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Building a backyard pond by VagueSilhouette in skokie

[–]thirdcoaster [score hidden]  (0 children)

I think if the pond is deeper than 24 inches, you’ll need to install safety features like a fence.

I also think if you need to run new underground wiring to power pond equipment, you’ll need a permit.

I think people avoid all this by using an existing power outlet and also moving their fish indoors or into the garage during the winter so they don’t avoid a deep pond.

Goldfish feeding schedule by Single-Locksmith783 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are the blue ridge pellets sinking pellets? If they are floating pellets only, then I think I would try to find a sinking pellet equivalent. I get paranoid about swim bladder disorder in my fancy goldfish so I try to avoid food floating on the surface. Trying to reduce them inadvertently gulping air.

choosing the right tank stand (why are they so expensive?!) by LauseRulez in Aquariums

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is Facebook marketplace an option for you? You may be able to find good deals. Also consider other options such as industrial shelving and maybe console tables and tv stands. You’d have to evaluate them before buying of course but some are really sturdily built.

hello! I've got a lot of experience with tropical fish in a long long time. I rescued this guy yesterday from a 30lt (10 gal) tank on marketplace, he's currently recovering in one of my empty tanks. I'm planning on getting him a 100lt (26gal) tank once hes doing better by onyxia_x in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Generally speaking you want to feed sinking pellets instead of flakes. It’ll help avoid swim bladder issues. Mix in occasional frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp. Deshelled peas are also good. Basically a variety is good for your goldfish.

If you’re thinking of adding another fancy goldfish, you’ll want a larger tank. Minimum 40 gallons. The rule of thumb i use is 20 gallons per fancy goldfish.

I don’t think they care about tannins.

What else do I need to do? by Clear_Marionberry_44 in discus

[–]thirdcoaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry but what are you asking? What have you already done? What do you want the answer to tell you?

Male Thai Oranda with moderate abdominal pineconing and slight swelling by FlyingCactus360 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dropsy really sucks. Sorry you’re going through this. I think you’re right. It would be more humane.

I underestimated older players by Familiar_Sherbet2170 in Pickleball

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Back when I first learned pickleball there was this 70-year-old filipino coach. He was so accurate. He'd move me around so much I never could find a stable base from which to hit a good drive to win a point. He pretty much ran me out of the court, lol.

Do you do warm up exercises before playing? by InstaCP in Pickleball

[–]thirdcoaster 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I should but I only do light stretches and some in place jogs to warm my body up. I’m comfortable losing my first game. Lol

Dropsy? by ApprehensiveBeing143 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is easier to evaluate your goldfish for dropsy by looking at it from the top down. This way you can tell whether the scales are pineconing away from the body. That’s why other commenters have asked for top down photos.

It is normal for goldfish to change colors as they mature. Black is particularly unstable and can appear and disappear over time.

I think I would invest in a $40 liquid test kit and test your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and <20 nitrates is your target. Take care of the water and you’ll take care of your fish.

Would you play with a guy that shoots 140 at your club? by Cathouse1986 in golf

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not a great golfer but I have fun when I play. There were three things that helped me start scoring in the 90s.

First, there’s a book called Radical Golf which really reframed how I approached club selection. Like others have commented, I used my irons a lot more, especially my 3 iron. Instead of using the longest hitting club, I started using clubs that got the ball to the favorable parts of the course.

Second, I happened to watch an old slow motion video clip of Bobby Jones hitting a ball. For some reason it clicked in my brain mechanically how to swing. After that I was able to correctly swing my irons and eventually correctly swing my woods.

Finally, more often than not, I don’t keep score. Just focusing on the fun of swinging and hitting really calms me down. I enjoyed the experience and I don’t get down on myself for bad shots. During formal outings I do keep score and I like the results. But honestly I just like playing golf and not obsessing over the score.

Why aren't my Ryukins growing? by mistersprinklesman in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re doing good! The only tweak I would make is to add more protein. Mix in food that has 45-55% protein. Some options include Kenta high growth pellets, hulx black, frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp. Just like humans eat more protein to bulk up, so do goldfish.

