BettaFishMommy

i would say it is the trace amount of ammonia in the water that is bothering him. he may just be more sensitive than the other fish, and that is why he's showing effects and they are not. i'd do a water change, minimum 50%, and hopefully that will bring your ammonia back to zero. keep monitoring with your test kit and do more water changes if necessary to keep it at zero until the tank stabilizes again. i would also test for nitrite to make sure that stays at zero. i'm just wondering why the ammonia is present. has this tank been set up for a while or is it fairly new? has anything happened that would be the cause of the ammonia spike? change of filter media, overzealous gravel vac, etc? IMO, your water change schedule could be bumped up some, as 4 to 8 gallons per week comes to much less than 25% to 50% and the pleco alone would make enough waste to require a larger volume changed out. that size tank, those fish, i would do at least 40% weekly. do you have a spare tank to set up for quarantining the pleco if necessary?

just wanted to say thanks so much for the vals Goldy! got them all planted and i did some trimming up to make them not so long and floaty in the tank. looks great! hope the snails are doing well. let me know if you are having any issues.

9.4! pretty sure your test is expired, but if not maybe we've found the solution to being able to have plants in our high ph cichlid tanks! lol.

can't wait to see this all set up!!!!!!

i'd be worried about pesiticides and such that might be in these 'canuck balls'. also, if they are composed of algae the way a marimo is, is the algae going to behave the same way or will the balls cause an algae outbreak in your tank? i'd try them in a tank with no livestock in it, so as to not pose any potential danger to any of your finkids.

if you are hesitant about trusting your human finger thermometer, lol, just get a spare floating thermometer and plunk it in the bucket or container of new water you are making up, to check the temp of the water that will be going in the tank. you should be alright if your new water is less than 2 degrees different and your fish are not the super sensitive type.

agree, Nature's corner, or from members on here.

welcome to our forum!

when i do water changes on my tanks i mix conditioner into the water before it hits the tank. i don't own a python system. i refill my tanks with 2 gallon rectangular tubs (they fit great in the sink for filling) due to not being able to lift heavy buckets to the same height as my shoulder, which is the top of the tank. i can do a 50% change on a 55 gallon in less than 45 minutes, including gravel vaccing and tank wall wiping, and i enlist my hubby to run waste water buckets into the bathroom to dump. i call it 'peanut butter bucket time', lol.

very nice! and your cichlids look good too.

i would say the oscar and the pleco can live in the 95, but no other fish.

Goldie, if you are planning on giving away or selling your trimmings instead of garbaging them, i'll take them off your hands. i need more tall plants for my tank.

beautiful tank, gorgeous fish!

I too am very happy and pleased with the service received from Spencer. i have only ordered one fish through him so far, lol, but the way he handled my questions, emails, and such, i was very impressed! The fish i ordered came in with almost no shipping stress, acclimated well, and now Chuck, my paratilapia polleni (large spot) is doing wonderfully in his tank with the other finkids. Good Job Spence!!!!!!!!!!

possibly internal parasites? i'm no expert on fish diseases, but that's what i might think of with white discharge and a swollen underside.

manual labour + beer = hilarious labour. lol.

ok, ok, the oscar doesn't really bark, but he flaps his lips at me like he is! lol. the part about the kitchen table is true though!

if you still need assistance with the procedure you've chosen to do, i am in the east side of millwoods (straight east of millwoods town centre mall by about 10 odd minutes walking) and am available most evenings and weekends (just not May 30th in the afternoon). I'm quite steady when it comes to helping sick/injured critters. can't say i've had to hold a fish still yet, but i'm pretty darn good at getting cat claw husks out of little dog eyeballs, lol. give me a call if need be, 780-934-8261. Sherry.

congrats on the eggs! perhaps soon you will be a pleco grandma, lol.

if he has a bacterial infection of sorts, turning up the heat would cause the bacteria to proliferate due to the higher temp. i would bring the temperature of the tank back down to what it normally would be, slowly, over the course of a day or so, so as to not stress the fish. i don't have a lot of experience with fish diseases, but i don't think i would combine two different treatments, as you are with the salt and the melafix. go with one course of action at a time, IMO. agree with the garlic soaked food idea. have you tried any especially yummy foods such as mysis shrimp or bloodworms?

I'm partial to my Rena XP3, but that may be due to it being the only canister i have had so far (really want to pick up another for my other tank!).

i think with any new food you would have to offer it at least a few times for the fish to realize that 'hey, this is food, and it tastes good!', lol.

i would not feed your oscars feeder fish of any kind unless you have a chance to quarantine the feeders for at least 4 weeks in a tank at your house, or breed the feeders yourself. one advantage to breeding your own feeders is that you can 'gut load' them right from the start by feeding with nutritional food that you would feed the oscars and that way the oscars are getting a better diet via the contents of the feeder's stomachs. as well, breeding your own feeders gives you the opportunity to always have feeder fish on hand. guppies and most small livebearer fish are a good option for feeders. feeder fish, most commonly goldfish, are notorious for having disease and are really not that nutritious for your oscars. as well, feeding live foods like feeder fish will 'train' your oscars to only accept live food and then they will turn up their noses at the pellets, which puts you in a tight spot if you don't have any feeder fish to feed them. it is your choice to feed live foods or not. i would go with cichlid pellets, frozen bloodworms and mysis shrimp, and any other large meaty food meant for cichlids. you could go get those big de-veined shrimp/prawns from the grocery store and take off the tails and husk them (take off the crunchy exoskeleton outside part) and feed those. it's a good idea to rotate between at least three different kinds of food for any fish. you could also see if your oscars would like to nibble on various veggies, such as zucchini or cucumber. I know my juvenile oscar likes cucumber. another option is various worms and bugs. a friend of mine has a large adult oscar and he enjoys the 'super worms' that you can buy in a plastic tub at most Petsmart type places. earthworms are good too, if you can verify they are free of pesticides and contaminants.

so the female is jumping over the top of the breeder net and into the main area of the tank where the male was left loose to roam and build nest(s)? if you have the time available to just sit and watch constantly, i might be inclined to keep the two loose in the tank and see what happens. have a net ready to get either fish out if there is a lot of aggression. basically what you are doing in this case is as close to what bettas do in the wild, where there are no places to 'corral' the lady whilst mr. betta builds the nest. keep an eye on them, if there is no nest building or signs that they are about to spawn, or if either betta seems to be trying to kill the other, remove the female and put her into a seperate bowl or tank, start your conditioning process all over again with good food (such as frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, etc.) for both fish and try again in a couple weeks. it is possible that the bettas are just not quite ready to breed. another thing i thought of, if you had one of the females pass away with a suspected case of dropsy in the same tank as the healthy female that is left, i would give the remaining female some extra time for conditioning and observation, just in case the fish with dropsy caused any illness to pass to her. maybe wait an extra week on top of the two conditioning weeks to be sure, and keep a close eye on her for any signs of bloating or weird behaviour. and since the male was in a breeder net in the females' tank, i would be inclined to monitor him as well, since the same water was able to flow through the net.

Welcome to our friendly forum! As for finding the plants you want, let me get in touch with an acquaintance and see if they have dwarf hairgrass for you, i'm going to be in touch soon with them for some plants for my tank as well. Sherry.