Dirt, plants, CPDs, Inverts, and an Endler--29g journal

Have greatly enjoyed the FishLore community throughout the course of my 29g build journal (linked below), and with the tank now past its initial stages, I look forward to keeping the good times rolling with this journal. Thanks to all who read through these rambling posts.

Here we go again! Dirted 29 setup | Freshwater Aquarium Builds Forum | 506411

In brief, the tank is a dirted tank (capped with pool filter sand) with low/medium lighting. I have been quite happy so far overall with plant growth--plant list includes crypts, swords, pogostemenon, water wisteria, hornwort, java fern, vals, and ludwigia. Inhabitants at the moment are: 12 Celestial Pearl Danios, one endler (included as a very young fry with the shrimp), about 10-14 davidii shrimp, one mystery snail, one nerite snail, at least one Malaysian Trumpet Snail (seriously, might just be one--I haven't seen more than one), and quite a colony of ramshorn snails.

About 240 TDS (I think), 75 F, 7.6-7.8 PH, 0/0/5 nitrate.

Overall goals remain the same as for the build: maintain a low-stocked tank that lends itself to low maintenance; ensure great health for the inhabitants (no fish losses so far; main worry at present is whether the shrimp have been getting enough to eat, it's possible there have been shrimp losses); and create/maintain a visually pleasing tank with lots of nooks and crannies. More minor plans/goals include figuring out the sex of the endler and perhaps stocking 3-4 more endlers for company, perhaps stocking more inverts (amano shrimp and/or Thai micro crabs are what I am thinking at present), and work on adding a couple of anubias to the rocks and perhaps a dwarf water lily bulb somewhere. I am also preparing for the possibility of a prolonged absence next summer (an out-of-country research trip) that may necessitate my wife or others taking care of the tank. The goal of keeping the tank low maintenance is in part linked to this.

That's it for the general introduction, and I look forward to hearing thoughts on tank going forward!

 

The tank certainly looks nice! Hope it continues to do well for you!

 

The tank certainly looks nice! Hope it continues to do well for you!

Thanks!

Looks like starting this journal sparked a fire--acclimating 4 amano shrimp as we speak.

 

Some cool things have happened in the tank the past two days. Yesterday the CPDs formed into a little barracuda pack and dismantled a shrimp pellet I put in for the shrimp (seriously, they were schooling/swarming all over it). Also saw pearling for the first time by the Pogostemenok. And caught some cool photos of female shrimp in the process of dropping eggs.

 

Following your post - can't wait to see progress!

 

Following your post - can't wait to see progress!

Thanks!!

Also, a quick update: Awoke in a stupor at nearly 11 PM after putting our son to bed tonight (he won't sleep unless someone is lying next to him; half the time this means everyone is passed out by the time he is); but this meant that for the first time in a long time everyone in the house was asleep, I had nothing to do (or wake up for in the morning), and so I sat and watched/fiddled with the tank for an hour + just now. Lots of cool things seen, especially the first definite spawning behavior from the CPDs--a male and a female 'dancing' around the driftwood and the java fern as the rest of the pack attacked a shrimp pellet on the bottom.

Btw, and speaking of the CPDs, whether they are a yay or nay to add to a tank probably depends, at least based on my experience, on how much you like/mind very skittish/reclusive/aware fish. I happen to like this sort of fish quite a bit, but the CPDs push even my limits sometimes in this regard. They are exceptionally aware fish--I've realized that I will perhaps never see their natural, relaxed behavior while sitting next to the tank because they are just as aware of me being there as I am of them. Their behavior, even when they are out and about, is markedly different when I am sitting there than when watching from a distance. For some fish this probably wouldn't matter, but CPDs are so small that you have to strain to watch them from a distance. The best I can do in terms of watching them in relaxed mode while still being able to see them fairly well is to lean out from the pass-through between the living room and kitchen about 4 feet diagonal from the tank--this is where I was when I saw the spawning tonight. I like them quite a bit and I'm very glad I have them as the tank's main fish, but I suspect not all would feel that way. (although to be fair, some Youtubers claim they have much more outgoing ones)

 

Bought and superglued two anubias (bought one but was actually two separate plants) to the rock pile today (pics below).

