Well, my holding female acei spit her fry - one of which swam into the pebble pile and was rescued, one more we spotted hiding near the rocks, but couldn't catch. No telling if there will be any survivors (likely not) in the main tank, unless some fry have gotten sucked into the canister filter. (Quite possible.) I've moved the baby to the 20 long, still inside the net box due to much larger sibling (Filter Baby) already living there. Normally I wouldn't try saving these fry, but I want to rehome my beta acei male (the alpha really chases him around a lot) and hope that the kids will be female so my m/f ratio will get better. 4/1 is pretty much the exact opposite of what you want!
I tried making a fish trap out of a 2L soda bottle but it caught the wrong fish, and the next fish it caught figured out how to bust out, so I need to tape it together a bit more firmly before trying again. I also bought dorky yellow pond gloves to wear during tank maintenance - my skin's been suffering from the constant immersion so this should help a lot.
One thing about aquariums is unless things are going wrong nothing much tends to happen when they're stable... I have some more fish in quarantine for the planted tank but it will be a while before they get moved over.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
New plants from Texas
My first foray into hobbyist trading: I bought two new kinds of plants from a fellow Aquatic Plant Central forum user. The buy: Hygrophilia pinnatifida, and a "gold" variety of Anubias barteri nana.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Cladophora
Add this to the list of "things I wish I'd known before starting a planted tank": cladophora algae is impossible to get rid of. It's the cockroach of the planted aquarium world. You get it, your tank is doomed to have it forever.
Well, I guess this just means that for the rest of this tank's existence, I'll be adding "manually remove cladophora algae during water change" to my list of maintenance chores. The nasty stuff is even growing in the canister filter! Guess the indirect sunlight the tank gets is enough to penetrate the tinted XP3 plastic. Perhaps I should tape some black plastic to the filter to stop photosynthesizing organisms like clado from growing in there. The last thing I need is a reservoir of it!
I'm really beginning to hate Java moss. The clado hitchhiked its way into the tank on that, I think; but honestly it could have been from any number of plants, since I didn't do a dip treatment on any of them. I think when I do a new fish purchase (after my hospital tank is cleared out of the current inhabitants) I'll add a rosy barb and amano shrimp to the purchase list - both those critters will nibble on cladophora, where my oto cats, ancistrus, and nerite definitely aren't helping. I can't even get the ancistrus to eat cucumber instead of munching the Amazon swords! Small price to pay for having a cool fish, though. He hasn't done too much damage to the plants, and seems to concentrate on one leaf at a time.
I fiddled with the filter output and managed to set it so that the surface wasn't being circulated properly towards the skimmer, so this morning when I came downstairs the dwarf gourami had started building bubble nests. (Sorry for the lack of photo - I was busy this morning, and I don't think of taking pictures nearly as often as I should!) Much to their dismay I promptly fixed the outflow so that the skimmer will work properly.
On the CO2 front, I feel like my yeast isn't producing as much as it should be, but I am getting a bit of pearling on the swords so it's not as low as I feared. I've decided to get some Flourish Excel from Amazon to add carbon to the tank, which I'll deliver by spot-treating the clado as part of my control strategy. I did some mental math, and if I restrict myself to using 5mL/day (usual maintenance dose), I'll use up my on-order 500mL bottle in about three months. At $10/bottle, it will take five years of dosing at that level before the cost of the Excel will equal the start-up cost of a pressurized CO2 system. Guess who's not going pressurized anytime soon? I have no idea what the next five years will bring (kids, I hope!) but I can imagine not having a planted tank in that time. After all, I'm mostly in this for the fish, and freshwater fish don't require a lot of expensive equipment! I've set up entire aquariums for less than it would cost for a pressurized CO2 system.
The plants are really beginning to fill in - trim-and-replant on the H difformis is the main contributor. I have a few new plants on their way from another hobbyist that I'll need to find space for - another stem plant (H pinnatifada) and another variety of Anubias. I'll probably uproot some of the difformis in the middle for the pinnatifada, possibly moving the driftwood there forward as well for some more background space. Not sure yet where the Anubias gold will go; I'm also keeping half an eye out for another piece of driftwood for the right side of the tank, which would make a good perch for another Anubias.
Current photo, showing the bristlenose's complete disdain for the cucumber:
At least the otos, nerite, and one of the panda cories appreciates it. Even the blue rams will nibble on the cucumber now and then. Maybe the pleco likes it after it's spent a couple days in the tank; if the pattern holds true by tomorrow nothing but the rind and a few floating bits will be left. But I never see him eating it!
