Planted tank journal (10G Hex)

[MrJG]

Sad news. Franklin (betta) passed away this morning. I'm still not certain what could have happened. The white clouds, shrimp, and army of snails are still fine as far as I can tell. I tested everything and verified the nitrate test by testing my tap just to be sure the readings were different (seeing as the only thing that has changed is the recent addition of nitrogen to the dosing, only doing .25 ml every other day). I guess something parasitic could have come in with the clouds. I didn't quarantine and I know that is totally my fault.... damn.
He's been with us a little over 2 years and I knew instantly something was wrong thursday afternoon when I came home from work and he didn't come out to greet me. He was very lethargic just laying on the bottom or wedging himself in plants just to lay. I got him out into new water as soon as I could but unfortunately it didn't help. He had so much personality and was never cross with any of the community fish we put him with. I fear that he's going to be hard to replace.
It's a little disheartening also that he's the reason this tank came into existence in the first place. My wife picked him out as getting him was her idea. I feel like I've totally let her down. This sucks.

I think the spot is going to remain vacant for a bit until I can either find out what happened or be sure that it was just his time to go.

[dbleoh7]

that sucks. i wouldn't blame yourself... you gave frank a better home than what he would have had at the pet store, and more than likely at any other home... it was probably just his time

[jen0910]

Your tank look really nice. I wish my hex was big enough for some driftwood and more stuff.

[TheFighterFish]

Sorry to hear about the betta.

The tank looks great and I have to agree with everyone that it looks very natural. I may have missed it, but I would like to know your dosing schedual. I think I read that you dose Flourish (comprehensive) and Flourish Excel every few days. Avalon also mentioned something about Nitrogen and Phosphates. Can you bring that up again. I have a lightly planted tank that I would like to further plant.

Thanks.

[MrJG]

Thanks you guys.

FighterFish: On the dosing its currently

2ml of Flourish comprehensive, Excel, and potassium every other day
.25ml of nitrogen every other day
50% WC each 7-10 days

Phosphate levels still look to be riding around 5ppm so I'm really starting to question the accuracy of the test kit.

On a brighter note we picked out a spectacular new betta today. Just gotta wait a few more hours to see if we can manage to get him.

[MrJG]

Yay!!!! So we won the new betta! The seller/breeder describes him as "the boy tiger" 3.5 months old. Now comes the waiting and worrying about him making it stateside ok. No name decided on yet but it will surely be something Clemson related... Heres the pic the breeder used on the auction. If its not re-touched or pshopped he's going to be so bad ass.



This is the first time I've ever bought directly from a breeder so I hope all goes well.

[GeraldTheMouse]

Looks like he is going to be a wonderful betta.

[TheFighterFish]

Wow, that's fierce looking betta. Nice reds too.

[MrJG]

He's supposed to be orange/white but I guess we'll see. I hope he does ok with community living as the hex still has the 8 white clouds in it. I guess if he starts picking them off I can move them into the 2.5 gal temporarily since it should be good to go now. The majority of them are moving to the 20L once that is all set up but it could be another few weeks.
Probably going to give the tank a decent trim this weekend so he can settle in without my monkeying with stuff. I gotta figure out something nice that will fill in the back area of the tank that ISN'T wysteria, I like it and all but once it takes hold it grows like gangbusters and takes over everything. I'll post up a before/after pic afterwards.

[MrJG]

Did a fairly major trim yesterday... I hacked a huge portion of the wisteria out since it was starting to take over and shade the whole tank. My wife had mentioned earlier in the week that the white clouds looked bored. She was totally right. The mega-tall wisteria was blocking all of the fun currents they like to play in. Since the trim they have been really active and swimming all over the tank. I guess its the males that are constantly displaying and staking out new territories.
Took the wysteria out of the front of the tank and moved the larger marimo ball over into its spot. Moved the peacock moss rocks over to the front area so they could get the most light. Added a stick from the 2.5g that I had previously tied more of the peacock moss to. The Taiwan moss is really starting to take off on the upper parts of the driftwood, not so much on the lower/less lighted parts. Also trimmed the ludwiga on the left down to the level of the driftwood behind it.
So now for some pics... I'm starting to work on doing some image processing with layers/curves to hopefully get more accurate results. Still need a tripod though.

Pre-trim:


Post-trim:


Left:


Right:


During the trim I did the usual 40-50% water change and was able to see all 4 of the amano shrimp at the same time. Its been a while since I had seen them all out at once and I thought that the Clouds might have had a few as a snack.

Added a black background also that seems to clean up the overall presentation of the tank. Hopefully now everything should be set to introduce the new betta when he arrives.

Cheers.