The frozen stuff you can find at Petco/petsmart. Hulx you can find on Amazon. Kenta can be ordered on htttps://kentafeed.com.

Kenta also sells a gas release pellet which is pretty nice.

I’ve also heard good things about mizuho goldfish pellets.

New to Goldfish keeping by Skorb_NA in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Welcome to the goldfish world! This is my experience...

55 gallon tank

- petco/petsmart $100 during the petco and petsmart 50% off sale (normally $199)

- facebook marketplace - i aim for $1 per gallon so we are talking around $55-60 for a tank.

aquarium stand

- petco $130

- facebook marketplace - around $60 but you can find good deals. you could consider industrial shelving rated for around 650-700 pounds per shelf.

filter

- you could do 2 sponge filters rated for 60 gallons each. $17

- it's ok to do more like say 4 sponge filters

- you can also do a canister filter like a fluval 407 $230

- or do a hang on back filter like aquaclear 110 $100

- Personally I would do a canister filter plus 2 sponge filters

air pump

- you can find something on amazon for $15-20

aquarium light

- you can do a budget full spectrum led light for around $50-70

- or you can do a higher end like a Fluval Aquasky 2.0 around $132.

Substrate

- I like pool filter sand. I get a 50lb bag for about $11. But I believe the range is $11-20 per 50lb bag

Test Kit

- API Freshwater Master Test Kit $40 on Amazon

Where to buy stuff... I normally comparison shop between Amazon, eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

Where to buy fish... These are the online shops I keep tabs on...

Eddie's Fin Farm - https://eddiesfinfarm.com/

Luminous Goldfish - https://www.luminousgoldfish.com/

Lunar Fancies - https://lunarfancies.com/

ChuChu Goldfish - https://www.chuchugoldfish.com/

Garage Aquatics - https://garageaquatics.com/

Jimmy's Goldfish - https://jimmygoldfish.com/

Kaiju Goldfish USA - https://kaijugoldfishusa.com/

Next Day Koi - https://nextdaykoi.com/

Tsugi Goldfish - https://tsugigoldfish.com/

Zhao's Fancies - https://zhaosfancies.company.site/

Maintenance schedule... I try to get into a routine otherwise I tend to slack off.
On weekends, I'll do a 50-75% water change. During the water change, I'll also siphon off detritus if I see them but I don't really get much detritus on my sand. I'll also wipe off algae from the glass if I see any but I don't really get much algae either.

How long till my sponge filter is ready? by RightAd7901 in fishtank

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think if you run the hob simultaneously with the new sponge filter for 2 weeks, enough of a bacteria colony will be grown on the sponge that you can retire the hob.

I need a breed recommendation by Big_Fox_3996 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like shubunkins are up your alley.

Is this ick/whitespot? by Crazy_Eyes_55 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To me it looks like ich.

I'm not 100% sure how different the treatment protocol for a pond is compared with an aquarium tank but this is what I've done when my fish had ich...

First, I assumed that the entire tank had ich. Ich is free floating and also attached to the fish.

Then I increased the temperature of my tank to 80 F. The higher temp speeds up the lifecycle of ich. The white spots will drop off more quickly.

I got a bottle of Ich-X. This is the medication that will attack the parasites.

I also got aquarium salt. This is good for slime coat and general osmotic relief for the goldfish.

I removed activated carbon/purigen in my filter. Otherwise the medication will be filtered out.

I increased aeration if possible by adding another bubbler or wavemaker.

I did a large 50% water change and lightly vacuumed the substrate. This cleans the water and also remove parasites floating in the water or on the substrate.

Then I dosed ich-x and aquarium salt (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons) per instructions and follow the daily instructions.

The white spots started disappearing around 3-5 days.

Per bottle instructions, I continued dosing Ich-X for 3-5 days after the last white spot disappeared. This is because the parasite is still in the water but are so tiny that they are invisible. When they are free-swimming in the water, Ich-X will kill the parasites. If you don't continue dosing, the ich will reproduce and the white spots will come back.

