# Great Tank Escapades 2020



## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

So the past 4 or 5 days has pretty much revolved around juggling the 45g and fish issues. 

I've got the 45g set up, the water is 80% clear (maybe more), and the folks in there currently seem quite happy. I finally remembered to add the Flourish tonight, and I got an upgraded plant spectrum light on it yesterday, so I think the plants will be even better off too. There's some final plant and rock touches still on order, but hopefully this weekend will see it a bit more 'complete'.

Which is good because Saturday, and then Sunday... I was this " " close to calling it quits on big tanks and rehoming the tank. 

Friday: 
I partially filled the 45g tank with water, just to be safe. 
Stopped by the chain store to check on their conditions, came home with Zsa Zsa (she needs a new name but its working for now). GG was in her 2.5 and Zsa Zsa went in with the 10g Rams & Angel.

Saturday: 
I put in that Fluorite, after washing it over 11 times each batch (one batch I washed 15 times) until the water ran clear (which I was fooled by). Love the feel, but my goodness, that dust!
I also went to a LFS, not so locally-about 40m away, to get some plants as I'd heard they were great for plants... which they were.
But I came home with 2x new 2.6g aquariums and 1 new betta (he was free due to his condition), not to mention the endlers and plants. 1 Aquarium for GG, 1 for the new guy, because GG wasn't doing well in the minibow.
I did a small water change on the 45g hoping to clear it up a lot. I cleared it up marginally. Clarity did something, but not much. 2 large filters did very little as well. I was staring at a puddle of dusty water with 2 sick fish and multiple tanks to set up.
GG went in the new tank, so did the little guy, and the new endlers went in with Ori (he was not thrilled with that).

Sunday:
Emptied the 45g almost completely (hubby had the brilliant idea to divert the water out the window nearby saving me a boatload of time and energy, and pain), refilled the 45g with new conditioner and bio booster. 
GG was very active and seemed content in the new tank. Zsa Zsa was still chasing the Rams and I was worried about the stress as the smaller Ram was getting the majority of the harassment.
So Zsa Zsa went in to the 45g, and I spent a very restless night worried about that decision.

(2.6g GG & 2.6g... Osiris? {I'm not quite 100% on his name}, 5g Orion and the Endlers, 10g Angel and the Blue Band, 45g Zsa Zsa)

Monday:
Zsa Zsa was doing well, slept in the Egeria Densa most of the night.
Endlers were moved over to the 45g. Ori was VERY happy with that change. He spent the entire day strutting around his tank again.
GG was not very mobile, no signs of interest in anything. No signs of anything wrong really on the immediately obvious visual. Other than loss of color. I moved her back to her original tank, hoping that would do something. She swam around and checked everything out. But within 20m or so, she was looking for hiding spots, hardly able to get up for air after a couple hours, let me hold her in my cupped hand, didn't even try to get air from that depth.
Osiris ate a small bite of flake and swam around the tank a bit. More so when I unplugged the filter.

Ran some errands (also picked up Clove oil, something I never thought I'd even consider having around) and came home to find GG in rigor mortis. There were no physical signs that I could see, such as ick or hole in head or dropsy or swim bladder, except that her swim bladder was ... solid? not large at all, she hadn't eaten in 3 days, but I could see through her scales and the bladder was not see through, as well as a bit of filmy slime on her. 

Tuesday:

45g, Zsa Zsa and the endlers doing very well. Brought in shrimp and some additional endlers to bring them up to 7. Small water change to pull out some more dusty residue.
10g, Female Blue Ram faded color, not swimming much, not eating anything, hiding (holy bleep, same thing GG went through). Male BR & Angel doing very well with healthy appetites. 
5g, Ori, eating well, swimming all throughout the day, very social.
2.6, Osiris, eating a tiny bit more, swimming, coming over to say hi. 

Got the female BR to eat a bloodworm. Seemed to improve her color, but she still refused to be active and started to hang out near the surface (very unusual for Rams).

Wednesday:

45g, Zsa and folks doing well. Plants looking a little mneh, added the Flourish I forgot to add before because I was scattered and overwhelmed with Zsa and GG. Pretty sure the frog is making noises. That or the tank is making them and that worries me.
10g, female blue ram still not feeling well, male and angel look good. Bought PraziPro as I couldn't find Seachems product and it won't arrive until tomorrow. Treated the 10g (and the 45g as there was some cross contamination possible with Zsa Zsa and plants moved over). Got female BR to eat a small bloodworm again, she's still hiding. Brought the temp up again to just under 81.
5g, Ori still well, finding new spots to just hang out in and watch the world from. 
2.6g, Osiris, ate a little more, swam around most the day with and without filter flow, social. 

