more fiddleheads!

fish report 5

It has now been five days since I've seen any symptoms on my fish. Treatment plan says to continue the heat and salt for four days after symptoms are gone, so I hope I've beat it now. It has been a total of twelve days with raised heat and salt, recommended duration is ten days. Other advice I've read says keep it up for a total of two weeks- I am lowering it slowly now, one degree a day, so it's going on for a bit longer. Yesterday was the last day I did gravel vac. Today changed out 5 gallons for fresh water, no salt added back in this time, to start removing it. The fish all still look great.

Except for the one cherry barb female in QT. Her tail is rotting. She shows no signs of ich, and the fungus is gone, but the tail rot advancing. Doesn't look good for her. I'm keeping up with the daily water change (half a gallon, which is 10%) and salt dose. Switched to melafix for the meds. She still eats okay though- perks up every morning when I feed. Lightly, to avoid polluting the small space. Two flakes, or a tiny pinch of pulverized algae wafer, shrimp pellet. Peas today.

arrowhead

One of my favorite plants right now.

It has quite a few new leaves unfurling, with pretty pink veins.

kuhli plans

I got another photo of a kuhli in the 20 gal this morning, he was disturbed a bit during the gravel vac (still treating for ich, no more spots or glancing behavior for a while now, hope I've finally beat it). I'm not sure if he looks well- seems like I can almost see the line of his spine through the body- is it supposed to be partially translucent like that? Also looks rather pinkish, but again I'm not sure if this is normal for them. I've been trying to feed them more directly- dropping a bit of spirulina wafer or shrimp pellet into the java fern/crypt "cave" after dark. If I do it too early in the evening, the cherry barbs zoom in on that, and then Pinkie will nudge his way in there and commandeer the food.

I managed to get a few pictures of the "lonely kuhli" in my ten-gallon.

Dropped half a shrimp pellet in there after dark, dimly lit again from lamp across the room- but obviously the other fishes could smell it and came looking for the food. Oliver kept grabbing the pellet and trying to get bites, he eventually broke it apart and the kuhli kept poking around there for a long while after the others lost interest, so I hope he got some too.

They are too few, I've learned. Kuhlis like to be in groups- three or five bare minimum, even more to feel secure. So now plan is when I change out my stocking (move out the barbs and bring in more platies) I'll get less platies and a few more loaches instead. Undecided whether I should move the sole loach out of the tenner into here, or give him a few more companions where he is...

I found a kuhli cave idea online- someone made this one by setting a shelf of plexiglass on bottle-cap "legs" and covering it with matching substrate and stone. It is raised up just enough that the loaches can congregate under there, and you can easily view them against the front glass. Very cool. Mine all hide under the logs where I can't see them. Just an occasional glimpse after hours. So... I've been thinking for a long time I want to get phoenix moss (fissidens) and had been mulling over the idea of attaching it to stones, or another small piece of driftwood, or a mesh that just lies on the tank floor so it looks like grass. Now I'm thinking I might make a ledge cave like this- with a layer of gravel topping it, and the moss rooted on that. It would be a little fissidens moss shelf, that the kuhlis could hide under. I'm picturing this in the main tank, and fissidens rooted atop the skull cave (where Oliver seems to sleep) in the tenner.... Someday.

worm update

The worms are better. There has been no odor at all- not even on opening the bin, for at least a week now. I fed them only once this week- half what used to be the normal amount, with some dryer lint, a small of used hamster bedding and some cardboard chips for brown material mixed in. Mostly vegetable matter, didn't put all the fruit scraps in there, but tossed a lot (afraid it would get too moist again). Turned most of the bin contents by hand as well, to make sure it was aerated and not bogging down in the bottom again. Worms happily squirming. Masses of them where the latest food patch was. None trying to escape. Damp in the lower areas but not too bad, not dripping anymore. Smells earthy and sweet- just right. The yogurt containers are slowly crushing from weight, so I've replaced a few of them with tin cans that are the same height. Will replace the rest when I have more on hand.

And some of my worms have unintentionally migrated! I've noticed for a while that the plants which received vermicompost hold water better now, so water them a bit less frequently. Some the pots nearly always feel heavy. The other day I was moving soil in top of my avocado pot (poured water in too fast and it shoved a bunch aside so I was patting it back) and the surface moved. I dug around a bit- found six or seven young red wigglers in there! They must have been baby ones or perhaps eggs in the compost when I put it in the pot. I don't know how many more might be in there, or in other plant pots around the house! I didn't think they would survive living in a pot... next time I repot or refresh the soil for these plants, will comb through it thoroughly to see if there's more worms.

aloe

My aloe has grown into a spiky, long-armed monster. It seems to like being outside, but I don't know where I will put it indoors when cold weather comes. I don't have a good spot where it can get the proper light, and not poke everyone who walks by!

fern

This one is doing well. The fiddleheads are quickly growing out their foliage.

