Basil’s Tanks

I just provided a guess, so don't take any drastic action. If the Loaches are healthy, the problem likely isn't a parasite. Loaches are a very good indicator to the overall health of the tank.

I realize it was a guess, but I do appreciate your input! This is definitely distressing.
Until this morning, all loaches looked good. I do have a smaller guy. But he eats great and had always looked good but just a tiny bit on the thin side.
This morning I noticed he was definitely paler. Not “greyed out” like after a dominance scuffle but just a weird paler color. He was still eating and acting fine.
So I was googling a bit and came across coralbandit’s thread on potassium permanganate. I’ll think on it. But I might give that a try.
With the weight loss in the ones that died, it could definitely be some sort of parasite. All fish were quarantined and treated with levamisole but I’ve definitely added plants since my last fish addition. And I have to admit that I don’t quarantine my plants or do anything other than a quick rinse.

 

Maybe just a weak batch of Tiger Barbs. One good thing about Tiger Barbs is that you can buy a whole new school of them for twenty bucks. At least in my area. I would do that before exposing the Loaches to meds.

 

True. I lost a couple of dwarf chain loaches after using excell. I think I’ll just sit tight for now.

 

Well the smallest Queen loach looked back to normal the next day so maybe it was a case of “greying out”. Sometimes I wish they could talk. Ok, maybe not. The language from the tiger barbs may not be so pleasant!

But in other news, my small LFS has agreed to purchase some plants from me, mainly salvinia minima, frogbit, and Italian vals. It’s just pocket change, well, maybe coffee money , but it will be fun.
Set up one of my empty 10 g this week for frog bit. Used the nicrew light I had purchased and used on the 10 when it was a quarantine and a flat heater that my friend had given me. Another friend is supposed to be giving me a 20 L. If it holds water, I’ll probably use that for the Italian vals.
As usual, hubby tor enabler has agreed to build me a stand to hold the 20 on top and 10 underneath.

 

Window glare makes it soooo difficult to get good tank shots. But here’s the 75 today. I added two anubias Barteri broadleaf so I think it looks a little more filled in.
Would totally do this tank differently now but I’ll continue to just do tiny tweaks. The last time I rearranged stuff too much, my Queen loaches held a grudge for a couple of weeks!

 

More pictures. .
Ridiculous pea puffer.
And my next project, even though I haven’t accomplished the planned “40 breeder upgrade to 75 g” project yet lol!
Yes, it will be a screened porch planted tank. And no, it won’t stay on the table!
Some nice growth of the R. rotundifolia since pulling it from the 29 and planting it in the 5.

 

Don't worry too much about the designer Tiger Barb loss. I just found one of my 2 y.o. Albino Tigers dead. No symptoms, no aggression issues.
All Tigers lost during the last two years were Greens & Albinos. No losses for the standard TB's.
On a sad side note, I recently found one of my XL Filament Barbs dead on the floor, somewhat concealed near a file cabinet. Oouch! She apparently jumped out during a WC.

 

Don't worry too much about the designer Tiger Barb loss. I just found one of my 2 y.o. Albino Tigers dead. No symptoms, no aggression issues.
All Tigers lost during the last two years were Greens & Albinos. No losses for the standard TB's.
On a sad side note, I recently found one of my XL Filament Barbs dead on the floor, somewhat concealed near a file cabinet. Oouch! She apparently jumped out during a WC.

Thanks!
I know other designer animals have their issues so doesn’t surprise me that fish are the same. As of now, all the remaining look good.
I’m soooo paranoid during water changes. More so that I’m going to suck someone up in the python and not kink the hose soon enough. I think some of my smaller fish might fit all the way through.
So sorry about the filament.