Had to move the empty 2.6g finally because I kept looking for GG in there. 

What a week... 

I hope to move the 2 BRs (assuming improved health) and the Angel to the 45g at some point. 
Osiris to the 10g, eventually (or possibly a horizontal 5g like Ori's if his fins grow like I think they will), but he's still smaller than a quarter and has major fin tears on his dumbo fins. 
Ori will stay in the 5g unless he seems to be bothered by the smaller size, I'm done messing with too many moves for these fragile fish.
And the 2.6g tanks will be fish/plant quarantine and hospital tanks. 
The 2.5g minibow will be tossed I hope, couldn't find a filter for it that didn't upset the fish and too many dead fish associated with it now.

new lighting for the 5g, and hopefully I can get the fluval hob back on the 45, but it was noisy no matter what...


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

I added the prazipro because the signs that GG exhibited led me to wonder about gill flukes. Especially with the female blue showing similar signs. And all I could find on it was safe to use even if there’s no infection.


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

Sounds like you have had one great week. When you said you added the substrate (Fluorite) This is the substrate I used in the 10 gallon that ended up in the pot hole in the drive way. It use to be a really great product but lately they must have changed something in the way they mix and bag it. I ask a friend in Erie what they thought of it and we went back to set up a tank. Rinsed it for over an hour and put it in the tank. Same problem You could never get by the cloud. Even after it settled down the next day all a fish had to do is swim over it and a cloud would rise. We tried cleaning it again but the mud just got worse. We ended up asking his manager what to do. Lynn looked at me and said you still have that pot hole. Yeah I won't recommend it any more. I use sand or mini pebbles now. 

I'm gald that you finally have that 45 up and running. it looks great. and the kids really look happy.


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Old Dog 59 said:


> Sounds like you have had one great week. When you said you added the substrate (Fluorite) This is the substrate I used in the 10 gallon that ended up in the pot hole in the drive way. It use to be a really great product but lately they must have changed something in the way they mix and bag it. I ask a friend in Erie what they thought of it and we went back to set up a tank. Rinsed it for over an hour and put it in the tank. Same problem You could never get by the cloud. Even after it settled down the next day all a fish had to do is swim over it and a cloud would rise. We tried cleaning it again but the mud just got worse. We ended up asking his manager what to do. Lynn looked at me and said you still have that pot hole. Yeah I won't recommend it any more. I use sand or mini pebbles now.
> 
> I'm gald that you finally have that 45 up and running. it looks great. and the kids really look happy.


Yeah I really wish I hadn't put the fluorite in, because once it was in and soaking wet I wasn't sure I was up to getting it back out. Which is why I decided to do a full tank flush (as you'd mentioned it might help) and small water changes for a while. It seems to be providing a good soft base for the plants, but phooey. 
When I did the full tank flush it was one big dust cloud on that fluorite. There's still a bit of dust on almost everything. I go through and brush stuff off each day. Still have an extra filter foam in the hob to catch some of it. I've rinsed that out 2 times because it was gray/black.

Sand & mini pebbles will be my go to going forward.

On the plus side, I think, the 2nd 45g was supposedly damaged in transit, returned to the store and my money refunded. (I kinda think they realized they put too low a price on it and never shipped it) Not that I don't want a 2nd larger tank down the line (and the price was fantastic!) but right now I've got plenty to deal with and figure out with the sick fish, dead fish, and a cycling tank or two.


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

Dead Fish?? which ones died? I know you were having problems with the female Ram but were there others?


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Old Dog 59 said:


> Dead Fish?? which ones died? I know you were having problems with the female Ram but were there others?


Gg died. Then the ram. Both with strange symptoms. The other ram and angel are still acting ok though they didn’t eat much this morning. 

Treating with prazipro and wc. But going to switch to salt I believe.


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

I'm so sorry to hear this. I cant imagine what happened. It could be the stress of being moved so much, but I've never had that problem with any fish. As long as they were accumulated to the tank in making sure the differences in water and temp all checked out it should never affect them. Both fish types are a hardy fish. Keep an eye on the rest for any indication of illness.


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Old Dog 59 said:


> I'm so sorry to hear this. I cant imagine what happened. It could be the stress of being moved so much, but I've never had that problem with any fish. As long as they were accumulated to the tank in making sure the differences in water and temp all checked out it should never affect them. Both fish types are a hardy fish. Keep an eye on the rest for any indication of illness.


