40 gallon / 155liters - silent cycle - green or red? Stocking suggestions please!

[Cmdr_DASh]

On the positive side, more shrimps are out in the open, eating )) Fishes are also doing their thing, looking good!

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

I've seen rubbing on wood... Here's a pic with the white spot:

and on tail:

and bonus a tank pic:

 

[Naughts]

Looks like ich to me. It's mild but if the parasite goes through it's life cycle it could cover the fish. Go ahead and raise the temperature.

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

Looks like ich to me. It's mild but if the parasite goes through it's life cycle it could cover the fish. Go ahead and raise the temperature.

Oh noes
Thanks a lot for helping me with this... @Naughts @Byron @Bruce Leyland-Jones

Does it have to be 30 or will 29 also work? I'm thinking about the shrimps but it looks a little high for the fishes too...

I did also buy the medicine: https://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-exit.html in case you change your mind about it...

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Oh noes
Thanks a lot for helping me with this... @Naughts @Byron @Bruce Leyland-Jones

Does it have to be 30 or will 29 also work? I'm thinking about the shrimps but it looks a little high for the fishes too...

I did also buy the medicine: https://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-exit.html in case you change your mind about it...

Medicines are generally nasty chemicals, that will have undesirable consequences on your tank's ecosystem.
The warmer water won't be as bad.

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

Should I try to gradually increase the temp over a longer interval, or just dial in 30 on the heaters and let them do their thing?

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Should I try to gradually increase the temp over a longer interval, or just dial in 30 on the heaters and let them do their thing?

Raise the temp to 82+

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Should I try to gradually increase the temp over a longer interval, or just dial in 30 on the heaters and let them do their thing?

A daily increase of 2 degrees is usually the way to go.

Another tip not mentioned would be to ensure there is good oxygenation, with either airpump-driven bubblers and/or the filter outlet agitating the surface.

 

[Byron]

When I have had to deal with ich, I did a major water change at the start, raising the tank water temperature a few degrees with the replacement water (not all the way, if it involves several degrees), and turning up the heater to achieve (eventually) 30C/86F. It must be this minimum or it will not kill the ich. Do a clean of the open substrate during the water change (removes any cysts).

I am not going to change my mind...never use medications/additives/chemicals to treat any disease unless it is absolutely essential to save the fish and it is the best and safest treatment. In the case of ich, no "medication" is safe for fish. Some species are more sensitive than others to any such additive, and this adds stress which is only going to make things worse. If caught early (as seems to be the situation here) the heat will easily kill the ich with far less detriment on any of the fish. Ensure good surface disturbance to keep a good oxygen/CO2 exchange in the warmer water.

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

I found another one of those damn green caterpillars... man, I hate these things, I hope I'm getting close to be done with them...

A daily increase of 2 degrees is usually the way to go.

Another tip not mentioned would be to ensure there is good oxygenation, with either airpump-driven bubblers and/or the filter outlet agitating the surface.

I think ich is spreading, operation soup is in process. I'm raising temp from 25 to 27 today. Hopefully I can get this all the way to 30 with my current heaters, otherwise I will replace one of them. I never though I would need to reach 30... this wasn't my plan.

I do have surface water movement, it has slowed down from the initial level from when I setup the aquarium. I also have an air pump that I'm running for only 2 hours a day. I think the bubbles it makes are pretty big... I tried 4 different types of air-stones that I've not been happy with and I'm using diffusers the pump came with as they make the smallest bubbles of all. The pump is Eheim 200, dialed in to minimum on both diffusers.

When I have had to deal with ich, I did a major water change at the start, raising the tank water temperature a few degrees with the replacement water (not all the way, if it involves several degrees), and turning up the heater to achieve (eventually) 30C/86F. It must be this minimum or it will not kill the ich. Do a clean of the open substrate during the water change (removes any cysts).