Quite happy about this, but unfortunately also have some perhaps not so great news and a question. For the second day in a row I caught a whiff of a fairly strong, tangy smell right after opening the lid to feed tonight. After the lid was open for 15 seconds or so the smell was gone and then I really couldn't even get a whiff of that smell again from the water. First thought both nights was ammonia, but tests showed zero both nights (same for nitrites and very low nitrates). Something similar happened two weeks ago, though that night the tests did seem to show .25 ammonia (but not 100% sure on that reading).

This seems to have something to do with low filter flow--by the end of the week flow is much slower than after a water change, and all three times this has happened has been at the end of the week. Tonight I spotted at least one stressed shrimp ( much of color faded) as well, though of course this could have been a coincidence (but since I haven't seen stressed shrimp before in the tank, this would be quite the coincidence).

Any thoughts on what is going on here? I confess that I don't really know what ammonia smells like. But the smell is quite tangy for lack of a better word, and different than how the tank usually smells. Then again, the negative tests would seem to suggest not ammonia...By the end of the week there is not really any flow at all in the third of the tank farthest from the filter-- is it possible there are 'ammonia pockets' down there but not up where I am testing? Does that even make sense?...Any thoughts are much appreciated!
*Edit: after typing this, figured has to be the flow, and so just went down and yanked the prefilter floss; flow is probably five or six times stronger as a result and we,'ll see what a smell test reveals in the morning (smell was there again when I opened the lid to take out the floss just now).

And tank shots after superglueing are below.

 

Well, tangy smell is still there despite much increased flow. Ammonia also continues to be 0 (tested again). So I guess that is not a ammonia smell. Anyone else have their tank's smell change as time-from-water-change increases?...Everyone looks pretty healthy; that one shrimp continues to be only half-colored, though I am also wondering now if this is perhaps a coloring-up juvenile. The guy who sold me the shrimp sold me different colors/qualities/ages, and so not all of them were red to begin with.

A mystery, but one that I guess I will not worry too much about at present...

 

Forgot to mention it, but purchased some Seachem Flourish and added to the tank after today's water change. The older wisteria leaves in particular are full of holes. I suspect that this is more likely due to being shaded, but figured the Flourish isn't likely to hurt--we will see how it works.

 

Also following. Nice tank!
I think all my tanks smell “marshy”. And I figure that, after all, bacteria does smell! That smell definitely wasn’t present until the tanks matured.
But I’ve also had some run ins with BGA or Cyanobacteria. That definitely has a distinct and sharp smell to it. But if you aren’t seeing very green algae like stuff growing, that’s probably not it.

 

Also following. Nice tank!
I think all my tanks smell “marshy”. And I figure that, after all, bacteria does smell! That smell definitely wasn’t present until the tanks matured.
But I’ve also had some run ins with BGA or Cyanobacteria. That definitely has a distinct and sharp smell to it. But if you aren’t seeing very green algae like stuff growing, that’s probably not it.

Thanks!

And very interesting idea re the BGA. Funny thing is that when I superglued the anubias on Saturday I noticed a couple of spots of bluish-green lichen-like stuff on the rock; remember thinking to myself 'that can't be BGA, can it?'. Then I wiped down the rock with a paper towel.

Still think it probably isn't BGA. There is nothing else that looks like it in the tank, and really very little algae as a whole. And, that spot was tight to the rock like lichen, rather than the slime that I've seen in other pictures of BGA.

But still a possibility. Interesting thing is that the smell is either gone or almost gone today.

Anyways, thanks for the comment--I will def. keep an eye open for the blue-green if it becomes strong again.

 

For the first time since I put them in, I spotted three of the four amanos today (for the past few days I have only seen two at most at the same time). Not convinced that #4 made it, but fingers crossed.

Also, another question: is anyone here familiar with trimming wisteria and/or ludwigia? The super red ludwigia is getting tall, and some of the bottom leaves are turning yellow; there are also shoots coming out that could probably be trimmed at some point. To the first point, if I cut a tall ludwigia stem, I know that I can plant the top half, but will the bottom half be able to continue living? And is there a trick to making the cut?

