cuttings

I have cut all the stems of arrowhead and stuck them in a jar of water. I just like the way it looks better, not so leggy but grouped together, and the leaves seem to get bigger this way. It appears happiest when very damp- but I've left the original plant in pot so if the stems rot here I can always start it over.

It never did before- I just kept trimming and it kept growing in the water. (I gave that first green bouquet away). It's been in jar a week now and already roots are growing.

doing better?

Fish day observations. I'm giving the full dose of nutrients on both tanks, although I probably need to double the root tabs (gave five whole tabs to the 20 gal today; recommended dose is ten once a month) which is 1 ml micronutrients on the small tank, 2 ml for the bigger one, 1/32 tsp potassium for the small, 1/16 for the bigger. Maybe I need more of that too- a few java fern leaves are showing pinholes again and in the smaller tank they are not recovering yet.... or they need other macros as has been suggested- still black areas on many leaves (not algae, doesn't rub off) although that might be just foliage dying off with the new adjustment, as the newer leaves look better.

At least in comparison. Rotala still has leaves  green like stars on top and some from base of stems, longer leaves not stunted dark curling ones. I'm pleased. One stem has almost reached the water surface; maybe soon I will trim and reset the tops.

Amazon sword has responded too. Its newer leaves show no signs of algae (green splotches) or decay (black marks) and have stronger-looking veins, with kind of a purple tint. I wasn't expecting this change, I take it as a mark of health.

It's grown quite a bit taller, too.

The crypts also seem to be doing better. All their younger leaves, that were just emerging when I began dosing potassium and root tabs, have a nice olive hue, stronger veins, pretty pinkish tint to the underside and stems. No sign of algae on the newer foliage. Older leaves blotchy and dying off, but I think that's normal for the adjustment. New foliage growing constantly from the base too. Soon I will divide these- they're actually growing in two main clumps which have three to five or six crowns each, plus there's three baby offshoots in another loose group (younger leaves on those look healthier too) but I don't want to disrupt them too soon, and plan to separate the crowns on a day I might move or introduce new fishes- changes in the aquascape distracts resident fish from bullying newcomers too much (I still want to move the kuhli Sam into here, at least).

Java fern. It has some big leaves holding on to their bold green lush color, these also have stronger-looking veins. Oldest leaves turning black and dying off, but not as rapidly as before, and for the first time in ages on cleaning day I didn't feel compelled to pull out yellowed and bleaching leaves. A few new fiddleheads as well.

I have never gotten a picture of this, but on the back end of the java fern log, there is the tiniest clump of java moss growing with minute little leaves.

Apono, my poor aponos. Only four of them look okay, the others I think might be too far gone to recover now. The "good" ones are still sending out new shoots, but older foliage also continues to die. It was actually looking great earlier this week, started to look peaky just a few days ago and this morning mottled brown on the older ones. I think nutrients still too few for this plant. Needs more root tabs or maybe a second dose of micros halfway thru the week...

Watersprite is coming back! All the plant bits I pegged down have doubled in size, new shoots unfurling from the bases of some too. Phew. At least I have saved some. It's hard to get a pic of those- they're behind the sword.

So- overall I think it is slowly improving. I can see now why people told me on the forums to "do a proper low-tech tank" with a nutrient-rich substrate. Then I wouldn't have to put in root tabs all the time... but I don't want to tear this tank apart and start over. Maybe I'll do it the other way when I upgrade to a thirty for angels...

When I glance into the tank from afar, the overall appearance is one of green things growing, not yellowing and brown, so I am hopeful again. Also for the first time ever, I see the plants producing oxygen- little bubbles pearling on the leaves. I think that's a good sign!

Last note: in the tenner, java ferns are not doing too good (I haven't seen any new leaves start in a while, and the older ones pinholes and black splotches again) but the anubias all continue to produce new shoots, and when I trimmed the java moss (I'm still growing it in jars) discovered that some strands are actually clinging to the top of the fake skull. I thought it was never going to do that!

fronds

My boston fern is also doing nicely. The new foliage on this one is longer than ever.

new!

For only the second time in four years, my avocado plant has put forth new leaves, and seems to be holding onto them.

