125 gal Loach Lounge

[Rychek]

Unfortunately I don't have a cycled donor tank. I will be doing a fishless cycle though. I've already got the 125 started with some frozen mysis shrimp I added last night. I need to get some ammonia so I can get a good bacteria colony going. Once the 125 is cycled, I'll use some of it's filter as a donor for the river tank. Unless I can get some donor filter media from a lfs that I trust.

For clarity's sake, I'm starting a new thread for the rivertank build. It can be found here: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?p=175153#175153

[Rychek]

I ordered a magnetic mount for my other Seio pump today. I'm not sure how I managed it, but instead of ordering 2, I ordered 4. I guess I'm set for further flow expansion in the future.

[Rychek]

The tank has had water and filters running for several days now, but not in the entire system. I managed to get the plumbing done on Tuesday night though, so now the cycle can really get going. I've been using some old Formula 1 marine fish food to get the cycle going. So far I'm up to about .25 Ammonia. No Nitrite yet, but all in good time.

I've spent some time finding sources for clown loaches and the prices keep going higher and higher. Although I did find one place that had a good price on 1.5" clowns for $3.49 each. I just hope they still have some when the tank is ready for them.

[Rychek]

I picked up a few clowns and put them in quarantine. I have nine in total. Six of them are 1"-1.5" and I think at least one of them has skinny disease. Two are 1.5"-2.0" (one of them has a neat misbar pattern where the middle bar is practically nonexistant down the sides, but extends up/down the back to the other two bars) and the last is 2.0"-3.0". Each size range came from a different store.

I've been feeding them HBH sinking pellets and they have taken to it very well. Starting today I'm attempting to get them to take the Jungle anti-parasite food. Once I've got them eating that according to the schedule on the bottle, I'll switch to the anti-bacterial food. All nine of the fish are active and eating, so I'm happy about that. However, I'm feeling impatient about getting them to eat the medicated food.


Here is an example of the three sizes in the QT:


The favorite hiding spot


Shoaling


The QT FTS


I've added both Seio M1100s to the back wall of the big tank. I'm trying to get the surface water to flow around to the overflow in the corner. Apparently the ~2200 gph of flow was too much for my playsand substrate because it piled most of it up in the middle of the far end of the tank (I'll post pics once I get them uploaded). It's looking like I'll need to either get a heavier substrate, or only use one Seio M1100.

[Rychek]

Here is a pic of the sand dune the pumps created


And here are a few more of the clown, including one of the misbar:

[Keith Wolcott]

Everything is looking good!

[Rychek]

Thanks Keith!

I'm fairly pleased with how things are looking. Though I do wish I could find some ammonia around here to get my cycle going faster.

[Rychek]

Well, I lost my largest clown today. When I came home from work he was lying on his side in the middle of the tank, fins all outstretched and breathing like he was suffocating. He looked a bit bloated, but all of the other clowns were behaving normally. I did a 50% water change, but he stopped breathing shortly thereafter.

[Katy]

I am so sorry!

[Rychek]

Thank Katy. I was pretty frustrated and saddened by the passing of my largest loach, even if he was pretty small. Especially when he seemed to be doing so well for the previous week and a half he spent in my tank. At least the others are doing well.

[Rychek]

When it rains, it pours. All of my little clowns have ich. I have a bottle of Rid Ich, so I dosed them with that yesterday according to the directions on the bottle. I did a 75% water change today and dosed again with a half dose. I'll continue half dosing until the third day after the signs are gone. So far, no additional losses. All fish are active and eating. I think they all have a good chance of a full recovery.

[Rychek]

The ich treatment progresses. I think the visible spots are beginning to decrease. All eight clowns are acting "normal". That is to say they move about and eat (they are even eating the Jungle anti-parasite food now!). The little guys are growing pretty good. Some are noticeably larger than they were when I purchased them. The largest is the misbar.

And now for even more good news... the tank is nearly cycled! Actually, it is cycled, but I went quite a bit overboard with my ammonia source. I've been using HBH Oscar Show sinking pellets because I haven't been able to find the right type of ammonia. The pellets were over a year old, so I figured it's better to use it as cycle foder than actually feeding it to the fish. Anyway, once I realized I had nitrite (I thought my bacteria was dead) I dumped about half the container in the tank. I just took a reading and the water looks like this (day 20):

Ammonia ~2 ppm
Nitrite between 2.0 and 5.0 ppm (API test kits aren't the most precise)
Nitrate between 40 and 80 ppm

A good vacuuming and a couple large water changes over the next few days and I might be able to add dithers this weekend. Time and water parms will tell though.

[Katy]

I am glad things are looking up!

[Rychek]

Thanks Katy! I too am glad.

[Rychek]

It looks like my skinny little clown may be on his last fins. He has been swimming vertcially for a few days and isn't looking very good. He is very thin compared to the rest of the shoal (all of which have been eating and bulking up, despite the ich). I hope he can pull through, but I don't have high hopes for him.

Now, on a happier note:

Cycle is completed in just over three weeks! Fishless cycling is officially my favorite method.

In celebration of the completed cycle, I've added a school of eight Giant Danios. They are nearly full size and for $.98 each were quite the deal. I love the way they schooled when I first added them to the tank. They explored like a train. They are skittish and school tightly, but the skittishness will pass. I took a few quick pics. They were with flash so they aren't the best pics, but they'll do for now.