Journal Kwyet’s 60G Hillstream Tank

[Kwyet]

Sometime in Nov 2024, I bought a 60G Aqueon tank at the 50% off sale. I already had a 75 gallon stand and tank, but I wanted a shorter tank so I could look in over the top. The 75 gallon was relegated to the garage in case I want it again, and I painted the stand black. I also put black vinyl on the back.

My goal was to make a hillstream environment, based on the long-running tank of Rachel O’Leary. I had looked at other options like the river manifolds, but I liked Rachel’s better. I set it up with an fx6 filter, a horizontal spray bar on the left side, and 2nd modified spray bar situated vertically behind a corner Matten filter on the back right side. Glass strips were attached with silicone to hold it. I cut the Matten filter horizontally a few inches from the tank floor so the top part could be easily removed for cleaning. I also cut a small vertical groove from the inside so it wouldn’t constrict the holes so much on the curve.

This was how it looked on Dec 20, 2024:

 

[Kwyet]

I completed the hardscape on Dec 31. Although Hakkai stone was awfully pricy, I decided to get it anyway because I intend to enjoy this tank for a very long time, and I “had” to take advantage of Aquarocks Colorado’s December special, lol!

I used Aqua Natural Delta Sand for the substrate. It’s 0.8-1.2 mm, so it’s heavier than pool filter sand, but still supposed to be safe for burrowing fish. The wood is previously used Manzanita. I also scattered some dark pea gravel in and around the Hakkai stone.

The tank light is an Aqueon Optibright Max. I use a Kasa Smart Plug to keep it on schedule, because it doesn’t always turn itself off according to programming. This is on for 8 hours. The overhead light is a Sansi 120w LED Grow light, full spectrum, 4000K. I ran them both together until I had a bunch of algae, pictures later.

 

[Kwyet]

When the fishless cycle was nearly complete, I added the plants. When the cycle was complete and I had a lot of algae, I added most of the fish, but some were still in quarantine.

The fish list consisted of:
8 Rainbow Shiners
8 Longfin White Cloud Mountain Minnows
1 Reticulated Hillstream Loach
2 Hillstream Loaches (sent misidentified)

I removed some of the plants later, because I didn’t want the hardscape to be too obscured. The overhead light was changed to running 4 hours once the plants were in. Later I used the Photone app to find out that each light provides 40 par at the substrate individually, and 80 together.

The plant list:

Bolbitis heteroclita (removed later)
Bolbitis heudelotii (kept a little, removed some)
Crinum calimastratum
Crypt lucens
Crypt Wendtii Red Mi Oya
Crypt balansae
Crypt spiralis
Crypt willisi
Fissidens nobilis (removed later)
Hygrophila pinnitifada
Aponogeton madagascariensis

 

[Kwyet]

I initially put emersed plants in the black plastic planters seen above, but I felt they were too obtrusive. I replaced them with sponges. I cut a center slit and poked rods through the back, attached to suction cups. They’re working, but I need to redo them one of these days to make them more even.



The emersed plant list (all dog-safe):

Money plant
Maidenhair Fern
Spider plant
Baby bolbitis
Parlor palm
Fittonia ruby lime
Cyperus haspan

At some point I want to get some Purple waffle. The ones I ordered didn’t survive the trip.

Eight Golden White Clouds were added on 2/11/25, having completed their quarantine.,

 

[Kwyet]

I really love this tank, but it hasn’t been without problems. After algae started appearing on plants, I stopped overlapping the lights, but then algae started receding from the hardscape and I’m back up to a 4 hour afternoon overlap now. I’m back to getting some algae on ends of the longer flowing leaves, but it still hasn’t grown back on the hardscape.

This is a problem, not just because I loved the look of it, but also because it might be a contributing factor to 2 loach deaths. I found 1 dead Reticulated Loach with a white patch on its head, and 1 dead otherwise healthy-looking Rainbow Shiner on 1/31. I did lots of testing and made some changes—slowly bringing gH down to 8, slowly raising kH up to 3, cutting pps-pro ferts to 3/4 dose, and overlapping the lights by 1 hour.

On 3/5 I found one of the other Hillstream loaches dead, also with a white patch. More testing was done. Nothing seemed very amiss. I removed the Fissidens in case the wire mesh was a problem, increased the light overlap to 2 hours, increased feedings of Repashy, and lowered ferts to 50% pps-pro. I had to leave a couple of days later for 9 days, but I did a large water change the night before I left. No ferts or water changes were done while I was gone, but the tank was topped off with distilled water.

I got back this last Sunday and the last loach was still doing fine. I did a 50% water change on Monday and added 50% ferts. I noticed awhile later that the loach had developed a white patch, so I was pretty concerned, but a few hours later he was back to normal. I think the white patch may be a stress reaction, and not a disease. I also increased the light overlap to 4 hours.