The oldest set of foliage is looking tired and droopy, so maybe its just regenerating itself to replace. But the new shoot grew right after I gave the plant fish water with worm leachate in it, so I think it's responding to the extra nutrients.

lovely

poinsettia

application

It was with satisfaction I spread vermicompost on my boyfriend's hosta bed a few days ago. Felt like real gardening again! Over the past few weeks whenever leacheate started dripping into the tray, I lifted the new bin off the old, turned over all the material with my hands to loosen it up, especially where it was compacted like mud on the bottom. In the process picked out worms. The first time, there were so many still in the old bin my back got tired of bending over before I even sorted through it all. The second time, there were half or less the amount of worms, and I picked through all the soil, dropping them by handfuls at a time into the new bin. They squirm tickling on the skin, then dissappear quickly into the bedding. They appear more robust and lively than before.

This time, I intended to empty the old bin completely. As turned over material, sifted out the worms by hand, dumped compost into a bucket, worms into new bin. Not nearly so many. I filled two five-gallon buckets with vermicompost, and still had enough left over to mostly fill another bucket. It was pretty damp so I mixed in some old soil from my now-empty planter boxes, worked it through until all nice and crumbly. Put these two buckets' worth on the hostas, and the remainder went into a nearly-empty potting soil bag. I folded the top down loosely, punched holes in the side (with a carving fork) and stashed under the kitchen dresser. Supposed to keep working, keep the microorganisms alive, if it stays moist and aerated during storage. I bet I missed a few worms, or some will hatch from eggs left in, so they'll continue working it and when I pull it out in spring to repot my plants, it will be in even better condition to use.

three!

My aloe giant has not two, but three pups!

richness for lemon balm

Not that the plant needs it (I don't think it's a heavy feeder), but I'm short on potting soil so I mixed some old tired soil from an empty planter with fresh, heavy vermicompost from the bin (worms are still migrating, but few enough in there now that I can start sifting them out). Rubbed between my palms until the moist clumps of compost worked into the dry, finer old soil becoming a nice-feeling crumbly mix.

I only found two worms in the compost when I first lifted handfuls from the old bin, and one more when I was mixing the soil. Used it for this bit of lemon balm that's been growing in the nearly-empty oregano planter (I'm not sure how the lemon balm got in there) and looking surprisingly healthy. I levered it out with an old butter knife that is one of my gardening tools, and put it into a pot with the new-mixed bit of soil and compost.

cleanup

I cut all the tall flower stalks off my nicotiana. It makes a pretty, if rather unkempt, bouquet.

Then tidied up outside, clearing out all the dead foliage, all the yellowing older leaves. They look a lot neater now.

And when I cut some tall scraggly stalks off, that were leaning over every which way, found lots of smaller new leaves growing at the base. So I've left those alone. Enough flowers went to seed I might get some seedlings in these pots in spring.

learn from myself

I have to admit, my aquarium plants are doing awful. And when I change things to try and make it better, then seem to do worse instead. I've done plenty of reading on fish-forums, asking advice, talking to the fish guy at the shop. Now looking back on my own blog here to see what I did and what effect it had. There's a lag, I keep looking for results too quick when the plants take two to three weeks to show a response to changes. Main thing is: I kept cutting the lights back. Giving less ferts. Because people told me with low-tech setup you don't need so much, you'll get algae. But you also need healthy plants, and mine are obviously not getting enough of something. I had moved my photoperiod from 12 to 10 to 8 to 6 hours, and things are worse than ever. I used to be feeding the micronutrients a half cap a week, then went to less, had put in root tabs, then vaccumed them out (looking for a snail, cleaning up ich).

So now I am going to try the opposite tack. Giving back the nutrients to the plants, that I had been trying to deprive algae of. Maybe it wasn't algae I was seeing on my plants at all, causing brown stems, but simply dying foliage. I have the original T8 17 watt full spectrum light back on there, I'm going to increase the photoperiod now- bumped to 8 hours today. I'm going to give the main tank 2 ml micronutrients, the small one 1ml once a week. Continue dosing the potassium once a week as well. If they start to look better, I'll increase the light period more, maybe up the micro dose or add more root tabs (I still only have half the recommended amount in there). Keep increasing light/nutrients until I see algae bloom again, and then I'll know to stop at that point or cut back a little.

