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The tannins are definitely from the wood. As Whiskyfish said, there are tons of fish who love blackwater environments, but if you really don't like the blackwater look, you can add some activated carbon to your filter setup and it should clear all the tannic/humic substances from the water. If...

If you want free fish, you could check out a local aquarium group/club if you have one. Some people specifically seek to rehome their fish as opposed to sell them. However, if you don't have a local aquarium group, your best bet will be FB marketplace. People will sometimes list entire tanks...

One thing to remember about deep sea fish is that many images of them are misleading because they're taken of carcasses. No matter how they're brought to the surface, the rapid decrease in pressure and increase in temperature almost always kills these fish and also disfigures them with bloating...

Yup! They'll wait until the tank is much more mature though. We'll see about sourcing them. I only know of one fish shop that stocks them, but I didn't see them when I visited, so I don't know how well they keep their otos. Their other fish looked pretty healthy though. But basically every...

Big update: the tank finally has fish! I've had a sponge filter sitting in the established 5gal for a bit over three weeks now, so I figured that with the seeded filter and all the floaters, the tank would be ready for a low bioload. So, I went out and got six neons. Bit of a funny story. The...

Okay, that works out to 57L (precisely 57,105mL) or 15.1 gallons, so your most recent volume calculation was correct.

Well, I'm back from my work trip and Jelly (the neon) is still alive and well! The ragged edge of his fin looks a bit better and the weird white patches on it even look slightly reduced. He's by no means out of the woods yet, but I'm glad to see things haven't gotten worse.

Exciting! I'll be interested to see how the tank progresses!

Quoting you guys as an FYI. I looked it up and apparently it's an in-line UV sterilizer I agree with Lcc and Tacocat though, a bit of algae isn't a problem, and a UV sterilizer might be a bit overkill, especially for a new tank where you might actually want to have some degree of biofilm...

My understanding is that most medications (with the exception of things like formalin, copper, and malachite green (all of which are unlikely to be put in food)), are fairly safe and difficult to overdose. In terms of getting medication to all inhabitants, I think that'd just a matter of very...

Coincidentally, I was reading through this article last night in my disease research session haha. I think what he says is relatively accurate. I don't know a whole lot about the specific issue of the white stringy poop, but I can more or less confirm the "fish don't drink water". That's a very...

Interesting... I guess I'll just stick with the water change and observation for now, then, and reassess if the white patches progress

Yes, the shape is odd because he injured it sometime overnight, as I mentioned in my first post. It's torn and ragged. I'm not sure how he injured it. As for the columnaris, I know you don't have antibiotics access up there in Canada, but do you know if doxycycline would be effective? Are you...

Yeah... I'll try another water change today and hopefully that helps a bit, and I'll just keep an eye on him. The only antibiotic I have on hand is API's fin and body cure, which is doxycycline. I've heard it can be effective against columnaris since it's a gram-negative bacteria, which...

I've been wondering about that :( I ended up researching neon tetra disease last night because he was doing some glass surfing, which he doesn't usually do. I usually take the advice on this website with a grain of salt, but aquariumscience.org has the only actually comprehensive article on NTD...

He's the only fish in the tank (yes, I know. I'm working on getting him a new tank and more neons). Just ramshorn snails otherwise. I adopted him and his tank from an acquaintance back in mid-December.

Hi all, I just checked in on my neon tetra this morning and noticed that overnight, he found some way to shred his dorsal fin. Not sure how he managed to do that, but what's the best way to promote healing? What I'm more worried about though are the two little white patches that have developed...

That's understandable, but there are genuinely good sellers who sell things that are in good working condition. Many sellers are aquarium hobbyists as well. It is a bit riskier than buying new items, but if you know what to look for, then your chances of getting scammed are pretty low. However...

Welcome to the forum! And wow, I can't believe you have a whole family of dinosaurs named after you 🤣

As I'm sure you've been realizing, buying aquarium equipment gets very expensive very quickly. If you're able to, I recommend purchasing used items. This isn't always the best option for some items, but it's a very good option for others. A 20gal tank, light, 50W heater, and two air pumps were...

Yes!! That oto looks so much better 😍 I'm so glad that you've taken the time and care to make adjustments on really short notice, and you're lucky your dad works at a pet store haha. But I'm really happy to see that your efforts seem to be paying off! Here's hoping that other oto learns and puts...

I have amazon frogbit and water lettuce (Pistia) and I love them! The water lettuce is taking a bit longer to get established, but they both grow wicked fast. I'll always recommend floaters not just because fish like them, but because they add so much in terms of biological filtration. They grow...

Tank maintenance day. Did a water change and a little toothbrush scrub on the 5.5gal. My neon's been hiding a lot in his little cave the past couple days, but after the water change, he seems more active. I change water every week, but I guess I'll keep a closer eye on water parameters moving...

Looks like a flatworm to me. It could very well be snacking on your copepods, but if there's only one of them, or even a few, it'd be unlikely to make a dent in the copepod population

You need to get a test kit. Strips are okay, but liquid kits are better. The most important thing you need to test for right now is ammonia. Fish produce it as waste and it's toxic to them. In order to get rid of it, there needs to be a colony of bacteria that break down the ammonia and convert...

I'm glad your otos seem to be doing okay so far! It's very good news that they ate the repashy. Hopefully they continue to do well. The tank looks really nice. I'll always love the way a 20 long looks. Long and shallow is the best tank shape, in my opinion. Is that large branch the wood you're...

I have to wonder at what point in the process these species are in. As someone who's been adjacent to the process of getting a species listed as threatened (in the US), I know just how long and arduous the process of getting a species officially listed is. Not only does there have to be existing...

I'm not Colin or Adora, but I can share my fish story. I haven't been keeping my fish for very long, and his story doesn't have a happy ending, but that's only because the story's not over yet! I had an acquaintance—a student volunteering in the laboratory I work in—who moved and couldn't take...

I can't say anything regarding the cause of death, but... well, the missing guts is almost certainly a postmortem occurrence... Fish aren't generally known to pass up an opportunity for a snack. While I can't provide any actual insight into whether it was likely to be the angel, if it were me...

Seconding Tacocat regarding free ammonia (NH3) vs. ammonium (NH4). I wouldn't be worried about the level of ammonia you got from the calculator. I'll repeat MaloK's question: what test are you using for ammonia? Most of the commercially available tests record TAN (total ammonia nitrogen) which...

To be honest, it looks more like loose detritus than an actual algae film. Could be dead organic matter mixed with various aquatic fungi, bacteria, etc. as well as potentially diatoms. But if it's loose particulate that can be pushed around by water flow, I'd hazard a guess that it's mostly dead...

Keep up the good work, Elephant! I'm already proud of the progress you've made, even in the short time since you first posted this thread. I know you've been interested in live plants lately. If you can't set up the 10L, maybe you can look for some plants for the 41L. I'm sure your cardinal...

I agree with Adora, here. You're going to need to play a very difficult game of catch-up here in terms of figuring out feeding and monitoring water quality. I'd keep an eye on that cloudy water. Many softwater/blackwater fish like corys and otos don't tolerate bacteria blooms well. This is...

Thank you! Yes, I will add botanicals eventually! I was planning on foraging some, but it's been so rainy here that most leaf litter is just a bit mushy right now, so I want to wait for a bit of a drier period to go collecting. Plus, I might want to wait to see if my tap water's KH has seasonal...

The flourish arrived yesterday! Didn't have time to dose then, so I'll do that later today. The floaters are growing really well, but hopefully this will eliminate the bit of leaf melting I've been noticing. Turns out one of the branches that I thought just had New Driftwood Fungus on it...