Well, I guess this just means that for the rest of this tank's existence, I'll be adding "manually remove cladophora algae during water change" to my list of maintenance chores. The nasty stuff is even growing in the canister filter! Guess the indirect sunlight the tank gets is enough to penetrate the tinted XP3 plastic. Perhaps I should tape some black plastic to the filter to stop photosynthesizing organisms like clado from growing in there. The last thing I need is a reservoir of it!
I'm really beginning to hate Java moss. The clado hitchhiked its way into the tank on that, I think; but honestly it could have been from any number of plants, since I didn't do a dip treatment on any of them. I think when I do a new fish purchase (after my hospital tank is cleared out of the current inhabitants) I'll add a rosy barb and amano shrimp to the purchase list - both those critters will nibble on cladophora, where my oto cats, ancistrus, and nerite definitely aren't helping. I can't even get the ancistrus to eat cucumber instead of munching the Amazon swords! Small price to pay for having a cool fish, though. He hasn't done too much damage to the plants, and seems to concentrate on one leaf at a time.
I fiddled with the filter output and managed to set it so that the surface wasn't being circulated properly towards the skimmer, so this morning when I came downstairs the dwarf gourami had started building bubble nests. (Sorry for the lack of photo - I was busy this morning, and I don't think of taking pictures nearly as often as I should!) Much to their dismay I promptly fixed the outflow so that the skimmer will work properly.
On the CO2 front, I feel like my yeast isn't producing as much as it should be, but I am getting a bit of pearling on the swords so it's not as low as I feared. I've decided to get some Flourish Excel from Amazon to add carbon to the tank, which I'll deliver by spot-treating the clado as part of my control strategy. I did some mental math, and if I restrict myself to using 5mL/day (usual maintenance dose), I'll use up my on-order 500mL bottle in about three months. At $10/bottle, it will take five years of dosing at that level before the cost of the Excel will equal the start-up cost of a pressurized CO2 system. Guess who's not going pressurized anytime soon? I have no idea what the next five years will bring (kids, I hope!) but I can imagine not having a planted tank in that time. After all, I'm mostly in this for the fish, and freshwater fish don't require a lot of expensive equipment! I've set up entire aquariums for less than it would cost for a pressurized CO2 system.
The plants are really beginning to fill in - trim-and-replant on the H difformis is the main contributor. I have a few new plants on their way from another hobbyist that I'll need to find space for - another stem plant (H pinnatifada) and another variety of Anubias. I'll probably uproot some of the difformis in the middle for the pinnatifada, possibly moving the driftwood there forward as well for some more background space. Not sure yet where the Anubias gold will go; I'm also keeping half an eye out for another piece of driftwood for the right side of the tank, which would make a good perch for another Anubias.
Current photo, showing the bristlenose's complete disdain for the cucumber:
At least the otos, nerite, and one of the panda cories appreciates it. Even the blue rams will nibble on the cucumber now and then. Maybe the pleco likes it after it's spent a couple days in the tank; if the pattern holds true by tomorrow nothing but the rind and a few floating bits will be left. But I never see him eating it!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Keeping an eye on things
The parasites in the planted tank seem to be gone - but I dosed again just to be sure. The antibiotic food treatment for the other tank will take a lot longer to show results, I suspect. Ironically, removing the largest of the subdominant male acei from the cichlid tank seems to have reduced aggression quite a bit - and my one female is holding again after quite a long time without breeding. I'm a little worried that I may have some parasites in the cichlid tank as well, from the behavior of one of the cherry red zebras; I'll be keeping a close watch on them try to figure out exactly what's distressing the one that's keeping her fins clamped.
Finally, a pic of the cichlids without that ridiculous purple light (properly disposed of at the county dump's HHW recycling facility):
The holding female acei is the purple-with-yellow-fins fish low in the foreground - she seems most comfortable in that spot, which is odd for a holding female. Perhaps all the better hiding spots are taken! The red fish are not quite so red in person, but otherwise the colors are fairly true. All the fish in this tank but the bristlenose pleco are visible in the photo.
Finally, a pic of the cichlids without that ridiculous purple light (properly disposed of at the county dump's HHW recycling facility):
The holding female acei is the purple-with-yellow-fins fish low in the foreground - she seems most comfortable in that spot, which is odd for a holding female. Perhaps all the better hiding spots are taken! The red fish are not quite so red in person, but otherwise the colors are fairly true. All the fish in this tank but the bristlenose pleco are visible in the photo.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Medication works!
