Unicorner

9/5-11/5 New Plants, new layouts I really wanted to hold off making another update until I had my light come in but it seems to be taking its sweet time so let's start with what I have. I did a water change and got my water tested again on Monday. everything at 0 for my 34, nitrates at <.25 for my 70. what was really interesting tho was that my GH for my 34 was at 30 and my 70 was at 170. I told the pet stock lady that it was probably cos I added the weekend feeder to my snail tank and she said that those are actually really really bad for water quality and horrible for fish. So maybe that's what cause the sudden death of Kelly and Michelle. maybe the feeder was too old? hypotheses abound. I ended up splitting the remaining cuttlebone between the 2 tanks and started shaving off the soft bit so it looks like a snow storm hit my tanks but I read that inverts get something like 70% of their calcium from the water so I figure it'd be better than just leaving them there, waiting for them to dissolve. I thought that the low GH in my 34 may have been the reason why all the snails died. so to try it out, I moved a snail over to my 34 and watched it. It seemed to settle ok but after a while, it would float to the top and use its snorkel to breathe. after a while, I didn't want to risk it dying so I put it back in my 70 and it made a full recovery I had won an auction to get a few plants so I wanted to change up the layout of my 70 a little. I also got a small piece of driftwood to attach the new plants. I carved up the bit piece a bit more, making a hole in the body and another smaller hole near the bottom to break it up. putting it back in the tank, I decided to flip it and I think it made the layout flow a lot better I was getting a little sick of all the java moss coming up every single time I moved something so I wanted to tie it all down to something. I decided to use my knitting skills to make a bit of a mesh after taking out all the java moss from the ground of both tanks. I figured it would work the same as the stainless steel meshes and I had jute twine on hand anyway. wet it and poked java moss into the holes with my tweezers. looked carpet-y enough so I put it in the back, behind the bridge. My plants finally arrived so I could put them into my 70. I attached the anubias pinto and weeping moss to the new piece of driftwood I got and planted the Pogostemon helferi (Downoi) near the temple. I know it needs CO2 and high light to stay compact so we'll see how it goes, I honestly just really, REALLY wanted the pinto I put the grid of coral moss in my 34 so the shrimp could tend to it. hope it grows out more. not sure about the growth rate on this. Today, I thought the structure was too low and wanted to elevate it. luckily we had some unused coaster things lying around in the garage so I ended up using those. the silver is a little distracting but once the moss grows out, it should be fine. there's also a little hole which will be a great hiding place for my reds when they go in if I eventually decide to split them. I also noticed that one of my blues managed to stowaway to my 70 which is, honestly super annoying. if I ever catch him out, I'll snap a pic. I moved the (what i think is blyxa but i cant be sure) to the middle ish of the tank. it was behind the temple before. also, i moved the small bunch of amublia I had to this tank which could've been how the blue snuck over. I like how it's higher now but I feel like I want it elevated a little more. I'll see how it looks once my new light finally comes in. I also need to reposition the small diftwood AGAIN. its supposed to be parallel wih the big piece so it creates leading lines. might have to move the downoi but I'll let it settle for the time being. hopefully the light coming in is bright enough to keep it compact with some ferts I'm getting. also planning on getting a GH and KH booster to keep my shrimp happy. I haven't seen another molt and i'm starting to worry that they're gonna get stuck again like Sebastian. I wanted to try again with another snail so I put one back into my 34 and snapped this cute pic. I also go my prefilter sponges in so no more huge giant block of sponge eyesore. I ended up stuffing that into the temple so its another "filter" for my 70 but the same thing happened where it just made its was to the top and was using its snorkel to breathe. maybe the tank is too deep for them and doesn't have enough oxygen cos the temp is too hot. ened up fishing him out and putting him back in the 70. my shrimp seem to be super happy still, though. that's all for now. waiting on the postman.

