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Yes, too extreme, I think. Your sand hosts a lot of nitrifying bacteria along with your filter, so removing it will remove a good portion of that bacteria and may temporarily worsen ammonia issues. If it were me, I'd leave the main tank running as is, testing and doing water changes until the...

Another update with some more photos Biggest news here is that... I think Soup may have just been a very late bloomer. S/he's started to develop some lighter patches in the armpits. It's weird though—they don't look very similar to the ones Dumpling has. Dumpling's post-axillary subdermal...

Will do! I actually just got some Salvinia earlier this afternoon lol. It was serendipitous to find a seller on FB in the "nearby" city (still 1hr drive away...) that I was planning on traveling to today anyway. So I got a whole container full for only $3. Meanwhile it's being sold on Etsy, $5...

I've tried water lettuce (Pistia) and it's gone the same way as my frogbit... I'll try some salvinia though! I've heard it's less finicky. Hmm, good to know. If I pick up some vallisneria I'll make sure to get some root tabs too. I didn't bother with the bacopa because it's a stem plant, but...

@rebe This is incredibly helpful, thank you for writing this up! I don't have any other bottom-feeders, and it's definitely good to know that your ram doesn't let the tetras take food from the bottom. I've been trying to brainstorm ways to get food past the ravenous horde of neons, but it might...

Sulfur is not an acid, it is an element. It can form compounds with other elements which are acids (like sulfuric acid), but not all sulfur compounds are acidic. The most common reason for sulfur in well water is due to bacteria which live in groundwater and produce a gas called hydrogen...

I do have a sand substrate! It's completely sand with no other substrate types, so the ram will be able to sift to its heart's content, anywhere in the tank. That's my favorite aspect of these fish, actually. I've seen large Geophagus species in zoos and could've watched them sift through the...

Well, I finally got around to setting this plan in motion. Called my LFS and special ordered a bolivian ram to pick up in a couple weeks. I've always loved the Mikrogeophagus genus and a bolivian would work perfectly in my current setup. Plus, they aren't overbred like the germans are. I'm...

Something dignified — Azureus (Latin adjective for something that's a deep vivid blue color) Something whimsical — Moonbow (for his pale fin halo. it looks like a moonbow in a dark night sky)

I think you tagged the wrong person on accident ;) Unfortunately, it seems like neither of those fish are even in my state, but I'll keep them in mind if I ever go fishing within their range. I do really like creamy style fish chowders. I should probably also get more skilled as a fisher first...

Yay, I'm glad she won! Congrats I absolutely loved her photo with what was supposed to be the POTM sign card 🤣

They are! It might be because I tong feed them for every meal, so I have the tongs and my hand in the tank every day, and they've learned to associate those with food. And they do recognize when I'm in front of the tank—they'll come to the glass to beg.

Yes, exactly! 😁

If you can believe it, I had never really been fishing before today. Or, well, I had tried my hand at catching some lake trout at one point a few months ago, but it didn't work out, so I'm just gonna go ahead and count this as my first time. One of the classes at my institution had a planned...

Bit of an update on this tank. Nothing huge, just some cute pictures, really. Everyone's been doing great, although the shrimp have become rather bold. They like to crawl all over my hands when I'm working in the tank and they'll also try to steal mysis directly from the feeding tongs as I'm...

Personally, I would stick to disinfectants which have been tested directly with M. marinum. Mycobacteria have their own sets of disinfectants that are approved by the EPA. These are specifically for tuberculosis, but mycobacteria in general are such hard-hitting diseases, and so persistent in...

Hey, I know the thread is sort of past this topic now, but in case you were still worried about disinfection, there's some literature that has tested the efficacy of common disinfectants on M. marinum. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4819436/...

If you're thinking of pivoting to smaller reef fish, you could consider desjardini tangs. I saw one in person at a saltwater shop once and it was one of the most beautiful fish I had ever seen, especially with its fins flared. Very calm, but bold. The shop manager let me hold some dried nori for...

I'm glad you're removing the zebra shark from your plans. They're beautiful animals, but I have serious concerns about legal sourcing in addition to the fact that they get to be rather massive—over 8ft long. Some animals can genuinely only be ethically kept in large public institutions. You...

Brightly colored fish food is purely for our human sensibilities. Artificial dyes won't have much, if any, effect on a fish's coloration. The "color-enhancing" ingredients in foods which promise that effect are largely carotenoids. These are natural pigments found in a variety of plants, as well...

Make sure you trust this person to follow precise directions. I have heard far too many horror stories from people who have tasked others with simply feeding their fish, let alone medicating them. If you must have your sitter dose the medication, make sure they understand the importance of...

This is a good tip. My closest LFS is a little over 100 miles away, so next time I get fish, I might ask for a larger bag. I've made that trip with fish, frogs, and shrimp before and had no issues, but if they have larger bags available, then I'm all for trying it out. They have split shrimp...

As a scientist, my brain also operates in the half-metric/half-US way. Millimeters are unmatched for small length measurements—I couldn't imagine measuring the diameter of a snail shell in inches. But I use inches when I'm measuring distances for DIY projects (except for the times my brain...

We're already fairly metricated, actually. All of our science, medicine, and a lot of our industry uses the metric system and has for a long time. It's just that the day-to-day products and services which still use US Customary (grocery items, gasoline, baking and cooking items) are more visible...

Thank you for your kind words. They do help. I do think this is exactly what happened. I'm so used to the reality that whatever water my fish are in is safe for them, and I was focused on getting the MB prepped and the airstone set up. The kicker is that I DID remember the dechlorinator for the...

Well, I just made the most stupid mistake imaginable. I set up the methylene blue bath and forgot to dechlorinate the water... I lost the fish with the fin rot, as well as one other fish I was treating for similar fungal concerns following an injury it sustained on its own. I'm not looking for...

Nope, they are fully aquatic crustaceans and will die outside of water. They are not similar at all to mites or insects, except for the fact that they're all arthropods. Copepods are much more similar to shrimp, although they're still a very distinct lineage of crustaceans in their own right...

No, probably not much more involved than that. I would be very gently wiping away the fungus using a small square of gauze soaked in betadine. Just debriding the diseased tissue away to leave a clean, healthy fin margin. It'd definitely be delicate work, with such a small fish. The vet warned me...

Malachite green/formaldehyde would absolutely work for fungus, yes. And I do have Ich-X on hand. However, I'm going to try limiting my use of those moving forward because I was reminded of the fact that both substances are carcinogenic/mutagenic. I often forget, because I work with formalin not...

You're completely right in your assessment of the hobby, I think. It does feel like there is such a narrow scope of what we keep at the forefront of our minds as hobbyists in terms of disease. There are only a handful—maybe a dozen at most—of diseases that are even talked about as "options" for...