Ich Massacre!!!

Well, I just had an ich massacre. I'm pretty sure it came from the last batch of clown loaches I bought. I know clown loaches are notorious for getting ich, and sure enough, it happened. I lost tons of fish. To name the ones I can remember, all clown loaches, for a total of seven. Three of which I've had for almost 4 years. All 7 of my Bleeding Heart Tetras whom I've also had for about four years. All but one, which makes it about 6 Rummy Nose Tetras. My Puffer. All four Bala Sharks. A few other tetra types that I did not list previously. In all, it'll probably be about 30 fish that I'll have lost when its all said and done.

I didn't want to use chemicals to treat the tank and my delay and treating might have made it worse than it could have been. I chose to use a combination of heat and salt to rid the ich. Ich stops infecting at 84 degrees, stops reproducing at 85 degrees and dies at 86.5 degrees. I didn't have a big enough heater because my big one broke during the transport of my original 100 gallon tank. So I had to buy a new one. Unfortunately, the new one I got is only good enough for a 75 gallon tank. I also had my smaller heater in there that I used to use for my 20 gallon tank. Together they were able to bring the temperature up to 84-85 degrees depending on the time of day.

I also added aquarium salt at a rate of 5 rounded tablespoons per 20 gallons of water. This is supposed to cause the ich to burst and also help soothe the fish.

The good news is I think I have it under control. No new spots are seen and the remaining fish look healthy and are eating voraciously. I did set up a one gallon tank as a quarantine tank but I'm not sure if I'll use it. I don't have a small enough heater to keep the temperature elevated.

Against better judgment, I decided to restock with a few fish. I got 2 white tinfoil barbs. I'm not sure of the exact variety name but they are tinfoil barbs but look like they are albino.

I also got 2 pictus catfish and drumroll please...4 more clown loaches. I know, I know, I'm asking for trouble. I think if I keep the temperature up for about two weeks I should be ok.

I'll try and post some new pictures as i get them.

Clown Loaches

I bought 4 small Clown Loaches on Wednesday, 2/24/10. 2 for $6.00. I don't have pictures because they are too fast to get a good picture of. One or two of them have irregular markings. One has a spot instead of a stripe on his side.

Fish That I Have but are NOT Mine

These are not actually my fish but pictures of the same kind of fish I do have in my tank. I just wasn't able to take good pictures of mine so I decided to find pictures to represent them.

Clown Loach



Upside Down Catfish



Rasbora Tetras




Tin Foil Barb



Bala Shark



Rummy Nose Tetra



Bleeding Heart Tetra

Bala Sharks

Here are some of my fish. They are fast swimmers and they always swam away from me when I tried to take their picture so a lot of them are blurry or not very good.

Tin Foil Barbs

These have black trim on their fins. I have two of these but I want to get two more with no black trim on their fins.

Tin Foil Barbs and Bala Sharks

Silver Dollars

I have 4 of these.

Puffer Fish

Bleeding Heart Tetras

I have about 4 of these.

Some Type of Flounder

I should try to get a pic of his top side.

Some Cory Catfish

An albino Cory Cat.



An Emerald Green Cory Cat.



I forgot this one's name.



Them chillin.

Rasbora Tetras

Picture is blurry because they move so fast. I have about 8 of these.

Rummy Nose Tetras

I have about 7 of these




.

Some of My Fish

This is a shot with Rasboras on the top right, Silver Dollars on the second row and Bala Sharks right below them.



Following are other random group shots.

All Stocked Up

Here is a pic of my aquarium all stocked up.You can't see all of the fish because a lot of them are hiding in the back.



Here is a shot with the exterior lights off for a more dramatic effect.

Angel Fish

Here is my Angel Fish. He's gotten a lot bigger since I got him. Right now his body is about the size of a silver dollar coin.

All Done

Here is everything all done and put together. I used a lot of the same supplies from my last tank so it looks pretty similar to the one I had to sell a few years ago.



I'll slowly start filling it with fish over the next few weeks. Some of the fish I'd like to add are Bala Sharks, Silver Dollars, Tin Foil Barbs, Angel Fish and Clown Loaches.

Here is another shot.


The pictures were taken with my phone and aren't of great quality so I'll try to post better ones when I can.

My New 100 Gallon Aquarium

Well, I finally got my new tank up and running. I had to make the stand first. I made it out of 2x4's and some MDF boards. Here's how it came along.


This is the start of the frame.


Here is the frame put together.


The frame painted. I wanted to give the finish a somewhat textured look rather than a flat color so I used two layers of paint. The first layer was a solid brown color. After that dried I used a foam brush and some black paint to give it the effect of streaks or grains. Its hard to tell in the following pictures but I think it turned out pretty well.


The drawers I made for it.


With the drawer sliders installed.


The drawers in place.


And everything put together with the aquarium on top.

My Long Lost Aquarium of Years Ago

This used to be my 100 gallon aquarium that I owned years ago. I think this pic was taken in 2004. I had to sell it because I lived in a small apartment and couldn't keep it. This pic was taken when I left the tank at my parents house. They didn't know how to clean it so it got pretty dirty.

There are silver dollars and angel fish. There are also a few other fish that you can't see.

I finally got another 100 gallon tank to replace it. I'm making the stand so it won't be up and running just yet. I'll post pics as soon as its up. I'll probably put similar type of fish in it.