Operation Dorito

[Sammy I]

My first experience with staurogyne repens from tissue culture was awful. Planted 3 cups, during first two weeks has grown a little (looked nice), then all melted. After about a month regrown back to what it was, maybe even bit more. Then again all melted.. it did the same third time. Got frustrated and pulled 90% of bare stems out. Whatever left kept growing and melting never happened again. So next time I restart my scape, I’d probably hold off planting it until tank is about 6 months old.

Not good, everything was going so well, hopefully they grow back, if not I might try the potted version.

i realy enjoy to follow your journal, but
the size of your images is painful even with a nice bandwidth 😉

Surprising, my photos are not of high quality, I have an old smart phone. But, I will put them through a web image compressor before uploading, that should make a difference 😉

 

[MrClockOff]

Not good, everything was going so well, hopefully they grow back, if not I might try the potted version.

When mine have melted leaves litter was everywhere and I could see only bear stalks. But to my surprise they always managed to regrow back into beautiful plant. So if you have strong nerve give them a chance they will bounce back 😊

 

[Sammy I]

When mine have melted leaves litter was everywhere and I could see only bear stalks. But to my surprise they always managed to regrow back into beautiful plant. So if you have strong nerve give them a chance they will bounce back 😊

Yeah i have been left with stalks, theres still some that will no doubt disintegrate, but hopefully some will grow enough so the P.helferi doesn't take over, wouldn't be the end of the world as its my favourite plant, but the s.repens is there to create a tiered/sloped effect 😁

 

[Matthias]

Lovely tank, congrats! How do you find the neoflow filter outflow? On my tank it seemed to divert a a lot of flow in the other direction until I took the circular outflow thing off.

 

[Sammy I]

Lovely tank, congrats! How do you find the neoflow filter outflow? On my tank it seemed to divert a a lot of flow in the other direction until I took the circular outflow thing off.

Thanks I'm really pleased with it! Not sure if you've commented on the right journal but I use a normal lily pipe outflow from evolution aqua not not a neoflow, but I have an in tank neo diffuser.

 

[Sammy I]

Bad news..... S repens disease is now taking out my P.herferi 😭😭😭 this thing moves fast, you literally have 2 days before everything disintegrates

 

[Sammy I]

I've got new fish in today, and everything has stayed off to help them settle. The only concern i have with the whole left side melting which has pretty much wiped out all the s.repens and p.helferi, would it be advisable to do a water change? Would the melting plants cause major water quality issues?

 

[Teleos]

Would the melting plants cause major water quality issues?

Decaying plants are food for heterotrophic bacteria. As long as the water remains clear, everything is fine. If the water is cloudy, it is bacteria that metabolise the Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water.

Edit: Just to make things a little more complicated, here is a link to floc forming bacteria. And don`t miss Carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, Flocculation and Biofloc Technology. You can spend hours, days, months or even years to read all the stuff. 😉

 

[Sammy I]

Decaying plants are food for heterotrophic bacteria. As long as the water remains clear, everything is fine. If the water is cloudy, it is bacteria that metabolise the Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water.

Edit: Just to make things a little more complicated, here is a link to floc forming bacteria. And don`t miss Carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, Flocculation and Biofloc Technology. You can spend hours, days, months or even years to read all the stuff. 😉

Thanks for the info, will take a look.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

If the water is cloudy, it is bacteria that metabolise the Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water. .......... And don`t miss Carbon-to-nitrogen ratio,

We've talked about this in <"Do Healthy Plants Release Organics?"> & <"So what is organic wastes?">. I'm really keen on this as a concept (of use to us).

...... the microbial assemblage will vary dependent on the amount of food. If you have a <"bacterial bloom"> it is because you have the "low hanging fruits" of easily available sugars and proteins.

and Biofloc Technology. You can spend hours, days, months or even years to read all the stuff.

There is always something new <"Cleaning oase bimaster 350">, even though my "day job" doesn't really involve any waste water work at the moment, I still have <"an occasional look"> at the new scientific literature.

cheers Darrel

 

[Teleos]

We've talked about this in <"Do Healthy Plants Release Organics?"> & <"So what is organic wastes?">. I'm really keen on this as a concept (of use to us).

Hi Darrel, hi all
to stay on topic in this thread I keep my answer short: DOCs are the main reason for cloudy water. The best solution that DOCs are not in the water of your tank is a functional filter. In a filter there will be different heterotrophic bacteria than in the water. You can see floc building bacteria typically as mulm. Mulm you see in your tank, or mulm that is trapped in the filter. I for myself don`t like mulm that you can see in the tank. And that's why I clean my filter regularly. The filter is never clogged. Nitrification always works and is not disturbed by the overgrowth of heterotrophic bacteria.

However, the most important thing is always the elimination of DOCs. Crystal clear water is an unmistakable sign that everything is in order.

 

[Sammy I]

UPDATE

Bad news, I lost one of my corys, found him clamped up and breathing heavily then later on dead wedged between a rock, not sure why as everyone else seems alright. I'm still doing 2 large water changes a week so the water is good, I'm going to put it down to:
1) co2 shock/gill damage - my surface agitation is good, higher during lights off, and my Co2 isn't crazy as I intentionally kept it on the low side as I waited 4 weeks for fish and everything else was thriving.
2) illness/low quality - they could just be low quality seeing as I picked up 'morty' with them who is getting better i think. When i found it dead his belly looked inverted/sunk in so maybe an internal problem unless that's normal one dead.

