The Check-In Thread

[Art]

Hi!

I’m going through a busy life period. My tank is doing well but haven’t been able to spend much time here with you on ScapeCrunch. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

I figured it would be good to have an ongoing thread where we can all check in with each other. If you are going through one of those periods that keep you busy and away from the site, it would be great if you can drop a quick check-in here on this thread.

We would also love to know you’re doing well.

I’ll start.

Been very busy with work and family lately. However, the tank is humming along with very little intervention from me. I feel like I’ve finally got the right balance of automation and plant growth for me. I’ll try to post a picture this weekend.

 

[ElleDee]

Honestly, this is has been a stressful few months, both at home and, you know, generally...

I've been enjoying how things have been developing with my big tank, but I'm ready to take down the other two and start something new. That includes my first tank ever, which I am sentimental about but I'm ready to move on. (The other one is a nano tank that has always been a holding tank for plants and shrimps. It's a very clean, low energy tank that has never gotten much attention from me.)

I had a vision for my next tank though - low light, open sand, Vallisneria and crypts, and dwarf corydoras. A school of something interesting, maybe Hyphessobrycon procyon? I might get a lower end Week Aqua light so I can have better color rendering. This will probably be in my 22 long tank, though I am always tempted to get something new. We'll see.

 

[BenB]

I always feel like I'm chasing my tail.
But so far, all the flu and norovirus that has been going around here has missed me. For that I'm thankful.

My tank is doing fine. Just trying to get ride of the GDA. It's a process.
Spring is coming, and I was planning on transitioning my tank over to something with easier maintenance for warm weather, but I still want to try some of these plants that didn't exist back when I was more active in the hobby. We'll see. Today is water change day.

 

[Phish Tank]

Tank and plants are settling in after post Helene reset. It's been really great to have scapecrunch these last few months. I've learned a ton, and it is a welcome distraction every morning with coffee.

A bit or worrisome tank drama this week. My hillstream loach has been terrorizing the new juli cories introduced to the 55 gallon tank this week. Hillstream might be rehomed if he doesn't chill out soon. Stinks because he's a really cool fish.

 

[Kwyet]

Tank and plants are settling in after post Helene reset. It's been really great to have scapecrunch these last few months. I've learned a ton, and it is a welcome distraction every morning with coffee.

A bit or worrisome tank drama this week. My hillstream loach has been terrorizing the new juli cories introduced to the 55 gallon tank this week. Hillstream might be rehomed if he doesn't chill out soon. Stinks because he's a really cool fish.

Wow, I thought they were entirely peaceful!

 

[HarryL]

I’ve been updating the cube tank journal pretty regularly, but on the side I’ve been spending a lot more time on maintaining the smaller 11gal.

There was an outbreak of staghorn algae and other filamentous algae due to the strong light and unstable water parameters. So I’ve been manually removing algae on a weekly basis, where I’d sit in front of the tank and pick them out bits by bits using a tweezer for an hour.

I’ve also turned down the light to the lowest power(14W) for most of the day, then higher power(27W) for one hour to keep the plants colorful. After a couple weeks, there are visibly less algae, but the problems are not yet solved.

I have a small group of Danio erythromicron in there, one of them had sunken belly for a few days and died last night. It’s been difficult trying to feed them since they are very shy and I don’t feed that often. Not sure if it has anything to do with lack of food in this case. Everyone else looks healthy and happy.

Also, while every plant in there has been thriving, the Vallisneria spiralis rubra are struggling for some reasons. They do send out runners but seems to have trouble growing the leaves. Being the only species that has trouble, and such an easy specie to grow, I’m puzzled.

Life isn’t all that great for me, it’s nice to be able to work on the tanks or just stare at them sometimes. Helps to temporarily forget about the stressful matters.

 

[Art]

So this went quiet after just 6 check-ins. Let's hear from you if you haven't posted in a while.

Yes, I'm looking at you. How you doing?​

 

[Kwyet]

I guess this qualifies for a check-in. I’ve had a chronic cough ever since we moved into this house last August. Well, last Friday when I went downstairs to the fish room I smelled moisture (not the aquariums) and another weird odor. I didn’t locate the source then, but that afternoon my daughter found that her pet kingsnake had escaped its enclosure.

While searching diligently for the snake, I found that there were big spots of black mold growing on the walls behind the bathroom vanity down there. Since it was a holiday weekend, no one could come look at it until Tuesday. The plumber has been by twice since then. It turns out there were two small leaks that had probably been going for a long time. Upon touching a dark spot on the bottom board inside the vanity, my finger went through it like it was paper. Then there was also a larger leak that was probably more recent and responsible for the wall and baseboard damage.

We’re still waiting for a quote on the restoration, and the snake is still missing, but at least the leaks are fixed. I haven’t been able to stay down there to do tank maintenance though, and the bathroom is unusable for water changes, so I’m just topping off with jugs of RO water and feeding the fish every couple of days. I don’t know yet how long it’s going to take to get it all fixed and get back to normal. Some tanks will go downhill quickly without weekly water changes, while others will be fine for several weeks if necessary, but I sure hope we can get back to normal soon, and hopefully I’ll get completely well finally. It’s certainly not ideal, but I’m very glad to have finally (probably) figured out what was causing my cough and be able to get it fixed!