I am not going to change my mind...never use medications/additives/chemicals to treat any disease unless it is absolutely essential to save the fish and it is the best and safest treatment. In the case of ich, no "medication" is safe for fish. Some species are more sensitive than others to any such additive, and this adds stress which is only going to make things worse. If caught early (as seems to be the situation here) the heat will easily kill the ich with far less detriment on any of the fish. Ensure good surface disturbance to keep a good oxygen/CO2 exchange in the warmer water.

Roger that loud and clear. I'll get to 30 and will not use the medication...
I can make more disturbance in the water surface by changing the angle of the filter stream and I can run the air pump for more hours, or even all the time if needed.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

Yesterday I was at 27 C in the aquarium, today I'm at 29 C.
I had to turn on the air pump today to help with water circulation for heating to go up. I'll keep it on full time for the next 2 weeks. I'll try to hit 30C tomorrow.
I've ordered a new heater which is intended to replace one I don't like. It may take a bit to arrive but that won't impact anything.

So far so good.

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

My friends are starting to do better, after a few days of less activity and resting/sleeping, they are now more hungry and more active. I think I'm seeing less white spots.
Shrimps are also doing good, they are restless and growing. I think I've only seen one resting every since I got them.
I have miserably failed at removing snails and snail eggs... one snail was hiding and I saw him a bit late... I now have several generations of snails all over the place.
I've removed a couple more caterpillars since the last update... I'm hoping the caterpillar days are behind me... no new offenders the last couple of days.

I have a couple new issues that I have to address:
- reduced water flow from my canister filter (Tetra ex 800 plus). I checked the canister contents today and I don't see any issues. I did clean the filter foam (which was nice and brown)/. I'm doing maintenance tomorrow and I'll check the inlet - I do have sponge over the inlet so there shouldn't be any issues. I will also remove the propeller and check it and clean it. Not sure what's causing this. There is brow stuff on the inside walls of the tubes, but nothing significant enough to slow the water flow so much.
- I'm suspecting the reduced water movement caused my temperature to drop to 29.3. I increased the heater temperatures a just a bit to compensate.
- I think the bubbles from the air pump are breaking and causing water to form on the top of the aquarium and then form water drops that are now dropping on the outside slowly ( aquarium top + funky edge, causing the "leak"). I'm planning to move the air diffuser away from the corner and from the filter inlet. Also planned for tomorrow's maintenance.

 

[Byron]

Concerning the filter, the brown gunk is organic matter and this should be regularly removed. Rinse the filter media to get rid of as much as you can at every water change. As for what accumulates inside the filter tubes/hoses, some people suggest using bleach to clean this, followed by good rinses in tap water, then thorough air drying before re-using. I've never done this, but I do use a small brush to clean the inside tubes that I can reach.

 

[Cmdr_DASh]

As for what accumulates inside the filter tubes/hoses, some people suggest using bleach to clean this, followed by good rinses in tap water, then thorough air drying before re-using. I've never done this, but I do use a small brush to clean the inside tubes that I can reach.

Rinsing filter media and bleaching the tubes??? What about the beneficial bacteria in the filter media?
I rinse the filter floss but I'm trying not to disturb the rest... unless it gets heavily soiled...

I did the maintenance and cleaning the propeller has restored part of the flow - I think this was the issue, so I'll start cleaning it every 2 weeks. Restoring water flow raised my temp to 30.5 so I dialed back the heaters to compensate.

I'm seeing lower fin tail issues in some of the cardinals... not sure if fin rot or some aggression. They are back to feeling normal and chasing each other....

I continue to get more snails so I'll have to start removing some of them... I'm getting used to the idea that it's impossible to remove all of them... I counted 20 in 5x5 cm area...

I tried to get a better picture of the tank... I probably need more practice:

 

[Essjay]

Rinsing filter media and bleaching the tubes??? What about the beneficial bacteria in the filter media?

It is OK to rinse media in old water taken out during a water change to remove the brown goo that builds up.
There won't be many bacteria in the filter tubes so bleaching those won't kill many.

But with the amount of live plants in your tank, you won't have many bacteria anyway. Plants take up ammonia faster than the bacteria and plants turn ammonia into protein rather than nitrite, so with very little food available bacteria only grow in small numbers compared to a tank with no live plants.