Look at my P.helferi 😭😭😭 this plant disease is so crazy.

Good news, I have more fish, got 4 new adolfoi which seem better quality and certainly more active and no heavy breathing. I have lowered my Co2 further and increased water agitation by lowering my water level to be safe.

I also got some rummynose tetra, the best decision I've made as they look amazing and have really helped bring out the pentazona barb and make them way less skittish, they also school together which is pretty cool. I have ordered some esha meds and will be dosing for anything internal for the corys. Also no doubt the tetras will develop ich sooner or later so will be ready for that.

 

[Teleos]

Bad news, I lost one of my corys, ... When i found it dead his belly looked inverted/sunk in so maybe an internal problem unless that's normal one dead.

Look at my P.helferi 😭😭😭 this plant disease is so crazy.

I am sorry that one of your corys died. Inverted belly indicates that it has not eaten anything for a longer time. For whatever reason.

I would remove the P.. helferi from the tank. It doesn't look like they will recover.

 

[Sammy I]

Well It's been a while since the last update, I've been away busy setting up a new business and the scape was going so well and I was excited to share the scape in a more matured state.

But unfortunately I have some bad news, today at 7.30am the tank split it's seam on the back wall on one side and flooded the room. Luckily I was there as it happened and managed to limit the damage somehow even though it was gushing out. The tank lost about 70% of water and was only stopped by my mate who brought me a ratchet strap within 5mins of calling him, if he hadn't then the tank would be empty right now and all my livestock would be dead.

So right now, the water is contained at a low level and my fish are freaking out. I have a small pump running for water movement and oxygenation but I'm not sure what to do.

Do I remove all plants first and then try catch the fish and donate them to LFS? I can remove the plants today, but the fish will have to be caught tomorrow as I will not have enough time to get them to a shop. Where do I dispose of the tank? Or are there people that will come take it away?

Really devastated by this as it's only been 3.5 months since spending all that money to get everything back up and running. Also I was getting more invested in it as it matured and was turning out like I had envisioned.

Sad to say that my aquascaping journey is over for a good while, unless I get myself a small beta tank, but I'm not sure if I will ever have another large tank.

 

[ScareCrow]

If you have a plastic storage box that hasn't been used for anything toxic, you could catch the fish out and put them in there. Connect your normal filter backup and run it as a tank to buy yourself some time to sort everything out. I'd take the plants out to catch the fish as it'll be easier to catch them.

 

[Sammy I]

If you have a plastic storage box that hasn't been used for anything toxic, you could catch the fish out and put them in there. Connect your normal filter backup and run it as a tank to buy yourself some time to sort everything out. I'd take the plants out to catch the fish as it'll be easier to catch them.

I don't have any storage containers right now that haven't been used, I can buy one tomorrow and try put the fish in there. But realistically I'm better off trying to catch them and giving them to LFS.

If I did put them in a container how long could I keep them in there with sufficient filtration?

 

[mlgt]

I reckon you can keep the plants and fish in a large enough container for plenty of time really.
Place the heater away from the plastic. Im sure you can pick up a second hand tank or used tank for cheap til you figure out what to do next.
disposal at local recycling unit. Where in Herts are you?

Recycling centres

Find your nearest Hertfordshire recycling centre. Find out the opening times, how to get there and what household waste you can recycle.

www.hertfordshire.gov.uk

 

[ScareCrow]

I don't have any storage containers right now that haven't been used, I can buy one tomorrow and try put the fish in there. But realistically I'm better off trying to catch them and giving them to LFS.

If I did put them in a container how long could I keep them in there with sufficient filtration?

It's essentially a tank so as long as you maintain it you could keep them in there long term. When I moved house I kept my fish in 3 50l storage boxes for a few months. Each box had a heater, plants and an internal filter with media I took from the tank when I closed it down.

 

[MoFish]

Do you know what cause the seam to give way? This is my biggest worry about having an aquarium. Even if a nano tank holding 30-40L water was to fail, the 30-40L is a lot of water when it starts spreading across the floor.

 

[Sammy I]

It's essentially a tank so as long as you maintain it you could keep them in there long term. When I moved house I kept my fish in 3 50l storage boxes for a few months. Each box had a heater, plants and an internal filter with media I took from the tank when I closed it down.

True, I'll see what I can do tomorrow. They have water flow and oxygen at the moment with the small water pump but no heater, but the room in general isn't cold.

Do you know what cause the seam to give way? This is my biggest worry about having an aquarium. Even if a nano tank holding 30-40L water was to fail, the 30-40L is a lot of water when it starts spreading across the floor.

No idea really, I have been thinking about it all day (obviously) and there isn't much I can put my finger on. It was the rear right-hand side seam that gave way, started 3/4 of the way up and worked it's way down. I lost about 100L of water.

1) the tank isn't that old it's a original aquascaper 900, it hasn't been moved (while empty) more than twice and has been in actual use for a total of 2.5 years - just over 2 years for my first scape, and 3.5 months for my 2nd.
2) I've never used any blades or metal scrapers, and have always been careful not to go near the edges with a dennerle cleanator. The corners have always been cleaned with a toothbrush.
3) that was the side of the aquarium with open space, so presumably less pressure?
4) the tank could have been slightly uneven and tilted to that corner causing more pressure?