Tranquility - My low tech 186L journey

[Spartacus]

Thank you folks - Really appreciate the advice. Lesson learned the hard way I guess! 😢

If I had a time machine I would have done things diffferently but that’s hind sight and everyone is an expert after the event.

I shall do weekly 50% odd water changes and let the dust settle nothing else.

Not going to buy any livestock until the first weekend in December so that’s 1 month basically. Then when I do I shall take baby steps with 6 Chilli Rasboras just to be on the safe side.

The other half has a 75L Betta tank to set up but given the situation with my tank I’m not going to be doing anything that cross contaminates her tank with whatever it is that I have / had. Going for the dark start with her tank so that should be interesting as it yielded good results.

Shrimp are doing grand and no more deaths - Think I’m down to about 10 from 70 so it’s more likely to be a everything’s already died but I’m glad that the mornings and evenings aren’t as brutal.

Thanks again - Means a lot to me 😊 I have a long list of things to learn. Made a mistake and got unlucky - Just my luck 😊

 

[Connswater]

Looks fantastic, with all that top of the range kit I personally would go for a CO2 system perhaps from CO2 Art, in-line CO2 injection, run from a reconditioned/refilled fire extinguisher a 2KG or even better if you can hide it, a 5 KG cylinder, will make your life so much easier and you can run CO2 24 hours a day if you want, just at a very low bubble count. I like a high bubble count when lights are on, I don't like CO2 on before the lights come on, I often find fish distress in such circumstances. But honestly even modest amounts of CO2 with good light and modest nutrient use, just makes plant growth and algae control so much easier.

 

[jellybean]

Unfortunately Larry Waybright has <"also recently died">,

Awww, I did not know that. I have screenshots of so many of his Planet Catfish posts and have most of them committed to memory. I sent him a message a few months back to thank him for all his contributions to strangers/lurkers like me. I don’t know if he ever got it or not. Beautiful eulogy. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Spartacus]

Hello World,

Just a small update about the tank.

Haven’t had any more deaths (of fish / snails / shrimp) for around 2 weeks - Guessing I have around 15-20 fish left. Shrimps are increasing and numbers at a good rate and ramshorn snail population is increasing at a surprising rate.

I do wonder if the ramshorn snails will out compete the shrimps in numbers and for availability of biofilm? I’m not over feeding as I don’t have much fish.

Thinking about going to the fish shop 1 week this coming Friday - That will have been 3 weeks since last death witnessed. Only to get 6 chilli Rasboras from a different supplier then see what happens.

I hope that’s the end of the story 😊 It sure will be nice to get back into the swing of things.

Many Thanks,

Murray 😊

 

[PARAGUAY]

Got a bit of a mass die off of the Chilli and Galaxy Rasboras. Lost about 20 so far - Doing a large water change and putting the purigen in.

Don’t know what’s caused it (No Planaria or whatever)

Whatever caused it I’m pretty devastated I’m not going to lie. This hobby is awesome and cruel

That must be pretty heartbreaking, get back to the supplier just for some insight, think water changes and checking water quality is the way forward, good luck

 

[Spartacus]

Small update:

Today we went to Discovery Aquatics, Dundee another of our local fish shops. I was impressed with the range and health of stock and the the owner is a nice chap 😊

Bought 6 Chilli Rasboras so I guess it’s a waiting game now.

At the start of this week I lost one of the chillis - It was the one I had noticed that was extremely skinny and generally looked like it was struggling.

Was saddened but not surprised to see that it had passed - I hope the new arrivals have a better time of it and I can resume enjoyment of the tank / hobby. Ramshorn snails and multiplying at a pretty darn quick rate as is my shrimp population.

It’s nice to be back hopefully in the enjoyment phase again 😊

 

[Spartacus]

Well it didn’t take long for one of the fish to start showing similar signs.



Currently floating upside down.

I don’t know what’s going on - I feel bad for the living creatures I seem to excel at killing.

Some info about the tank:

1: Full tank screenshot:
Photo Attached

2: Filtration and media used:
Two external canister filters (Eheim Pro 4 350T & Eheim Pro 3 250T) About 3/4 full of Seachem Matrix

3: Size of the tank (litres):

Around 175L as I normally have the water line around 2” below the rim.

4: Amount of fish you have in there:
Around 15 Chilli Rasboras & 7 Galaxy Rasboras, 20 adult Ramshorm snails (with large population of juniors) & 20 adult Bloody Mary Cherry Shrimp (with a decent amount of juveniles)

5: Feed regime, amount and brand.
Once a day a small sprinkling (small non heaped mound of around 4mm of flakes on a bit of paper) of Oase Flakes & Bug Bites ground up.

6: Water change frequency, type of water conditioner used and how much.
50% every week treated with Seachem prime at 4.25ml

7: Is there anything else you can think about in terms of the environment?
Nothing untowards I am very OCD about cross contamination into the tank with sprays / chemicals etc

I hope this doesn’t end the way I fear.

 

[Bradders]

Hello, couple of questions

1. I assume you are doubling the dose of Prime because you have chloramines in heavy play in your water?
2. How long is your journey home with the fish? And what was your acclimatising method and length?

