Epic fail! And I'm *still* not sure how/why

[lauraf]

Oh, the angels were new stock at your Petsmart? Where were they brought in from? I guess if they were already stressed by the pH change, the stress of being netted and bagged could be their end . . . .
But still - I don't think I've ever had a fish die in transport from my lfs to my tank
(Not suggesting that you are to blame in any way, Paige.)

 

[bassbonediva]

Eh, no worries. I didn't take it in a way that you were blaming me or anything.

I have no idea where their fish are shipped from. I've only ever had otos and one blue ram (not a GBR, but what my LFS labeled as a "blue ram"...looked like the GBR but smaller and not as colorful). It's only happened once or twice to me with the otos.

Anyway, any ideas on names for the new little one? He's a koi angel, correct? I don't know why, but for some reason this little one strikes me as a "he." *shrug*

 

[lauraf]

Kemosabe!

Nickel-sized, eh? That's pretty wee.

 

[bassbonediva]

The GBR you can see swimming vertical in that pic (she has since passed away...still don't know what went wrong with her...she was fine when I got home from work and running errands tonight, then all of a sudden started swimming erratically and letting the filter current wash her all over the tank) was about 1.5" long. As you can tell, the angel is smaller than the GBR was (and the GBR was the smaller of the two I had...still have the male and he's fine). Just did a quick eyeball measurement and his body is about 3/4" long (without his tail...add the tail and he's just over 1"). So, maybe closer to quarter sized instead of nickel (it's late, my eyes are doing wonky things...lol). But still pretty danged small!

 

[lauraf]

They are pretty delicate at that size. Nickel or quarter sized - still wee. Watch him, the other fish and your water parameters closely.
I hope he carries on in good health. I'm calling him Kemosabe until you come up with another name

 

[ValRasbora]

I know how you feel, bass!
I just lost my swordies for no reason. The female randomly got ich twice in about 2 weeks (not to mention eye fungus and possible fin rot), then a few weeks later she died after not eating and looking *terrible*... and the male just fell down dead about a week after the female.
all for no reason. And they were my favs too fish can be weirdos sometimes (or always).
Sorry for your loss. But losses always mean fish shopping!!
Lol. sorry 'bout that.

 

[bassbonediva]

lol, Val. I'd love to go fish shopping after losing that little altum-type, but there aren't any other fish I want or can get right now, and as I said, nowhere else carries anything but marble veils, which I like, but don't want. I generally go for the classic angelfish look (like the silver zebras and altums).

Okay, so this tank is on hold for about a week. I am ordering pool filter sand from a website to be shipped to a local store (for FREE!) for $8 for a 50lbs bag (ordering two bags, just to be on the safe side) and it'll take 7-10 days for it to ship. So, the most I can do right now is take all the substrate out. I need to clean out my canister filter as well (kinda scared to open it, actually...I know it's going to be nasty and a half!).

Oh! And I have a few name ideas for the angel...

Zorro
Kemosabe (thanks, Laura lol)
Llyr (Celtic god of water and the seas)
Fenrir (the great wolf in Norse mythology)
Loki (trickster god of Norse mythology...I'll have to change one of my betta boys' names, but that's okay)

 

[blue_ram]

lol, Val. I'd love to go fish shopping after losing that little altum-type, but there aren't any other fish I want or can get right now, and as I said, nowhere else carries anything but marble veils, which I like, but don't want. I generally go for the classic angelfish look (like the silver zebras and altums).

Okay, so this tank is on hold for about a week. I am ordering pool filter sand from a website to be shipped to a local store (for FREE!) for $8 for a 50lbs bag (ordering two bags, just to be on the safe side) and it'll take 7-10 days for it to ship. So, the most I can do right now is take all the substrate out. I need to clean out my canister filter as well (kinda scared to open it, actually...I know it's going to be nasty and a half!).

Oh! And I have a few name ideas for the angel...

Zorro
Kemosabe (thanks, Laura lol)
Llyr (Celtic god of water and the seas)
Fenrir (the great wolf in Norse mythology)
Loki (trickster god of Norse mythology...I'll have to change one of my betta boys' names, but that's okay)

I just removed pool filter sand from my 55 and will never use it again. It is too heavy per grain and no plants will grow in it and you can never get it clean. Algae grew like crazy between the sand and the glass. I ended up looking horrible. Many others have had algae issues with pool filter sand.

Play sand, while not as attractive as the pool filter sand, has worked very well and with root tabs, will grow plants decently.

 

[bassbonediva]

I've had play sand in most of my tanks until recently and I was kind of "eh" about it. My biggest issue with it was the amount of work it takes to clean it. Even after washing it for over an hour, the bit I had in my 55gal STILL would cloud the water a bit when I did a water change. I'm only paying $18 for the 100lbs that I ordered, so if it doesn't work, it's no huge loss.