I am happy to report that applications of the appropriate medication to both tanks have caused lessening of symptoms in all my fish - the panda cories are much livelier and no longer have visible parasites attached to their fins! The Parasite Guard made my water green for a few hours but that seems to have mostly dissipated. I'm still planning a second dose according to package directions, don't want to end up breeding any resistant colonies of pests. :P I'm also not going to try dosing my K+traces while I'm medicating, I don't know enough to know whether or not they might react together!
I'm finding it interesting that my H. difformis is growing so much differently for me now than when I had a lone T12 bulb above this tank. (Big surprise, right? LOL) Before, it was growing like a tree (see earlier posts), now it thinks it's a ground cover:
I also have a picture of the algae that's mildly bothering me:
Also no problems with the driftwood from the Cozy Clownfish shop, whether that's because it's a piece marketed for aquariums or because I boiled it before putting it in, I'm just glad I don't have to add "strange things growing on newly added driftwood" to my list of concerns.
I'm finding it interesting that my H. difformis is growing so much differently for me now than when I had a lone T12 bulb above this tank. (Big surprise, right? LOL) Before, it was growing like a tree (see earlier posts), now it thinks it's a ground cover:
I also have a picture of the algae that's mildly bothering me:
Also no problems with the driftwood from the Cozy Clownfish shop, whether that's because it's a piece marketed for aquariums or because I boiled it before putting it in, I'm just glad I don't have to add "strange things growing on newly added driftwood" to my list of concerns.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Why you should quarantine
So: one panda cory died - symptoms varied but quite possibly due to internal parasites. The other panda cories seem to have flukes, an external parasite - and it took me a long, long time to figure that out. Unfortunately Googling "fish disease" is not terribly helpful. "fish parasite" was even less helpful. But I have figured out a product to purchase - which I'm going to have to use on the whole tank, since my QT tank currently has occupants, and I want to make sure all the fish are treated just in case. In the 75 gallon, I'm dealing with an outbreak of septicemia, which I'm treating with antibiotic-laced food. The likely causes in both cases? Addition of non-quarantined new fish. New lesson: do not buy stock from Centreville Aquarium, it's more trouble than it's worth. I've bought a lot of fish from PetSmart that have been healthier than what I've gotten from CA; every "live" thing I've bought from there has given me nothing but endless trouble. The cichlids are a special case; perhaps I should have done more water changes for them right after I added the new fish (strangely, none of them are showing any symptoms of illness) but I figured using Stability would give my already-established bio filter the boost it needed to handle the new load without trouble.
Note to self: quarantine. Every. Time. I wouldn't be having this trouble if I'd grabbed a couple of Tupperware boxes to use as extra quarantine tanks, I certainly have the extra HOB filters for it! I'm quite upset at myself, because I certainly knew better. At least for the cories, this would have solved my problems. I don't think I could have safely quarantined the 7 new cichlids - I don't have THAT many spare filters lying around, and I'd worry that the stress of being stuck in overcrowded boxes after having been shipped from FL would do irreparable damage.
Thankfully so far the infected fish numbers are quite small; three acei and the cories in the 55. Hopefully with increased water changes and the appropriate medication, I won't have any more losses than just the one panda corydoras. I have invested in another net box to help isolate fish; currently the baby acei is protected in one, and an albino corydoras with swim bladder trouble is in another. I'm hoping to get the sick cory to eat some of the antibiotic food. Unfortunately it wants to float.
Note to self: quarantine. Every. Time. I wouldn't be having this trouble if I'd grabbed a couple of Tupperware boxes to use as extra quarantine tanks, I certainly have the extra HOB filters for it! I'm quite upset at myself, because I certainly knew better. At least for the cories, this would have solved my problems. I don't think I could have safely quarantined the 7 new cichlids - I don't have THAT many spare filters lying around, and I'd worry that the stress of being stuck in overcrowded boxes after having been shipped from FL would do irreparable damage.
Thankfully so far the infected fish numbers are quite small; three acei and the cories in the 55. Hopefully with increased water changes and the appropriate medication, I won't have any more losses than just the one panda corydoras. I have invested in another net box to help isolate fish; currently the baby acei is protected in one, and an albino corydoras with swim bladder trouble is in another. I'm hoping to get the sick cory to eat some of the antibiotic food. Unfortunately it wants to float.
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