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March 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| 80 Gallon SA Planted Tank Journal
This is a thread to track the progress of my 80 gallon planted South American Cichlid tank. Yesterday I did a majore re-scape, and changed my stock around. I will use this thread to track plant growth, post pictures. document fish behavior and water parameters, etc.
My Tank Stats:
Size: 80 gallons
Filter: Aquaclear 110
Heater: Theo Hydor
Decor: Mopani driftwood, bog wood, mexican beach rocks
Substrate: Gravel
Plants: Java Fern, Jungle Vals, Amazon Sword, Onion Plants, Anubias (various types)
Fish: 1 Rotkeil Severum, 2 Marble Angels (mated pair), 2 Wild Silver Scolare Angels, 5 Red Irian Rainbowfish, 2 Keyholes, 1 SAE, 2 Bristlenose Plecos
Water Parameters: ammonia: 0 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 10
Temp: 78 Degrees | 
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March 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| More Pictures | |
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March 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Yesterday after I tore apart the tank and re-arranged everything, I had to do a 50 percent water change because there was so much dirt and fish poo that was kicked up from moving the plants. The levels are good today though so I am not too worried. Everyone seems to get along fine. I added my severum last night after everyone else had settled in. So far I am very pleased with his temperment. He is probably the most peaceful fish in the tank; however, he is also the biggest lol. He likes to uproot plants though, so I need to figure out a better way to anchor them. Maybe I'll get some more beach rocks and stack them around the roots. | |
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March 7th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Good morning Kate
Congrats on finally getting your blog together!  I love the way you aquascaped your tank. And WOW your marble angel is huge and also the Severum, they are gorgeous!
Glad to hear that everyone is getting along.. and of course, one of my fav fish are the rainbows.. I love how they all school together and interact with each other. Mine never bothered any of the fish in the tank, no matter what kind I put in with them. I also love keyhole cichlids and forgot to add them to my future list of fish! Thanks for the reminder lol...
Best of luck.. look forward to more posts in your new blog!  | |
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March 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Hi Kate,
Thanks for the kind words. I re-did the tank two days ago and my day was almost as hectic as your day was yesterday, lol. Needless to say, I'm glad its done.
I am so glad that everyone is getting along so far. Oddly enough, my keyholes are the ones being little brats. I have had them for over a year and they have always been so peaceful. Now they are chasing eachother all over the tank and "flaring" at eachother and other fish. I figured the new layout of the tank is just going to take some time from them to adjust to. I have no idea what sexes I have though so maybe it could be breeding behavior....who knows 
I noticed something less that good last night though..... I am pretty sure my sev has a mild case of HITH. He has three small pits between his eyes and his mouth. He is acting pretty lethargic and is not eating which is worrying me. I got another filter for the tank today (another Aquaclear 110) so hopefully the extra filtration will help. I am slowly raising the temp to 82 degrees. I am going to start performing 30 percent water changes every three days to keep the conditions of the tank pristine. I am also going to try to find some anti-parasitic food and some metronidazole medication. I also read that adding aquarium salt may help. Less than perfect water conditions is usually the cause of HITH. When they netted him out of the 3000 gallon display tank at the LFS, they took apart all of the driftwood and there was a huge fish under there that had been dead for a while, so that may have been poluting the water and causing the HITH. Hopefully I noticed it early enough to treat it effectively. | |
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March 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| nice i just did a major change too | |
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March 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| That is one of the best freshwater aquarium I ever seen! I like the big rocks put in nice rows. | |
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March 8th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks so much you guys!!! Its taken me months to get that tank the way I wanted it. I am finally happy with it......at least for the moment, lol. I am so fickle and change my mind so much 
I am so happy My sev ate his dinner tonight!!! He didn't spit it out either. I have tried Omega One Cichlid Pellets and he didn't like them. Then I tried shrimp soaked in garlic guard and he didn't like them. Tonight I gave him Omega One Veggie Flakes soaked in Garlic Guard and he ate them right up. Thank goodness! He was making me nervous.
Anyways, after installing the new filter, I slowly increased the temp to 82 degrees. I am going to do a 30 percent water change tomorrow. I also ordered anti parasite food and Hole In Head Guard by Jungle Labs. I know that one of the ways to cure and prevent HITH is by providing a varried diet, so I need to find some other food that he will eat. I hope he will eat the anti parasite food. We'll see though. | |
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March 8th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| good morning Kate
Im sorry to hear about your Severum... but hopefully you have caught it early enough and that no secondary infections will develop. It sounds like you are doing all the right things for it at this point. Best of luck with him..