7/5 Goodbye DC3 So today water change day again for my 37. decided to trim the ambulia down a bit so I could make another bunch. wasn't super happy with how big it was getting. here's how it looks like now. really liking all the ambulia and it grows amazing in this tank. keen to see how quick it grows back and it'll look really nice super bushy. I also changed my lighting cycle to 5 on, 4 off, 5 on, off for the night. I noticed my shrimp didnt really come out during lunch anyway, maybe cos it was too bright for them? would be interesting to see if this affects the plants or the shrimp in any way. I fed them a little of the barley pellet and an algae wafer and they seem to these a lot more than the snow which wasn't finished and ended up flying out of the bowl anyway. apparently its a leave in food though, so I didn't clean it up. I also notice that they love chomping on the Catappa leaf as well. I did take out the ramshorn shell cos some fungus was growing on it. Still not super in love with the vareigated rush but don't mind letting it go it's own way at the moment. I also decided to do a water change on my 70 and having not seen Kelly since yesterday, I wanted to poke around a bit. I also wanted to move the baby tears and the rush cos really didn't like the positioning and the height. Unfortunately, when I moved the rush, Kelly popped out...dead Not sure what the cause was as my snails were all doing great. I moved the rush to the other side of the bridge and trimmed down the baby tears and put it where the rush was. Loving this new arrangement a lot more. I tried putting the temple behind the bridge but there wasn't enough space. I think I need another plant in the background. maybe some more ambulia when my light comes in. The thin val seems to be recovering from all the melting and the smaller pieces of elodea look like they're doing ok. I also swapped morimo balls between the 2 tanks for scale. Before I left the house, looked around for Michelle and she was being her shy self on the sand. I did notice she was being bullied/nipped at by Kelly a couple of times in both tanks and this was typical behavior from her since I got them. Unfortunately, when I came back, her time was also up she was still breathing a little at that point and I tried netting her to the surface in case it was because there wasn't enough oxygen but she didn't recover. I'm not sure what caused their deaths like I said, the snails are still perfectly fine. I will do another water test tomorrow to see if anything is up. I suspect it's 'cos I moved them around too much and they died cos of al the stress from moving them around. The flow on this filter is also quite high although the flow in my 37 caused by the spray bar was also quite high? I wonder if the cuttlebone I put in could've raised the hardness too much? although I read that the bone doesn't actually dissolve much and it's more a food source for the snails. It seems like I have one tank that kills snails and another tank that kills fish :/. Hopefully, by the time my cory's come in, I'll have ironed out all the kinks. I'm thinking of subbing the filter out for a sponge filter. Would love to hear what you guys think. For now, Destiny's child is dead. RIP Kelly and Michelle

Yeah, I didn't think it would be a problem before cos I thought all the red's were dead but at the moment, the blues are still juvies anyway. I kinda wanna see what happens anyway if they do breed, if I get super brown ones then I'll start taking them out That's how I got it. I'm thinking that might've been the problem with my first snails too but I can't be sure haha, thanks! glad you're enjoying yourself! :). yeah, iIm hoping the blues survive and the snails in my new tank as well. I thought that was pretty high. I guess I was a little delusional thinking my pets would all be ok but at least now the nitrosomonas are established and just waiting on the nitrobacter to grow. I heard fishless cycles take less time but I only read that after I got both tanks >_<. I'll keep on top of water changes for the 70. my platies seem to be kinda inactive at the moment. not sure if that's a bad thing? my snails are still moving about though