It's lovely to watch.

fish report 4

Everyone is doing well now except the one female barb. The growth (?) on her side is gone, but she definitely has fungus and split fins. Fungal treatment I have is not good for the scaleless fish (kuhli loaches) plus I think fungus is better treated at lower water temperature, not high. So I took her out and put in the small QT tank. Moved over the sponge filter that had been sitting longest in the main tank, 2 gallons tank water from there, 2 gallons new (dipped out, not pulled off the bottom with siphon, in case there's still ich tomonts). Started dosing the QT with primafix. She looks okay this morning- less fungus I think. Hides under the bridge mostly.

In the main tank I have not seen ich spots for six days now, and thought none of the fish were flashing anymore but saw one female barb do it this morning. So still looking carefully for more spots. I am keeping up the daily wc with gravel vac to remove ich, although this is a bit tedious and I worry it's hard on my plants, having the nitrates pulled out every day. Put a few drops of liquid plant food back in each time, just in case. Yesterday saw the two kuhli loaches- one his gills looked irritated? I am slowly reducing the salt concentration- with the replacement water just 1/4 tsp of aquarium salt now.

So my morning routine goes like this: check water temperature and make sure all the fishes are still alive. Feed them- let settle in again a bit. Wash the dishes so my sink is clear, water balcony plants with dishwater. Water indoor plants with old fish water (from the 10 gallon tank, I don't want to give salt to my houseplants so all water from the twenty is going down the drain right now). Wash my hands well, get out all the supplies. Use baster to pull waste and maybe ich tomonts off bottom of QT tank (just in case this fish still had parasites on her too). Condition and dissolve salt dose into the replacement water- lots of stirring. Re-dose the QT with primafix. Observe the fish for reactions- she looks okay. Rinse the baster in scalding hot water, wash hands and rinse well again.

Set aside the light strip and cover glass from the main aquarium, turn off the power strip. Prime the siphon over five-gallon bucket (I do this by partly filling the hose and lifting it over my head until a continual water column -plugged with thumb on the other end- not sucking on the hose end like I used to!) and carefully siphon half the gravel bed- so as not to distrub too much. I do the other half the next day. This pulls out three to four gallons of water. While the water is low I check on the plants and remove dead stuff- clipped off four leaves from the largest crypt that were yellowing and deteriorating fast, plus a leaf each off two aponogeton (including the largest, nicest one). Replace water with the gallon clean-water "fish" pitcher- conditioner and salt dose stirred in. Watch the temperature- it's steady at 88° now. Dry off any water drips. Turn the power strip back on. Replace the cover glass and light strip. Dump the fish water down the drain, rinse the siphon in scalding hot water, wash hands well. Observe the fishes- everyone looks spunky.

If I don't see any more spots by friday I will feel safe to stop doing the gravel vac every day and reduce the temperature to 86°; if there's still no sign of ich for another week bring it down again to the normal 78°. I think I didn't get it all last time because didn't keep the temperature up long enough.

Quite a few plants have dying leaves, but others- the java fern in particular- are growing lots of new fresh ones. I swear my rotala looks greener too- maybe the little trumpet snails are doing their job and cleaning off all that algae. Or maybe it's my new light bulb.

You can see here the biggest aponogeton has a new green leaf on the left, a dying leaf on the right. Once I get rid of the ich, my next goal will be to figure out what makes these plants keep growing, instead of always dying parts too.

clean up

Which means: how many plants will move from my balcony to the dumpster, today?

I should have tossed the chocolate Mint weeks ago- it is now a mottled mess. Still it was disappointing, the beautiful scent surrounding me while I upended it into the trash bag. I think my plants are afflicted by spider mites, but not sure so I am not taking chances but throwing away the soil they were all in, too. Won't use the pots or shards again until they've been bleached and rinsed well.

I cut out all the oregano, too- that's also failing. Not my favorite variety of oregano anyways (but the mint was). I tried to salvage the lemon balm, which was just starting to show bad signs on the little seedling sprouts and some lower leaves. This one was still sitting in original garden soil (mostly clay) from the old house- I must have transplanted it in a hurry and forgot to give new soil. I dug out the main stems and put into new soil. Useless, pretty plant. Giving it one last chance.

Probably should throw out some more- my daughter's lovely little mimosa (sensitive plant) has symptoms.

So does the ginger, but it's also got new shoots coming up since I fed with vermicompost. I've been wiping down the ginger leaves (sharp, fresh lovely ginger scent arises when I do!) every day or so with damp paper towels, they seem dusty and debris-ridden (at a microscopic level). It seems to help a little bit, but I don't have the energy to do this for every plant. I guess I could spray with soapy water, but keep forgetting and by the time I noticed the plants were sickly, it seemed too far gone and likely to just spread more. They're goners.