He is a beaut... for sure. | |
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March 9th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks Kate I feel so dumb for not quarantining him, but he is so big, I didn't want to cram him into a little tank. Boy am I paying for it now 
So today I went and picked up some HBH Super Soft Frozen Food Alternative With spirulina. http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2754130
My sev loved it which made me happy.
Tonight I noticed the fish in the tank flashing (scraping their bodies against the rocks). Ohhh boy. I did a 30 percent water change, added Parasite Clear by Jungle Labs, and added more vitachem to the tank. I will repeat the dosage of PC in 48 hours followed by a 25 percent water change. I have anti parasite food and HITH medication coming from Drs. Foster and Smith with in the next week. Hopefully after I am done treating them with the parasite clear, I can start them on the other stuff. The good news is that everyone is active and eating, so I don't think any of the fish are seriously sick yet. | |
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March 9th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Good morning Kate
Have you noticed anything on the fish's body to cause the flashing? Sometimes I see my JDs do that and sometimes more than often. But I have also noticed that they do that if they get bit (like from the brat convict) and sometimes it may be they are trying to get something out of their gills as if possible a piece of hair may have gotten in the tank? I have two dogs and two cats and sometimes this does happen to me. But no signs of ICH at all.
I have also noticed peaceful fish acting aggressive when they are stressed out from having new tank mates in the tank. It just seems to disrupt the hierarchy in the tank when new fish come along.Hopefully they will all calm down soon for you.
I have also found that the HBH is a good product when I have used it in the past. Glad to hear the Sev is eating now. How is the HITH doing now? Hopefully keeping the water pristine and warm will help with that til you get the meds.
Best of luck with the new crew... I really hope they overcome these current problems asap. | |
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March 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Hi Kate,
That's interesting to hear that fish will flash if they are bitten by another fish. Hmmmm, my keyholes were nipping my sev a bit (not smart given he is like 6 times their size) and my keyholes have been nipping eachother.....little brats I have a cat and a dog which could deffinetly explain hair in the tank. In fact, my cat jumped into my mbuna tank this morning  I was feeding the fish and he didn't notice that the glass top was flipped open. Whoops
My sev does have some white patches on his skin. I don't know what they are. I am thinking that they could be scars from being in a tank at the LFS with much bigger fish. He went from being the runt of that tank to the giant of my tank, lol. It isn't ich, and it isn't cottony or anything. I'll try to get pics of it.
The hole in the head looks very much the same, but at least it is not getting worse. I know that it heals slowly, so I am trying my best to be patient | |
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March 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Your tank is Beautiful Kate!!!..Do you use CO2?? | |
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March 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by CHoffman  Your tank is Beautiful Kate!!!..Do you use CO2?? | Awww thanks I don't use CO2. Both of my planted tanks are low tech. | |
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March 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Ok...How do you do it  ...I desperately want a planted tank. I'll start a new thread so I'm not hijacking yours.  | |
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March 10th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Beautiful tank! | |
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March 11th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by CHoffman Ok...How do you do it ...I desperately want a planted tank. I'll start a new thread so I'm not hijacking yours. | It's really not hard. Low tech tanks can have regular gravel or ecocomplete if you want to go with a special plant substrate. I dose my tank weekly with Flourish to give the plants extra nutrients. Lighting should be between 1-2 WPG. Plants that thrive in low light conditions are swords, java fern, java moss, anubias, jungle vals, water sprite, and crypts. Quote:
Originally Posted by pinkfloydpuffer Beautiful tank! | Thanks Pink | |
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March 11th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| 
Last night I gave the 2nd dose of the Jungle Labs PC medication. Tomorrow I am due for a 25 percent water change.
So I have noticed the white patches on the body of my sev getting more pronounced. This morning I woke up and turned on the tank lights and what do you know.........one of my silver scalare angels and one of my keyholes now have white patches 
I did some research and did some reading online and I am pretty sure that the patches are costia!!! My 2nd guess would be columnaris. I went to Petsmart and picked up some Mardel Maricide. Hopefully this will help treat the disease because the PC is not working. I will add it to the tank tomorrow after my water change. Ugh....this totally sucks  I think I am going to add some aquarium salt to the tank as well. I have heard mixed reviews about using it, but I don't think trying it will hurt anything.
Columnaris is my 2nd guess and it is a bacterial disease. I think that costia is more likely because with columnaris, fish usually have cottony growths, not flat white patches.
