Fishy Fish Entry #17

I was so excited about my Bolivian Rams Cichlids. I couldn't wait to get them in. It was going to be soooo cool. They were suppose to come in today if the LFS could get some from the Cichlid breeder.

I had the tank all set up... nitrates and nitrites were 0, ammonia... 0, pH 7.4, but it was doable for Bolivans.

I used water from my main tank when I started getting it cycled to help it along, I was doing everything right.

today I went to see if my Bolivians were in. I was given a bag with two cichlids.. they were SIMILAR to Bolivians, but I wasn't sure they looked like the pictures I've seen. They were pure white. I was told they're just stressed, and once acclumated, they'll be fine.

After acclumating them I allowed them to free swim in the tank. then I got a call from the fish guy (who wasn't there at the time...) "They gave you the wrong fish, those are German Blue Rams. they are much tougher to care for than Bolivians." I was like "great" they are already free swimming. so now what?

I went down to check on them, and they had their color and were swimming around.

Now my concern now is that I need to get the pH down. the pH is at 7.4 which is ok for Bolivians (unless you are breeding), but you need to be much lower for Blues. However, Blues are so sensative, you can't use chemicals like pH down without great risk... so now it's like... ok now what? A lot of the natural cures for pH will cloud the water or discolor it. I was told that I have to get the pH down because the Blues will waste away in such high pH.

So who knows.

I don't.

I'm just trying to do what I can to keep the fish alive, cause they are very pretty.

Fishy Fish Entry #16

Well today I was in a cleaning frenzy. I did an all over cleaning of my betta tank. No matter how many water changes I do, it seems the green algae always comes back. The rocks are fine, Gary the snail and his/her babies are doing a good job on the gravel... but now the walls are spotted with green algae.

So I did a water change, vaccumed the gravel a little, and wiped down the walls. I'm mad because I noticed in my pics I missed a few spots... but its definately a lot cleaner.







Genesis is happy









I'm also doing better in my main tank that was infested with Ich (Ick). However, after 2 weeks of treatment, (Salt/heat therapy and occassional gravel vaccums) it seems to be under control. No one is spotted, no one seems to be any worse for wear... in fact, they seem to be much happier with the addition of new silk plants to hide in. They also like sneaking around the Japanese pagoda.













(Ein always seems to want to hang out with the 6 pack more than with Spike and Jet, my other two black neons.)

Because they're doing so well, tonight I turned the temp down from 87 to 85 and added a half gallon of new water. If they do well, I'll turn the temp down to 83 in the morning, and add a little more water, and by probably Sunday or Monday, have the tank back to normal.

I am almost done with my new tank. I added a cichlid cave for them to hide in... and I'll probably get a few more plants. Water levels are still excellent. 7.4pH, 0 Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia... so its looking good. I was thinking I'd be able to get my Rams tomorrow, but I was told they will probably most likely not be in yet. the breeder was unsure if he'd make it this way by tomorrow. So I may have to wait a bit longer.



I still have to get a background. No where around here sells them. I may have to order one from Drs foster and smith.

Fishy Fish Entry #15

things are still going good in the ick tank. I think the addition of the extra plants have helped calm them. They seem more relax and happy with the additional hiding places. Less stress = happy, ick free fish. I think I'll start lowering the temp on Friday.

my 30 gallon is almost ready for fish. Water levels looking good, water clear, temp is optimal... just waiting on a new hood. I bought a new hood because the one that came with the tank was broken, only they ordered me a hood for a 30 gallon long, not a 30 gallon tall, so the hood doesn't fit. *Sigh*

but I'm still happy. The tank was a mess when I started setting it up. it was used as a saltwater tank, and it sat in a garage for a very long time collecting dust. Lets just say, cycling a tank takes less time than it took to clean the tank... but I think I did an okay job. I'm going to be getting Bolivian Rams for it.

Nothing specatcular yet. I need to add a decorative flower pot for the Bolivian Ram Cichlid to use as a cave... maybe an extra plant or two... and I need to get a decorative backdrop...

all in all though, it came out pretty good IMHO. ^_^

Fishy Fish Entry #14

Well, knock on wood, things seem to be going good in my main tank. Still no major outbreak of new spots which is good. Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites are all 0 which is great, high pH is 7.8 which isn't bad either.

Since a lot of Ick issues can be caused by stress... I added a few new silk plants for them to hide in, and a replica of a famous Japanese Pagoda in Kyoto, Japan.

Not sure if I like the current arrangement... once things get back to normal in the tank, I'll work on arranging the plants and pagoda where they will look the best.





I finally got a nice picture of Genesis. He really loves those colorful silk plants... better than the natural looking ones. More power to him. Whatever keeps him happy!

Fishy Fish Entry #13

Its been a long time since I've gotten an action shot of Gary doing his job... but today he was finally eating the algae on the walls of the tank. (He got the floor pretty clean.)