Since I’m on the way back to Mom’s for another 2 weeks, I did another 50% water change yesterday, but I added the water in 3 installments with some time in between. I also mixed up macros without any Nitrogen, since tests keep showing around 30-35 nitrates. As of last night, the loach still looked and acted fine. I hope he’ll continue that way. My daughter is going to do a small water change for me in a week, and will feed from the baggies I left. I did notice a White Cloud yesterday that had a lumpy stomach. Not knowing for sure, but suspecting a parasite, I put it in quarantine with a dose of API General Cure. That’s all I could do for now. I didn’t want to dose the whole tank without being there to observe and react, so I’m just hoping for the best. I don’t know if what’s affecting the White Cloud has anything to do with the previous deaths or not.

That brings things current. Thanks for reading!



Edit: Oh yeah! I also put in 6 algae-covered rocks from another tank before leaving.

 

[JuJuFish]

Such a beautiful tank! Thanks for sharing its story. Hope everyone does well while you are away.

 

[Kwyet]

Such a beautiful tank! Thanks for sharing its story. Hope everyone does well while you are away.

Thanks very much!

 

[Kwyet]

Unfortunately, the loach, some White Clouds, and the one in quarantine all perished/disappeared during my absence. Plenty of algae was growing in the tank, and my daughter did feedings from prepared baggies, water top-offs and one small water change for me, so I think the problem isn’t anything environmental. I really think some kind of parasite is at work, in spite of all of the fish being kept in quarantine before being put in the tank. I’ve treated with PraziPro now and will just observe for at least a couple of months before trying to replace any stock. I’ll be returning to full pps-pro ferts, because I don’t think that was the problem.

 

[Phish Tank]

Really sorry to hear your tank had a tough time while you were away. Sounds like you are doing the right thing to wait for a while before restocking. Plants look like they are settling in nicely.

 

[Kwyet]

Really sorry to hear your tank had a tough time while you were away. Sounds like you are doing the right thing to wait for a while before restocking. Plants look like they are settling in nicely.

Thanks!

 

[Queen Arabesque]

I really love this tank, but it hasn’t been without problems. After algae started appearing on plants, I stopped overlapping the lights, but then algae started receding from the hardscape and I’m back up to a 4 hour afternoon overlap now. I’m back to getting some algae on ends of the longer flowing leaves, but it still hasn’t grown back on the hardscape.

This is a problem, not just because I loved the look of it, but also because it might be a contributing factor to 2 loach deaths. I found 1 dead Reticulated Loach with a white patch on its head, and 1 dead otherwise healthy-looking Rainbow Shiner on 1/31. I did lots of testing and made some changes—slowly bringing gH down to 8, slowly raising kH up to 3, cutting pps-pro ferts to 3/4 dose, and overlapping the lights by 1 hour.

On 3/5 I found one of the other Hillstream loaches dead, also with a white patch. More testing was done. Nothing seemed very amiss. I removed the Fissidens in case the wire mesh was a problem, increased the light overlap to 2 hours, increased feedings of Repashy, and lowered ferts to 50% pps-pro. I had to leave a couple of days later for 9 days, but I did a large water change the night before I left. No ferts or water changes were done while I was gone, but the tank was topped off with distilled water.

I got back this last Sunday and the last loach was still doing fine. I did a 50% water change on Monday and added 50% ferts. I noticed awhile later that the loach had developed a white patch, so I was pretty concerned, but a few hours later he was back to normal. I think the white patch may be a stress reaction, and not a disease. I also increased the light overlap to 4 hours.

Since I’m on the way back to Mom’s for another 2 weeks, I did another 50% water change yesterday, but I added the water in 3 installments with some time in between. I also mixed up macros without any Nitrogen, since tests keep showing around 30-35 nitrates. As of last night, the loach still looked and acted fine. I hope he’ll continue that way. My daughter is going to do a small water change for me in a week, and will feed from the baggies I left. I did notice a White Cloud yesterday that had a lumpy stomach. Not knowing for sure, but suspecting a parasite, I put it in quarantine with a dose of API General Cure. That’s all I could do for now. I didn’t want to dose the whole tank without being there to observe and react, so I’m just hoping for the best. I don’t know if what’s affecting the White Cloud has anything to do with the previous deaths or not.

That brings things current. Thanks for reading!

View attachment 7473

Edit: Oh yeah! I also put in 6 algae-covered rocks from another tank before leaving.

Thanks!

