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Superfish Aquacube 40

Can only use UK as a comparison @alto I don't travel very far for fish and I'm limited to maybe half a dozen stores in say a 40mile radius. I don't think I have ever bought a Ram from any of these stores without them suffering from internal parasites within one month of purchase. In the UK it is also extremely difficult to buy a commercial product to treat them effectively without a veterinary prescription and I have never succeeded to treat fish with anything off the shelf at the LFS which claimed to do so.
 
I'm becoming more unhappy with the Alternanthera Rosaefolia - think the leaves are too big for this size tank. Pondering some Rotala (H'ra or Wallichii) to replace the clump at the back and just doing away with the clump on the right hand side and either getting the montecarlo/tripartia/brasiliensis carpet to spread into the gap or getting a non carpeting non stem plant. Anyone got any suggestions?

Rotala H'ra gets my vote (I feel R wallichii leaf might be too fine in contrast to your other plants, it's also much more demanding), L palustris (Tropica) can be stunningly red if that's more your goal
 
I don't think I have ever bought a Ram from any of these stores without them suffering from internal parasites within one month of purchase

I wonder if the harder/higher pH water has some impact - assuming the stringy white feces is linked to hexamita (or associated pathogens), these tend to be present in most (healthy) fish, only transforming to a disease state when fish are stressed (significant immune suppression in fish occurs with any stressors)

A friend has a shop, usually with a few different ram strains in stock (sourced from Asia) - very few display hexamita (or other internal parasite) symptoms ... (local tap is very soft & acidic)
but have seen several shipments (all from one supplier) with suspected iridovirus (these are all dead within a few months regardless of various treatments I've trialed)
It's a shame as they are some of the nicest conformed rams I've seen locally

Any idea where your local shops are sourcing their rams?
 
I wonder if the harder/higher pH water has some impact

I live in a notorious very soft water area buddy so not sure on that one. Also unsure the source of the fish. Like I mentioned I live in quite a remote part of the UK with very little choice regarding LFS. When Maidenhead Aquatics and pets at home turned up they finished off even more of the smaller dealers. I tend to find P@H don't stock Rams at all, I have seen some of the Blue variety in there once and Bolivian but I like my Rams to look as close to wild as you can get them. I don't get through to MA much as they are 30 miles away so just tend to pop in when I'm randomly in that neck of the woods but don't tend to buy fish unless I planned it prior. Again they mainly carry variations on the theme, never seen any "vanilla" Rams there either. My LFS is probably the only place that still gets them and either has very small normal coloured ones Czech or at times very large ones that are indistinguishable between males and females or all Males. Historically I've bought from all the various LFS which have now closed and all have suffered from hexamita. My last pair after years of avoiding buying any more of these fish were normal variety Czech version and started with white stringy faeces within 6 weeks. Using Harkers saved the day, prior to that I have lost every pair I've ever bought.
 
Went away for a week so was a little concerned what I was going to come back to. To prepare I did a 75+% water change, dumped a weeks worth of ferts in the tank and set the photo period down to 4 hours but kept the intensity the same.
I was delighted to come back to a tank with clear water (Hurrah!). A quick trim and water change later and this is how it looks:

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Very pleasing to see the plants pearling for the first time in a while!

Beginning to see a small amount of algae on some plant leaves and a lot on the wood - thinking the tank is stable enough now to try shrimp again, but slightly worried the ram might view them as a buffet - are my concerns justified?
 
Very pleasing to see the plants pearling for the first time in a while!


- thinking the tank is stable enough now to try shrimp again, but slightly worried the ram might view them as a buffet - are my concerns justified?

Isn't that just water change pearling effect? :)

I suspect you'd have better success if shrimp are established in the tank first, then add any rams ...
Amano shrimp seem to do better against overly curious fish, though if harassed too consistently don't bother to venture out for work (especially the females which I consider layabouts anyway - compared to the hard working boys :D)

Having said that, my rams always seem to leave shrimp alone for the first few months - which would be long enough for cherry shrimp to establish a breeding colony (just choose basic cherry shrimp rather than some super blue/red etc form)

Also select shrimp from a shop where the cherry shrimp are active & make some effort to evade the net - they are fast :wideyed:
 
Just a quick update - This tank has moved to aquascape 2.0. Pulled almost everything out and rearranged it - here's the result (apologies for poor quality photo):

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Still not 100% how I'd like it but I think this is better than it was before. Currently rocking the "newly planted garden" look so looking forward to when it fills in a bit. Looking to get some more dragon stone to fill in round the middle and some H'ra to replace the Alternanthera Rosaefolia.
Oh, and I decided against shrimp incase they got munched so got a pair of otocinclus. The people in the shop said they'd already had them in a week and so far they are looking perky and active so I have hopes that third times the charm with them.
 
So the green water algae is back, which is very frustrating.
Photo period has been set at 4hours at 90%, dialled it back down to 70% today so will see, but at this point I'm getting worried about the plants not getting enough light to grow! Water parameters are good, CO2 levels are fine (dropchecker is lime green), I'm doing frequent water changes and cutting back on feeding the fish to every other day. What else can I do?
 
Uv is your answer. Otherwise the green water can go away in a few weeks .
 
