Dsm - Dry Start Method

No, they are from the pet store. Plus all were scrubbed with hot water and a stiff brush when I got then home.

Huh, strange. They may have hitchhiked in on something. They look a lot like some of the terrestrial moss I can find in my backyard.

 

Yeah. I removed them and if any are left the will most likely die.

 

If I got some root tabs, would that do the same thing? I live in Canada so it is not always easy to get the same things other people suggest. It would be easiest to buy liquid ferts but I will search for dry ferts.
What do you mean by homeless?

Seachem root tabs only provide micronutrients, and Iron is in there, so that may solve your problem. People say API root tabs have macros but in the description it only says potassium and I have not been able to find the whole analysis of the root tabs anywhere, so I don't know how true is that.
Dry ferts are not that hard to find... I got mine from a guy online that has his own nursery. Both potassium sulfate and potassium nitrate. Dirt cheap, 1 kilogram for 44 Mexican pesos which is like 2 dollars now. I could also get them at agricultural stores, but only in 25 kg bags, and I don't need that much so I got them from the guy, which probably got it from the agriculture stores.
I just like dry ferts because they are cheaper, but if you can't find them and are OK with investing a little bit on ferts then look around for the Seachem Potassium, Iron etc... products, appart from price, they are the same. And by homeless I meant I am on a budget haha.

 

Seachem root tabs only provide micronutrients, and Iron is in there, so that may solve your problem. People say API root tabs have macros but in the description it only says potassium and I have not been able to find the whole analysis of the root tabs anywhere, so I don't know how true is that.
Dry ferts are not that hard to find... I got mine from a guy online that has his own nursery. Both potassium sulfate and potassium nitrate. Dirt cheap, 1 kilogram for 44 Mexican pesos which is like 2 dollars now. I could also get them at agricultural stores, but only in 25 kg bags, and I don't need that much so I got them from the guy, which probably got it from the agriculture stores.
I just like dry ferts because they are cheaper, but if you can't find them and are OK with investing a little bit on ferts then look around for the Seachem Potassium, Iron etc... products, appart from price, they are the same. And by homeless I meant I am on a budget haha.

Ok, I think I'll start off with the seachem stuff, then will try to find a seller for the dry ferts. Thanks for the clarification about you being 'homeless'. I was like " but how do have tanks whilst living on the streets."

Also I just caught my bamboo shrimp eating my dwarf baby tears. I'll let her, since they are going in the trash soon.

 

Update. Tomorrow I will likely go to my LFS and I could get some ferts. If I got liquid ferts, could I just take a dropper and put some drops near the roots? Also, I need potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, right? Which one is most important cause I might be able to get only one. Thanks!

 

They are all equally important. Could you get an all in one or dry ferts instead of single bottles?

 

All in one ferts are **** in earth IMO. I don't feel like I have the control of the tank with them, because If I want to dose something I have to dose a lot of other stuff.
I have lost track of this, what substrate are you using? Phosphorus is supplied by fish food and fish poop, I am yet to dose phosphorus in any of my tanks and I have no problems. Nitrogen, the same story, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrates all have nitrogen, which plants use.
I know you don't have fish right now... but I personally wouldnt spend my money on 2 bottles that I will (possibly)not need long-term. Maybe you will need nitrogen in the future as you seem to have a good plant mass, but I would wait and see first.
The only ferts I have needed so far are Flourish Comprehensive, (altough I am looking into getting micronutrients from agricultural sites, a 20 kg bag of it is cheaper than a 250ml bottle of Flourish lol), Potassium sulfate and potassium nitrate, but the latter one I only use in my 10 gal, because I just have dwarf corydoras and they don't produce much nitrogen compounds... If I had to add something to my list of ferts it would surely be some source of pure Iron. Flourish Comprehensive has iron, but I would have to dose a lot, and possibily overdosed on micros to keep my iron up, I will probably get it from clay, my plan is to grab some clay, fill it with potassium sulfate and shove it in the substrate. You can probably use clay too to get Iron and I don't think it will be as hard to find as dry ferts, altough dry ferts shouldnt be too hard to find, and your pocket will thank you haha.

 

Out of curiosity when are you planning on flooding the tank? I believe tanks are usualły flooded by around six weeks latest, but I can be totally wrong on that....
point being, maybe it's time to flood and add regular ferts/co2 to the mix? Thoughts?

 

I would love to flood it, just I am still missing the co2 and macro ferts. It has been running for 11 weeks. I could fill it up today, but I just want to know if the plants will die anytime without the co2. I know they will melt a lot, but will they die?

It is tricky to find dry ferts in canada, but I did fin some on eBay.ca. 1b for 5 dollars! With 32 dollar shipping... it is quite spendy. So could I do osmocote root tabs, cause that would be 7 dollars with 12 dollars shipping.

Just realized I might be using a mixture of onyx sand and black sand.

One of my Pygmy corys has a white growth on her back, should I medicate? I am in the middle of my water change.

 

If you are sure about what problem your cory is experiencing I would, if not then make a thread about it and people will be glad to help you, sounds like something bacterial/fungal related to me so a med that treats those 2 should help. A lot of knowledgeable people recommend Jungle Fungus Clear meds that are available at Walmart.

 

I'll see if I can get a pic and then I'll post it here and I'll start a new thread. I'll check what medications I have, but the prominent ones are pimfix and melafix.

