.....:-(

Regarding the tank, the 10 G for guppy's will be a great choice, some people could argue that could be small, but in reality a 10G is a good size for guppy's , as long as you don't add too many!

Good luck

Thank you for the kind words!

As far as the 10g, I agree and have no doubt that they'll be fine. Not to mention, I don't plan on keeping all of them. I'm at the planning stage right now w/ this, but now I'm thinking about keeping the original 3 in the 5g. Of course this might change if my future ADF's start breeding. lol So, then I will just move the Guppy fry to the 10g. Unless I have a HUGE amount of fry, there will be plenty of room for them. We'll see how everything plays out.

 

[siva]

IMO a 5 gal is much too small for guppies...especially females.

My ADF's would wipe out the RCS population if I combined them..so watch out for that.

Your ADF's will breed, but you most likely won't have tadpoles in the tank. I have a breeding colony of ADF's and I've never had a tad last in the tank for more than a day or so. My frogs are very effecient about eating all the eggs, and if one does hatch, they take care of it pretty quickly. After amplexus you would want to collect the eggs, and transfer them to another small tank, or container of water (I usually use a 2.5 gal). As soon as the tads can handle the flow, you want to add a small mature sponge filter, on a very gentle bubble. Keep the tad tank heated to 80 just like the main tank. It's a very fast process. The eggs tranform into something that looks more like larva usually within 24 hours, and they are usually free swimming teeny tiny tads in 48-72 hours. It's really quite amazing. They feed on infursoria the first couple days, and then you need to have baby brines hatched.

 

[daileene]

Hi girl...(((((hugs)))))) I am so sorry I just read all your posts tonight. I am so sorry you lost Mini Mimi and Sam. I knew you loved them dearly. :-(

I am glad to hear that your other residents are doing well though. I hope there won't be any disaster coming in again in the near future.

((((((hugs))))))) hang on there dearie!

 

[McLumpy]

Thank you for the advice, Siva! (Sorry for the delay in my reply btw... busy, busy!) Actually, I did quite a bit of research on breeding ADF's, and, you were spot-on w/ everything! At this point though, I am holding off on introducing a female ADF in the 5g until I get my 55g back in order, (I'll explain more about that in my next post). Anyway, I'm glad to know I have someone on here to turn to if I have any questions about ADF's!

***HUGE HUGS*** back at you, Daileene! I do miss my little, bright yellow gal and my goofy, little frog. Hopefully I can catch a break w/ deaths for awhile! Just like w/ your tank situations, it seems to hit all at once, huh? /sigh I hope you're having luck getting your tanks back in order! Please keep me posted, ok?

 

[McLumpy]

Anchor Worms

Yep, that's right, I had Anchor Worms in my 55g.

A few weeks back, I had noticed 2 white "strings" hanging out from behind my new Swordtail's fin. Now, I've never had to deal w/ anything like this before, so I didn't put it on my list of high-priority things to investigate. Next thing I know, a few days pass and my female Swordtail had one hanging off of her, (behind her fin, too). I immediately started searching for answers and, sure enough, they were those nasty Anchor Worms!

I began treatment immediately and it appears that it was a success!

The first thing that I did was a 50% pwc, (which included a somewhat thorough vac of the gravel-that was fun w/ all my plants in the way! heh). Then I got prepared to do, eh, fish "surgery". According to all the info I read, the only sure way to get rid of the little buggers is to physically remove them from the fishes. Yeah, let me tell ya... that was quite the experience!

My first "patient" was Merlin, (the new guy that obviously brought them into the tank). I netted him, placed him in my breeder box, then placed the box in a container filled w/ tank water. I let him calm down a bit, then I went in w/ the tweezers. I was fairly lucky and he didn't put up much of a fight and I was able to ease that nasty, little worm out of him. I then lifted the breeder box out of the water and dabbed the wound w/ a q-tip dampened w/ peroxide. I placed him back in the container, then released him back into the tank.

At this point, I'm feeling pretty comfortable doing the whole fish "surgery" stuff. Afterall, the entire process only took a few minutes. However, there is a big difference w/ doing "surgery" on a 1.5" fish, as opposed to a 4" fish. Scarlet was a handful as it was just trying to get her out of the tank. Big fishes make big splashes!

So, I'm doing the same thing w/ her as I did w/ Merlin. She's not happy... to say the least. She did finally calm down when it was time to bust out the tweezers. However, once I had a good grip on the worm, she jerked and I only ripped the worm's tail off. Unfortunately, the tail broke off right at the base of the wound and there was no way to get the head out w/ tweezers. Ugh! I had no other choice than to leave it be and hope that the meds would kill it completely. So... back in the tank w/ Ms. Scarlet.

The final process was adding the meds. According to my research, many people had great success w/ Jungle Parasite Clear Tabs, (and it just so happened that I had some on-hand). I ended up adding 6 total tabs, (directions stated to add 1 per every 10g). So far, there has been absolutely no sign of those nasty things anywhere! I will, however, continue the meds once a week for the next few weeks in order to kill off any eggs or free-floating worms that I can't see.

In other news, there was another death in my 55g. /sigh I had warning about this one though. One of my Harlequin Rasboras started looking extremely bloated about a week ago and I had no doubt that it was Dropsy and she didn't have long. Low and behold, I found her deceased when I got home from work today.

Aside from all of this, my plants are taking off nicely... so I guess that's a plus! ROFL