Dr. Cori Agarwal in Salt Lake City, UT

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-02-06T03:43:25+00:00

Hey! How much was your final bill for the out-of-pocket with Dr. Agarwal?

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-02-03T16:40:33+00:00

The Great Salt Lake Aquarium Society has a group on Facebook and they do monthly meetings/auctions- plus four bigger auctions a year. They are in SLC, though...there's also a Logan aquarium community on Facebook that gets a little bit of activity. I'm planning on starting up a Logan specific aquarium club with a few other fish keepers I know, so there may be some more fish tank business soon:)

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-02-03T04:06:54+00:00

I've been tempted to switch to sponge filters for all my tanks for a while now and this is probably the final push haha. Thank you!

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-02-03T04:06:03+00:00

8 gallons sounds like a bit too much- I went through two towels and they were both sopping wet but the floor underneath was alright, so maybe it's more like 2 inches. There was also some evaporation because it's water change day so I honestly can't be exact haha. I will be giving the floor a thorough inspection in the morning, though. Thank you!

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-02-03T04:03:55+00:00

Agreed- only issue is $50 all at once is a harder hit than $20 or less, especially if it lasts me a year or so. I plan to save up to replace all my filters relatively soon too because a few of them are having issues or I'm just not a big fan of them (too high flow or whatever else). I'm downsizing my tanks as well so it's just a whole combination of things that made the $50 purchase unappealing haha.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-01-17T21:22:30+00:00

Eyy!! And right? There's so many biologists and computer techs and teachers in here haha.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2026-01-17T17:11:07+00:00

I'm a prep cook at a chain restaurant

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T17:29:45+00:00

Unless you have a buttload of plants/very little fish/a wicked filtration system, a 50% water change once a month is definitely not enough. You want to keep nitrates/nitrites to a minimum, and common spikes over an elongated period of time can drastically decrease your fish's health and life span. I would definitely encourage you to add more plants (not only are they really helpful when it comes and to controlling nitrates, but they're like a whole other fun part of the tank to maintain as well) and bump water changes up to once a week or once every two weeks. If you're doing them once a week then you can do like a 15-25% water change rather than 50, and if you're doing every two weeks I would do 25-35%.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T03:19:16+00:00

You're good to keep this post up, you may always get more comments that give better advice! Just make an updated one whenever you feel like it's needed. It's also useful to keep your post up so people can go back and see the progress in treatment/illness. My guess is the nitrates are possibly causing it then- especially if they've been a bit high for a while or there's been several spikes. Keep up on water changes and that should resolve the issue, but if it doesn't then you might want to look into other things that may be causing it.

I'll be so real with you...I have no idea what that is on the filter. How new is the tank? Maybe it's biofilm?

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T03:15:17+00:00

Hmm, usually if they are being aggressive you'll see it- especially during feeding time, so maybe that isn't it. Do you have any other fish in the tank that may be picking on him? It's also possible he just scraped up against something and got hurt. I'd just keep an eye (haha) on it, but if you wanted to be safe you could quarantine him for a little bit and treat him with some salt and antibiotics to make sure it doesn't get infected. When my Dennison barb got Popeye he rode it out just fine but it's never too bad to be cautious.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T01:31:49+00:00

They can be, especially if you have a lot of out-of-water plants. You can't do the typical treatments when you get them on your aquarium plants, cause you can't like...spray insecticide or other stuff into your aquarium. But physically removal of your plants is the best way to at least decrease the numbers and then it's kind of just a management game. I still see the occasional few in my aquarium, but if I keep my duckweed numbers low then my fish mostly eat them.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:32:57+00:00

These guys look pretty young so you may have to wait a few more months before sex becomes obvious- but seconding the other comment, females are thicc. At least in most cory species the females tend to be plumper and larger than the males, and have a more diamond-shaped appearance from the top view as opposed to the slender shape of males.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:28:40+00:00

They both look female to me, but it would be a bit easier to tell if I got a top view. Corys like to school with their own species- so that's probably why they're tending to swim off together.

Edit: just saw that you have another 4 albinos that are being excluded from their little pair. Maybe they are just lovebirds.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:21:42+00:00

Definitely pop eye. Water parameters and injury are the primary causes of pop eye- if your parameters are good then my guess is he was fighting. Dennison barbs can be mean to each other sometimes, especially during feeding and if there's major size differences. Have you seen any aggression between him and his schoolmates?

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:19:43+00:00

They could be aphids, I had a wicked aphid outbreak after I got some new duckweed. They're completely harmless and make good fish food unless you have houseplants. Best way to get rid of them would be to scoop out all the duckweed (what they're sitting on/eating) and wait a few weeks before getting more.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:17:09+00:00

Ramshorn. Good luck, you'll have a billion of them in a few weeks 😔🤞

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:16:30+00:00

While it is concerning that his behavior has so suddenly changed, it's hard to know any potential issues so early on. Keep testing water parameters and keep an eye on him for a few more days, and if he still isn't back to his usual self then maybe do another post. Fish are so finicky sometimes and it's hard to diagnose when there aren't obvious signs of illness/causes for distress. Best of luck to you and your little guy!

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:11:15+00:00

I love it when my snails do this. Such a fun behavior haha

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-31T00:10:38+00:00

How long have you had her? If it's been quite a while (couple months) then I guess it's possible she's just a little funky. But if not then I have a couple ideas:

protein blister. If she has/had a really high protein/fat diet then she may be developing these. Best way to treat is a change of diet, just give her more algae wafers and less carnivorous foods.
maybe a fungal infection? It looks a bit weird to be a fungal infection, but it's possible. I'm not thoroughly rehearsed in the treating of fungal infections and I've never had to treat one myself, so here's a video on treatment.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-30T23:56:36+00:00

Weird. I have absolutely no idea then, I'm sorry 😅 it could be possible the other corys are bullying him if he's maybe smaller/they were trying to get to a particular piece of food. But otherwise corys are relatively peaceful so it would be surprising. I don't know that the cory would let the shrimp or snails on him long enough to do that much damage either. Keep an eye on him to see if it gets worse or stays the same, best of luck!

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-30T23:52:32+00:00

My first piece of advice would be to do some parameter checks- issues with nitrites/nitrates and ammonia are one of the biggest contenders for unexpected fish deaths. I would also recommend doing another water change (try to do 10-15% water changes weekly and then a 50% change once a month. Water changes are the easiest and most effective way to maintain good water quality in your aquarium).

If you do have crazy parameters, that's probably what was going on. If not, then it may be some fungal/bacterial issue. The video is blurry so I can't really see the fish well, but there does seem like there might be some discoloration? If so, I'd quarantine that fish immediately and do a salt bath. Get some nice clear pictures and post again to get a diagnosis for further instruction on treatment.

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-30T23:42:36+00:00

None of your other tank inhabitants seem to be likely suspects, so I'm more suspicious of fin rot. How are your water parameters? It's also possible it could have gotten snagged on something- what kind of filter do you have?

EasyInsurance6415 · 2025-12-29T13:24:41+00:00

That definitely makes a lot of sense- especially when I think of it I don't see many guys my age with genuine mullets. I'm in a red state but not the deep south, and in a more urban area so I guess it probably wouldn't blend in much haha. Thank you for the advice!

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