I've also noticed the baby snails getting bigger. I was starting to wonder if they were Gary's offspring or a different species of snail that came on the live plants I use to have in the tank because their shells looked different... but as they get bigger, they're starting to look more and more like Gary. Their shells are starting to take the shape of a Japanese Trapdoor snail.

Fishy Fish Entry #12

Checked Fishies today.

Genesis and Gary the snail are doing great! I'm so happy. I wish I could get a good picture of Genesis but he's not very cooperative lately. He likes to chase the flash, so when the flash turns on, he swims after it and his pic gets blurred.

but as you can tell... his colors are still bright and amazing. he's a healthy eater too. Even the baby snails I left in the tank seem to be doing well.

So I'm happy about my Betta tank.

My main tank is doing great now too!

When I woke them up today, everyone was spottless and swimming happily... including the whiptail who was the worst off... not a spot on Umi at all. I'm going to let them be today... do a gravel vaccum tomorrow (I was going to do one today... but I just did one about 2 days ago, and I'd hate to disturb them on the first day they are ick free.)

But I'll do a gravel vaccum tomorrow... start doing consistant vaccums every other day, and slowly wean them off the salt. I don't think I'm going to remove all of the salt since they all seem to do well on it, and it's a good preventative for illness... but I won't keep them on nearly the same dosage.

I'm going to keep the heat therapy going at least until the middle of next week though, just to make sure the ick has been killed and I've vaccumed up all the spores.

I'm just very happy that... knock on wood... it seems ALL of my fish are pulling through. I think feeding them tubiflex worms and bloodworms has also helped. I heard protien helps them fight infection.

Fishy Fish Entry #10

Well this morning I checked on my fish, and it seems that Umi has way less spots than there were yesterday.

(click on the pick to enlarge it.)

It's not the best pic, but compared to the one I posted earlier, you can still tell there's an improvement.

You can't really see Naruto's tail because he's in the middle of spinning around... but he still only has two visible spots left on him... and as you can see, Sakura, my female molly, is spotless.

So I think maybe they're starting to get over it without medication. Keeping my fingers crossed ^_^

Fishy Fish Entry #8

Well, MOST of my fish are doing well on the 87 degrees/salt treatment for Ich (ick)...

The ones who had spots are pretty much cured. I only have two lingerers... (click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Naruto was among the first to show signs of Ick... he was covered in them. as you can see, he's almost clean... but there are at least two visible spots left. Problem is... I don't know if it's a reoccurance or if it's just lingering spots.

My young longnose whiptail Umi was the very last to get ick. She's not nearly as bad as she was... but as you can see, she's still covered in spots.

I'm at wits end about what to do. I slowly raised the temp to 87 as recommended, I added the proper amount of salt... I've done gravel vaccums to pick up loose spores once every few days... So I guess I'll have to use a medication to try and get rid of the ick. I won't use coppersafe cause not only have I had a bad experience, I've heard bad things about it... I'll try rid-ick or quick cure. I just hope I can pull it off.

Fishy Fish Entry #7

Ok, I got my water test kit in (which is suppose to be more accurate than the test strips I was using.

Ammonia is 0
Nitrites are 0
Nitrates are 0
and High Range pH is 7.4

so it seems the water is pretty good. I was worried because while some of my fish that were worse off are improving... but Ai (my whiptail) had a bunch of spots on her today that I never noticed before. but when I went to fill the viles for the water test this evening, I noticed Ai had fewer ick spores on her than this morning, and the fish worst off had even less spores than before.

So perhaps this is finally taking its course and we'll be in the clear soon. But I'm not letting my guard down yet. I'll keep up the treatment for the recommended 10 days, then slowly lower the heat down over the following few days... and eventually end with a water change and keep my fingers crossed.

Fishy Fish Entry #6

Well the tank has been at 87 degrees for about 24 hours... the fish seem to be doing fine. No one is swimming to the top as if they're in dire need of oxygen... so taking out a few gallons of water and letting the waterfall of the filter splash is making enough oxygen to compensate for the heat.

I also siphoned the gravel today... got about a half gallon of guck out. Will do another siphon on wednesday.

Everyone seems fine... but those who had ick, still seem to have it, and those who don't, some seemed to have picked it up. So its going to be a wait and see deal. I hear it can take anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks to clear up with the heat, salt, and siphon.

Just as a reminder to myself... next time I siphon... put in at least 1 teaspoon of salt to compensate for the salt removed during the siphoning.

Genesis and Gary are doing really well. So are the 2 baby snails that were left in the Betta tank.

Sadly, the babies I put in a separate tank didn't fair too well. Not sure why. Water levels tested really good. Perhaps water was too cool... maybe the algae wafers weren't good... but at least I still have Gary and the two baby snails.

Fishy Fish Entry #5

Well, the ick remains. It wasn't an overnight thing like last time.

but I learned very quickly, just because they show no outward signs of Ick, doesn't mean it's gone.

I think the problem was the heat part of the treatment. My thermo was usually set at 75... so I raised it to 78.2 which is the highest it goes.

In order to speed up and then kill the Ick, you have to have it up to as close to 85 as you can for at least 10 days.