I will really miss the fresh mint tea. Will have to get some new herbs from the nursery next spring. I never did replace my rosemary, stevia, thyme or sage this year...

fish report 3

Seems to be improving. I've got the temperature steady at 88° now. The fishes are eager to eat. I changed out 4 gallons yesterday, 2 and a half today- with replacement salt measured and stirred in. Going lighter with the gravel vac. Looked very close today but see no more ich spots. One female barb was flashing momentarily, another has a split tail fin. And the injured one puzzles me- I don't know what hurt her. I thought it was a nipped fin, but looked more carefully compared to the other fishes- she's got all her fins. Originally it looked like a bit of torn skin sticking out, and was red around the area. Now it's no longer inflamed, just a bump with maybe some fungus growth. I'm keeping up the small daily water changes for her sake, even after the ich appears to be gone. It's really hard to get a picture of the problem- on her left flank here, just above the anal fin.

Pinkie is doing better. No more spots on him, and he's swimming about once more.

jade

Of my two largest crassula plants, I cut one's top off. Want it to grow a bit stouter. This was a week ago. It's sprouting new leaves now- bright young green.

the tenner

This one is finally looking like what I wanted.

I love seeing the small fishes move in and out under the broad anubias leaves, Oliver like a black flag leisurely swimming around. The aquarium sits near my desk and its light is on in the evening hours, so I can glance over and watch them when I need a rest from the computer screen.

It's maintenance day again. On my ten-gallon tank now things are simple and minimal work, which I like. I changed out 2 gallons today, still with gravel vac as I don't have any trumpet snails in there now. Careful to wash and rinse hands well, rinsed the gravel vac and hose with very hot water too. Did this one first so I wouldn't risk carrying over disease from the 20gal. Wiped some alage off the glass, plastic plants, brushed some off the largest anubias leaves. Removed a few anubias leaves that had gone yellow, the rest seem healthy- they are sending down fat shoots that look like roots.

I've put a sheet of paper across the short end of the tank that faces the window, to cut out sunlight. It only falls direct on one corner of the tank for a few hours, but that's enough to be a problem. The foliage on that end was getting more hairy algae on it.

The java fern is growing well, tethered to its stones.  Have almost doubled their amount of leaves.

I've cut out more of the java moss- decided I don't like how it accumulates so much debris- and am growing more bits of it in jars of water, just for the fun of that. Fishes in here are all doing well! Oliver eats the variety I offer him, no longer so picky. He particularly likes going after bits of smashed green peas.

Look! This was a portrait of Oliver ↑ but in the middle you can see the kuhli loach peeking out from behind the driftwood. I also found a small trumpet snail in here- darker color than those in the bigger aquarium. I didn't think there were any babies in here, and have only seen the one so far (top of the skull eye socket) ↓

fish report 2

In the 20 gallon, still ich. I hope I have caught it soon enough- the temp is now 86° I will try to raise it to 88° in the evening. Fishes are handling this ok- many of the barbs hang in the water with fins clamped, but not gasping. One looks injured- anal fin bitten off? I feared at first Pinkie had turned aggressive, but instead it looks like one of the new platies is nipping at her. Some of the barbs have ich spots, I saw fishes of all species flashing today- Pinkie, a danio, several barbs, one platy. Bummer.

At least the kuhli loaches look alright. I hadn't seen them in a day or two, so slowly lifted edge of the driftwood when cleaning. One scurried out, then back in. The snails are out in force- counted over a dozen baby trumpet snails today- it is funny to see the tiny ones wedging their way through the gravel, moving bits of stone many times their own size when they tunnel down against the glass. I suppose it's because I have been doing gravel vac every day now to clear the ich- so there is not as much food in the substrate for them?

I do see them crawling on plants- I hope they are just eating the algae although I see tiny scrape marks on the crypt leaves too.

My kids and I play a game now: who can spot the most baby snails? I see four in this picture, probably there are more.

So there's obviously a population boom but I'm not too worried- I want the snails after all, and I'm told they will self-regulate and adjust their numbers to how much available food there is. Right now it's algae. Bonus pic: a fish face up against the glass. You can see the green algae spots.

Doing a light gravel vac of as much of the bed as I can reach- what's not covered in wood or plants- takes out at least five gallons. It seems like too much to do that large a water change every day, but evidence seems to show that more frequent water change is beneficial for the fishes, as long as you don't do it so suddenly that they get a pH or temperature shock. I hope it will be okay. Pinkie has been lying around on the bottom more than usual, I'm worried about him.

fish report

Temp to 84° this morning. If the fishes still look ok by evening I will bump it to 86°. Water change this morning- 30% (with a half dose of liquid plant food added back in) as I tried to do a thorough gravel vac- not too deep though but over all the surface. Removed airline from one sponge filter, so now just the second one bubbles. While I was in there with lower water level, trimmed a few dying leaves from java fern, crypt and stems off the aponogeton. Moved the baby crypts a short distance from the second plant, and pulled that one closer to the edge of the "cave" formed by the driftwood- it was looking crowded, maybe that's why not growing as well. I was pleased to see the little crypts- there's three- have nice, long white roots. So at least one kind of plant in there is happy!

