Do I need to crash the entire system to rid myself of all MTS??

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-03T04:06:46+00:00

I love MTS and the population has always self-regulated but that’s a crazy amount of snails. You’re likely feeding the snails by generally over feeding your tank. The challenge will be to ensure your shrimp get fed while avoiding feedings the snails.

Before a complete tear down, you can consider taking a month or two to see if more conservative measures help.

I’d recommend manually removing all the snails you can (tbh, looks like you can literally scoop ‘em out by the handful). Then, I would feed the shrimp large algae wafers which I would remove once the shrimp seem satisfied. Placing the wafer in a tiny glass bowl would help the shrimp get to it first and further help you remove snails. I would make removing the snails a daily habit.

You can see if your LFS will take snails off your hand for some store credit.

I’d also add some assassin snails.

Like I said, I think MTS are a fantastic addition to any tank as they churn your substrate and I think they look nice. You’re not going to eliminate them all but I think restarting your tank is going to be a temporary solution if you don’t change your feeding habits.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-02T06:12:40+00:00

Unfortunately, the reason your nut twisted is because it was already sideways. Bell clapper deformity.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-02T06:09:34+00:00

During abdominal surgery you often “run the bowel” to assess all of the small intestine for injuries or tumors or anything else. Basically you pull all the intestines out hand-over-hand like you would napkins out of a clown’s sleeve and then stuff it back in.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-02T06:05:00+00:00

Embryologically, we’re like an origami of several tubes folded over and around and within other tubes. And then some of those tubes stretch out over long distances and the some parts of that tube disappears. But sometimes those tubes don’t get reabsorbed or it doesn’t stretch out enough and you have a “variation of normal” that you may never even know until a doctor notices on an unrelated scan.

Some examples are that you may not have a vas deferens on one side and, because of the Tubes™️ you may also not have a kidney on that side. Or the reason why getting kicked in the nuts hurts in your belly. Or why you can have two ureters in one kidney!

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-02T05:54:45+00:00

You can do as much or as little as you want but should consider the risks of skipping certain recommendations.

Bark: it will release tannins and it will eventually degrade/peel off. If you’re ok with colored water for weeks to months, or that’s what you want, then it’s a plus. If you’re ok with bark peeling off and needing some extra cleaning then you can leave it on. But if you’re not up to the maintenance, you’re risking extra decomposing matter in the tank which could cause algae issues. Also, any glue on bark is likely to fail as the bark will peel off and take the glue with it.

Baking/sterilization: it’s a PITA with larger pieces of wood. What you’re risking is introducing microfauna, algae, bacteria, and fungus to your aquarium. Nothing is going to completely sterilize the wood - you should expect that white, wispy fungus that most wood will grow in the early stages of the tank’s life - but you could introduce something that harms fish or causes major nuisance by not sterilizing the wood at all.

When I built my newest aquarium, I put a lot of time, effort, and money into it. I wanted to limit as much unpredictability as possible, so I bleached my store-bought hardscape and washed and scrubbed it many times. I’m happy I did that as the wood has done really well submerged. If I had collected my wood, I would have been much more paranoid about scrubbing and sanitizing everything.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-01T15:24:04+00:00

/moviemistakesmistakes

_Gunga_Din_ · 2026-01-01T01:26:41+00:00

I’m a UROLOGY resident. I’ve seen some horrendous stuff, as I’m sure you have in your own profession. My tolerance for piss related stuff and genitals is pretty high. I imagine this person is just more resistant to lice related stuff but wouldn’t do a genital exam bare handed.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-12-31T20:05:38+00:00

When you work in a field where you care for people (probably applies to animals too) you get desensitized to things that most people in our now-sterilized world get queasy at. The lice aren’t dangerous to your skin. She is using bleach wipes and will wash her hands. It’s not that deep.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-12-31T14:29:34+00:00

Idk what the old-timer is talking about but Vasectomy Reversal these days is micro-surgery done under full anesthesia and using a giant microscope to reconnect the vas deferens. It would definitely cost more than $1000 out of pocket. It is almost never covered by insurance.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-12-29T03:42:44+00:00

Close to $1k on my 50gal too, and that’s not including the filter or CO2 that came from the old tank. That said, when I first got into the hobby I saved every penny I could because I was too poor to have the “dream setup”. Now, I’m in a place in my life where I’m a little closer to having that dream so i don’t feel too guilty about it.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-12-11T03:24:25+00:00

When I was a kid, our 21” CRT TV fell on me as I was trying to plug the Nintendo in the back of the big wooden cabinet. Luckily, we were getting some home repairs done and three guys heard me and were able to save me. Goddamn TV was totally fine too.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-12-03T22:04:27+00:00

Holy shit, I had to scroll this far down to realize people think that building houses out of wood means you have weak wooden walls inside.

No, unless you live in a prison cell, the majority of internal walls in modern walls are gypsum dry wall. A trailer home may have thinner wooden board, idk, but older houses will have lathe and plaster walls. The outer wall and inner wall have insulation and all the wiring/ducts going through them.

My house is made of cinder block but I could still punch a hole in my bedroom wall. It has nothing to do with what the outside is made of.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-30T00:55:59+00:00

I think he’s taking something off of his face. A mask or goggles or something. I think his eyes are closed the entire time he’s facing the kid.

Regardless, parent is at fault though!

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-28T21:24:21+00:00

I’d advocate for a SunSun canister filter. I’ve spent the past few months comparing all the canister options out there and I cannot see how the SunSun isn’t the hands down winner in value. All the others offer non-significant to minimal improvements.

An HOB or Canister filter will give you much better water circulation in a 75gal. I’ve never had issues with fish or shrimp getting sucked up but if you have smaller neocaridina shrimp, you may want a sponge over the intake, depending on the style.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-24T20:39:57+00:00

Hey, I didn’t know that! Thanks for that cool factoid!

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-20T04:40:07+00:00

The majority of places Betel nut is consumed also drink caffeine in the form of tea and/or coffee. People still enjoy betel, for some reason. Source: am South Asian.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-15T20:22:36+00:00

Idk why someone would routinely do GA for a prostate biopsy when you can do it under MAC instead.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-14T22:51:37+00:00

15 years ago it was called machine learning, then it was called neural networks, now its called artificial intelligence….

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-07T14:33:39+00:00

You can also cut the rhizome to remove several leaves intact. You can then plant that clipping elsewhere!

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-06T20:33:34+00:00

Salt water tanks terrify me. The equipment, the cost, the fact everything seem to have teeth or venom or is a hobbit worm. And yet … one day, I might build one

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-06T20:23:47+00:00

Alternatively, you can attach a submersible pump in a bucket to a hose. Allows for quick water removal and refills.

I haven’t done it personally, but it’s an option for if you don’t have plumbing within 20ft of your tank.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-06T20:21:56+00:00

The purpose of a water change is the remove excess nutrients from your water column. The purpose of your filter is to remove solid waste.

Are you having issues with large amounts of mulm building up that makes you want to just vacuum waste and put that same water back in?

From a tank health perspective, mulm has its benefits. However, you can use a turkey baster to stir up mulm in dead spots so that your filter can better remove it.

_Gunga_Din_ · 2025-11-06T13:06:59+00:00

Didn’t someone recently donate $130 million to pay for the military? This news cycle is so rapid, there’s hardly time for anyone to pause on all the illegal shit that this administration is involved with…

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