Sophia

yikes

that tiny little bump above her snout... she looks like she has a constant frowny face 8) hey what if you had her in a tank with a mesh divider and had a boyfriend on the other side? she could get slowly used to him (before chomping him) and then maybe they could live in harmony?

my 7 cories get shrimp pellets in the afternoon and a bit of an algae wafer in the morning they love both but when I put white worms in the tank for the other fish they are EXTREMELY interested, they snuffle and rootle around quite maniacly underneath the wormy action ... they don't get to the WWs fast enough and most of them are too big for them so soon hope to feed them grindals

hello, fish were always happy so I didn't do a water change - tomorrow they get one anyway

lighting is OK - I thought it was on the bland side but I have some plants that tolerate low light and they have shot up as if under good lighting. So I'm pretending it's good. still a bit murky today so have left off the excel and given another dose of trace instead. i could swear the sagittaria are slowly greening upbut mine husband disagrees :-? the twisted val that has recovered from the excel overdose is green at least :bounce:

ok, that's interesting and thanks for sharing, as always

ok is it OK to decrease the frequency of flourish excel while the trace stuff is still starting off? I worry that things are in a state of imbalance at the moment and changing a variable will upset things more

just remembering that at the end of the overdosing when the water was murky the corys weren't happy. I can't help but think murky isn't unharmful after all, or is one not the cause of the other?

i'm too wary to dose ferts every day but I will do the 2nd dose now to make it twice in the first week i did originally think I would give 2 doses till the plants recovered their green-ness but after the murk I got a bit worried thanks guys

nahp, everyone as fishy as usual. They've just finished dinner and the corys are snuffling around looking for more if anything there has been less food in there than usual since the weekend as the tetra are re-acclimatising themselves to dry food after having mostly white worms for a couple of weeks (I didn't realise they were a treat only - nevertheless some of the little ones needed feeding up) There isn't time for it to clear up as it gets a dose a night - I've been sticking to the label like glue! Do you think now there is fertiliser in there I should do it less? Or maybe the plants haven't caught up to the algae in taking up the ferts and maybe I should give another dose of that? It does say you can give that 'once or twice a week'. Also I don't remember it being murky when I first started, though that was in overdose. I remember it got a little murky towards the end of the overdosing though. It's been getting the sedate recommended rate of flourish for some weeks now. The leaves of some of the plants are still browning a bit but that has been a steady progression downhill which made me realise I needed the ferts. There has only been one dose of fert so far.

:evil: Gave the first dose ever of flourish to my tank (exactly as directed on label) on Sat and have continued with the flourish excel daily recommended dose also. Now today the water seems slightly murky - not white-cloudy but less easy to see the back of the tank. Ammonia/Nitrate/Nitrite are all zero/under 10/zero as usual. There is a slight growth of soft green algae on the glass but it is still murky when I scrape a bit of glass clear. I can't see any new algae tufts growing anywhere either. I can only assume it is some kind of fluctuation caused by the fertiliser programme as nothing else has changed, not a peep. This is not a good start to fertilising

I've bought some flourish comprehensive to use with the excel and that should hopefully provide what is needed to boost the plants into eating some more of it. In the shop they were all for me buying a phosphate removal pouch but I thought I'd put it to the board first to see it was an overreaction. I don't mind a little algae while the plants get used to the ferts.

i am thinking of buying a snail trap but courgette is cheaper haha

what is considered high phosphate? and what is considered enough phosphate to contribute to algae growth?

anyway what food were you feeding? I have JBL Gala flakes/dried worms, Wardley shrimp pellets, Aquarian sinking algae wafers

I read the side of the Snail Rid bottle (is copper) at HFF today and it said not to be used in water less than 50ppm dh hardness - so if you are worried about your fish I would definitely get the water tested first I thought it would be an easy fix to get rid of my snails but the water is way too soft

looks great. I like the contrast of the background vs the colour of the gravel vs the yellow of the fish

nope, trying to avoid buying a $30 test kit for the time being so will take a tube to get done next time I go to the shop... this time I took aquarium water only

Does anyone know if our tap water has extra phosphate in it? My tank is a shade of green that matches the test kit between 0.5 and 1 - what is anyone else's like?

those eyes make them look like they are always up to something don't turn your back on them haha 8)

are grindals as 'fattening' as white worms?

do you mean grindals or brine shrimps on scouring pads?

i also have some of those red/brown beetley things some have made quite a pocket in the peat but they don't seem to do anything any that got into the tank were eaten but mostly they are away from the glass i think they are mites of some sort i don't have those white larvae bugs though - looks like you have 3 bugs in 1!

if I don't give my tetras their white worms they make rude faces through the glass at me they are ADDICTS :roll:

i have some stargrass, I will wait in hope then!!