 

Welp, the 20 long porch project has morphed into a bit more than I planned. Surprised? Lol!
I was going to do a super low tech planted tank but after receiving a bunch of absolutely gorgeous plants from vishaquatics, I’ve decided to dabble in a CO2 tank.
I’m going to use Dustins dirt, capped with PFS. There will be no hard scape so it will be a sort of Dutch hybrid setup.
Ordered a neo aquario diy CO2 kit.
The tank will stay on the screened porch for the summer. Which is a good thing since I have read accounts of diy bottles exploding!
Once I have a handle on the CO2, I’ll move some ramshorns into the tank. Fish will come later. Would love to do my threadfin rainbows but I worry that a 20 is not large enough for them since they can be territorial.
So I’ll probably do a large group of kubatoi rasbora.
Set up will be this week.
Still planning on the 40 to 75 upgrade but I need hubby to help me move the 40 and bring the 75 in from the garage.



Oh and I’m other news, I caught my sparklers spawning!
Of course I was going away the next day so I didn’t do anything about any potential fry. I’ll have to figure out what to do. I think my LFS would be interested in them.
jinjerJOSH22, do you think leaving them in the 29 g would yield success? Or should I try to separate the pair at some point?
Sorry for the horrible video and excuse hubby yawning in the beginning of it lol!
Spawning sparklers

 

Welp, the 20 long porch project has morphed into a bit more than I planned. Surprised? Lol!
I was going to do a super low tech planted tank but after receiving a bunch of absolutely gorgeous plants from vishaquatics, I’ve decided to dabble in a CO2 tank.
I’m going to use Dustins dirt, capped with PFS. There will be no hard scape so it will be a sort of Dutch hybrid setup.
Ordered a neo aquario diy CO2 kit.
The tank will stay on the screened porch for the summer. Which is a good thing since I have read accounts of diy bottles exploding!
Once I have a handle on the CO2, I’ll move some ramshorns into the tank. Fish will come later. Would love to do my threadfin rainbows but I worry that a 20 is not large enough for them since they can be territorial.
So I’ll probably do a large group of kubatoi rasbora.
Set up will be this week.
Still planning on the 40 to 75 upgrade but I need hubby to help me move the 40 and bring the 75 in from the garage.
View attachment 797242

Oh and I’m other news, I caught my sparklers spawning!
Of course I was going away the next day so I didn’t do anything about any potential fry. I’ll have to figure out what to do. I think my LFS would be interested in them.
jinjerJOSH22, do you think leaving them in the 29 g would yield success? Or should I try to separate the pair at some point?
Sorry for the horrible video and excuse hubby yawning in the beginning of it lol!
Spawning sparklers

I'll start with saying my breeding experience is practically zero and the only species I've successfully had fry with(albeit accidentally/not planned), both male and female show parental care. Can't say I've ever looked up breeding Sparklers either. I would think you would be fine leaving them in a 29, given the space but I'm really not sure.
I think that youtube channel Foo the flowerhorn bred them at some point.

 

Welp, the 20 long porch project has morphed into a bit more than I planned. Surprised? Lol!
I was going to do a super low tech planted tank but after receiving a bunch of absolutely gorgeous plants from vishaquatics, I’ve decided to dabble in a CO2 tank.
I’m going to use Dustins dirt, capped with PFS. There will be no hard scape so it will be a sort of Dutch hybrid setup.
Ordered a neo aquario diy CO2 kit.
The tank will stay on the screened porch for the summer. Which is a good thing since I have read accounts of diy bottles exploding!
Once I have a handle on the CO2, I’ll move some ramshorns into the tank. Fish will come later. Would love to do my threadfin rainbows but I worry that a 20 is not large enough for them since they can be territorial.
So I’ll probably do a large group of kubatoi rasbora.
Set up will be this week.
Still planning on the 40 to 75 upgrade but I need hubby to help me move the 40 and bring the 75 in from the garage.
View attachment 797242

Oh and I’m other news, I caught my sparklers spawning!
Of course I was going away the next day so I didn’t do anything about any potential fry. I’ll have to figure out what to do. I think my LFS would be interested in them.
jinjerJOSH22, do you think leaving them in the 29 g would yield success? Or should I try to separate the pair at some point?
Sorry for the horrible video and excuse hubby yawning in the beginning of it lol!
Spawning sparklers

Awesome, good luck! I’m actually converting my 40 breeder to dirted and I bought Dustins dirt packs as well, so I’m curious how it works out for you. Vishaquatics is my go to for plants but his nursery is shutting down so I had to order elsewhere. I considered CO2 but I’m not ready to commit to high energy setup on a tank that large, I may do that in the future with a 20long and aquasoil.