Hi there, Here's just some thoughts. Hillstream loaches are very peaceful fish. I don't know if you have any aggressive fish in the tank. I don't see any, but I was thinking of plecos. Plecos can be very territorial. And you may not witness it since they are more nocturnal. Also look for other stressors like low electrical currents in the water column. Even the lightest current can be extremely stressfull to some fish. Powerheads used to be notorious for this. I keep a grounding probe in all my tanks.
Since they are a cool water loach, try and keep your temperature between 65 and 75, pH between 68 and 75, GH between 10 -20. They require a well oxygenated tank and I see you have a lot of surface agitation which is great. Maybe drop a smaller water circulator lower to replicate the streams they live in. I also see you have plants. I think live plants are wonderful for a more natural environment. They just do so much more for a systems well being too. I don't know if you're using Co2 or not. If so make sure your Co2 is on a timer so that when the lights go out, the Co2 doesn't elevate to a more stressful level. Especially because these fish like a high oxygen content. Stress can cause disease.
I'm not a fan of sharp edged wire mesh to grow mosses on. Take a pair of needle nosed pliers and curl all those sharp edges up under the mesh. Fish can dart if scared and run into them. I have always used rocks. Small leaved plants and mosses can be packed around rocks. Then take a cheap hairnet and wrap it over the moss covered rock and tie it off tightly. Quickly, the moss or plants will grow through the hair net and eventually cover the net. I grow riccia, fissidens and subwassertang this way. I'm sure you know you can tie most mosses down too. They too will grow over it in time. You can then cut the thread or monofilament line or not, later depending if they have a root system that will attach to rock.
As far diets go, they are herbivores. Try offering them some zucchini, cut peas or cucumber slices as a treat. Algae wafers are great. They're much more nutritional. Speaking of nutrition, compare ingredients. Look for the healthiest foods. They'll also stay on top of any algae growing in the tank. Just keep the parameters where they should be, do water changes, but not massive ones continously. I believe large fluctuations can be disruptful to bacteria in the tank. Remember, large fluctuations cause stress.
I also think it's good to keep a first aid kit for fish. Maybe keep few common medications (for gram positive and gram negative bacterial infections, fugal, parasitic and so on) on hand so you can treat them in an quarantine tank. Don't treat fish your main tank. That can really disrupt the good bacteria in your filters too.
Keep whatever you do consistent.
If I can think of anything else, I'll post more. I'm sure everything will settle down with time. They really are beautiful and worth keeping. Good luck!

 

[Kwyet]

Thanks! There are no aggressive fish (not even plecos). At the time of the first deaths, the only electrical element was the canister filter, and it was 3 days after the water change. After that I put a small heater in just so I could monitor the temp. It’s set at 65 though, so it never actually turns on to heat the tank. It just displays the water temp, which has been steadily between 67 and 69. I also started doing smaller and slower water changes.

There’s no powerhead. Although you see a lot of surface agitation, there’s a good bit of flow at the substrate as well. I had to turn it down a little to keep it from pushing the sand/gravel into piles and exposing the tank bottom. There’s no CO2, and I took the wire mesh out some time ago. The dgH is at 9 now, but it was 12 when the first deaths occurred. I can bring it back up a little.

I was feeding them Repashy Soilent Green, and algae wafers along with the variety of foods that the other fish were getting. When I try again, I’ll try some other veggies as you suggest. They eradicated the algae in the tank, even though there was a lot to begin with and I turned the lights up to try to keep up.

I keep quarantine tanks, but since I lost several more fish while I had to be away for several weeks, there was no point in trying to quarantine individuals at that point. The last loach was gone by the time I came back. I do keep meds on hand. I think the main problem was an unknown (to me) parasite. Since treating for that there haven’t been any more deaths of any species. I’m going to wait another month or two before getting any more fish for this tank though.

Do you know what kH they need? I wasn’t able to find any reliable, consistent answers to that.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Kwyet]

 

[Phish Tank]

That is a wonderfully focused photo. You have the bokeh effect of things out of focus on the perimeter, yet the little guys eyeball is perfectly sharp. Nice shot!

 

[Kwyet]

That is a wonderfully focused photo. You have the bokeh effect of things out of focus on the perimeter, yet the little guys eyeball is perfectly sharp. Nice shot!

Thanks very much! I bought a little macro lens attachment for my phone.

 

[Count Krunk]

I would think it had to be disease related.

What is your qt protocol?

 

[Kwyet]

I would think it had to be disease related.

What is your qt protocol?

Most of the fish spent 6 weeks in quarantine with 1 treatment of API General Cure. The Rainbow Shiners only spent 2 weeks there because the tank was completed by then and I was eager to see them in there. I guess that was a mistake. I guess I should have used PraziPro in quarantine as well.

 

[Count Krunk]

I dont know a whole bunch about fw qt but ive ran the triple med that aquarium co op uses with good success.

Just running general cure i would say isnt sufficient though.

 

[Count Krunk]

this is what i was talking about.

 

[Count Krunk]

and this is an EXCELLENT vid on QT. Almost all of his videos are factual and great.