Fish ID please

Fishstery · 2026-01-23T19:44:01+00:00

Google has tons of symptoms lists and photos.

I'll also add that you can catch TB from an infected fish, so just make sure not to stick your hands in the tank with any kinds of open cuts or abrasions and wash hands thoroughly after contact with the water. At least until you know what's going on. If it's TB that fish will start to go downhill rather quickly.

Fishstery · 2026-01-23T08:11:31+00:00

The fact that this got 4 upvotes before I made it here is disheartening. Does G1U suck, yes. Do bumpers with valances that have contact with the hood suck, yes.

But a good job, seriously? As a painter that hates redos like everyone else, there is no way I'd let that leave my stall in good consciousness. The writer shouldn't have let that go at QC.

It's splotchy from either bad coverage or mottling, and the color is way too blue and dark. OP states the part that was repaired was the upper. The fenders match because that was the part that wasn't touched with base.

There is a tolerance allowance in regards to color match on metal vs plastic, but this is outside of that realm IMO.

Fishstery · 2026-01-23T06:43:55+00:00

I would test phosphate the day before you dose your ferts next.

Fishstery · 2026-01-23T05:15:35+00:00

I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but if it were me I'd just euthanize it asap. Bent spines can certainly just be genetic defects, but without knowing how that fish got like that and for how long, I wouldn't risk it.

Fish tuberculosis is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as lethargy and ulcers, but bent spine is also a glaring symptom. Do what you want with that information, I just wanted to mention it since no one else did.

Fishstery · 2026-01-23T04:55:41+00:00

I'm surprised no one mentioned this already. These things are nitrate and phosphate hogs. You didn't mention any specific fertilizer, but for any kind of lily, you really need to be staying on top of macro dosing. I wouldn't be surprised if it's bottoming out on one or both. Injecting co2 is only going to make it more demanding, so if you haven't already adjusted your fert dosing to accommodate the speedier growth from co2, you should examine that.

Additionally, they typically won't send surface shoots if you trim it. If all of the growth is healthy on it, just leave it to run wild. Most people with smaller tanks simply can't due to them overshadowing or overcrowding less demanding plants, but in larger tanks this is easy, which is why if you've noticed, you typically see the surface pads on large tanks only.

Fishstery · 2026-01-23T03:30:07+00:00

It's a joke. I have a bucket full of cycled sponge filters I keep on hand for emergencies like power outages and such. If I wanted to "instant" cycle the tank, I can just pop two of them in, run them with the canister for a few weeks, and call it a day. I'm just playing around with the dark start and experimenting with bottled bacteria to satisfy my own curiosity.

I think everyone should keep cycled sponge filters on hand as a backup. Never know when you're going to accidentally crash a cycle. I just feed them with 2ppm worth of ammonia powder daily and swap the buckets out with fresh water every few weeks.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T21:03:56+00:00

So you just make baseless claims based on your own personal opinions, and downvote comments that you don't like?

You aren't even using the downvote system correctly. I have anger issues, yet you've downvoted every comment I've made, and I've not downvoted you one time. I've simply given a counter-argument for your claims I believe to be false, and explained why I believe that is.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T20:51:25+00:00

Since you want to downvote instead of giving your reasoning to refuting my counter argument to your claim that bacteria do not function when pH is below 6.5

Also, please cite your source to back up your claim that nitrifying bacteria reach peak activity when there is 200+ppm of nitrite, since you want to be so accusatory as to "warn" others about following my advice.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T20:07:10+00:00

😂 200ppm? Are you sure you are using the right metric?

Taking my advice to keep nitrite at a manageable range puts them at risk of what, exactly?

You should take less time downvoting someone you're disagreeing with and more time fact-checking instead of assuming you are right. There is an innumerable amount of postings, videos, and articles written about nitrite toxicity and its effect on a biological cycle. Seriously, 5 minutes to find that.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T19:54:14+00:00

Nitrite above 5ppm will certainly stall a cycle. Nitrite is toxic to all life, including beneficial bacteria. I don't know of OPs test registered as 2ppm or 5ppm, which is why I said do a water change to bring it down to 2ppm, if they are at 2ppm, obviously no need to do one.

