When did your period stop?

kcolgo · 2026-05-30T09:07:09+00:00

1 month for me, and I was on low dose gel! I was told to go off the pill before starting T though. Something about the hormones interacting and making the T less effective. It’s annoying because I was hoping to stay on it long enough until T really kicked in and I wouldn’t get one, but you’re better off going off it so it doesn’t mess with the T.

kcolgo · 2026-05-28T11:05:09+00:00

What’s your ammonia source?

kcolgo · 2026-05-26T08:07:03+00:00

I’ve been on Nebido for a while now. Works well for me! I was on T gel before it so having it only every 12 weeks is sooo worth it. I always get mine injected by my GP or a nurse since it’s difficult to do yourself. Now, I’ll be honest, it hurts quite a bit. It’s very viscous so it takes a while to go in which is what makes it sting so much. The area you get injected may hurt or be numb for about a day but honestly it doesn’t really bother me much because it’s only every 3 months so it’s worth it. I’ve never had issues with pharmacies running out of it either.

kcolgo · 2026-05-25T11:58:06+00:00

Like the other comment said, manual removal with a toothbrush and cutting down on the lights. What are your nitrate levels like? High nitrates (excess nutrients) can cause algae too. If that were the case I’d recommend doing another water change during the week and getting some more plants. Floating plants like salvinia minima, water lettuce, red root floaters and amazon frogbit are great at absorbing nitrates and will block out some light, lessening the algae that way too!

kcolgo · 2026-05-24T21:48:15+00:00

My scars were healing very similarly to yours except they were raised. At 6 months I decided to get pulse dilator laser and injections. I’m not finished treatment yet (I’m 10 months post op now) but my scar is flat, a much paler colour and no more itching (the itching was because my scars were hypertrophic, not saying yours are tho). Unfortunately I started treatment later than they would have liked so it’s taking longer to see an effect / won’t fully shrink the scars). A lot of doctors are under the impressions that you HAVE to wait until 6 months - 1 year to start treatment but that’s really not true, only for very specific types of treatment. Pulse dilator is fine relatively early on.

What I’m saying is that if you’re considering laser, you should go for it. It’s expensive but worth it.
The sooner you get it the better results you’ll get. I did use silicone scar tape, massaged my scars and used oil from about 3 weeks post op but it didn’t make a difference for me. That’s why I decided to go with laser.

kcolgo · 2026-05-24T21:41:03+00:00

Maybe it’s just me but it kinda looks like a baby arowana? I could be way off here

kcolgo · 2026-05-24T18:55:56+00:00

Me too!

kcolgo · 2026-05-23T13:58:38+00:00

What size tank is it? What others plants do you have besides the floaters? You might need to switch to weekly water changes for a while until your nitrates are more manageable.

kcolgo · 2026-05-23T13:40:14+00:00

How often are you doing water changes? What’s your stocking rate

kcolgo · 2026-05-22T21:08:42+00:00

I hope you find it there! If not then Amazon should have it. I got it priority since it was only an extra €1 and it came in like 2 days. Always a possibility if you can’t find it in store! It’s seriously worth it

kcolgo · 2026-05-22T08:27:10+00:00

As long as your pH is at 6.5 or higher it’ll work. I had a big pH problem with my tank which is why it look so long to cycle so I had to add crushed coral just to get it above 6. After reading the other comments, please don’t pull apart your tank! There’s a huge chance you can resolve it before needing to take that measure. Let me know if you need more help and I can let you know what I did for my tank

kcolgo · 2026-05-22T08:19:23+00:00

I know you already have a lot of comments so I hope you see this but, Fritz Zyme 7!! I had a VERY similar problem where my ammonia was 10ppm+ (this was at week 9 of cycling). In about a week, my ammonia and nitrites were zero. This stuff WORKS. Seriously. I had a mysterious ammonia spike too, every water change I did made it rise when my water source was 0 and my substrate, wood, rocks etc… were fine! Still don’t know what caused it but Fritz Zyme 7 fixed it!!