 

[Koan]

We’re still waiting for a quote on the restoration

You have a specific mold remediation team looking at it right? mold is nothing you want to mess around with!

I had a similar problem last spring, unnoticed small roof leak over the winter got mold everywhere in the attic and living room drywall ended up having to take out my entire living room ceiling and remediate half the attic.

Fortunately my homeowners insurance had a big allowance for mold, hopefully yours does too! The remediation guys did great work. If you need a referral I can ask them who they may know in the business in your area?

Unfortunately no coverage for replacing this particular roof failure but a new roof is going on this week

 

[techman81]

I had a similar problem last spring, unnoticed small roof leak over the winter got mold everywhere in the attic and living room drywall ended up having to take out my entire living room ceiling and remediate half the attic.

We all have this in common. A few months after I purchased my current house in 2019, I began to notice a stronger and stronger mold/mildew odor in the finished half of my basement. One day, I noticed a wet spot on the drywall around an I-beam post and when I touched it. my hand also went through it like paper. Turned out that when the house was first built decades earlier, a floor nail had been driven through the copper pipe supplying the fridge water. It took it decades to rust to where it had finally started leaking, likely many months before I bought the house. I began demoing the basement immediately and fixed the pipes but, embarrassingly never fully finished the demo and refinishing. Discovered during the demo, that much of that finishing had not been done to code anyway so it just hasn't been a priority to spend money and time on it. Now that I want it finished as an aquarium gallery though, time to get to work.

 

[HarryL]

the snake is still missing

While I don't have experience with the mold, I have had four different snakes escape on me before, and I retrieved three of them. What I did was fully seal any gap that the room has leading to other areas(in my case it was my bedroom), always keep the door closed, and occasionally throw out a pinky out there for a night. In the end, the pinky didn't do much for me, I just randomly found the three different escapees 1-3 months later while they were moving in the room. So don't quit looking if you don't find it immediately! Might just be hiding somewhere.

 

[Sb1415]

Haven’t had a mold problem, but an infrared camera can be very helpful identifying a leak. They are not very expensive (the ones that you can attach to your iPhone) and a useful tool to have.

 

[Kwyet]

While I don't have experience with the mold, I have had four different snakes escape on me before, and I retrieved three of them. What I did was fully seal any gap that the room has leading to other areas(in my case it was my bedroom), always keep the door closed, and occasionally throw out a pinky out there for a night. In the end, the pinky didn't do much for me, I just randomly found the three different escapees 1-3 months later while they were moving in the room. So don't quit looking if you don't find it immediately! Might just be hiding somewhere.

Wow, that’s a long time! We hope the snake is still in the basement, but we suspect it went into the utility room. I hope it is at least still in the house. We’ve put several hides and water bowls around down there, and initially put out some pinkies but took them up again when they weren’t touched. I have a Wyze camera showing a large portion of the floor, but it hasn’t picked up any movement so far. I ordered some snake attractant to try. That should arrive this Saturday. We’ll keep hoping! Once they get the mold out, we can do another thorough search.

 

[Kwyet]

You have a specific mold remediation team looking at it right? mold is nothing you want to mess around with!

I had a similar problem last spring, unnoticed small roof leak over the winter got mold everywhere in the attic and living room drywall ended up having to take out my entire living room ceiling and remediate half the attic.

Fortunately my homeowners insurance had a big allowance for mold, hopefully yours does too! The remediation guys did great work. If you need a referral I can ask them who they may know in the business in your area?

Unfortunately no coverage for replacing this particular roof failure but a new roof is going on this week

We’re using CMS Restoration, which includes mold remediation. I’ll get back to you if they don’t work out. Thanks!

 

[Kwyet]

Haven’t had a mold problem, but an infrared camera can be very helpful identifying a leak. They are not very expensive (the ones that you can attach to your iPhone) and a useful tool to have.

Very interesting! I didn’t know there was such a thing. Maybe it could even find a snake, lol!

 

[BenB]

Some tanks will go downhill quickly without weekly water changes, while others will be fine for several weeks if necessary,

That all sounds like a nightmare. Get the mold taken care of along with the cough. If the tanks go to crap, I'm sure those of us here with extra plants will be glad to send you a care package

 

[Sb1415]

Very interesting! I didn’t know there was such a thing. Maybe it could even find a snake, lol!

I actually bought it to check for mice in the attic!!

 

[Kwyet]

The mold remediation will be next Tuesday. They plan on doing a hot fog deodorizer after they finish, and assure me that it won’t harm my fish. Those of you with experience, should I trust this? Should I try to tape plastic over all the tanks just in case?

 

[techman81]

The mold remediation will be next Tuesday. They plan on doing a hot fog deodorizer after they finish, and assure me that it won’t harm my fish. Those of you with experience, should I trust this? Should I try to tape plastic over all the tanks just in case?

LOL! I initially read that as hot dog deodorizer and was like "What?"

 

[Phish Tank]

I don’t have experience with a spray like that, but taping sure sounds like a good idea. I'm really sorry you are dealing with this, hope the remediation goes smoothly