 

[PARAGUAY]

Assuming your water quality is OK, could it be the fact the shop/s are receiving the fish without adequate shop quarantine? I say this from a local shop(now long gone)a customer asked about a certain tetra, the owner replied "l can't get them out of quarantine,but you will see them in every other shop in the area" Don't forget the same wholesaler in all will have supplied all your shops in your local area. Personally l also would not add fish to your aquarium in those numbers, add a few wait a few weeks before any more

 

[Bradders]

Adding 6 chilli Rasboras in one go is not unreasonable in bioload terms. They are social fish, and 6 should be added at a minimum, while 12-15 would be better.

This leaves the fact that Murray went to a new shop, viewed the health of the fish and was satisfied that all looked well but (thus far) has had one fall sick between the store and the new home. Now, this could indeed be the case of a bad wholesaler providing weak fish to sellers, but we should also consider the bit between the shop and the introduction to the new aquarium.

 

[Spartacus]

Hello everyone,

Small update and "only" one more fish was spotted passed away this evening - looked like it had been gone for a while as was mainly white in colour. I had noticed one in particular that was noticeably skinny which appeared to be the fish that had passed.

Hello, couple of questions

1. I assume you are doubling the dose of Prime because you have chloramines in heavy play in your water?
2. How long is your journey home with the fish? And what was your acclimatising method and length?

Apologies Bradders I did not make myself clear 🙂 Normally I use a python hose water system so the water comes from the bathroom tap (temp matched) straight into the tank. When doing this I dose at the beginning of the refill for the whole tank volume not just the 50% hence the double dose.

Journey home this time was around 1 hour had the car air conditioning set to 22c. Floated the bag for around 30 minutes to get the temp to equalise then took out some of the LFS water from the bag to create some capacity and topped the bag up with 500ml every 15 minutes for 1 hour.

Assuming your water quality is OK, could it be the fact the shop/s are receiving the fish without adequate shop quarantine? I say this from a local shop(now long gone)a customer asked about a certain tetra, the owner replied "l can't get them out of quarantine,but you will see them in every other shop in the area" Don't forget the same wholesaler in all will have supplied all your shops in your local area. Personally l also would not add fish to your aquarium in those numbers, add a few wait a few weeks before any more

Thanks Paraguay - Its a bit of a puzzle I am hoping that I see no more deaths its in the back of my mind. I wanted to get a small amount to try and see what happens. The fish that are left from the original and the new batch are eating me out of house and home on bug bites. They are actively eating and have rounded bellies.

Adding 6 chilli Rasboras in one go is not unreasonable in bioload terms. They are social fish, and 6 should be added at a minimum, while 12-15 would be better.

This leaves the fact that Murray went to a new shop, viewed the health of the fish and was satisfied that all looked well but (thus far) has had one fall sick between the store and the new home. Now, this could indeed be the case of a bad wholesaler providing weak fish to sellers, but we should also consider the bit between the shop and the introduction to the new aquarium.

Thanks again Bradders I really appreciate everyone who has taken time out of their day to assist. I hope the dust settles on this whilst I wont say so far so good by any means it certainly hasnt been as much of a sombre experience as the first batch. I guess its one of those things you cant treat something until you know what it is / if it is even something in the first place!

I could do with researching how to properly acclimatise the fish - especially with the cold winter now upon us. This new LFS is 1 hour away with my other local being 2 hours away - I have asked my better half for a nice clean polystyrene box.

I will update in due course hopefully with decent news - shrimps and snails are having a ball 🙂

Best wishes,

Murray 🙂

 

[PARAGUAY]

Good luck with the new fish and your aquarium, might be worthwhile having a conversation with shop your going to ,see if they can shed any light on anything, sometimes they can give insight into any problems with shipments

 

[Spartacus]

Hello everyone,

Thought I would post a small update 😊

I have not had any fish deaths since the last update so confidence is building up slowly but surely.

I saw a baby galaxy Rasbora fry last night which was great. I hope the little one survives! Everything else is doing very well which is a great relief.

One thing that is perhaps doing a bit too well is the ramshorn snail population which is concerning me slightly.

I may have to start removing them I’m not sure - Had hoped the population would settle down but to give you an idea as per the pic there is quite a lot!

Not much algae to report for some reason though…

Going to let things settle down for another week then see about getting a small batch of fish as another “test” as such.

It is nice to get back into some more of a positive stance as it was a bit of a downer having the mass deaths.

Onwards and upwards hopefully 😊

I fancy some runny nose tetras just hope they don’t go after the shrimp so much.

Thanks,

Murray

 

[Bradders]

I have not had any fish deaths since the last update so confidence is building up slowly but surely.
I saw a baby galaxy Rasbora fry last night which was great. I hope the little one survives! Everything else is doing very well which is a great relief.

No more deaths and fry - you have to be happy about that! Good news.

I fancy some runny nose tetras just hope they don’t go after the shrimp so much.

Rummynose Tetra are from blackwater's, therefore low tolerance to bacteria. Just thought that I would raise that after the problems you have had as they are slightly less tolerant then other fish.

 

[bazz]

One thing that is perhaps doing a bit too well is the ramshorn snail population which is concerning me slightly.

I would imagine they are doing a great job of keeping the tank clean, they will not proliferate without food. They might even have already solved a problem or two you never knew you had i.e. Diatoms, dying plant matter from transition etc...