Think Fish Keepers Daily News [year 2020]

My fish are going to bring me to an early demise! 
Just looked into the quarantine tank - both espeis there, 2 cardinals missing.  Time and again, I counted. Filter was switched off so that the water was still, and I could re-count. Still 2 missing.  I thought I saw a flash of something blue, then realised that indeed a cardinal was wedged down the back of the spare filter sponge in the tank.  Out came all the decor. Still 1 missing fish. Then I saw his 'body', lying upside down on his back/dorsal fin, face tilted up, in a section at the top of the filter. "Aw, no, no, no..." I sighed out loud. Tried to dislodge him with aquascaping tongs to no avail, so got out the fishnet and tried to move him with both. He swims off, seemingly none the worse for wear, other than his blue stripe has been replaced with an all-over red stripe.
I need a chamomile tea!!!

In seeing how often the QT's heater light is on, it reminded me that I'd been thinking for months that I must check the main tank's heater as I haven't seen its light switched on for many months but repeatedly assume that the ambient room temp must be sufficiently warm that it's never needed to auto-switch on. Any time I've checked the temp by putting the thermometer in, admittedly during the daytime, it's always been above the temp it ought to be at.
Today, having been reminded of the frequency of the QT's heater light .v. that of the main tank, I've hunted the fishkeeping cupboard and its numerous contents about 5 times but can't locate the thermometer anywhere to test out the main tank... 
Fed up with hunting high and low to no avail, I took out the heater and immersed it in a bucket of tap water to see if it switched on automatically. It didn't.    Suffice to say that a new fuse inserted rectified the problem immediately. I'm beginning to wonder if the fuse blew when the power went off / came back on at the end of March and if the heater hasn't been working since then.  I feel somewhat light-headed and stomach-churned at the thought of what temp the tank has gone down to during the night repeatedly over the space of nearly 5 months... I'll never forgive myself if this has caused any long-term damage in my fish or, worse still, accounted for the demise of two cardinal tetras.
   

Indeed re it happening pre-winter, and thankfully my home is naturally warm (and the main tank room gets sunlight in it unlike the QT room) which is of some consolation. Thanks for the tips, Sue - very helpful.

I've had a good think and I realise that I have my hand in the tank most days, including early mornings, either when scooping out water in a mini container to pre-soak the fish food or my fingers end up in it when aquarium tools don't quite reach their intended target (eg upside-down nerite, food or plant debris). It's never been noticeably colder that I've been perturbed by it - and one time when I did think it was cooler recently, the thermometer didn't suggest that it was different to usual. Time to have yet another hunt for that thermometer, though...

Haven't seen the light on at all today (after its light seeming to work once a new fuse was inserted yesterday...)    Have also misplaced the thermometer - have been through the cupboard about 20x now to no avail, and have consequently had to send off for a new one.
Thanks, JPC. Re heater itself, it's a Hagen Marina 50W that came with the 54L tank nearly 6 years ago, and a 3A fuse. I do have a spare heater (in addition to the one for the QT) but don't want to discard the original one if it is actually still working, so the thermometer will have to be put to use daily to verify that or not. If need be, though, I'll discard it and replace with the spare one.

Updated to add: New thermometer arrived and all has been fine ie temp levels consistent. Great thermometer https://www.finest-filters.co.uk/ista-13cm-glass-aquarium-thermometer-with-suction-cup/ . It seems as though the heater itself is functioning perfectly fine but the light is extremely faint and difficult to see unless bent over and looking at it directly, so the thermometer's hopefully-permanent position in the tank will be the best indicator of heater's continued function.

All the best for it... I’m sure they’ll be just fine

Great news regarding the espeis, and best of luck with the merger. Exciting times. 

Glad to hear everything has gone ok 

I am getting old.

The sand in my 180 litre was looking a bit thin after several years so on Monday we went to the shop where I got the sand, and luckily they still stock it. I was surprised that although it was in 25 kg bags, you could buy as much as you wanted so I bought 10 kg.
On Tuesday morning, I washed the sand. 4 batches, 6 rinses each.
On Tuesday afternoon, I carefully siphoned the sand out of the tank and washed that with warm dechlorinated water. That took longer than washing the new sand, I couldn't believe how much muck was in there. Then new sand in the tank and old sand on top and refill tank. By bedtime I could hardly move.
Wednesday - still stiff but that wore off during the day. The cloudiness had subsided enough to see that the sand was all piled up in the middle of the tank. And there was an incredible amount of fish and snail poop on the bottom for just 1 night. I siphoned the mess off and pushed the sand around to try and level it. I had put an extra filter in the tank filled with filter wool so I changed that as well.
Thursday - with the light off, the water looks clear but it will only know for sure when the lights turn on.



There are also two pieces of azalea root soaking in the QT in the garden. Apart from the floating plants, all my plants are attached to wood, and most of them are tiny bits of wood. So I decided to replace the small bits with a couple of large bits.



And I have more fish.
There was an ad on another forum for someone who wanted some shrimps. He swapped the shrimps with 3 juvenile kribs. Time will tell what sex they are - the big one is a male but the other two are still too small to tell.
I had already moved the 3 elderly Boraras urophthalmoides into the shrimp tank, and the shop on Monday had them, B. brigittae and B. maculatus in stock. I somehow came home with 10 B. brigittae which are now also in the shrimp tank  Unlike the urophs, which hid at the back most of the time, the brigittae are everywhere; and now they have company the urophs have stopped hiding as well.

Hooray! New fish! I'm always interested to hear about new fish. Don't forget pics when everyone is settled. 

I can't believe how much I ache after tank maintenance, so your extra work involving the sand must have been quite demanding. Well done, and I hope the aching has eased.

Azalea root is commonplace in aquascaping and totally fish safe great hearing about your tank development and I’m also (unsurprisingly...) keen to see some piccies when you get a chance!!