Looking forward to seeing your progress

 

I'll start with saying my breeding experience is practically zero and the only species I've successfully had fry with(albeit accidentally/not planned), both male and female show parental care. Can't say I've ever looked up breeding Sparklers either. I would think you would be fine leaving them in a 29, given the space but I'm really not sure.
I think that youtube channel Foo the flowerhorn bred them at some point.

I’m going to leave them in the 29 g for now. They do have a lot of room and decent plant cover. The pair is in the opposite side from the other six and the make made his nest in the frog bit. Got home from vacation last night right before lights out so the only thing I could see was that the pair was still on their side.

 

Awesome, good luck! I’m actually converting my 40 breeder to dirted and I bought Dustins dirt packs as well, so I’m curious how it works out for you. Vishaquatics is my go to for plants but his nursery is shutting down so I had to order elsewhere. I considered CO2 but I’m not ready to commit to high energy setup on a tank that large, I may do that in the future with a 20long and aquasoil.

Looking forward to seeing your progress

Here’s my build thread.

In which Basil attempts to grow stem plants yet again | Freshwater Aquarium Builds Forum | 502697

Setting it up went really smoothly. And the PFS over the dirt was extremely easy to plant in. I just used the aqua scaping tweezers with the slight bend in them. Only brought up a tiny bit of dirt maybe 3 times with about 100 stems planted.

 

Here’s my build thread.

In which Basil attempts to grow stem plants yet again | Freshwater Aquarium Builds Forum | 502697

Setting it up went really smoothly. And the PFS over the dirt was extremely easy to plant in. I just used the aqua scaping tweezers with the slight bend in them. Only brought up a tiny bit of dirt maybe 3 times with about 100 stems planted.

I’ll check out that thread. I setup and planted mine last night, and although it was a huge project to convert to dirted on an existing tank, I was pleasantly surprised—the water barely clouded and it was super easy to plant in! Tons of stems as well.

 

I don’t think the sparklers have columnaris. I decided to be conservative and not treat and the remaining 7 are doing great other than a definite bit of aggression here and there. As I watched the male who has staked out his part of the tank chase the one that I thought had columnaris, I realized that this was a dominance issue.
I have a bunch of anacharis coming and plan to wrap a good bit around the one piece of driftwood and add another piece of wood with anacharis to the other side of the tank. It’s definitely fairly thick with the vals but I think there needs to be even more cover. I’m also thinking of adding a couple more sparklers but haven’t decided yet.

 

After much thought (most of that obsessive since I do that best lol!) I’m thinking I’m losing fish to parasites. That would certainly explain the weight loss (duh lol!) but great appetite. I’ve also started seeing weight loss in two of the golden Diamond barbs in the 40 barb tank and one sidthimunki has always been very small and just not growing.
Everything in my 75 g had been dewormed with levamisole in quarantine but maybe it’s a parasite that isn’t eliminated by levamisole? Or maybe something was introduced on plants that I’ve added since I don’t quarantine plants?
Anyway, I just received both levamisole and fenbendazol flakes from Angels Plus. Started the three tanks I feel might be infected on the fenbendazole flakes this morning. All ate them fine! Yay for piggy fishes lol!
After this treatment, I’ll wait a week and do levamisole. So with doing the two dewormers, it will take a couple of months but fingers crossed!

 

A couple pictures I snapped today.

 

My dominant male sparkling gourami. The left side of the tank is HIS!

 

I’ve been remiss on updates.
De-worming in three of the tanks is going well. Although I did lose a pretty young regular tiger barb female a month ago, all has been good since. I did the fenbendazol flakes first and now have done 2 rounds of levamisole flakes (supposed to do three). I actually have seen weight gain in the smaller sidthimunkis.