Because right now there's no algae on any glass (yay MTS) and the splotches on leaves don't rub off either, so I'm pretty sure that's a sign of starving plants, not growing algae. I feel like I've been pretty stupid about this whole live-plant attempt, but hope its still salvageable and my aponos aren't going to die completely. Other thing I've realize is I did this low-tech approach wrong. And thus took the advice online wrong. The method for planted tanks that allows you to not feed ferts is to put a nutrient-rich substrate in first, then cap with sand or fine gravel- so the plants have macros to feed on in the substrate, and micros from the fish waste. Without that nutrient-rich bed, I do have to feed the water column and plant tabs, or my plants slowly starve. Bah.

reworking

the twenty-gallon again. I hate to put my hands in the tank again, but when I learn something new about what I may have been doing wrong, I immediately want to tweak stuff and make it right (or try, at least). I have asked some questions on the fish forums, I have looked up info about how to dose fertilizers. I was told that yes, my plants looks seriously deficient in potassium, but that once I start dosing that, the plants will show up deficient in something else so I should dose all the nutrients. That I should supplement with C02 as well. And that my tank, having the longer dimensions with shallower water, has a higher light level than I realized. It's actually medium light, not high. That triggers more growth, but then the plants can't keep up, lacking other nutrients to match the light, and succumbing to algae.

Groan. I don't want to deal with higher light, don't want to dose C02, don't want to get into a complicated regimen of nutrient dosing every week. I looked back at photos from when the tank was first set up, and realized that although the plants grew slowly (which is to be expected in a low light tank!) they also looked so lush and healthy compared to now after all my fiddling. My java fern used to look like this:

I miss that lush vivid green. So I'm going back to square one, as it were. I put the original light, a T8 17 watt bulb, back on the tank. If they were doing better before, maybe I was doing something right that time. Maybe with the root tabs, extra micronutrients in the plant food and potassium (dry dose) my plants will do ok... Today with the water change I gave the tank 6 drops of plant food (seachem comprehensive, which I might need to dose twice a week because it degrades so quickly in the tank, also I haven't been giving enough) and 1/16 tsp of potassium sulfate. Also 1 tsp of PraziPro against the parasites (they had a dose on wed, this is the second dose). And I cut thin strips of food-grade plastic (out of the sides of a rinsed milk jug) then bent then in half, to pin down the bits of watersprite that are floating and ragged.

One piece the stems rotted so much it detached from the plant last night, but on the upper end some new leaves with root hairs growing. The biggest piece had a twisty tie holding it down but I took that off and replaced with this plastic strip, as the small bit of metal inside those ties can still eventually rust, poisoning the fish. This biggest piece did have one nice white healthy root, the first I've seen, so I hope the root tabs are helping.

I also (last week) tugged up my smaller aponogetons so their crowns are definitely above the substrate, and a few are responding with new leaf growth, when I was afraid they were about to die.

On the ten-gallon, I gave 3 drops of micronutrients, and sprinkled in 1/32 tsp of potassium. I have this cute set of tiny measuring spoons marked "pinch" "dash" and "smidgen". The pinch equals an 8th teaspoon, and I used salt to see if the dash was half that, and smidgen a fourth, and it was.

Then sometime soon I will rehome the blue platies, move the two cherry barb and the lone kuhli from the ten gallon into the bigger aquarium. And after that I don't know what. Wait for the plants to grow. Think about giving Oliver new companions....

Once again, this blog is a litany of the things I have done wrong...

things I've been told

This is a "thinking post."

I made a fruitless trip to the pet stores the other day. Looking for meds to treat my tank again- I suspect some of the fish have internal parasites. One of the remaining platies has stringy white poo, like the one that got thin and died. I thought I saw the same symptoms on a female barb. Neither store has any medication for this. At the second place, my favorite fish guy was in working. He's a wealth of information and even though I failed to find meds, got a lot of my questions answered.

He said the restrictions on medicines sold for fish in stores is getting tighter; you can still get them online, but soon might only be able to acquire from a vet. I was surprised and dismayed. It's bad enough that I'm going to spend ten dollars on a bottle of medicine, plus the cost of shipping, to save a $3 pet! But I would hate it if the parasite got to my cherished betta or killed off my kuhli loaches.