I'm still a bit shocked by it. It was less than 48 hours from the time they showed signs until they were gone. The Ram was in the same tank for 2 weeks though. 
I suspect Gill Flukes, that were introduced by GG most likely. I haven't been able to come up with anything else that would just hit them so fast and not affect the shrimp, Angelfish, the other Ram or the plants..

I come in to the tanks in the morning with serious trepidation. So... guys... how's it going?!?!

Knock on wood, everyone else has been acting well. Eating (Zsa even stole a large bloodworm I was trying to get to the frog, and she did not need more food!). Colors good. Active, mostly, Ori's the chillest fish so I check on him often to make sure he's ok. Frog serenades us.


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

You do have your problems with Nut. If it were me Nut would be in a 5.5 by herself because she just can't behave. I would then find everyone else moving up in tank size. And I would find another betta for the 45 gallon. Only after you get the rest of the mates in the 45 that you want. The betta would be introduced last. Yes he would one day take over and rule but he wouldn't be to quick to start a fight. The other fish would respect their new king. 

When I put Morry in the community tank He had just beat up his tank mate Gilford pretty good. I had Cal (my giant gene HM ) in that tank but something went wrong and he started biting his fins and was taken out and put in the tank with Gilford. This worked really well for about 2 months and for unknown reasons Cal died. However Morry is doing so well in the community tank (no fights and he rules the tank. the others vanish when he swims near. ) I found a really beautiful Delta tail named Jasper to put in the tank with Gilford and those two are getting along really well. Gilford has his fins back and Jasper likes having Gilford as a swimming partner.


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Old Dog 59 said:


> You do have your problems with Nut. If it were me Nut would be in a 5.5 by herself because she just can't behave. I would then find everyone else moving up in tank size. And I would find another betta for the 45 gallon. Only after you get the rest of the mates in the 45 that you want. The betta would be introduced last. Yes he would one day take over and rule but he wouldn't be to quick to start a fight. The other fish would respect their new king.
> 
> When I put Morry in the community tank He had just beat up his tank mate Gilford pretty good. I had Cal (my giant gene HM ) in that tank but something went wrong and he started biting his fins and was taken out and put in the tank with Gilford. This worked really well for about 2 months and for unknown reasons Cal died. However Morry is doing so well in the community tank (no fights and he rules the tank. the others vanish when he swims near. ) I found a really beautiful Delta tail named Jasper to put in the tank with Gilford and those two are getting along really well. Gilford has his fins back and Jasper likes having Gilford as a swimming partner.


I feel really crummy even thinking about downsizing Nut, but I am considering it. I rearranged the 45g tank completely today, Nut, Mickey and the Cory's sat in isolation cups/containers in the 10g while the Ram swam around them. Not so sure that was great but it was easiest way to keep them all 'warm' and safe while I was adjusting things.

This is the current state of things in the 45...

I'm pondering moving Nut to the 10 but that's been a tank fraught with such problems I'd really like to let it sit empty for a while if I can. Well, aside from the shrimp. 
I'd been considering putting Orion or Osiris in the 10, but also perhaps one of them would be better off in the 45. Probably Osiris since he doesn't have the huge finnage that might be troublesome in so much water. But he's still so small I'm not sure how he'd fare with the other fish. 

I took out the silk plant in Ori's 5g, I suspected it was actually hindering his movement through the tank and not providing the support I put it in there for after all. I've seen more of him since I took it out, but he still spends a lot of time hiding - just in case the ginger hitman (my male cat) comes to check on things. I'm wondering if he might actually LIKE the 10g since it has a very closed off feeling to it - black back wall, black lid and a lot of plant and rock hiding spots. But again, that tank has me concerned and the last thing I want is to make Ori sick. 

Osiris is happy in the 2.5g but I do think he'd prefer to be in a more active spot, which would mean either the 5g or the 10g at the moment. Unless I move the 2.5g, but I don't like it on my desk - the light is glaring.

Will wait until the end of next week to decide about Ori and Osiris I think. For now I'm just hoping this drama in the 45 settles down so I can leave the 10g empty, however briefly.

I even ordered items for delivery from the chain pet store because I didn't want to go in, I knew I'd come home with someone new!!