In terms of the wisteria, which is really shading the big sword beneath, the stems of the plants that have hit the surface are quite thick. Same question If I make a cut on one of these thick stems: will both halves live? And is there an advantage to cutting off the side shoots v. leaving them on? Some of the side shoots have almost reached the surface themselves. I actually like their placement at present, so I would probably only cut if it is better for long term plant health.

Many thanks for any and all replies, and tank pics are below (3-5 really show the plants that will soon be in need of trimming, though do note that the shade is not quite as heavy as shown here: the camera darkened the shot so as not to bleach out the top hornwort).

 

Well, a bit of a strange and not so happy week for the tank. I posted elsewhere here about my worries regarding snails (answers were reassuring, however, with most suggesting that the snail population will eventually stabilize).

I also accidentally left the heater unplugged for 3 days after the water change two Sundays ago. This resulted in temps that probably got as low as 66-67in early morning (just guessing this based on a late afternoon temp reading of 70 degrees--we only just turned the home heat on yesterday, and so the house was unheated during this time). Unfortunately this is also one of the more likely culprits for the first significant health issue I have seen with the fish. This morning I noticed that one of the female CPDs had a swim bladder issue (swimming diagonally and up). I tried turning the heat up further (had put it at 72 so as not to raise the heat to quickly after the heater issue), but after changing the water this evening she still looked to have the issue. However, during feeding just now, I could not find her. Most likely she is hiding, but it is also just possible that this resolved spontaneously (I was reading something about eggbound females sometimes having this issue).

Finally, and although plants continue to grow well, there are lots of holes in the plant leaves. Those who replied to the snail query seemed to think this is a nutrient issue rather than the snails chomping at the plants, and I tend to agree. You can see some of these holes in pics 2,3, and 4 below. Seems to affect the Wisteria and swords the most; also present in the crypts. Additionally, the ludwigia, while growing has an increasing number of yellow leaves. I am currently dosing Flourish, but based on reviews here, I am thinking that I may need to order EasyGreen?

 

Ughh. I think we’ve all left heaters unplugged at one point. I now make it a habit to quadruple check that I’ve plugged everything back in.
I’m using Nilog Thrivec in all my low tech tanks. Happy with how the plants are responding. I also switched to their root capsules also. Definite improvement in my red tiger lotus and vals.
Everything I’ve read says holes are a K deficit. But not sure about yellow leaves. Maybe too little light?

 

Ughh. I think we’ve all left heaters unplugged at one point. I now make it a habit to quadruple check that I’ve plugged everything back in.
I’m using Nilog Thrivec in all my low tech tanks. Happy with how the plants are responding. I also switched to their root capsules also. Definite improvement in my red tiger lotus and vals.
Everything I’ve read says holes are a K deficit. But not sure about yellow leaves. Maybe too little light?

Sorry for the late reply. I think I will work on supplementing K at some point...the CPD with the swim bladder issue got progressively worse and had to be put down today. Stupid mistake to make with the heater. :-(

 

As noted, last week was not a good one for the tank due to the loss of one of the CPDs.

But it seems for now as if that was an isolated problem (fingers crossed), and so some news and notes from the tank:

Interesting identity questions regarding tank inhabitants. Firstly, the endler. I have no clue what sex it is. Several online sites state that endlers color up quite early (one states 17 days). This endler is now over two months old and has not significantly colored up (there are blue tints to its fins, but not nearly as clear as the below photo makes them seem). The shape and body color look for all the world like a female to me (again, see below photo). But there is no clear gravid spot, and the analfin is long and straight and appears much like a gonopodium. So current guess is a late-coloring male?

I am also unsure whether I have any Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I definitely had MTS in my last tank. They burrowed, mostly, during the day, and then I would seem them in the morning just after lights on before they disappeared again. In this tank I have snails that looked at first to me like MTS, but they do not seem to burrow. I'm starting to think that they are rabbit snails, unless MTS weirdly cannot burrow in pool filter sand?

