07 July 2021

Miss Beautiful?

Not sure what's going on in my tank. I thought things were getting better- Shirley's lip continues to gradually improve. I did a 40% wc today. I've kept the temp at 76-77° thinking the cooler temp will help get rid of what looks like fungus on her lip and faintly on a few of their fins still. But I think the cooler temp is stressing Miss Beautiful. Or she is getting bullied now. She's been hiding behind the plants under the heater all day. Came out for breakfast- after all the other fishes- but not for midday feeding. Last night I'd noticed she was only moving one gill plate- I guess from the same injury that caused the scratch on her side? did she bang into something again? 

Also alarming, all the fishes were acting twitchy after the water change today. Jerking their fins around as if to shake something off, the angels swinging their heads too. I only did one thing different- which was to pour the new water into the tank through a water bottle that has many holes punched in it (my fish trap for kuhlis) because I thought as it breaks up the water flow, less stressful for them, than how I usually to do it (pouring from a pitcher into a cup held at water surface). Was it something about that? Rascal showing stripes:
I tested the water parameters again- Ammonia zero, Nitrites zero, Nitrates just below10 ppm, pH 7.8 (normal for here). I can't think what could be wrong- I feel like I should continue to do the large wc every other day until Shirley's lip fungus is all gone- but don't want Miss Beautiful to keep acting stressed or in shock.

On the other hand, the golden sisters sure are feeling fine. Came home from an errand- several hours after the wc- to find Shirley alternately cleaning and fanning an aponogeton leaf- she looked a lot slimmer- and I watched her lay one egg, which Precious behind her promptly ate. Precious herself looks very plump so I expect to see her laying eggs soon. Or it's just because she ate them all!
Shirley worked at cleaning, chasing other fish away, fanning, even when there wasn't an egg on the leaf at all- as if she knows all the proper actions but doesn't have them in the right sequence. Useless, anyway. 
Miss Beautiful meanwhile, under the heater very close to their apono leaf, wasn't bothered at all. In fact several times I saw one or the other gold angel slide under the heater into the space with her- but not pick at her or threaten, just rest by her side companionably. Miss Beautiful's color would come back when they were next to her. The gold angel would move off and she'd go dark and washed-out again.
So I think if she's stressed from being harassed, it's by Foxface. I still really like that fish, but am starting to think I shouldn't have bought him. Some plants are showing tears and holes- he might be trying to eat them, too. I gave him a good amount of seaweed today- the younger angels will eat a bit of it, Miss Beautiful ignores it entirely, Foxface gets most. Thought it would help for him to have more greens . . . The smaller festivum doesn't pester anyone- I wonder if it turns out Foxface is male and Rascal is female, would it work better to just keep the female. But I don't know how to tell unless they pair off, and also not sure if one would do well alone w/just the angels . . . 

On another note, there's a new val americana coming up in the middle of that planter basket!

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