5/5-The Casualty woke up and got a couple of nice shots of my shrimpies. I also noticed my big red (big momma?) pecking at one of the ramshorns. pretty sure he's dead. looking around the tank, i unfortunately found my first shrimp casualty Pulled him (her?) out and I think I saw a white line between the carapace and the head which made me think it might be a molting problem. Someone else on another forum saw a lot of her shrimp die cos of this and I was told that our water was quite soft. I had wanted to go the cuttlebone route but forgot about it yesterday when I went to get my water tested. I've only just realized that this is most likely Sebastian :(. RIP Sebastian. I went to get my water tested again to make sure it wasn't an ammonia problem. pH 7.4 Ammonia: <.25 Nitrite: 10 Nitrate: 2 GH 50-70 KH 50(ish) Phosphate: 0 I had the report but I've lost it so this is as far as I can remember. Basically, It wasn't an ammonia problem or at least not an immediate one that caused the death. Might have been the nitrite or, if I'm right, a calcium deficiency? I did get the cuttlebone anyway, broke it up and boiled it to sterilize when I got home. Did another 30% water change to get the nitrites down. The ramshorn which I thought was dead had disappeared from its shell and the other one wasn't responding so I took it out but I left the empty shell in the tank. Added a piece of the cuttlebone and left them. I had given both tanks a shaving of cucumber in the morning and both had bites in them but nothing extraordinary so I took them both out. There was still some shrimp snow in the bowl which I left there (it's supposed to not foul the water and grow mycelium fo baby shrimp?) and I was advised to not feed again until Sunday to try and keep nitrogens down. Hopefully I don't find more casualties tomorrow. I haven't seen them touch the cuttlebone yet but maybe they will later in the night. I ended up ordering that light for my 70 and also a macro lens attachment for my iphone and some other aquarium knick knacks. If the attachment works then much better pics to come, yay!

I'm not sure if they're clay or ceramic but they're pretty sturdy so probably ceramic I think. they didn't have an effect when they were in my 34 though? yessss maybe i do have a breeding pair after all yes, I think so too. I just checked it and it's about 7.4

What I don't understand is that the snails are doing super well in my 70 but the moment I put them into my 34, they die. I guess my 70 hasn't started the cycle yet so that does make some sense. Hopefully when my 70 starts, my snails won't be affected too much. I kept reading that they are super sensitive but the only losses I thought I had were from being eaten? I've never seen a dead shrimp body, even when I did that big water change to move stuff. In other news, last night I saw another big red which I think is a female?! Thanks so much! The decorations are ceramic or clay. Hole were drilled into both and that's what the insides look like anyway. Don't think it's lime or sandstone. My temple was also in my 34 initially and the pH never got to 8. The only things different are the pebbles/river rocks and the big driftwood piece. I appreciate and accept your apology. I did say I'm a newbie and I wanted to document my process and get some help, that's all . It might be the river rocks as I said. I'll keep an eye on the pH. I did a test after the water change last night and they were both around 7.

I was told by the seller that if the red's are doing ok then the blues should be doing ok as well. I also had one perfect reading and then it spiked, most likely due to the dead snails. I'll be watching the ammonia levels, thanks. The Petco guy told me that I would reduce the pH with a water change, I didnt think it would be one of my decorations.

