after putting the white clouds and hatchet fish back into the main tank, they quickly developed fin issues again so back into the quarantine tank they went.
worthy of note, the butterfly hill stream loach is doing great, in fact between the fan shrimp, snails and Loach the tank is staying very clean. I haven't had to clean the glass in weeks.
for a while it was quite a balancing act between overfeeding, underfeeding and perhaps having too many fish or perhaps not the perfect combo for the water conditions.
After talking it through with a local expert a few recommendations were given.
1) keep the effected fish in the quarantine tank for an extended period (4-6 weeks), letting both tanks normalize.
2) steadily increase feeding while keeping an eye on chemistry to assure that the fin issues are not from hunger driven fin nipping.
so I have done this with success so far. out of 53 fish, I lost one and for the most part everyone looks happy and healthy.
also it turns out the water in the main aquarium is harder and higher PH than the QT tank because of steps I take to condition the main tank water. hatchets and white clouds like softer more acidic water, so that may explain why the fin issues go away with the unconditioned rainwater in the QT tank. One glass catfish remains in the QT tank as well because it still is not looking robust and clear, this is the one that had Ick pretty bad, because it hung out behind all the plants and things got bad before I noticed, it is probably the source of the Ick in the first place (kicking myself for not having a quarantine tank set up previously). I am going to wait a couple of weeks more while adjusting the conditioning of the main tank to move it in a slightly more acidic and softer direction, before adding back the hatchets and white clouds.
after being reminded of how difficult disease control can be, I am also taking extra steps to purify the rain water. In addition to the screen on the gutters, the first flush adapter at the cistern and the fine screen at the entrance to the cistern I now also run the water through a filter that connects to the garden hose that I use to fill the water change buckets and then boil the water. I do need to get a handle on how to make water changes easier down the line, but for now I still feel better about using rainwater than treated tap water.
As far as reaching my goals, my main one was to create an ultra energy efficient system, and from that perspective I have succeeded, the heater rarely comes on as the tank and snake vivarium are heated pretty much entirely from the heat of the LED lights. my second goal was to increase CO2 in the water naturally (without toxing the fish). I feel like I have made some modest strides there. the plants are doing great and the co2 drop meter shows me being in the green without CO2 injection. my third goal of making a sealed bio-dome is still a work in progress and less of a motivation than the other two. Once I get an 02 sensor in the vivarium I may try and seal up the system again. I am leery though, as my friend who works at the Monterey Bay Aquarium pointed out, with a closed system, you are dealing with the build up of more gasses than just co2 and o2 and it can be really tricky monitoring every possibility. I will be happy in the end if a bubbler drawing from air outside the system is adequate for circulation while still allowing the Co2 level in the aquarium to concentrate somewhat for better plant growth.
The snake vivarium is doing much better after some adjustments. keeping a Brazilian Rainbow Boa at 80+% humidity and the upper 70's is a ripe environment for mold, which was a big issue early on, possibly enough that pumping moldy air from that environment into the main tank was a source of additional stress. I procured some springtails from Josh's frogs dot com and they seem to have gone to town on the mold. just like a fish tank, terrariums/vivariums cycle as well, so the terrestrial aspect is more stable overall biologically at this point. the smell is much better now and I am getting ready for my next round of certified organic fertilizer for the plants, thinking the spring tail colony is well enough established to keep up with mold that grows from the nutrients. our snake is doing wonderfully, having molted twice now and she has grown quite a bit. her skin has a great sheen and no illness issues.
all in all, things are good and we are having fun. the kids are very excited to watch as things evolve!