The watesprite on the other hand, is dying back a lot but at the same time new foliage coming up on every plant. I've seen the small snails on the browning foliage at night, eating the dead parts. One piece broke loose from the gravel and I just let it float. Maybe this one will do better floating, it does for some aquarists. I have the better light for it now. Incidentally, that's Marvin on the glass- you can see his mouth. My nine-year-old insisted on naming the nerite snails. The one in my smaller tank is Mavis. Some people call these tomato snails.

The fishes- well, none have died yet. The barbs are kind of hanging in the water, not as active. I didn't see any platies flash today, a few spots visible on the barbs and to my dismay Pinkie has quite a few as well- three or four on his side, two on the tail.

I have added a low dose of aquarium salt- just 5 tsp into the 20 gallons- will keep an eye on the loaches and if they seem okay tomorrow, I'll add another fraction.

grrrrrrrrr

Yah, that's how I feel. So frustrated with my aquarium. Just when things seem a bit better, disease strikes again which I am sure is due to some mistake on my part. I keep trying to think what I have done to get things in the right direction again, which this little blog record helps with, but not completely. Lately I changed the light bulb, lowered the hours back down to six, brushed algae coating off with toothbrush, quit vaccuming with the new trumpet snails, and started dosing half the recommended amount of plant ferts once a week- after the water change. Half the amount, because my plant growth isn't that thick yet.

Good news is, the plants seem to be responding to that. The leaves are no longer yellowing, but they do have pinholes- I think the snails are eating them. I have baby trumpet snails! I've seen at least seven, sure there are plenty more. The java fern and crypt wendtii are sending up new leaves- java fern growing fast. The watersprite might be doing better- the leaves actually look wider, not so thin and spindly now. And today I saw to my delight that three of my aponogeton have new shoots coming up- and once they emerge, they do grow fast- although the largest plant has two older leaves decaying now, before they had reached full growth I hoped for. None have ever yet grown as large as the leaves the plant had on it when first arrived. But I'm thinking that was the algae smothering... So.

I think I need to keep dosing the ferts- and maybe add some that provides liquid CO2. I've read of low-tech tanks having good results with that, plus it kills off the algae. Must read more first... Also perhaps I should add a few root tabs again, at the base of the smaller aponogeton and the smaller crypt- one has taken off, the other is not doing as well. I bet some of the deficiency came about because I did so much gravel vac when the tank had ich- it pulled out black clouds of the root tab material.

But now I'm due to go through that again. There's definitely a new ich outbreak in the tank. I can't really see the dots on the new fish- for some reason they don't seem to show up on the paler, blue flanks- or maybe they aren't as badly infested yet. But I saw one platy flashing over and over against the airline tube today. Several female barb have visible spots on them, one of the males- Buster- was flashing a lot too, against driftwood and plant leaves. I'm still raising the temp- it's 82° now- and doing daily water changes- will start gravel vac tomorrow. Don't know what else to do at this point.

I have kept the air running through sponge filter for now, because of the raised temperature, but think that when this is done (ich battle) I should turn that off. Turns out that in a low-tech system air stones actually remove CO2 from the tank faster than the plants can use it- so it does more harm than good. I think I am understanding this right. But think back- perhaps the plant decline began when I added the airline and sponge filters? I could easily just set the sponge filter in there to gather good bacteria in case it is needed in a quarantine tank... without running the air...

Still trying to solve so many problems.

fiddleheads

I thought my boston fern was never going to recover from its summer haircut.

But finally it is sending up some new fiddleheads, and they are growing quickly.

platies

are settling in. No longer hiding, pale, or clamped fins. Eager to eat. Pinkie moves towards them occasionally but they back up or dart off, and he doesn't chase. They're picking algae off the plants, which I think will help the aquarium conditions a lot.

But it seems I've still got ich in there- although the established fish must now be immune to whatever strain is in here. Dismayed to think I didn't kill it all before, the platies are probably feeling stressed in their new home even though they look perky now, and maybe my water conditions aren't as good as I thought. Their tail fins look a bit ragged and sprinkled with a few white dots- hard to see except when the aquarium light is on. I thought I saw one platy flashing yesterday against an object. There's already a little aquarium salt still in there from the introduction day. I've started raising the temperature a little- to 80° so far- and doing a small water change each morning.

In spite of this trouble, I'm happy with them. I do so love their blue color! I hope I can get them through this.