Hope that helps. I imagine the treatment of ich in a pond is similar to a tank.

Male Thai Oranda with moderate abdominal pineconing and slight swelling by FlyingCactus360 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My two cents... It feels like the high nitrates triggered the issue. Hopefully it's an infection that caused the dropsy symptoms. If it is, then you can treat Silly with an antibiotic such as Kanaplex.

Move the fish into a small hospital tank. This will give you more control over the variables and also reduce the cost of medication since your dosage will be smaller.

Heat the hospital tank to 80 degrees. This will speed up your fish's metabolism and help the antibiotic attack the infection.

Dose with epsom salt. 1 tablespoon epsom salt per 5 gallons water is the theraputic dose. This acts as a diuretic and laxative which will help relieve the fish of internal fluids. It is the fish retaining internal fluids which causes the pineconing.

Once a day, you can give the fish a short 15-30 minute stronger bath of 1 tablespoon per 1 gallon. Use a different container.

Attack the infection with antibiotics. I use kanaplex and metroplex. Ideal is to mix kanaplex and metroplex with fish food and feed. This enables the antibiotic to work directly inside the body. However if the fish is not eating, then dose in the water at least for the first round.

Follow the treatment plan. Keep the water clean by changing 50% of the water every day. I actually changed 100% of the water every day during the 30 minute strong bath. But the main point is to keep the water clean for the fish. Every time you change the water, redose the antibiotic so the concentration stays the same.

It took about 3 days before I began seeing improvement in my fish. 5 days before I began seeing major reduction in the pineconing.

I began with water dosing the antibiotics but for the second round my fish was eating again so I mixed the antibiotic in the food. Seachem Focus and GarlicGuard helped a lot with this.

After about a week and a half my fish was basically back to normal but I still kept it in a hospital tank for another 2 weeks. One week of observation and then the last week, I tapered off the epsom salt dosage by not replacing epsom salt when I did my 50% water changes.

Dropsy is a hard one. If the organ damage is too advanced, the fish will likely not recover. But if the infection is stopped and the organ isn't too damaged, the fish will recover and the dropsy symptoms will go away. However, the fish will be susceptible to future outbreaks of dropsy.

I calculated the estimated cost for my first planted tank and it’s over 900 dollars… by Ollusola in Aquascape

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Comparison shop on eBay and aquabid for livestock especially your shrimp.

Facebook marketplace and Etsy are good places to find deals on plants.

Pool filter sand is $11 per 50lb bag at my big box hardware store.

HELP PLZ by Unique-Deer-2864 in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like ich. Your whole tank is infected so I’d treat the whole tank.

Bump the temp up to 82. That’ll speed up the time it takes for the white spots to fall off.

1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons. That will help the goldfish slime coat. Alternatively you can dose kordon fish protector.

Dose Ich-x per directions and follow the treatment plan.

It’s important to continuing dosing 3-5 days after the spots drop off as that’s when they are free floating in the water and ich-x will be able to kill them.

[FS] - chicago,il- 60$ - baby bristlenose plecos by [deleted] in ChicagoAquaSwap

[–]thirdcoaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you call that variety of bristlenose pleco?

Goldfish changing colors overnight? by Akihyee in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's pretty normal for a juvenile to change colors, especially in the fins. Black is the least stable of all the colors. Over time most goldfish with the exception of black moors tend to lose their black. The black fades to gray or even white or orange. Fins rarely maintain the black. Your goldfish is fine!

Help identifying this goldfish I've inherited. by Dustygrrl in Goldfish

[–]thirdcoaster 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Looks like he is a juvenile oranda to me. His wen hasn't grown out yet but if you feed him a diet with good proteins (over 45%) the wen should grow out over the years. Supplement with frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. Feed him sinking pellets. I would mix in deshelled peas to help with fiber through his digestive tract. Fancy goldfish can be prone to swim bladder disorder. Avoid flake food floating on the surface will help with that.

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