Added 2 parrots to the family

Yeah please if you can learn from my mistakes. I was really panicking in most of those...lol! I never anticipated the issues I had since I had 2yrs of built up BB and thought I did everything right cause I've done it before. Just crazy and the outbreak of ich exacerbated the situation. It was like what can go wrong did go wrong. At least I didn't lose any fish. Now to top it off I think the ich is back 1 of cats had 2 white spots on pectoral fins. I've started bumping temp up till it hits 86 to try and kill it without meds since tank is newly cycled.

Oh no! I hope you don't have to deal with ICH again. In the years I had fish tanks I always was very lucky, only the last year I had to use medication twice and both times from newly acquired fish. Once it was flagellates. New fish didn't eat, took it in the mouth and spit it out again and by the third day it even didn't try to eat anymore. Called the LFS and they thought it was flagellates. They were right, the medication started working after a few days and the fish recovered. Luckily it was quarantined. The last time was for camallanus worms. These fish were out of quarantine already but by the time these worms are visible the infection is going on for several months already. I had to treat the entire 33 gallon and all except one platy survived. I had to euthanize one because it seemed to have an internal blockage caused by worms that died. Never ICH in my tanks... never fin rot etc. I count myself very lucky heheh.

Learning from and helping each other is what I really like from online communities and Fishlore has so much info about BP! I've read a lot of posts already but there are so many more I missed that you had an ICH outbreak. Hopefully you can get it eradicated with only rising the temperature. Fingers crossed for you and your babies!

I'm ready to shop... back later

 

A quick update on the parrots and the tank.
Today I did a tank make over. I removed all the plants and the gravel as the gravel worried me. Cut the internal filter loose as it was huge and the parrots need all the space available. Installed a new canister filter (JBL CristalProfI e1501) and put all filter material from both old filters in the new one plus two baskets filled with new filter material.
I used black sand and spider wood and three clay pots. This way I created quite some hiding places plus the possibility to avoid each other. When I filled up the tank unfortunately the wood started drifting again and had to weight it down with big stones. I reused some plants to help with nitrates. Mainly the Valisneria as this one is fast growing and threw some moss in and some tiny cuttings from the Java Fern.
The tank is planted but not heavily. With the new layout and new canister filter I went from 33 without decoration to 37.5 gallon water (with decoration). Still not enough for them but with more room to swim and extra volume an small improvement.

I removed all other fishes except for the 2 remaining Otocinclus I have. I realize eventually they could be eaten.

It's weird but they seem to be less shy in this new setup. I'm curious how they behave tomorrow.

- I will monitor water chemistry 1-2 times a day for the next few weeks and do water changes accordingly
- added extra bacteria to the filter and have some gravel in a net hidden for some extra bacteria.

I'm still looking for a used big tank for them to find out most tanks are sold with fish and plants and people seem to think this way tanks are worth more than an empty tank. I don't want the substrate, fish and plants from others. Just an empty tank. This is much harder to find than I thought. However I have my eye on a new tank 4t long which is very affordable but I give myself a bit more time to find a used one that is longer than 4ft.

While I was working on the tank I made pictures but after the third picture I couldn't find the camera anymore. You'll get a picture 'from the new set up when I found my camera

I can't complain about how the parrots behave and eat. They do well in my opinion. Eating was what I worried about most but I found out besides the pellets they also eat Endler fry and some of the shrimp that I couldn't remove when the tank was heavily planted. I know that this would happen. I found only 1 shrimp that survived them, I bet that was why they liked the big Java Fern so much! The shrimp is housed with my apple snails.

Nicole
PS parrots were removed from the tank while I worked on it. They were in a big tub with the filter running and a heater. I used 50% of the old tank water to fill the tank again.

 

It's a while since I updated this topic.
I finally came up with one name. Tweety, of coarse for the yellow one. For the other I'm still clueless .
The reason to give him a bird name is I showed my Mom pictures and she said "are they fish? They look like birds!" LOL
The main reason to update this topic is that I found a 63, close to 64 gallon tank, 4 ft long. I can't transport a longer tank in the car, but I think this is a huge improvement on what I have now for them.
We are going to look at it tomorrow but the pictures are promising .

I'm not going to set it up until somewhere in June and I'm going for a fishless cycle. The reason to wait so long is that every year between March and the first week of July I'm hospitalized for Pneumonia and dehydration, sometimes even twice during spring. Last year they found the reason, allergic astma. This is the first spring I have medication but I'm not going to risk having an unstable running tank while I might become severely ill. I hope this year goes better for me. I also have a severe cat allergy and I lived with several indoors cats. I always was extremely scared when I got ill again because it worsens rapid, in a matter of days, always. Living alone made it very hard to take care for myself... taking care of the pets was very hard in that situation. That is why about 6 months ago I decided to rehome my cats. I realize cat allergens stay in the homes after rehoming up to 2 years... but I hope with my meds, rehoming the cats and installing pollen screens I'll have a spring without pneumonia. Fingers crossed!

The tank comes without stand but it's from a brand that is sold often here. I might buy the stand new.

Well, If I bring this tank home tomorrow I'll let you know and when I'm setting it up and start cycling it I certainly will open a topic about it!

Thanks for reading.
PS and I hope my joy about the new tank is not premature since I still have to pick it up.
This is the tank I found

 

Good morning,

I hope it all works out well for you and your fish! Stay well!

Ken

 

I got the tank. I need to do a leak test and I might not use the light fixture, lots of calcium build up on that part, might be hard to get clean. I have a few weeks to think about what I'm going to do with it. The rI'm with wood color is damaged here and there but not severely. I might use it as it is or paint it (black)... but first of all the very important leak test. I'll let it dry for a week and then test it. Fingers crossed!
We did a test where we bought it but when we carried it indoors at my place we felt some water in one of the lower corners. Probably it's just water that collected in the lower rI'm while we emptied the tank but I want to be sure before I start working on it.
Light fixture and the rest of the hood are not on the pictures.

To be continued in a new topic as soon as I start working on it.


Nicole

 

Congratulations & good luck with the new tank☺

Slightly off of fishy topics - have you ever heard of or researched NetI Pots? In my personal experience - daily use in the shower (less messy) has prevented countless sinus infections which always led to bronchitis before I found out about it.

 

Fishy Friends,
I'll send you a PM later about the NetI pot. Yes I heard about them and saw them on YouTube being demonstrated. I would love to hear more about from you. It might be something for me as I heard they work great for allergies too Thanks!