I am also not sure that all of the Amano shrimp that I put in three weeks ago made it. I saw three, once, two weeks ago, but otherwise I usually only see two at a time...the tank (finally) has a bit of discernible (hair and diatom) algae. Not a big fair of the hair, and I am going to cut the lighting back a bit from its current ~11-12 hours a day...finally, nitrates continue to be very low. Like, the test strip does not change colors at all (if you haven't been reading along, I also master test kitted the nitrate, and this confirmed the test strip reading for that week, so the strips should be accurate enough). I have a feeling that the lack of nitrates, along with a lack of light, is one of the reasons that my pothos on the top remains at the same 4 leaves it had when I bought it (actually, two leaves initially fell off, so it has regrown 2 leaves since then).

Overall, and with the sad exception of the CPD, I remain happy with the tank. Once I figure out the sex of the endler, there may be new companion additions, especially if it is a male.

 

Tank looks great!
Absolutely can’t help with th endler or snails. But the hair algae can be common in a new tank. I had it in the 20 that I set up this summer.
I manually removed as much as possible and did an extra 50% water change per week until things balanced and it went away.

 

Tank looks great!
Absolutely can’t help with th endler or snails. But the hair algae can be common in a new tank. I had it in the 20 that I set up this summer.
I manually removed as much as possible and did an extra 50% water change per week until things balanced and it went away.

Thanks! There is only a little bit of the hair algae, and I'll have a go at removing it when I WC tomorrow or Thursday--the suggestion to do more water changes for the time being also sounds like a good one.

 

It's a boy! The endler is 'metamorphisizing' into adult malehood--can see a definite reddish spot on its flank and the gonopodium is very pronounced. I am thinking that I will add 5 more male endlers and 1 CPD sometime soon. The tank is a nitrate machine, and while not low stocking, that also shouldn't be high stocking either. Nervous about the add because of the possibility of adding disease (no QT tank), but I know endlers are social and I will check with my LFS about disease in the tanks, etc. before adding.

In other news, I spotted three amanos a few days ago, so at least 3/4 are alive and well...and the plants are looking good this week. The final pic below is maybe my favorite viewing perspective, from the wisteria side--spent a bit of time looking from that angle yesterday and could not even see fish--just the tangle of plants. Cool!

 

Took the plunge today and went to the LFS to buy fish. Ultimately added six endlers-- video from afterwards linked below! (Had a long explanation typed out but just accidentally deleted it somehow)

 

I got part of your explanation in my email notification. . Hope all goes well!

 

Have been meaning to retype that explanation of the Endler purchase:

Two Mondays ago, went down to the LFS with my (two-year-old) son and picked out three (yellow) tiger endlers and three 'WIC' endlers (because their coloration looked similar to that developing on my lone original one). I also figured that given the riskiness of introducing fish without a QT tank, I might as well stock the tank up to full so as to avoid future purchases/stocking for a long time, and so we also purchased two female CPDs to replace the one I lost last month.

A good lesson: be extra careful when purchasing fish with a small child. My attention was most decidedly not on the fish, and I did not examine them closely until we returned home. Luckily I did look then, and discovered that one of the CPDs had a rather crooked/bent/deformed spine. So I took both of the CPDs back (may have been a physical deformity, but did not want to risk introducing something to the tank) and did not replace them. My LFS runs sets of 12 tanks on shared filtration systems; luckily the endlers came from different sets and so there was no worry of contamination for them.

A week and a half later, and all six endlers seem to be doing well. Unfortunately I think there has been a bit of in-fighting, and my old endler appears to have a small sore on its back (I hope it is a sore and not anything else). Will continue to monitor this.

The addition of the endlers has definitely changed the feel of the tank. Fish were not always visible before, as the CPD group was quite reclusive. The endlers are constantly out and about; the CPDs seem to be a bit more confident as well.

I performed my first trimming of the wisteria a couple of days ago, and will add pictures of the tank post-trimming in a bit. One of the reasons for the trim is that we may be gone for about three weeks later next month and I want to start getting the tank ready for this; hopefully the trim ensures that the sword gets enough light and does not melt suddenly. If I can figure out feeding (either an auto feeder or neighbors), and assuming no technical failures, I hope the tank will do well--it consistently runs near-zero nitrates, and so hopefully water quality will be OK during the absence.

That's all folks, Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating!

