110 Gallon South American Biotope

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Then maybe I misidentified the jungle for the italian, and vice versa...  I wish the store hadn't put both plants in the same bag!  
 
oh wait, you're right. my corkscrew vallis is taking longer to bounce back. is that the italian? im confused lol
 
The italian is not corkscrew.
 
 
Here is the source that I got my plants:
 
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet-supplies-search#!Aquarium-Livestock/live-aquarium-plants&ea_c=live-vallisneria
 
In that page, you can see all three.  The two I got: jungle (V. americana) and italian (V. spiralis), plus the corkscrew (V. asiatica).
 
 
See how similar the jungle and the italian are...  I have to wait until the plants bounce back fully and then I can compare the thicknesses of the leaves....  It won't be easy, but I've got the time.  It took me well over a year to positively ID the cories I have, so why should my plants be any different?! lol
 
24 (actually 25, I think) bloodfin tetras have been unleashed on the tank!  WOW!!!  That's all I can say... actually, I'll say more! I will do what I can to get a video of the tank as soon as possible, as I know that there are a number of people following this journal (and I do thank you for that - its a bit humbling to know that my tank is being "followed" by folks!)
 
 
They took literally a few minutes to settle into the new tank - after the acclimation process, of course.  Then they were zipping up and back across the length of the tank...  They were hanging in fairly large groups, then smaller groups broke off, then they joined up again!  It was amazing to see.  WHAT A DISPLAY!  I am very pleased.  Like I said, I will try my best to get a quality video of the tank so that everyone can see what I saw tonight - briefly (too late at night to stare at the tank for too long!).
 
 
 
Anyway, in other news, I have a new project I am considering... I found yet another panda cory fry in my community tank at home, so I am considering whether or not I should actually actively try to breed them... Something I am doing is working with them, so I might want to give it a shot...  Of course, I have to get the ok from my wife, and then I need to figure out how to do it - if I decide to try...   It seems I very well may have a buyer all lined up for any that I could in fact raise... the fish guy my friend has, who actually supplied our bloodfins.  We got the bloodfins for NO COST, because my friend traded a several coral frags.  He got about 15 pounds of live rock, in addition to the bloodfins.  
 
Lovely stuff. Can't wait to see the video.
 
that's great! can't wait to see the video too! I bet the bloodfins were quite the site to see after all the waiting you've done, but what a great deal!  Oh to breed cories :wub: I say go for it.
 
No video today...   I came in to this that only 5 - that's right only 5, survived the first night.  I haven't got a clue what happened.  My friend and I are both completely stumped!
 
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
pH 6.8
temp - 78F
 
 
The cories are perfectly fine this morning!  We acclimated the fish as we both normally do - drip acclimation...  We have both kept fish for a long time, and I've NEVER seen anything like this before.  They were fine and active last night... this morning they were dead... I watched a few of them gasp their last as I was removing others...  
 
I am upset, to say the least...  We are contacting the guy who we got the fish from... so that he can track the rest of the batch of fish.  Our contact is not the supplier, but a distributor.  We'll see what happens with any others he might have gotten in.  
 
 
Needless to say, this went from a very exciting situation, to a very sad one in a matter of moments.
 
Im so sorry! That must have been a horrible site to walk into this morning... IMO i would say that it def. would have to be the fish, your cories have been doing great in there, and they're quite a sensitive fish. Again, so sorry for the loss.
 
That's what we are thinking... Of the 5 remaining, there's probably only 1 that appears to be fine.  The rest are either at the surface (3) gasping for breath, or resting on the sand (1) gasping for breath...
 
 
The gasping for breath is what is confusing me....  If there was ammonia or nitrite, it would have shown up on the test... NOTHING.  If its insufficient oxygen - IMPOSSIBLE....  Lots of water agitation at the surface, not to mention that the sheer amount of surface area of the tank is huge!  I've got more fish than that in my home tank, and the surface area isn't even half as large.
 
Oh no!!! I got the emails on my phone and couldn't wait to see on website hoping for pics, so sorry :(
 
Sorry to hear that. It's awful to have that happen.
They were either sick or experiencing Ph shock possibly. I know you said they were drip acclimated, but did you test the water in the container whether it had reached the one in the tank? Also, sometimes the difference could be so different that a few hours drip acclimating isn't enough as the change is too fast.
 
I never did... I probably should have...  Lots of second guessing going on today!  I've NEVER had this problem, EVER!!!  So frustrating.  Its got to be something I did...  So, the only thing left to consider is that the acclimation process was the issue.  The biggest difference between this stocking and my normal stocking, is that this came from a brand new supplier, so the idea that the water was substantially different from what was in the main tank has to be the issue...  Next time, I think that my friend and I are planning to do an overnight drip acclimation process... we could actually set it up to allow the process to run from around 10pm to 6 or 7am the next morning.
 
Really sorry about the fish :(  Hope you figure out what the problem was
 
I just don't see how after drip acclimating them for that long, could still result with this. I know i know i know. The acclimation process is extremely important, but I really don't think this is anything that you did or didn't do eagles. I know it's a horrible thing to have happen, but don't beat yourself up about it. 
 
I don't see how it could be an oxygen issue either, your cories would have pointed that out a while ago. 
 
We are stumped...  I just went back to check the tank again (was out today because of a dermatologist appointment - fair skin sucks!)... total loss... 
rip.gif

 
I think next time we will ask our distributor to hold them for a while before we take them off of him... then HE can acclimate the fish to our local water...  After that we should have an easier time.  
 

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