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

Oh my word, You do have a conundrum going on. LOL I really can't tell you which one to put where but I can say this. If you are putting a betta into a 45 gallon I would put the one with less finage into the tank only because of the depth he would have to swim in. I would make sure that this tank (because it has tank mates) was heavily planted with a lot of hides in the plants for all to get away from each other. I really think your stressing over the 10 gallon for no reason. (yes I know you lost one there) but the shrimp are doing well and are alive. They are your barometer in this tank. If there was anything wrong they would be the first thing to vanish. ( well except if you had them in with a betta like my Ben was ( I had cherry shrimp in his tank. Key word here is had.) Ben enjoyed the shrimp. They were a great snack. LOL 

I know what ever you are going to do will get the results you want. However I would take the one out of the 2.5 and give him at least a 5.5 gallon of his own. If your going to move them into larger tanks make it in increments according to the size they are in at this time. (just my mind set here, and we all know what I have to work with LOL)


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Well I was out of town for several days, everything was ok while I was gone. Overall.

I think the lights may have been left on a bit long, but no one died, just the algae growth on a couple of tanks was incredible.

I moved Nut to the 2.5g because she showed severe fin damage the day before I had to leave, and I couldn't figure out why in less than 12 hours. She's healed up quite a bit, even in just the week of being in that tank.
She also discovered a new favorite dish, shrimp! She ate 2 of the 4 that were in there. She is now solo Betta.

Orion is still doing well in the 5g, though he now has 1 new shrimp buddy. >.>

Osiris is doing well in the 10g, he also has 1 new shrimp buddy. 

The 45g seemed to be doing well, but the last Ram died within 48 hours of appearing ill, which started just after I did a 10% wc on the tank. I don't know what killed him, if it was related to what killed the other two fish he was grouped with. But Mickey (the Angelfish is doing quite well), and so is Nut (aside from that fin issue), and they were in the same tanks at various points - Mickey is still in the 45g. 
Everyone else looks to be well, so I'm hoping it was just an issue with the Ram, and not an issue with the tank.. 
(Honestly, he never looked 100% since whatever went on in the 10g with the other 2 fish)

I also have a new Betta... he's in the second 2.5g that was a plant only tank. I planned to upgrade those two smaller tanks to at least 5g by now but then I got horribly sick and just trying to keep these tanks with clean water and such is about all I can manage. For now he seems to be doing quite all right in there. *fingers crossed*


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

Glad to hear all is well. I had to laugh at Nut. Had a shrimp feast did she. LOL Yeah most times I put shrimp into a betta tank they ended up as a snack. I know you will do well with the way you now have everyone staged.


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Old Dog 59 said:


> Glad to hear all is well. I had to laugh at Nut. Had a shrimp feast did she. LOL Yeah most times I put shrimp into a betta tank they ended up as a snack. I know you will do well with the way you now have everyone staged.


She did! A $30 shrimp feast! Or nearly.. LFS gave me a good price thankfully. 
Then of course she's acting as though she's starving and should be fed right away!! As though I can't see that full belly and her mouth stuffed with shrimp just moments ago. 
(I adore that Nut, absolutely adore her. She's the only fish that demands attention and even affection.)

Surprisingly she seems rather ok with the 2.5g, though she also spends ALL day swimming around, picking through the gravel. I'm still considering whether to move her to something like a 10, or back to the 45 eventually - especially since the Rams are gone. :\

At the moment, the only 2 potential Betta candidates for the 45 are Nut or Osiris, and Os seems alright in his 10g. Though I'd like to add another tall plant or two for him, he bebops around, through the plants and rocks, says hi to the shrimp, and keeps on. He's still the smallest of the Bettas for now. 

Orion, and 'Hades' assuming he heals as I think/hope he will, are just too long finned for such a big tank.

I'm also unsure if I should just leave the 45 as is for a while, see what happens with the residents.

The only upgrade I'd consider for Ori is a long 10g, his fins are just too much for a large tank. And Hades.. well, if those fins come out as I suspect they will, he will have some long finnage to contend with too. Besides he's not getting moved much for a while anyhow.

(Osiris Before & "after" shots)


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## Old Dog 59 (Nov 11, 2018)

Sounds like everything is going along just fine. I have to laugh at Nut. She really has you wrapped around her fin. LOL


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## pnwbetta (Dec 6, 2019)

Old Dog 59 said:


> Sounds like everything is going along just fine. I have to laugh at Nut. She really has you wrapped around her fin. LOL



She does!! I swear she called out when I walked by at the store, I wasn’t even looking for another Betta then. (Well...)
She knew a good mark when she saw one. 🙂

I’ve got to get video of her with the shrimp (rehydrated freeze dried), she shows what Siamese Fighting Fish is all about. Yikes!!


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