 

I think something more than bullying may be going on here--just noticed that another of the endlers has a nearly all-white dorsal fin and white on the caudal fin as well. The fin still looks intact, but this may be some sort of disease (seems unlikely that both of their fins are transitioning to this weird almost bluish white color at the same time)--will see how things look in the morning and then decide whether to try to treat. (columnaris pops up in web searches, but this is confined to the fin and so unsure)

 

Started a separate post in the Diseases section about this; I am leaning toward fin rot at this point, and will try to treat first with stress coat and water changes (unless others feel differently).
And here’s that FTS after a water change tonight:

 

After some tank watching, I am pretty sure that the tiger endlers are bullying the other endlers to the point of causing the fin issues. The tiger endlers are manic in their energy level compared to everything else in the tank and are almost always in on scraps with the other endlers (I rarely if ever see issues between the endlers that do not involve the tiger endlers).

I’m sure that the other endlers are not pure endlers either, but online sources note that tiger endlers are crossbreeds between endlers and guppies—I’m going to tentatively chalk this up to a ‘guppier’ fish bullying the others.

So unless anything changes, I am going to return the tiger endlers to the store. I blew two good chances at netting them today (after which they dived into the plants), but will try again tomorrow.

The two endlers with the fin issues haven’t gotten significantly worse, and hopefully they will recover.

 

Nothing new on the fish end, but a couple of quick tech and accessories updates/thoughts:
1. Bought a smart plug recently, and I am quite happy with it. Using the 'Kasa' app I now have my tank on a 4 hour morning on-5 hour off-7 hour afternoon/evening on-8 hour off automatic lighting schedule.

2. Wooden kebab sticks are great for many things in the tank--breaking up frozen food cubes, moving around plants when you don't want to get your hands dirty, etc. Not sure if all brands would be tank safe, but I haven't noticed any issues from the ones that I am using.

 

Per advice received in the Diseases forum, I have been changing the water more frequently this week in an attempt to resolve the two endlers' fin issues. I did 3 or 4 20-25% water changes this week. I also managed to catch one of the tiger endlers and took it back to the store; it seemed as if aggression from the other two was perhaps a bit better after this, and so I have let them be as is for now.

The two endlers have not recovered, but are also not significantly worse (one has a bit larger of a white area on the dorsal fin, the other about the same). Both are acting healthy, though there continues to be moments of aggression. I should also add that it is just possible that there is nothing wrong with their fins at all and that this is natural coloration--the white areas look downright bluish when viewed from below.

I also noticed that one of my CPD males is very skinny and pale and also seemed to be breathing heavily; this is especially noticeable because the others are generally healthy (and many are downright plump/stocky for CPDs). I am not entirely sure what the reason is for this (could be a runt; could also be a wasting disease or parasite), and I am not sure if treating him is realistic or not. I noticed him Friday and Saturday but could not find him today...

I do hope that I can resolve things as well as possible for the three above fish asap, as we have a multi-week absence upcoming for a research trip in less than two weeks. A neighbor will stop by to feed once a day during the absence and the lights are on the smart plug. I am also thinking that I will have a friend stop by to do a water change about half-way through. This would normally be a good plan, I think, given how low nitrates run and the relatively low-stock, but I am worried that for the two endlers in particular the stoppage of frequent water changes could result in issues for the fins. I have thus half-been thinking of starting either medication or salt for the entire tank in the next day or two, and have queried those in the Disease forum regarding thoughts.

Moving on to better news, I continue to be happy overall with plant growth in the tank. The wisteria is starting to grow back nicely after the trimming. The hornwort continues to grow nicely, and the big sword and big crypt are hanging in there despite uneven lighting/shading. I have been half-thinking of uprooting the sword from where it is (crammed against the wisteria) and replanting in the middle of the tank--any thoughts? The ludwigia red is also looking good (to my eyes), though I have pretty much given up on trying to plant it and instead just have the stems knotted together and suspended mid-water column; I actually like the effect it creates. It is hard to see in the pics, but the Pogostemenon is going gangbusters in the back as well; the val continues to be present, though growth is very slow. There is a bit of algae, including some type of filamentous and also diatom algae on the glass (but given the fact that I haven't scraped/brushed it in a month+, really not that much); overall though, there is not much algae , and I continue to be a fan/approve of youtubers/aquascapers who argue for lots of lighting and lots of plants as the best methods to combat algae--I think it would be fair to call my tank heavily planted (though maybe only just so) and I currently have the lights set for about 11 hours of light a day. And, I am sure much of the success is attributable to the dirt. Finally, I am pretty sure that I have a Potassium deficiency, as the swords, crypts, and wisteria have pin-like holes in them, but for the present anyways money is to tight to justify $30 for an Easy Green shipment, and I also don't really mind the holes so long as the plants grow well. If growth starts being a problem at some point and/or when I purchase the other things on the wish list for the tank, then I will order the EasyGreen. (or maybe I will try Flourish's Pottasium mix)