I will post some pics when I get home tonight. I am at work right now and I am praying that things are not worse tonight. If they are, I might do my water change early and add the Maricide now. | |
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March 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I thought about it some more and I really think that Columnaris is the more likely disease. Since the disease spread instead of went away with the elevated temps, I think it may be bacterial since heat causes bacterial infections to spread faster than normal. I am going to do a water change today, another water change tomorrow, and hopefully start them on the new meds Maracyn and Maracyn II. I just hope I am diagnosing this correctly. I have attached some pics so that you can see the white patches. I also think my sev and my keyhole are showing the Columnaris symptoms of the mouth "fungus". They are refusing food and their mouths look a little swolen, but I don't see any of the actual "fungus" looking stuff that you usually see. Sorry for the bad quality. The last pic of my sev is of the HITH. If anyone has any insight please let me know. | |
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March 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Ok as a owner of 5 severum one of mine had the same thing and all i did was up the salt content in tank and it wiped that fungus out. My smallest one was covered from head to toe (or tail if you will) like a white fungus thought he was a goner for sure, not eating skinny. He's fine for almost a year now after the fact and growing normally. For me salt is the wonder cure. Good luck | |
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March 12th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks for the info I have aquarium salt at home. If it is Columnaris, it is a bacterial infection, but I could add the salt to the tank and if it is a fungus it might help. I have two albino bristlenose plecos in the tank. Can they tollerate aquarium salt, or should I try to move them out of the tank? | |
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March 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Try this page,has guide to salt amounts and fish that can and can't go salty http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Salt plecos are on the list of not liking salt so I would quarantine them if possible. Columnaris is partly caused by bad water quality, allowing the bacteria to multiply, as well as the fish having an inadequate diet or stressed from being introduced to a new tank. Wounds and injuries can easily become infected by this opportunist bacteria
Last edited by whiskeyhill; March 13th, 2009 at 10:20 AM.
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March 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| From what I see in pics looks like a fungal infection and would use general heath/tissue repair guide to treat.It's a 12 hour time span and would need to do another water change afterward. I use salt every other water change or so to prevent any fungal spikes that may occur. Just shake some in when water change is complete to keep a presence. Habit I picked up over the years and knowing people that have kept fish allot longer than me. Hope this helps | |
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March 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Yesterday I went ahead and did the water change and added the meds because I was worried and impatient. Thank goodness I did. I could already see a difference when I got home from work yesterday. Zeplin's white patches are now only on his fins and have disappeared from his body. I am so happy! He is not eating yet, but hopefully he will start (actually I should clarify, he is not eating the food, but he sure is loving munching up all of my plants). It sounds like I am using the right treatment now, so I am crossing my fingers and hoping that this completely clears it up Quote:
Originally Posted by whiskeyhill From what I see in pics looks like a fungal infection and would use general heath/tissue repair guide to treat.It's a 12 hour time span and would need to do another water change afterward. I use salt every other water change or so to prevent any fungal spikes that may occur. Just shake some in when water change is complete to keep a presence. Habit I picked up over the years and knowing people that have kept fish allot longer than me. Hope this helps | Thanks for all of the info. Right now the infection really seems bacterial, but if these meds don't completely clear it up I might try some salt | |
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March 13th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Oh, I'm so glad to hear that Kate! | |
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March 14th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hi Kate,
glad to hear that things are starting to look up for your Sev. I really wish you best with him/her. | |
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March 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Thanks Pink and Kate for the support
Here are some pics of Zeplin now that he is better. There are only a few white spots left on his fins and his mouth is now looking better. Today he ate some food (he spit a little out, but I think he ate most of it). For the past few days, he has been hiding in the corner when I put food in the tank. Things are definetly looking better. I have one more day until the Maracyn and Maracyn II treatment is complete. On the box it says that if needed it can be repeated for another 5 days. If he is not 100 percent better, I want to continue the treatment, but since I am treating an 80 gallon tank, it is so expensive! About $70 for one treatment!!! I really don't know if I can afford to do another one.
Last edited by MissMTS; March 15th, 2009 at 09:53 PM.
Reason: messed up | |
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March 15th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Hi Zeplin!  | |
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March 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| Pink, he says to tell you hi and is sending one of his fishy kisses you way
Here are some pics of some of Zeplin's amazing aquascaping skills He has this little cave that he really likes to hang out in, so he has been moving the gravel out from the bottom of the cave and stacking it on the driftwood. He is insulting my aquascaping, lol. We fight daily about where he moves the plants, but I let him have his way and left the rocks alone
Last edited by MissMTS; March 16th, 2009 at 12:10 AM.
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March 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
|  What a silly boy | |
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