I've seen reports of success in treating green water with a 3day blackout but this never discouraged my GW in the least (and I've had the spectrum from barely noticeable to pea soup - the latter can be hazardous to fish re low oxygen levels)

I treated my "pea soup" with ultrafiltration using diatomaceous earth (cheaper than UV & 100% effective, very fast, whereas UV can have more variable results ... likely due to the variable quality in UV systems)

Barely there GW, I just ignore, extra water changes if the tank begins to look too cloudy, it generally resolves after a few weeks & is definitely a "Spring Event" (re local water source is heavily dependent upon rain & snow melt)

You might try dosing with liquid carbon as it has algecide (algestat?) effects
 
It's been with us a while - UV is currently out of budget I think but have started dosing EasyCarbo - will see how it goes!
 
If you're comfortable with large water changes (90%), you could pick up some RO water from your local grocery or lfs, add remineralizer (most lfs have several options, you don't want to use tap in this case as it's likely the GW source) & use this for your water changes

The only consideration is that it will likely work better with large initial water changes (diluting out the GW) though you can also just use this for your regular water change schedule - the may be sufficient to disrupt the cycle

If your tap water is reasonable GH,KH, pH 7 ish, you can also try some of the water clarifying precipitation agents, eg,

Seachem Clarity

Avoid these products if you have very soft water as pH can crash - it still precipitates the GW but you may lose all your livestock in the process :oops: :oops: :oops: :sorry: :sorry: :sorry:

Unfortunately manufacturers seldom print any warning labels on their products in regards soft water use


Some lfs may offer a loan of UV etc so worth enquiring if you've a local shop you support
 
It's been with us a while - UV is currently out of budget I think but have started dosing EasyCarbo - will see how it goes!
Curious to hear results. It may be difficult to determine as GW can just go away .
 
*rescape klaxon*
Now on version 3.0. Ordered some eleocharis mini, rotala h'ra and bucephalandra needle leaf from aquarium gardens (arrived less then 24hrs after ordering, fantastic!). Wasn't planning on anything drastic until the monte carlo carpet lifted mid water change!
Alternanthera Rosaefolia and Eleocharis Vivipara are both gone. H'ra is planted in the back corner and Im hoping for a decent mixed carpet from the eleocharis and monte carlo with the crypts and lilaeopsis further back.
Re the green water - not sure what effect liquid carbon has had but have had some luck with further reducing the lighting. It's pretty clear now as it had a 90% water change yesterday!
Here's how it looks now (apologies for poor quality photos):
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Re-Rescape Klaxon: V4.0 now - added a couple more pieces of dragon stone and a pot of Cryptocoryne Pygmea.
The green water algae has now bitten the dust (hooray!). Seeing more algae build up on the glass now and the beginnings of some hair algae in the moss and on the filter outlet so keeping the lighting not too high. Also added a cheap APS surface skimmer which has done wonders for circulation and keeping the surface clear. The tank also survived a week with me away and Mrs H doing the daily dosing, and week with us both away and no dosing at all - I think my accidentally leaving the CO2 on 24/7 probably helped limit algae!

Here's the pics (looking at these - I really need to give the glass a proper clean!):
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Thanks as always for having a look. I think the scape's now finally at a place where I don't look at it and see plants I want to change or gaps I want to fill so hopefully this will be it for a while. I've managed to rescue an old 14litre optiwhite from my parents that I bought off AquaEssentials back in the day so currently plotting a low tech shrimp tank....
 
RESCAPE KLAXON AGAIN

After a huge crypt melt on the pygmea, the monte carlo overtaking everything and the rotala looking scraggly we've had a bit of a change:
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Out with the MC, out with the dragon stone! In with a sand front, mini landscape rock, more crypts (petchii and willisii), some anubias nana, some Java Fern, some fissidens and some more wood (which doesn't match the old wood...)
It still looks very new garden just planted so I'm not doing any closeups yet, but hopefully the picture above gives some sense of what's happening.
 
I like it
Especially the fine twisted root texture of the new wood (which will likely match soon enough, though I’ve seen the odd piece that remains stubbornly red o_O)
Ram still about?

Now if only my ears would stop ringing :crazy:
 
Time for a bit of thread necromancy!
So this tank is still going - had a brief interlude into a Rio 125 which was frustratingly short lived as it sprung a leak the night before we had an estate agent booked to show people round our house!

We're now in a new place with a new scape. I'm not going to lie - it's not doing great. Had a quick look through this journal again and I miss how good it looked. Had a maintenance free month earlier in the year and it hasn't really recovered - all the algae, all the time. The BBA seems to be on the retreat but there's still a lot sticking around. We're between houses at the moment and are planning on getting an AS900 when we finally get into our new house (it's a new build - we were meant to be in in Feb...) so it never felt worth the time/expense of a rescape so attention wandered and all the algae, all the time happened.

Current livestock: 6 x Cardinal Tetras, 1 x Betta and about a bajillion cherry shrimp.

Here are a couple of pics of how it looks tonight - it's still a bit fizzy from the 90% wc this morning and a bit hazy from all the gunk that got kicked up when I pulled the rock out to bleach the bba off. I've got a plant order coming hopefully early next week (Blyxa Japonica, Crypt. Crispatula, Rotala H'ra and a couple of bucephalandra) - I'm planning on pulling everything that isn't on the wood out and doing a partial rescape with (fingers crossed) no bba on the plants, which will hopefully see off what remains. We'll see! Hoping to be able to post something looking a darn sight better next week!


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Thanks for sharing.

I am sure thats an Arcadia Arc Tank. I had one of those if it is. They were really lovely quality.

Can I ask you how you get on with the APS External Filter? I read that you had a right battle with it at the beginning.

Great posts!
Simon
 
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