I've been unemployed since I finished myPhD and was feeling pretty down on myself. I was sick of constant rejections and having no control over my own life so I decided I was going to get a fish tank. 22/4- The decision I did do a little bit of research and read up about the nitrogen cycle and everything and I was trolling Gumtree (Australia's Craigslist) for a first tank. I settled on a blue 34L Aqua One with stand. It was a bit of a bargain, if I do say so myself. It came with awful crimson gravel and some decorations but nothing I wanted to use. Over the course of a couple of days, accrued black galaxy gravel, a really nice anubias on a small piece of driftwood, an ambulia plant, an elodea (anacharis) plant and a dragon's flame plant (which I later discovered wasn't a true aquatic plant so I took it out before it could melt). I initially wanted a HM/RT betta and was looking for some tank mates as well. 23/4-Winning I won 2 online auctions: 2x Corydoras Venezuelanus (orange, i think) 10x blue black cherry shrimp juvinilles 24/4-Naming day I ended up getting 3 platies and 3 mystery snails to cycle the tank along with what I think was jungle val. I named them after destiny's child because the first night I had them, the big one was dashing about the whole time and all I could think of was "Calm down, Beyonce". Kelly had a strongish feeding response and I barely ever saw Michelle but she had a red tail like Beyonce which helped me tell Kelly and Michelle apart as they were the same size. these were pretty cheap and I figured I wouldn't mind if they died although I did end up getting semi-attached to them. 25/4-The Rescape I really wanted to re-scape the tank as I had gotten 3 ornaments that I wanted to put in it. I set up the dimensions of the tank and did a dry run but when it came to the actual placing of them, the vase wouldn't fit and had to be left out as I also had another medium sized piece of driftwood I wanted to use in my tank. As I knew I wanted it to eventually add shrimp, I went to a guy who was selling java moss and ended up getting 5 Red cherries along with 2 hands full of java moss. Nice guy, only 19 and had a huge set up in his garage. He was breeding cherries and had yellows and blues as well but they weren't ready to be sold, he also threw in a couple of plants he had extra. I threw some moss in the temple and the dodecahedron. and used a plastic storage container to add in more sand as an embankment (reject shop but looked exactly/very close to the galaxy sand I initially bought) I think it was also at this point that all three of my snails died, I had been getting water tests but nothing really seemed to be wrong, my tank was slowly cycling but no nitrates yet. It was also at this point that I noticed my tank was running quite hot 28-30C and even opening the lid didn't seem to affect it too much. I put down losing the snails to this although I read later that they could actually withstand such temperatures. 27/4 Shrimpies, tale of a murderer I was getting a little concerned that since putting the shrimp in, I had barely seen them. I was afraid my platies had eaten them and my logic was that if I removed the platies, then maybe they would come out of hiding. So I prepared a bucket of water and the tank came with a battery operated air pump which I switch on after fiddling with the air stones and tubing as well. Caught the platies, and let them sit while I waited for the shrimp to come out. I saw 1 and contemplated getting rid of the platies the next day, thinking that there was only 1 left. It was at this point that I noticed Beyonce swimming a bit funny and floating a little, I immediately put her back in the tank where she thrashed a little and ended up dying. RIP Beyonce Michelle was also lying on the side at the bottom of the tank but Kelly was still swimming around and doing her thing. It was definitely temperature shock as I later learned and I will never do this again 28/4 Destiny reborn Both Kelly and Michelle made a full recovery, Still no sign of shrimp. I went back to the guy I got the snails from and ended up getting 3 more as well as 4 brown ramshorns. he gave them to me for free (i think cos he felt bad that my first 3 died. When I got home, one of the mystery snails was already dead and had worms (i think planaria) coming out of it, the other 2 snails also had some on their shells so I washed them off and put them in my tank. The ramshorns seemed unaffected and I later found another worm on my mystery snail which I again took out and killed. I got my water tested that day and everything was perfect so I okayed the delivery of the blue black cherries. 29/4 Birthday My 30th. I think this was also the day that both my snails died again. I could also only count 3 ramshorns. I feel like it just may be this tank that the snails don't like but I really had no idea. this little guy ended up coming out for my birthday so I knew that there was at least 1 shrimp left for sure. By this time, my subwassertang, morimo moss ball (which I split) and Indian almond leaf orders had come in and been added to the tank. 30/4- Tidying Up Went to get my water checked again but everything had spiked. I thought it might've been cos of my snails dying and was advised to do a 50% water change. My excess java moss and new subwassertang were all in a clump around the front of my tank, I decided to anchor them to rope as I saw in a youtube video to make everything look neater. The subwassertang was entangled with Christmas moss and java moss so I went about separating everything and then anchoring them to ropes. While doing this, I found a really bright red girl that didn't let go in time. I quickly put her back in the tank but never saw her again. 