On different note...I got another sword, an anubias and a java fern today. So, now I have four swords, one anubias, one java fern and a ton of dwarf sag for this tank. It's all going to get floated in the 20gL until I get the 55gal up next week. Which reminds me! I'm getting the PFS either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning (depending on when they unload it from the truck)! I thought it was going to take a week to get it, but when I ordered it today at the store, they assured me it'd be here sooner! YAY!

 

[lauraf]

I've never looked into sand for my tank. I guess the pea gravel is suiting us all just fine for now. Though I love the look of sand substrate in others' tanks.
May I ask, then, what the difference is between play sand and pool filter sand?

 

[bassbonediva]

Pool filter sand is smoother (which I like 'cuz I'm going to have kuhlis in there, now that I'm not getting the albino BNs like I thought I was) and heavier. It's almost like miniature gravel rather than sand. It also doesn't take as much to clean it initially.

Play sand is coarser and more easily disturbed (at least in my experience). It's also a pain to clean initially and later when you're doing WCs (you don't want to disturb it when you're adding the new water to the tank or it'll billow up and can get into your filter intake and chip your impeller blade).

 

[lauraf]

Okay, thanks!

 

[ZackLanduyt]

I agree with your mini rant I hate the indecency of people sometimes, very sorry to hear about the loss hopefully you can get this all figured out soon!!

 

[bassbonediva]

Okay, so I got a text back about a canister filter and heater I had emailed about a couple of weeks ago. The filter is a Fluval 405 and I think the heater is a 200W. They will take $50 for both. Wish they would have answered me a couple of weeks ago when I actually had the money!

 

[bassbonediva]

Yeah, so my angel died. He was doing great, then I woke up this morning and he was dead. So, I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and get the bigger marble veils that the LFS sells (they're at least half dollar sized). It's not that I don't like the marbles, I just like the silver zebras better.

 

[lauraf]

Oh, that's sad to hear. Any clue why?
Angels at that size can be pretty fragile.

 

[bassbonediva]

I honestly have no clue. The only thing that changed in the 20gL where he was since I put him in there on Thursday night was that I moved the dwarf gourami and GBR into the 18gal and floated three large amazon swords in the 20gL so they would be able to get some nutrients and such until the 55gal is back up and re-scaped. Oh, and I took out the little Argentine sword that was floating in there (it went into the 18gal).

In other news, my friend who has a 5.5gal betta tank has some wickedly long dwarf sag that she's going to trade me for my smaller pieces. It'll look AWESOME in the 55gal. Hers is about 16" tall (it is WAY too tall for her 5.5gal and even too tall for the 10gal she's going to set up soon ).

 

[bassbonediva]

Okay...I need some help with my stocking. I know there are a few things that are FOR SURE going into this tank. They are:

2x angelfish (going to go with the marbles at the LFS since they're bigger)
2x female bettas (leaving room for more if I find some I just can't live without)
2x platies
1x female pineapple swordtail
1x male neon swordtail
1x featherfin cat

Except for the angels, I already have all those fish. Okay, so here comes the part I need some help with. I LOVE bottom feeders of all shapes and sizes. IDK why, but I think they're really cool. So, I want quite a few of them. My LFS got a few horseface loaches in which are freakin' awesome and since I have PFS substrate, my tank would be perfect for one (they don't mind being alone...already researched them). I also love kuhlis and angelicus botia (even though the angelicus are freakin' expensive @ $15 a piece). So, I was thinking of something like this:

1x horseface loach
1x angelicus botia
4x kuhlis

I know the angelicus prefer to be in schools, but I think I have enough space that I could get one or two more when I have the money.

Okay, so AqAdvisor doesn't like that stocking, but I'm wondering if I should do just one angel instead of two. I kinda don't want to have to deal with the aggression should they pair up and decide to breed. And I don't really have to have the kuhlis. I like them, but could maybe do them in the 29gal instead (since I epically fail at GBRs, so I won't be having any in the 29gal).

 

[TAL]

pH crash.....

From all the threads I have ever seen on these sudden tanks chernobyl events.......this seems like another pH crash.

You can track the water levels to avoid such a thing but few people ever do that.

Sorry for the loss, Paige.

Did you ever get that 80g?

 

[bassbonediva]

Nope, the people never emailed me back on it.

Not positive it was a pH crash. I test my water every time I do a water change and everything was normal in the 55gal at the last water change (which was about a week and a half before the crash...I changed my water every week and a half to two weeks in that tank because it was less than 50% stocked with low bio-load fish and has a filter rated for a 100gal tank on it).