Continuing the good news, I think the water changes may have helped set off some spawning behavior in the CPDs--I have seen them 'dancing' high up in the hornwort the past couple of days. Funnily enough, at least one or two of the endler males seem to get confused and quiver for the CPD females as well!

Finally, leaf number 5 for the Pothos is about to open, which will be the first time that the Pothos will be above the four leaves it started with when I bought it 3 months ago!

 

Tank looks great. I will be following along!

 

Everything is looking great! I also have issues keeping the super red ludwegia in the substrate so some of mine tends to be half floating as well.
Can’t comment on the skinny CPD. I’ve had an issue the past year where I’ve slowly lost most of my tiger barbs to some sort of skinny disease. I’m hoping this last treatment with Furon2 is finally the magic treatment.
And regarding nipped fins. I had to set up another tank (oh the hardship lol!) to separate the golden Diamond barbs because the loaches were nipping their tails.
It took a good six months for their tails to heal.

 

Tank looks great. I will be following along!

Thanks!

Everything is looking great! I also have issues keeping the super red ludwegia in the substrate so some of mine tends to be half floating as well.
Can’t comment on the skinny CPD. I’ve had an issue the past year where I’ve slowly lost most of my tiger barbs to some sort of skinny disease. I’m hoping this last treatment with Furon2 is finally the magic treatment.
And regarding nipped fins. I had to set up another tank (oh the hardship lol!) to separate the golden Diamond barbs because the loaches were nipping their tails.
It took a good six months for their tails to heal.

Thanks! Yes, the ludwigia doesn't seem to want to take root (with a couple of exceptions). But I have rather grown to like its floating look. I am just realizing that with it floating I could also plant something else beneath it--perhaps a dwarf water lily or two?

You will have to let me know how the Furon 2 works. I don't think that I would treat for that fish alone (I am worried that it might harm others), but if this does turn out to be something that spreads slowly to other fish, I might be interested in using it as well if you find it useful.

 

The two endlers with the fin issues remain the same (white on dorsal fin that hasn't grown in the last few days, and active and acting normally overall). But one of the other endlers had clear poop yesterday and has a noticeably sunken stomach along with heavier respiration (very similar to the CPD I mentioned last week, which still has similar issues though a little better coloration).

We are going away a week from today for multiple weeks (research trip), and I have decided to treat the tank with Prazipro, which will arrive on Sunday. If anyone feels this is a poor idea, do let me know, but I figure that internal parasites are a possibility and this seems a relatively low risk attempt to do something to possibly forestall significant issues after we leave.

 

Prazipro is a fairly safe dewormer and I’ve used it for a suspected internal parasite problem. So yes, I would try that.
The other dewormer that I use and like is levamisole.

 

Prazipro is a fairly safe dewormer and I’ve used it for a suspected internal parasite problem. So yes, I would try that.
The other dewormer that I use and like is levamisole.

Thanks! Apologies for the late reply, but I did see this and it helped make me feel good about the decision.

Unfortunately the Amazon shipment got delayed and I was only able to add the meds today. We will likely leave Friday, and so I will have to cut the recommended five day dosing time to three I think. To ensure removal of the medicine, the plan is to do a water change Thursday, another Friday before we go, and then maybe stick an activated carbon filter pad in for a day or two and have the neighbor who will be helping me feed take it out.