The 29 g has been interesting lately. As the sparklers are maturing, aggression is definitely increasing. I had 7 and now have only 5 left this morning.
It does seem that I have a pair that has each claimed a side of the tank. And one odd guy who is missing most of his tail. And although, I’ve heard to keep them in larger numbers, I’m inclined to try to just keep the two pairs and move the tailless dude to my peaceful barb tank. If I can catch him that is.
Then I’m thinking about adding the kubatoi radbora that I really want to this tank instead of stocking the 20 long with them.

And speaking of the 20 long, I’m thinking about moving my lone pea puffer into that and getting her some friends. I was debating more puffers but I’m not sure in what order I should add them. I kind of want to add the new ones first and then after a couple weeks of a quarantine period, than add Shamrock. Then hope I don’t have all males as they are usually quite young when they are for sale.
jmaldo have you read anything about how to introduce peas to each other?
Or maybe I could try the kubatoi or another small fish instead? Decisions!!!!
Current photo of the 20 long. Had to really trim the alternanthera reineckii as it totally melted on the bottom. Hope it picks up soon as it’s one of my favorites.
The right side of the tank is not totally in the picture, but I had planted the ludwegia arcuata
in that corner. But it’s pretty slow growing, so I think I’m going to move it more to the front and trim some water wisteria to plant in the back corner.
I did this tank without hard scape, so I’m hoping it’s dense enough for pea puffers!

 

I like the setup, since I am still researching I am letting mine become a jungle.
During my research and still continuing, I found this care sheet, take a look:
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldwide.com/post/c-travancoricus
Some "Good" info. it gave me pause as to whether or not go with a single or start with a minimum of 6 with 1 male to a harem of females, still researching.
But basically I am finding it depends on the fish as with other species. When I want to introduce a "New" member to a tank. I always redo the hardscape/plants prior to adding, I found it helps change-up any claimed areas and introduce with the lights off.
So far it has been positive.
Let me know what you have found...

Good Luck!

 

I like the setup, since I am still researching I am letting mine become a jungle.
During my research and still continuing, I found this care sheet, take a look:
Pea Puffer Care Sheet
Some "Good" info. it gave me pause as to whether or not go with a single or start with a minimum of 6 with 1 male to a harem of females, still researching.
But basically I am finding it depends on the fish as with other species. When I want to introduce a "New" member to a tank. I always redo the hardscape/plants prior to adding, I found it helps change-up any claimed areas and introduce with the lights off.
So far it has been positive.
Let me know what you have found...

Good Luck!

That’s a great article that did not come up in my google search. Definitely makes one think.
It also makes me realize the all plant scape may need the addition of a few rocks and some spider wood. Also makes me think the tank is much better suited to a single larger school of micro-rasbora but then I still have the single pea puffer.
Hmmm, maybe add a group now to quarantine and de-worm and then add hardscape before adding Shamrock.
There is still the sexing difficulty with the commonly sold juveniles but I admit that I haven’t looked closely enough to actually see if maybe they are showing differences.

 

Agree
Most info points towards providing hiding/rest places. May rescape my tank a bit and add some caves. I plan on purchasing them together and the tank will be for them alone. So Quarantine should be simple.

Fingers-crossed.....

 

Agree
Most info points towards providing hiding/rest places. May rescape my tank a bit and add some caves. I plan on purchasing them together and the tank will be for them alone. So Quarantine should be simple.

Fingers-crossed.....

Did you decide on peas or still thinking about another puffer species?

 

Still researching and undecided. Have a Club auction, next Sunday. My hope is to pick some up if available.

 

While doing a water change on the 40 tan today I noticed that one if the thin puntias semifasciolatas has definitely gained weight. Yay! Hoping the de-worming regimen is actually working.
Snapped pictures of 5 of 7 tanks today. Enjoying some time just watching for a while.