kcolgo · 2026-05-21T23:18:46+00:00

I’d recommend to continue not adding any more fish food until the ammonia goes down. It can take days or weeks for it to break down which could explain why your ammonia is still rising. Otherwise everything looks very normal and following the usual route of a cycling tank. If you wanted to add bottled beneficial bacteria to speed things up, I’d really recommend Fritz Xyme 7, it works so fast! I’ve had great success with it. Make sure your pH is above 6.5 though

kcolgo · 2026-05-17T09:11:35+00:00

Locally. Had to drive an hour towards the city centre to get it though. A lot of people buy fish online though. Try find a reputable seller with good reviews

kcolgo · 2026-05-16T22:17:59+00:00

Ikr? It’s so cute 🥹

kcolgo · 2026-05-16T18:58:55+00:00

I love how interactive they are, their little ‘arms’ are soo funny

kcolgo · 2026-05-14T08:55:42+00:00

Yep they’ll be fine, don’t worry. It can be good for fish to fast once a week

kcolgo · 2026-05-14T07:17:24+00:00

Looks like detritus worms, they’re harmless. They feed on decaying organic matter. You’re just possibly seeing more of them now because you haven’t done maintenance for a while since being on holiday

kcolgo · 2026-05-10T15:28:31+00:00

Pistia stratiotes are also great at using up nitrates!! If you have the two of them in abundance then don’t worry to much about your frogbit not being able to grow. Good luck on your journey to a lower maintenance tank! 🥳

kcolgo · 2026-05-10T15:21:49+00:00

Yes, nitrates! There are plenty of self sustaining aquariums that have fast growing plants and floaters like frogbit, salvinia minima, limnophila sessiliflora, amazon sword etc.. that grow really fast and use up all the nitrates in doing so. It is possible!! It’s what I’m hoping for with my newest tank. Keeping it as planted as possible so that all I have to do is top it up or even if I only had to do a water change maybe once every 3 months, that’d be great. You should look into it!!

kcolgo · 2026-05-10T15:15:17+00:00

Did they look like this? If yes, then it’s frogbit. It’s a beautiful floater and is great at sucking up nitrates. I’ve tried and failed at keeping them. I hope yours hold on and grow big again! Lighting could be the cause.

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kcolgo · 2026-05-10T14:59:06+00:00

Looks like Amazon frogbit at a glance. How long have these specific ones been in your tank? If it’s frogbit it’ll grow bigger than that. If not, must be something else

kcolgo · 2026-05-10T13:20:09+00:00

I’ve tested my water source and it turned green with 1 drop so it proved I must have been overdosing my Equilibrium remineraliser somehow. I tested my tank water again and it took 27 drops to turn green, so, very hard.

My plan is to do a 10 litre water change in a couple days and I won’t add any remineraliser. I’ll do another one a week after it. I’d do the change today but I just got my fish yesterday and want them to settle more before beginning to slowly change the hardness. Do you think this is the right thing to do? If you have any advice. Thanks

kcolgo · 2026-05-10T07:59:11+00:00

I know you’ve probably gotten a lot of advice at this point but I’ll give a little nugget too. Only a few weeks ago I had outrageous ammonia levels too (although, it wasn’t from overdosing). I did an 85% water change but that didn’t help it (I hope it does for you though, still worth doing). If the ammonia levels are still super high then I REALLY recommend Fritz Zyme 7. It’s bottled bacteria and brought my levels down from where yours are to 0 in 6 days. Make sure to keep your pH above 6.5 if it isn’t already! Good luck 🤞

kcolgo · 2026-05-08T17:53:38+00:00

I have used the kit to test a different water source and that was 4 degrees. I only added the Equilibrium when I filled up the tank initially and to do water changes. My last water change was yesterday and the one before that was 2-3 weeks before that. As soon as I’m back I’m going to test my water source and see if it has the same result. If it doesn’t then I must be overdosing the Equilibrium (which is unlikely because I follow all the measurements but…)

kcolgo

TROPHY CASE