In terms of the time away, anyone have strong feelings on whether or not I should ask my neighbor to do a water change in the middle?We will be gone about 23 days. My current plan is to have him check the nitrates at day 10 and 15 using the test strips and only change water if nitrates are high or the possible fin rot is clearly worse. Honestly I don't think nitrates will be high...I can also imagine bad things happening (heater unplugged, chlorine not treated, etc.) if he does a water change ( though he does have a PhD in biology and so should be fairly attentive). He will be feeding once a day. Look forward to any thoughts.

 

Haven't updated here for a long time because we haven't been around the tank since mid-December. Now on about Day 14 of the trip, with 13 more to go. The neighbors who have been doing (once daily) feedings of the tank say all looks well. Another friend will stop by on the 2nd to do a water change.

I do hope that all is OK with the fish. I lost the CPD mentioned above that wasn't looking too good just before leaving, but the endler that looked like it had wasting disease looked better after the medication and hopefully he is doing OK. Before leaving I did a 30-35% water change (after 3 days of treatment, which was less than ideal), put activated carbon in overnight, and then did another 20% water change. Hopefully that took care of the remnant medication.

(for any reading later, I feel guilty about leaving the fish this long, and I am definitely not recommending this long of an absence to others)

Need to remember to tell my friend to yank out most of the water lettuce when they do the water change, as I imagine it is getting fairly overgrown at this point...

Happy New Years to all!

 

Happy New Year! Fingers crossed that all continues to go well!

 

Finally back home after a Dec 17-Jan 10 trip (something on the order of 25 days). The tank looks about like I hoped it would--i.e. still green, just overgrown. The below photos are after a water change today; main difference from right when I arrived home is that I pulled duckweed/water lettuce, cleaned some mulm off the front substrate, and reoriented the red ludwigia (which had floated to the surface, resulting in the death of about half of the leaves). I meant to post shots of the tank as it looked right when we got home, but looks like they were deleted by my wife.

Last night I initially thought that the CPD numbers were down to 6-7, but after observing a feeding I think there may still be the full ten that were there when I left. They don't seem to be schooling as tightly, and have switched their usual hangout spot from behind the driftwood to the (ever growing) tangle of wisteria and pogostemenon on the left-hand side of the tank.

A day or two before I departed back in December, the sick CPD male that I wrote about above passed. I had thought that the other sick fish, an Endler, was looking better after the course of medicine just before I left, but he is gone as well. If the CPD numbers are actually ten, then this was the only fish death while away.

The neocaridina shrimp look good. In fact, there are shrimplets! First time I have seen any in the tank, and I am surprised that it came during a time of only one feeding per day. Perhaps the increasing plant mass is to thank? I plan to maintain that tangle on the left-hand side, both for the shrimp, and in the hopes that it gets thick enough to allow for CPD fry to survive. So far I have only seen one of the three or four Amanos that were in the tank when I left, but it is often difficult to find them, so not too worried at present.

That is all for tonight and pics are below. I will post a couple of takeaways/lessons learned in the next couple of days. For now, glad that there were seemingly (hopefully--again, want to get a full CPD count) no major disasters, though sad/guilty about the passed Endler.

 

Still plan to post a 'lessons learned' about the extended absence at some point, but for now, just a photo update. Really not too much to say, as the tank is on auto-pilot at this point. Fish seem good ( though I am monitoring one endler that seems more lethargic than the rest) and there is a burgeoning shrimplet population. Plants continue to grow well, though still with holes in the leaves (ultimately I am not sure I care enough about the holes to spend money on ferts, for now anyways). If I had softer water I think might consider kuhli loaches (would look really cool in the wisteria jungle), but for now probably will not give the hard water. That's all for now!

 

Before (top) and after (second ) pics from a water lettuce thinning and water change are below, with by a couple of blurry tank inhabitants pics at the bottom. At this point the water changes are almost more for flow than anything else: with the bulky prefilter now on and necessary esp. due to the shrimplets, filter flow slows dramatically after a week or so post-water change. After a dip and squeeze in the removed tank water, the flow gets going well again. A rough estimate is about 8-10 shrimplets, so almost a doubling of the shrimp population.