 

Here is the Pygmy cory. Also, I was thinking of giving my flower shrimp away, thoughts?

 

Send them to me

 

I'd love to, although we are 1500 miles apart. Maybe I can try. want more than one, lol.

 

haha Yes!

 

Ok, I'll do it. Or try to at least. The shrimp is free, but you'll have to pay for shipping. Also, any extra shrimp is 7-8 dollars extra. my family might disagree but I'll try.

 

I'm a little concerned if you're 1500 miles away haha.

How are the otos? Still losing them steadily? Hopefully they've stopped

 

I'm a little concerned if you're 1500 miles away haha.

How are the otos? Still losing them steadily? Hopefully they've stopped

Yeah, maybe not. the last two otos are fine, just they don't like me and that makes me sad.

 

Hopefully they'll last a while!

 

Check out nilocg. Really cheap dry ferts, and only $7 dollar shipping. Or mabye it was $5. Anyway, I got all my macros for $13 counting shipping.

 

Wish I could, but it does not ship to Canada...

 

You could ask him on Facebook? He might.

 

Ok, maybe I'll try, just I don't have Facebook.

 

There might be an email address on his webpage

 

That's it, I'm dosing melafix. Also, does the master test kit test solutions go off? Expires?

So I dosed it, on 3 ml instead of the recommended 5 ml for a tank this size. Had a spaz attack when I was mesuring it and spilled it on my leg

 

Melafix is pretty useless, especially for something that bad. Can you QT him and treat with real meds?

 

"Real meds" haha. I agree that melafix is bad, at least from what I have red. That definitely looks bad, I am starting to see meat I think? You probably need to use something like Jungle Fungus Clear which they sell at walmart.
On a side note, do you have black gravel or something like that? I have gotten corydoras pygmaeus for 2 stores, one had them in the typical gray-olive tone and the other one had the fish on a pretty cool looking black, just like yours. My theory is that gravel color is what makes them change color, but I have never been able to test it, I say this because I got a batch of pygmaeus from a tank with light gravel and they were gray-olive, I then got a batch from an amazonic biotope and the corydoras were black but as soon as they got in my tank and acclimated to pH they all changed to gray-olive except for one which has no eyes (the store said they sometimes get them like that), that one stayed black.

 

Could you tell me what real meds are? This is all I have in the way of antI infection, other than aquarium salt, which I hear can affect plants. My Pygmy corydoras are on a reddish orange substrate along with a few dark spots. Also I just checked online if they had jungle fungus clear and they just have jungle lifeguard.

 

Jungle lifeguard says it treats for fungus, but I don't know if the fish could wait for it to be shipped. Salt can cause some plants to melt a little if anything, but it shouldnt kill them. If that's all you have you can try treating with salt, I have treated corydoras pygmaues with salt twice at concentrations of 3 tablespoons per 10 gals, which is 9 teaspoons per 10 gal, just a teaspoon less than the recommended 1 teaspoon per gallon thing. I disolved the salt first and added it over the course of 8-12 hours but I think you could do it a little bit quicker.
If you are worried you can probably put the corydora in a qt tank and do the salt treatment there so no other fish have to deal with the salinity, at this point I wouldnt be worried about the salt affecting that corydora (even tho I think it won't affect it badly)because if you leave it untreated my guess is that it would die.

 

Ok, I have school tomorrow, but next I can, I will empty some water from this tank into a 5 gallon, along with a airline and some gravel and a hidey hole ie decoration that is hollow. Is this sufficient? 4 teaspoons of salt?

 

Technically it should be 5 teaspoons. You add it slowly to see how the fish does, I don't think the gravel is necessary but some hiding place could come in handy to keep stress down. Couple that with daily water changes and I think you have a plan, I have never treated fungus at those levels with salt, but it is better than not doing anything.

 

It is not fungus. It is a really bad open wound, with bone and muscle showing. I don't know how she got it, but I want her to be better. I'll empty some tank water into a small tank with a air line blowing bubble to make some water movement and surface agitation. I'll put one teaspoon per gallon. You say add it slowly and see how she acts. Badly I take her out?

 

I wouldn't bother with salt. It's a serious wound. I would treat with an antibiotic.

 

Yeah an antibiotic would be better but he said he could not get any so while he gets the proper meds I thought it was better to start treating. What antibiotic would you recommend TexasDomer?

 

Depends on what's available. Kanamycin and erythromycin would be my combo treatment of choice. PatrickShrimp is it just that you can't get meds labeled for fish? Because you might be able to call a vet and get small doses that way.

 

I think my family would think it extra to call a vet. They probably will just say do it yourself. Then I'll say I need different meds and they'll be like "well you have melafix, use it." Are kanamycin and erythromycin common things I could get?

 

They are in the US. Not sure about where you are. You might be able to order them online.

 

Cant you get human medicines that have both those two components and just conver the dosages depending on how diluted the fish product is? I don't know how heavily regulated meds are in Canada.
My parents thought I was crazy when I said I was gonna give my fish metronidazole to treat ich (it was for corydoras paleatus so no salt or heat) but after a biologist with a fishstore told them it actually made sense they left me alone lol.

 

I think I'll just euthanize. I don't have time to quarantine. I have no time in the mornings and my parents are divorced, which makes it hard to do water changes daily. What method would you recommend? Clove oil?



She's dead...

 

Sorry for your loss