[Ratvan]

Greetings All,

So a couple of weeks ago I spotted someone on Facebook had placed an advert for a fish for rehoming. I decided that over the weekend I would go and pick it up. The listing was for the Tank, Heater, Filter, Lights, and tank contents (Betta Fish, Mystery Snail, Striped Nerite Snail) and cost me the grand total of £5.00. Also included was some tap water conditioner, fish food, test strips.

When I arrived the tank was in a state, the substrate, plants and hardscape was completely covered by what I thought initially was a brown algae but after cleaning out the tank, (essentially a complete breakdown and restart) I discovered was months and months of snail poo. It seems that they had never completed a full water change on the tank (they hadn't syphoned out the detritus but rather water changed from the top of the water column and replaced this water and never rinsed out the media in the filter.

Here is the below after I emptied the tank, rinsed the substrate, cleaned the plants and decor, rinsed the filter media several times and literally threw everything back inside the tank so that the Fish and Snails could have somewhere suitable to stay.

I am planning on picking up another tank of the same size (12"x6"x8"), planning and planting the tank out a little better than this one and hopefully hiding some of the equipment a little better than this. I want to pick up some more floating plants as well as rearrange the tank so that there is a shallow and deeper part of the tank plus give her some more plants and area's that she can drape herself over

Speaking of, here is the female Betta, she's a little washed out and her fins while not in terrible condition are not the best. She has been getting daily feedings of live daphnia, a bloodworm and a couple of Hikari Pellets each day, hopefully she will brighten up and become a little more healthy and less stressed (fin biter) as time goes by and she gets used to me as well as the live foods and better water conditions. I have named her Opal

Once her new tank is cycled and planted, I plan on breaking this one down and seeing if I can run another Pico but this one a Reef Tank (I have a plan) to have two Desk Top Pico Tanks side by side

 

[Savetheplants]

Something tells me she's going to pull through. It's fortunate for her that her former keeper surrendered her to you. It's nice that you took on the responsibilty. Great rescue story. Take good care of her.

 

[MoreliaViridis]

I discovered was months and months of snail poo.

Y I K E S

 

[Ratvan]

So my second tank has been ordered and I can collect it tonight, this gives me the weekend to get the tank planted and set up. I have been running additional sponges and media within the existing tank for a couple of weeks to help with the cycling. I'm still debating setting up the original tank as a reef tank or whether to have another small set up for a Betta or similar sized inhabitant. It will also allow me to split the snails between the two tanks as I do feel that the tank is too small for two snails (judging by the amount of snail poop that i take out of the tank on a daily basis)

I also want to attempt to have a small carpet of plants as well so might try something different such as shrimp 🤷‍♂️