1/5 May Day I only realized that it was a public holiday on Sunday. I also realized that my platies, if they had eaten the other shrimp, would probably eat the blue blacks. My cory's when they eventually came in would also outgrow my current tank. So the only logical decision was to get another tank. I also went to another guy to get some free mystery snails although these were smaller. Maybe they would survive better? I got some black gravel and the new tank came with a piece of driftwood that wouldn't sink so I chucked a big pebble on it and left it with 3 of my moss ropes, my bunch of elodea and the val. I put 10 small mystery snails in my 34L and left the rest in the new 70L tank as well as Kelly and Michelle to cycle the tank. There was also half a vacation feeder which I added to the 70 cos I read they were good for snails 2/5 Engineering Marvel My snails in the new tank were doing really well. Not a single 1 dead that I could see. In the 34, however, 2 were already dead although the ramshorns still seemed to be doing ok. I went about scaping the new tank and moving stuff over from the old tank. I figured the temple and my medium driftwood piece would do well in the 70. Luckily the big driftwood piece had become waterlogged at this point and so I went about trying to fit it in. I suddenly had a brilliant idea to put the big piece into the fork of the other one to make a really nice bridge and used the large pebble to hold everything in place. After a bit of fiddling, it stayed and I was super proud of myself. I was still waiting on some aquascaping tools to come in the mail so the plants at this point were still all over the place. I did get some variegated rush and extra bunch of ambulia (which do super well in my 34) and some pink baby tears. I also ~2kg of extra black sand to put on top of the gravel cos I didn't think it was black enough. In my 34, I weighed down the 2 moss ropes by tying them to stones and tied them to the spray bar of my filter. The big sponge looks a little distracting but at least its good filtration. when moving stuff around, I also did another water change and found a molt!!! which meant that at least 1 red cherry was doing well 3/5 The Planting My aquascaping tools finally arrived. I could scape everything before my shrimp arrived. I realized at this point that my val was melting and so was my elodea. Ended up throwing most of it away and salvaging what I could. I tidied everything up and ended up swapping the rush and ambulia in my 34. I did read that it was another one of those -not really aquatic plants- but they're still looking good so I left them in to see how they go. I added another 1kg of black sand so fill in some holes I made. but I still feel like it's not enough. Im really liking the snails in this. especially when they hang onto blades of plants and they look like they fly away at any moment. Here's some pics 4/5 New Arrivals when I woke up, I saw what I thought was my last red cherry just chilling out. I ended up naming him Sebastian cos it was a request from a close friend. I was really hoping my blue blacks were gonna arrive today so I did another water test and my nitrogen levels were up but I figured it would be fine after another water change. When I got home they were there! When I was doing the water change, I poked around the dodecahedron and found the missing ramshorn, half out of its shell aka dead. One of the three ramshorns that's always in the same spot also died. That's 2 left that are always on their sides but don't smell and seem receptive to touch. I also found another 3 dead mystery snail which means there should be another 5 but I haven't seen them at all. I drip acclimated the newbies for about an hour and then added them to the tank. After watching them for a bit, I saw TWO red cherries and I was sure I saw Sebastian swim the other way just a second before that?! so maybe the other 2 (which I think were females) are still alive? Here's hoping. One of the new shrimp is really dark and nicely coloured. I ended up getting sent 14, one was a tiny tiny shrimplet and the 3 'adults' all look like males I'm really loving this tank now, all the shrimp are still swimming around everywhere which is amazing considering I never saw the reds at all. I've also started poking the java moss into the sand to attempt to grow somewhat of a carpet. what I'm not loving is the variegated rush but that might melt anywayso we'll see how it goes. some actual val there would look nice. I did another water change for my 70 cos the pH was a bit high. I also did the java moss carpet attempt on this so we'll see how it goes. when it finally cycles, i'll get my cory's in. the filter on this is super strong and small so I'm thinking I might get a sponge filter for this. I also need a proper light which I might splurge on. looking at this one at the moment. any thoughts? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/132111758384?var=431460474208 And that is all for now, sorry for the long read. If anyone has any ideas on why snails continuously die in my 34, do let me know I'm considering naming it The Snail Reaper or something to that effect