The list I had in hand of meds advised to me on the fish forums where I posted queries about my tank symptoms, he said they are all excellent options and will work, if I can find them. I moved away to browse and showed my kids some of the fishes I really like the looks of- eventually back at the large tank near fish counter where the scalare are. "These are the fishies I want to get someday, when I'm a good fishkeeper. Right now I suck- my fish keep dying and my plants are doing terrible." Fish guy chimed in and said actually angels are easier to keep than my livebearers- platyfish in particular tend to get a wasting disease, tend to be inbred, tend to have problems because they are popular and breeders manipulate their genetics to get the pretty colors- like the very blue I admire. Whereas fishes closer to their wild origins, the barbs and silver angels, are heartier in general. Good thing I find the silver angels (wild-type) most attractive and not the veiled or fancy ones with different colors! Encouraging for my future fishkeeping dreams- that angels might not be so difficult- but I do want to solve my issues with balance in this tank first, getting the plants to grow nice and the fishes to stay healthy.

I was advised on that matter, too. That I need better light- more watts per gallon- contrary to some other info I've read online, more light does not necessarily mean more algae problem if it makes the plants healthy enough to outcompete the algae. That makes sense- but would mean I have to replace the hood (again) for a glass cover which can support any kind of light strip I choose. I would not have to buy more bulbs, I still have the original 17 watt full spectrum bulb the tank came with, I'd just need a new glass cover and new light fixture to hold two bulbs. Gah. More cost. Can't do it now....

At least I know- if the plants are responding to something I did (new light, root tabs) but aren't great yet, do more of that. So- plan is- get new cover lid and strip for two bulbs. Add more root tab. Maybe get ferts that just provide macronutrients; I think from seeing a diagram of plant symptoms that mine are deficient in potassium, and the liquid plant food I got doesn't supply that.

Also: maybe the cherry barbs were the best choice after all, if I want healthy fish. They do have a lot of good points- they seem to be tough (I haven't lost one yet), they eat anything, they clean up after themselves, they do have some interesting behavior, they don't aggravate the betta. I have seen Pinkie lunge at the platies a few times, and although one barb had an injury I never saw who did it... I'm sorely disappointed to not keep my pretty blue platies, but my end goal is angelfish after all.

Now I think I will see if I can cure these platies of parasites, and then perhaps rehome them. And move the lone kuhli Sammy and the two smaller cherry barb out of Oliver's tank into the twenty-gallon. Then leave it alone regarding fishies and focus on getting the plants healthy, the whole tank balanced. Not sure who would go into the tenner with Oliver if that's what I do. I don't want it to just be him and some snails. I would love get a little group of otocinclus again, but have had terrible luck keeping those alive....

Here it is almost a year later, and I'm still on a learning cuve. No wonder so many people give up fishkeeping!

~~
I added four more broken up root tabs, making it a total of five throughout the tank. Still a fourth the recommended application. Have identified the deficiency (I think) symptom of black marks on the leaves, yellowing and foliage bleaching out, then dying off. Potassium. Reading online articles on aquarium plants until my head hurts. It can get very complicated. I'm trying to keep it simple. This is what I understand now: the liquid plant food I've been buying is crap. It has a very short life in the tank, you'd have to dose every day or every other day to keep it in there, useful to the plants. It's all micronutrients which are usually provided by the fish waste anyways. What I need are macros- I think potassium in particular. On the forums highly recommend buying dry ferts- you can dose it very precisely and one purchase will last a lifetime. That's sure. I bought a pound of the stuff (the smallest quantity available) and I will probably use a fraction of a teaspoon per week...

The fish have made the decision for me. About who to keep. I was leaning towards the barbs, but they are the ones who are tearing up my water sprite! (or is it wisteria- still confused on that point) I saw them today, grabbing at the bits that are floating (which never grow, always disappear), nibbling and chewing and spitting out and eating again. Even if they're just going after algae they do it with enough force to tear the plant (suffering already) to pieces, and it's a plant I particularly want- I like the delicate lacey foliage in contrast to all the solid, oblong leaves in my tank (java fern, aponogeton, crypts... )

So yeah. The tough, stolid fishes will go so I can keep my pretty plant alive and get the striking blue platies which might not be as tough, but I think there's another benefit to having platies. They're not as thorough picking through the gravel for food bits, and will leave more for the kuhlis to eat. I won't have to try sticking food under the kuhli log (scaring them in the process, and the barbs always find it and go seeking in there anyways).

telling seasons

by the houseplants. A few of them are actually at their best during fall and winter here. The poinsettia is looking lovely, leaves growing fast, visibly larger every day.

