New Friends

Today I visited Texas Tropical and Marine off of Vance Jackson and 410, and was a little disappointed. While they had a wide variety of fish, they didn't have hardly any selection of plants, and the cleanliness left something to be desired. So on to River City Exotics, the place I found accidently off of Culebra.

Unfortunately, they only had two blue dwarf gouramis, but after some initial hesitation, I went ahead and got the two of them. They kep to themselves initially, but I'm hoping once they figure out they've got lots of fun places to hide, they'll be a little more brave hanging out in the open.

I also picked up a glass algae scrubber, so between cleaning off the algae on the front glass and using glass cleaner on the other side, I have a little better view of my underwater friends. While at Petsmart picking up the scrubber, I saw a cory julii, which I really miss. Unfortunately, I found out they won't school with the albino cories, and I don't think I really have enough room in the 30-gallon to add another school of fish.

Salty Dogs

Last Thursday, I did an extensive search for the cory, having not noticed him through the algae-covered tank in quite some time. If I found anything during my vacuuming, it was only his remains. It was an unpleasant and seemingly inexplicable discovery regarding what had been my favorite fish.

Because the water condition concerned me on Thursday, I did a water change on Saturday and scrubbed the algae of the acrylic 5 gallon so I can see through again. Of course, the clarity allowed me to notice that my neons were having to swim downward. They had the same floating issues that the one that died had. Nothing was wrong with the bigger fish, so of course I assumed that the neons came down with whatever the first one had. I pinged my Aquamaniacs buddies for help before I realized what the problem may be. When I did a couple major water changes on the 5 gallon, I didn't replace any of the salt, dramatically changing the salt concentration. I added some more salt, and the neons are looking much better (knock on wood).

Thinking about salt so much helped me realize what probably happened to the cory. I'm fairly certain that they do not tolerate any salt at all, and when I was treating the neon a couple of weeks ago and trying to cure one of the black skirt tetras of a little fin fungus, I'm sure I raised the salt level too high. It's a shame that I didn't think of that, but I definitely learned my lesson. I prefer not killing fish to learn lessons, though.

Aquascapage

I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns and start to fashion something a little more effective in the 30 gallon tank. The condition of the terrain had gone from controlled chaos to simply chaos. Part of this included taking out the plastic rock thingie and giving it a good scrub. I released some pretty gnarly smelling gas that I hope I got out when I put it back in.

The little water sprite I had pretty much took over the left side of the tank without my permission, and the rotala indica was having its run of the tank. I moved all the rotala indica behind said plastic rock, which is no small task considering how it had thrived in the tank and sent out numerous runners (the kuhli loaches appreciated the chance to string themselves up in the newly relocated foilage). It had some pretty well established roots that I tried to really get buried in the back. Different parts of the water sprite were given a 2nd chance and sent to the bucket and the 5 gallon tank.

I went to Alamo looking for a nice, bushy plant to use as a centerpiece of the tank. The show tank they had had a nice looking amazon sword (my "swords" are actually temple), but they did not have any for me to take home. Nor did they have anything else that would suit my needs. I sadly conceded that I would have a void in my tank until they got a hold of something I could use.

However, I stopped at Petsmart on my way home only to look at the drawf gouramis to check out the availablility and price. Of course, the plants they had also caught my eye, but they don't take very good care of theirs. On the other hand, they have non-submerged aquatic plants packaged and rooted in a gel of sorts. Now while this seems suspicious, I was intrigued. Sure enough, they had a small amazon sword for less than $4, so I decided to roll the dice.

When I took it home, I discovered their were actually three discreet plants, so I decided to split them up a bit and let them each have their own go of it. I had already moved my "spider" plants more to the middle, so the amazons are slightly to the right in the crook of the rock and driftwood. They have plenty of room now, but if they all have a lot of success and get big and healthy, I'll have to make some decisions on what to do with them. I guess if I'm really lucky, they'll harmoniously grow big and strong and intertwine successfully.

I Need Suction!

Unfortunately, I was not able to save the neon tetra. It was time to change the water and possibly refresh the medication. Unfortunately, I found the tetra dead, under the fake rock. Earlier, he had swum under some plants to keep from floating up while he rested. I imagine a similar thing happened with the rock. On the other hand, the skirt tetra was showing no signs of the white tufts, so at least I cured something...

I suppose I will resume feeding tomorrow morning. When I replaced the water, I went ahead and sprinkled a little salt in the filter to maintain the salt levels. I've read before that salt can be quite good for normal maintenance of a tank. We'll see how it goes...