 

So I feel our tank threads should reflect the good and bad of our hobby.
It’s not been a good couple of days.
I was on staycation this week and the 20 long is ready for fish. I also decided to add a school of rasboras to the 29 g sparkler tank
So I ordered kubotai radbora for the 20 and dwarf rasboras (boraras macular is) for the 29 from aquatic arts. Yes, I’ve had good luck with my previous two purchases from them.
They shipped overnight and arrived on Thursday. Had two kubotai DOA. The 20 has only snails so I added the kubotai right to that tank.
I also added the dwarf rasboras right to the 29. I usually quarantine but there’s been a couple of times that I haven’t and, so far, been ok.
As of today, I’ve lost 8 of 18 kubotai. And today, I thought I saw fin rot but I actually think it is ich as I did see a spot on a fish’s body. So I dosed that tank with Super Ich Cure. Sigh.
Of course, I’m then watching the 29 like a hawk. No losses so far. But as the lights were dimming, I thought I also saw some discoloration on a couple of them.
I tried not to panic, lol, and I’ll observe more tomorrow.
The dwarf rasboras are very pretty little fish and contrast so nicely with the sparklers. And the sparklers are completely ignoring them. So that’s good so far!
Oh and to top off the day, I lost one of my Queen loaches from the 75. Everyone seemed to be doing well after the de-worming fest but this guy had lost weight beforehand.
Fish are hard, sometimes.

 

Never ordered on line & I wouldn't even know how to acclimate new arrivals. Lol.
An Ich outbreak can occur with any new addition. I had an Ich infestation a few months ago. My new group of 13 Columbian Tetras suddenly became sick. After two weeks of the Heat treatment, the Ich was gone w/ one fish lost.
The Ich issue wasn't the fault of the LFS or mine. It was just a result of stressed out weakened fish.
If your new fish are displaying symptoms of a bacterial infection that is probably the on line vendor's fault.
Maybe the vendor would replace any losses that might occur.

 

Yeah, 2 years ago, I dealt with an outbreak of ich after purchasing only 2 dwarf chain loaches and tried to quarantine them by themselves. They were so stressed out that I decided to just add them to the main tank. Well, you guessed it. But I didn’t lose any of them while treating with the API ich cure.
Not sure what I’m dealing with now but I’ll email Aquatic Arts tomorrow. I’ve already been in contact about the DOA fish but they sent extra so no action was needed at the time.

 

I have made several online purchases, had a few losses but all the shippers honored their DOA policies. One shipment the heat pack failed and another the "New" shipper was inexperienced. Also had a few bags leak but the fish survived.
Hopefully you narrow down the actual issue...

Good Luck!

 

I have made several online purchases, had a few losses but all the shippers honored their DOA policies. One shipment the heat pack failed and another the "New" shipper was inexperienced. Also had a few bags leak but the fish survived.
Hopefully you narrow down the actual issue...

Good Luck!

They told me the nitrates were too high at about 20. I guess if their tanks are really low, than that could be an issue. I was given a $15 coupon to use.
I ended up with only 5 kubotai surviving. So in a fit of “team bad decision”, I decided to order more from Flip Aquatics. All arrived looking great and 2 1/2 weeks later, they are all doing great!

Then, the Pygmy rasbora that I also got from aquatic arts at the same time, came down with ich. Must have been a mild case as I only did one round of treatment with API super ich cure and so far, haven’t seen anymore spots in about a week and a half. Though, I’m monitoring very closely.

 

They told me the nitrates were too high at about 20. I guess if their tanks are really low, than that could be an issue. I was given a $15 coupon to use.
I ended up with only 5 kubotai surviving. So in a fit of “team bad decision”, I decided to order more from Flip Aquatics. All arrived looking great and 2 1/2 weeks later, they are all doing great!

Then, the Pygmy rasbora that I also got from aquatic arts at the same time, came down with ich. Must have been a mild case as I only did one round of treatment with API super ich cure and so far, haven’t seen anymore spots in about a week and a half. Though, I’m monitoring very closely.

I have heard a lot of great things about Flip Aquatics! They even have a couple fish there that i want.

 

I have heard a lot of great things about Flip Aquatics! They even have a couple fish there that i want.

They also have really great customer service.
I emailed to ask if the fish could be shipped out on a Wednesday to arrive Thursday when I was off. No problem!