Today I bought a new heater and placed it in. Since the water temp is already 78, I put the heater to about 80, and I'll up it to 82 in a few hours once the fish have had a chance to get use to the new temp.

Since I don't have any extra airstones to aerate the water more as you should when you up the temp... I emptied out a few gallons of water.



normally I have the water up so that it's filled to the top and you can't see the water line. so as you can see, I removed at least 3 gallons of water.

I also took out the filter and bought a brand new cartridge. It was time to change cartridges anyway. So hopefully this will work.

On an up note, baby snails are doing well, so is Gary the snail.



Genesis is also loving life. I'm surprised, but he really loves the rainbow colored silk plants. I was worried that the bright colors would stress him out, but they were the only ones left at the store, and I needed something to place in there until the new ones come in.



He really enjoys hanging around them... and that's where I find him sleeping when I turn on the lights for the day... so I'll probably just leave those plants in there. So, things are going good for the betta tank.

keep your fingers crossed for the other tank.

Fishy Fish Entry #4

Well I checked on my fishes today, and I noticed Naruto has spots on his tail. They're hard to see, and they kind of blend in since he has shiney incandescent spots on his tail normally... but I'm assuming they're ick because they not only had an ick outbreak already, but they're little white dots.

So I did a quarter water change, added a tablespoon of salt to replace the salt I removed in the water change... took out the live plants not fairing well during the last salt/heat treatment, replaced them with a new fake plant, cleaned some of the other silk plants... I'll replace the remaining real ones once my new silk ones come in which should be tuesday.

This time I also added about 1.5 teaspoons of an ick medication since the original treatment didn't seem to work... and diluted it in a gallon of replacement water before placing it in the tank.

Once the tank was cleaned and refilled, I turned off all the lights in the tank room to give them a chance to just relax after the water change. Hopefully I did the right thing, and the spots aren't just part of his normal body shine. So we'll see.

Well while I'm worrying about that... at least my baby snails are looking good.

Fishy Fish Entry #2

Gary the Snail has come out of his shell a little more, just enough for me to get a nice pic.


come on, look me in the face and tell me he's not totally cute! Cute or not though...


I have one teensy problem with my little Gary the snail...

Baby snails! Yes, little Gary the Snails all over the place! they're very cute though. Gary does to a good job on my tank... so I may leave a few babies in there, put the other babies in a grow up tank, then use some in my other tanks.

I still have my main tank... and I have a new 30 gallon I'm cleaning up to use that they may work in. So we'll see.

One thing I have to ask, is it possible for fish to be camera hogs? cause I swear, whenever I try to take a picture of my snails... Genesis is right there trying to get in the pic. lol















oh and I finally got a pic of Umi. Ai is hiding in a spot where I couldn't get a good pic of her, but basically they look identical.

Fishy Fish Entry #1

I decided to start a journal for my aquariums because they change every day. I love animals of all kinds. I have two dogs (a bichon and a bichon mix, both rescues) two conure parrots. (loud and mean... but they have personality) and many fish.

In my main tank I have two mollies... a male and female named Sakura and Naruto, three black neon tetra named Ein, Spike and Jet (named after characters from my favorite anime 'Cowboy Bebop'), 6 X-ray bellies I just call "the 6-pack" because they school together, and two Long Nose whiptails named Umi and Ai.

In my other tank I have a Betta named Genesis (after a character from final fantasy VII designed after and voiced by my favorite J-Rocker, Gackt) and a snail named Gary the snail (after Spongebob Squarepant's pet snail) lol I was out of names.

In the main tank I've had a bit of an ick problem. Sakura had several white spots on her tail and Naruto had a few dots on his tail and body.

Ein, Spike and Jet also had a small bit of ick... the rest were uninfected. You hear a lot of horror stories about using ick medications like coppersafe... so I went for a more natural treatment.

After a water change, I added 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per every 5 gallons of water, and raised the temp a few degrees.

the next morning, the ick was gone. All of the infected were spotless... and no one was stressed out by the added salt. I'm leaving it in for a few more days before doing a water change and slowly weening out the salt. I just want to leave it in for a bit longer until I know the Ick has all been killed.

if it comes back I'll try the treatment again, only I'll add in a very low dose of ick medication.



the sailfin is Naruto my boy Molly. The other Molly is my little girl Sakura. As you can see, this is about a day and a half after treatment started. not a spot on either of them.


here's 6-pack. They never got ick which made me happy. the biggest one swimming out of the picture is "leader" (leader of the pack - get it?) He's only shiney like that cause of the flash.


These are my Ein, Jet and Spike. As you can see, they too are ick free. They are my originals, the first fish I got since moving to my new place. (so they are at least 5 months old now.)


No there are no two Gary the Snails... just one and his reflection. lol I don't care what people think. I think snails are kawaii! (cute)

It's very hard to get a pic of my whiptails umi and ai... but I'll try to eventually get one ^_^

of course, last but not least... here's Genesis, my lovely betta fish.