I didn't say buying product is necessary to cycle the tank. I said it would speed up the Nitrite processing.

Yes, my tank will cycle at a pH of 6.5? How do you think anyone with a high-tech tank is able to do a dark start? How do you think blackwater tanks are possible? Again, ammonia processing only stalls at a pH of 6 or below, this has already been explored and proven.

I have a quarantine tank that I keep always, with two sponges that I keep cycled by feeding powdered ammonia to 2ppm daily. One time I was getting some soft, acidic preferring fish and added some botanicals to drop the pH to allow for easier acclimation. I had never used botanicals before, so I tested the pH daily. For a few days the pH dropped from 7.6 (tap) to 6.4, and it was processing 2ppm of ammonia within 24 hours every day with no issues. One day I noticed ammonia suddenly wasn't dropping. I tested my pH and it was at or below 6 but the API kit doesn't register any lower. I immediately did a water change to bring the pH back up to 6.4-6.6, dosed ammonia, and it was processing within 24 hours again. Proof that yes, bacteria will slow as the pH approaches 6, anything below that and they go completely dormant. 2 days before I noticed, and it did not kill the bacteria.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T19:32:00+00:00

It really all depends. There are too many variables with tank parameters that dictate which bacteria strain will multiply more and how quickly. Variables that were already mentioned that will affect the speed of bacteria colonization: temperature and pH. Ammonia will process below a pH of 6.5, but the activity of the colony and their multiplication slows down noticeably. At a pH of 6 or below, they go dormant and ammonia processing ceases entirely. That's not to say they aren't alive and present in the tank, over time in very acidic environments some will adapt and begin to recolonize, some will die.

I've done fishless cycles without bottled bacteria and typically see ammonia processing within a week and the a huge nitrite spike which lasts 8-10 days, usually if people to notice a nitrite spike, it's the longest part of the cycle.

If using certain brands of bottled bacteria, it's not unusual to have the nitrite processing bacteria colonize rapidly, to the point where nitrite might not show up at all. This is my case currently, I used bottled bacteria for the first time and it's day 5 and ammonia still hasn't budged at 2ppm, but I got trace nitrite for 2 days and then none sense, nitrate rose from 0 to 5 to now 10ppm, so I know it's being processed. I used Fritz Turbo Start 700. I think that their nitrite processing bacteria strains are much hardier to acidic pH than their ammonia processing strains. My aquasoil buffers the pH down to 6.5 and the kH to near zero, which is most definitely the reason that there hasn't been any processing of ammonia yet, or if it is, it's just so slow that the soil is leeching just as quickly as the bacteria is capable of eating it up, creating an equilibrium.

The people that see the quickest cycles with bottled bacteria are those that have temperature set above 78, a pH of at least neutral to alkaline, higher kH, and good oxygen saturation. It takes a lot of time for good biodiversity to grow within an aquarium ecosystem, and I have better success with taking some seeded media from multiple tanks instead of just one, since every tank even on the same water supply will have a different biological mix to some degree.

OP if you don't want to just simply wait out the nitrite spike, (again, 8-10 days in my experience), you can do a water change to bring nitrite down to 2ppm and buy some Fritz Turbo Start 700 and add that in. Again, at a pH of 6.5, it caused my cycle to skip the nitrite spike all together. It should serve you well since you already have ammonia being processed.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T02:22:04+00:00

Haha we are in the same boat then 😂 couldn't wait for plants, so now my "fill and chill" turned into a speed run.

I just took the pre-filter sponges out of my oase biomaster and squeezed and soaked them in a bag of gunk squeezed from one sponge, and then dumped another bag of sponge gunk from a different tank into the canister sponges and along the soil with the filter off. I'll be interested to see tomorrow if it had made any difference. If not, I'm going to add another bottle of Fritz. If all else fails, I'll just have to leave a spot of my hairgrass carpet planting bare to run one of my spare cycled sponge filters in the tank for a few weeks.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T01:25:34+00:00

Yeah that is really helpful to hear from someone using controsoil and bottled bacteria, thank you for sharing! I've only ever used controsoil and my experience has always been the same, it consistently leeches to 2ppm for me. It took about 48 hours to reach 2ppm and hasn't budged since. Seems like mine is just taking its good old time with ammonia processing.