 

So I decided to just leave Shamrock the pea puffer in her 5 g after all. She seems perfectly fine and I’ve become rather attached to my lovely school of kubotai rasbora in the 20 long. I really didn’t want to see if she would act on the murder bean reputation if I added her to that tank.
But I did do a rescape. When I purchased Sham (and a handful of RCS culls) and her already scaped tank, it also came with a nice cyano infestation. Got rid of it but it came back. It was a mess so no before pictures lol!
And I think Sham has forgiven me for plunking her and her heater and filters in a 5 g bucket.
Tank does need more plants. I just used what I pulled and trimmed out of my other tanks. I want to see if the wisteria will grow with no CO2. I did add some Dustins dirt under it.

 

Many updates! Both good and bad.
75 g: Treated with food mixed with metroplex and focus. Still lost the two skinny platinum green tiger barbs. I have five left and they all look good.
I was chatting with the gal who helps run the nice, small LFS, and she suggested treating with Furan 2. It’s 4 days of dosing with a WC on days 3 and 5. That’s what the shop uses if they get a shipment in with any issues and she said it always works.
Well, the tiger barbs were spawning when I went to do the first water change, during it, and afterward lol! And the loaches were following along underneath them.
Mmmmm…..snacks
I’m still holding my breath but if I don’t see anymore weight loss over the next month, I’ll start restocking some tiger barbs and a few more loaches.
I’m thinking about adding a Furon2 treatment to quarantine.
In the 29 g, I’ve only 1 sparkling gourami left. Sigh. I was really hoping that once I had two pairs that seemed to each claim a side, it would be good. Guess not. It’s a shame, they are cool little fish.
If I ever try them again, I think it will be a decent size group of at least 10 in a minimum 40 breeder.
The Pygmy rasboras in the 29 are doing great. And I also decided to add a school of blue axalrodi rasboras. They are also doing great and the red and blue colors of both rasbora schools are stunning. Of course, now I want to rescape that tank lol! But that’s a project tor spring!
All the kubotai rasboras in the 20 long are doing great. Plants are still growing nicely and providing water wisteria for my other tanks.
Speaking of scapes, I finally got the 75 out of the garage and into its spot. Put some substrate in yesterday but definitely need to wash and add more. I’m apparently into “paths” lately!
This will probably be a slow build.
And it will be easy plants: Java fern, anubias, buce, and maybe floating hornwort, guppy grass, of water wisteria.

 

I believe Furan 2 is officially discontinued either done voluntarily by the manufacturer API, or the FDA.
I unsuccessfully tried to find out the reason for the stoppage.

 

I believe Furan 2 is officially discontinued either done voluntarily by the manufacturer API, or the FDA.
I unsuccessfully tried to find out the reason for the stoppage.

It is. I purchased it in aliquots off eBay. If I can budget it, I’ve seen a few places that still have the large tub available.
Nitrofurazone is thought to be carcinogenic. I did read somewhere that was the reason.
It’s the main ingredient in that wonderful topical wound cream for horses. Did you use it? It was also pulled a good number of years ago and then became available again.
Not sure of it’s status now as one tub of the cream usually lasts almost forever.

 

Yeah, it's always something.
I used the triple antibiotic cream on my two horses. Same stuff one would find at the Walmart pharmacy. Lol

 

Long overdue update!
The remaining tiger barbs in the 75 are doing great. So today I purchased four regular ones and they are currently in the 10 g quarantine. I also sent in a request to my northern LFS to be notified when the platinum greens are back in stock. I can’t help it, I really like them!
I’m slowly getting 75 g #2 set up. Waiting for the largest piece of wood to sink than I’ll do the final rearrangement of the rocks and start adding plants.

 

Random shot of one of my blue ramshorns and a couple of female cherry barbs in the 40 breeder tan.

 

The new (old) 75 upgrade is moving along, albeit slowly lol! I’ll update the build thread in a bit.
My current semi aggressive 75 is now restocked to 12 tiger barbs. I have added 7 regular ones over the past few weeks.
The pea puffer 5 g has been having a hair algae outbreak but, meh, it should go away soon.
All other tanks are just chugging along, just the way I like it.
Photo of the semi aggressive 75 today.