 

Before I forget, a few thoughts on the ~25 day trip away from the tank Dec.-Jan. Do note that I am not advising that others take such a long trip--quite a risky thing to do with a tank full of living creatures and plenty could have gone wrong. But others may also wind up in a position where such a trip is necessary, and perhaps this will be found by them/useful to them:

The good: fairly sure that only one fish was lost during the trip, and this was a fish that was already sick and likely would have passed anyways. In fact, I came back to more shrimp than when I left, with somewhere between 5 and 15 shrimplets in the tank upon return (my return was the first time I saw shrimplets, though come to think of it, I haven't seen more than one amano at a time since I returned and it is possible that there were amano losses). There are a few reasons why the absence did not result in multiple fish deaths, I think: 1. I designed the tank knowing that I might be gone for research trips. This design included heavy planting and light stocking. The tank is a nitrate-eating machine, and has run at estimated <5 ppm nitrate for months now. With a pre-trip fish stocking of 6 endlers and 10 CPDs (now 5/10) in a 29 gallon tank, the plants easily keep up with fish waste (the shrimp and snails also do not seem to be adding much in terms of waste). 2. I think I did a fairly good job of instructing my neighbors to feed lightly. They fed only once a day. Since the feeding is a important variable, it is quite important on a long trip to be sure that whoever is feeding the fish is not adding too much. 3. I think (though I'm not sure), that it was probably good that I only arranged for one water change from a friend for the whole trip, esp. given the low nitrate in the tank. (I had one of the feeders check water quality with a test strip about two weeks in to confirm that things still looked good in this regard) So much can go wrong during a water change, from unplugged heaters to forgetting to put dechlorinator in, etc. I ordered a hand-pumped water suction kit for that change, and it seemed as if things went OK with the friend during this, including their removing, per my instructions, clumps of the water lettuce that had filled in at the top in the way that water lettuce does. (obviously that one change in 3+ weeks strategy might not be possible on a more heavily stocked/nitrate producing tank)

The (almost) bad: 1. I did not adequately take into consideration the possibility that the wireless light timer might get disrupted. About 20 days into the trip (on the day of the water change), I signed into the light control app for the first time, and was horrified to see that the light read as disconnected from the app and 'off'. This must not have actually have been correct and/or had only just happened (because the plants were all still green and well), but obviously a light that was permanently off could have killed the plants, spiked the ammonia, and killed all inhabitants. So lights are definitely a variable that has to be thought about and also checked on/monitored if possible 2. I am now sure that the filter must have been at only a slow trickle for a week+, as since I have come back, I have noticed that the prefilter usually clogs after 5 days or so post-water change resulting in much slower flow. Again, the low fish load definitely helped in preventing oxygen or ammonia issues, but I definitely need to think more about how to maintain filter flow if I have to do another research trip (there is a chance I will need to take an even longer one this summer, though it currently also seems likely that my wife will be at home for that one). 3. having a heater running is definitely not optimal, though here it was necessary given the fact that it is winter. In summer I would likely have unplugged the heater and kept the house AC relatively high (with instructions to the feeders not to turn it down). 4. the tank obviously handled the death of the endler without a significant ammonia spike, but I am unsure how it would handle the death of the mystery snail--that big fella/gal remains a point of concern in terms of how things would go in the event of an unnoticed death.

The (could-have-been) ugly: 1. Actually one of the riskiest parts of the trip occurred about a month before I left, when I added 6 endlers to the tank without quarantine. I definitely did not think through the fact that a disease outbreak on the eve of the trip would have been a nightmare. In fact, there was a mini-disease outbreak, with a sick CPD and endler just a week before we left. I treated (see above) for parasites; both of those fish eventually passed (the CPD just before we left, the endler sometime after). But things could have been much worse if others had become sick, and avoiding new additions for at least 6 weeks prior to a long trip seems advisable to me.

I am sure there is more that could be added. But it is late, and I am going to go enjoy the spectacle that is a pack of CPDs 'sharking' up and hunting a shrimp pellet. Seriously, they look/act like a pack of whitetip reef sharks!

 

Walked into the living room today to find my wife (with son by her side) facetiming my mother-in-law and complimenting/showing off the tank. Greatest moment of my aquarium keeping life. (those who have read my other posts and threads will especially know why )