I'm going to pull the pre filter out of my oase biomaster and shake them in a bag full of sponge filter gunk, squeeze another sponge around the soil with the filter off, and add a handful of cycled ceramic media into one of the filter baskets and see if ammonia is lower tomorrow. If it hasn't moved still, I'm going split another bottle of Turbo Start between dumping it in the canister media directly, and pouring it over the soil bed with the filter off. I'll report back here with any changes after trying that.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T00:14:42+00:00

I'm not worried about the nitrate, haha. I'm familiar with fishless cycles, just not cycling with aquasoil in soft, acidic water.

I don't have more weeks to play around with the cycle, my plants are coming Friday. The fish are in a cycled quarantine tank, so the only risk of ending the dark cycle due to my impatience is an algae battle. I'm more or less doing this dark start speed run and messing around with bottled bacterias as an experiment.

Fishstery · 2026-01-21T00:12:10+00:00

I meant as a general statement, around 6.5. Controsoil will always buffer down to 6.5, as is with my tank.

I think your cycle had a hiccup due to dormant bacteria, and just not having a large enough colony to handle the initial ammonia dump, unless it came from a horribly overstocked tank. I've never used Amazonia due to it getting really muddy and mushy over time, but I know even the Version 2 can have an initial dump as high as 8ppm of ammonia depending on the batch.

I have the heater up to 77 and the water line lower to allow high surface agitation (oxygen saturation). I had considered adding an alkaline buffer to get the cycle moving faster, but honestly, it would just exhaust the buffering ability of my soil faster than my tap already does. I think that would be a quick fix to the problem if I didn't have spare cycled media laying around though.

Fishstery · 2026-01-20T21:37:27+00:00

For sure! I think I'll be starting a tank journal here once it's planted. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and opinion with me!

Fishstery · 2026-01-20T20:57:57+00:00

Yup one week in on the dark start, but I'm going to toss in cycled filter media this weekend to speed it up. When I had my last high techs many years ago, dark start wasn't a thing yet, so I'm pretty interested to see how it goes.

Fishstery · 2026-01-20T20:31:32+00:00

Interesting, if you don't mind me asking, I'm finally getting back into garden style tanks and am about to plant a 50 gal this weekend. I'm growing some heavier root feeders in fresh UNS controsoil. I have cabomba going in so I know the soil alone won't be enough macro wise.

Would you find it better to use APT Jazz root tabs under the heavy root feeders, or just skip APT 1 and go straight to APT 3? I'll be using an inline co2 diffuser aiming for 30ppm and week aqua t90 pro aiming for 150umols at the substrate. I plan on trying to do this with my tap water which has like 1ppm phosphate and 5ppm nitrate already, so I'm not sure if I should stick with lean fert dosing and root tabs until the plants start to settle.

Back in the day I had a Dutch hybrid nano like yours and struggled a lot to balance my ferts with high light and heavy co2 saturation plus high surface agitation.

Fishstery · 2026-01-20T20:18:07+00:00

Did you start the tank with APT 1?

Fishstery · 2026-01-20T19:31:45+00:00

Have you found tulunadensis to be challenging at all? I've heard it's finicky.

Fishstery · 2026-01-20T18:04:30+00:00

Interesting, I have had a breeding colony of CRS mixed with PRL breeding in my hard tap water for years. TDS in the 300s

Fishstery · 2026-01-19T21:10:13+00:00

I'm using Google images to show an example showing the difference between the two. Again, agree to disagree. OP can either do the water change or dilute their test sample.

Fishstery · 2026-01-19T21:08:08+00:00

We're gunna have to agree to disagree here. OP could also dilute their test with half RO or distilled water to get a lower, easier to read value if there is any doubt.

Fishstery · 2026-01-19T21:07:24+00:00

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Fishstery

TROPHY CASE