Cyclamen continues to grow new foliage with vigor as well. I don't know if I should hope for flowers again in spring, but I do.

doing better

Another plant which has improved lately, but I'm still leery to bring indoors yet is the lemon balm. I moved it into a smaller pot, cut out all the dying foliage, gave it fresh soil with vermicompost a short while back. It's got bigger, healthier looking leaves now. Still a bit of the discolored pale splotches on leaves. I wonder if the new soil and pot has done it good, or perhaps it just likes cooler weather.

parsley status

My parsley plant is doing great inside. I've already eaten half of it, and it's sprung back with new fresh leaves from the center. The foliage shows no signs of that mottled disease it had when growing outside, and there's none spread to nearby plants yet either. As far as I can tell. Happy with it.

moving the worms

via their own crawling power. I figured it was high time to get them into a new bin- there's still bits of bedding in the old bin, but worms are starting to die- I see grey ones here and there, not moving. I got a funny surprise last time I opened the bin: all the material settled smooth and flat, one single seedling sprung up from hamster litter dead center

I've stacked the new bin atop the old, with fresh wetted cardboard bedding and thawed out food in there. Left it alone for two days, not wanting to disturb the worms too much. Checked on it yesterday- already there were worms in the new bedding, and when I looked through areas of the bin away from the food spot, found more worms coming up through the lower bin holes, just like they're supposed to. 

Not sure how long it will take them all to migrate, but I'll keep checking every few days. In the meantime, leacheate continues to drip into the tray a bit, I'm just wiping it up and squeezing out into the fishwater bucket for plants.

the plants

in my aquarium seem to be slowly improving. At least they are all still putting out new leaves at a steady rate. I went a little more conservative with the Flourish this week, after water change. Gave the 20 gallon aquarium four drops, the ten gallon two. There is not much hair algae now, but still black spots on the foliage that does not rub off. I don't know if this is a stubborn algae or marks on the leaves indicate deficiency. Since giving the plant food and root tabs, the yellow leaves have turned green again new foliage has better, healthy green color, so I still think I'm in the right direction. The rotala all is growing new pale green leaves, longer than before. When the tank lights are out, they look like stars in the dimness:

If the lower leaves on these stems never green up, eventually I think I will pin them down, cut when the tops root, trim off to grow anew from the original roots... I didn't realize I had a few pieces of vallisneria left in here- they are growing more now as well!

Still the aponogeton keeps putting out new shoots, but the foliage seems to loose vigor as soon as it gets a certain size. Either I need to just be patient and let it recover (all the smaller ones are slowly getting bigger) or gradually increase the plant food- or adjust the light so curb algae...

I keep looking back at old photos and thinking it was all looking better in the beginning. Before I moved fish and driftwood in and out, before I changed the light source and back again, before the ich and salt. I can't figure out if the plants would have declined and come back anyways, from adjusting to my tank, or if I've done things all wrong.

the worms

I have stopped feeding them. Once or twice a week now I open the bin, the contents are always settled down. I thought when I stopped feeding it would dry out, but no. It drips a bit into the tray but not stinky so I trust it is safe to use this leachate diluted into my old fish water for the plants. I dig my hands deep into the bin to loosen the material and turn what's in the bottom up to the top, to keep it aerate and from getting too soggy. Fluffed up again, it fills the bin completely. It's getting almost too heavy for me to lift now.

The worms still look great, good numbers of them, very squirmy.

I still see bits of bedding in there, once all signs of that are gone I plan to move the worms into clean bedding and harvest the vermicompost. In the meantime to prepare I am saving food bits for them in the freezer, and shredding more cardboard to restart the bin.

kuhlis

I'm happy with my kuhli loaches. They are looking better- nicer color, and I think they've grown! They're bolder too, coming out at feeding time when it's fresh veggies- I got some decent pictures today when they were looking for bits of peas fallen into the gravel.

Rooting around for bits:

Those in the big tank like to hang out in the stems of crypt near their log.

Two faces peeking out!

I keep thinking that Sammy in the ten-gallon looks larger than the other kuhlis. But the gravel in this tank is smaller size, so the appearance could be deceptive.

He's getting bolder too. But I still think eventually to move him...