Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

Thanks, both.

I was tempted to dig out an old magnifying glass last night but then thought of how frequently I've ended up with a mouthful of tankwater when starting the syphon and felt a bit at the thought of discovering what else might be lurking in the tank.

Until recent months, when I've been leaving the live plants in situ during water changes, I used to give the tank a probably over-thorough clean, digging deep into the sand each time and taking absolutely all decor out of the tank. Of course, now the plants are in situ and the sand is much deeper to keep them that way. Over the past 2.5 weeks since attempting to cycle the new filter's media, a lot of food has been floating to the bottom as the fish try to get to grasps with the new filter flow and their new fish food (replacing packets/tubs of different brands which had been open for quite some time). I've been trying to do 10% water changes every few days to address this but don't think I'm very skilled at manoeuvring the syphon tubing around the base of the plants. I'd been conscious that there was probably more detritus in the tank than usual - in fact, I'd even been wondered about the addition of a shoal of pygmy cories to address the dropped food, before reminding myself that Thinkfish (although not AqAdvisor) would classify this as overstocked, a risk I daren't take. So it's altogether very plausible that altered tank maintenance might account for the planaria, if that's what it is. Anyway, I'll keep an eye out for any more signs or whether this was an isolated case. I'll also take a read of the linked article now - thanks for that, Matt.

I use a wine siphon tube to clean between decor - this is like a siphon tube except that wide cylinder in the end is replaced with a narrow rigid tube which is much easier for getting between things.

Useful tips on syphoning/siphoning - thanks, Sue. Re the wine siphon tube, is a "siphon tube tap" the rigid part that goes at the end and ought it to fit in the end of any siphon? If so, I might just order that part.

Thanks, Sue - very helpful.

Best of luck with your heater issues @Matt

New heater in place by 11:00, slowly increasing temperature 

Hmm, I'm right handed and the nose is always on the left as well.

I keep looking at everyone's photos and how well aquascaped they are in comparison with my own tank. I was having a browse through the internet for inspiration at how I could alter mine to make it look better and found this https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/articles/how-to-get-your-aquascape-right-first-time - it seems I've fallen foul of no.9 in particular. Therefore, it seems I've eventually recognised that mine's not aquascaped but haven't quite worked out what to do to get it looking better / more aquascaped.

Once I've "de-algaefied" some of my plants and have done the next water change, I'll take a photo of my tank - 50% of plants in my last photos https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fish-tank-plant-advice/how-to-improve-my-plant-health/ have probably died by now - and seek some advice on what to move where... Thanks in advance.

Good idea re drawing out plans on paper. I want to minimise disruption to the fish - unfortunately, as soon as they see the tweezers coming near the tank now just to lift out a broken-off plant leaf, they huddle together in a tight inter-species shoal of 10, so it will have to be a basic slide of plant positioning, etc, rather than removing everything and doing a major renovation. Will be glad to have your (and others') help; thanks. In terms of hardscape, I only have some small pieces of limestone rock (currently tucked away under the filter); I do have something larger which served as a cave for a while but it was prone to falling over and I didn't want any casualties. I also wasn't keen on having anything too hard in the tank as the snail was prone to being overly ambitious about plant leaves being able to support his weight and prone to climbing up the filter outlet nozzle and doing acrobatic flips and ending up on his back/shell; however, he seems to be getting more careful these days, so more hardscape is possibly something I could consider.

I'm right there with you Sue. 

I went to Aquarium Gardens recently, to get some plants for the new tiger barb set up. Dave was kind enough to spend some time going through plant combinations with me, and made things seem really straight forward. I came home with my box of plants and started working on the tank.
Currently it looks totally rubbish. I keep telling myself that it will look better when the plants start to grow, but my main priority is always going to be the fish rather than the plants, so their favourite fake hollow log had to go into the tank. I tried my best to disguise it with the two types of java fern, arranged the same way that Dave suggested, but I'm not impressed with my efforts. 

The fish are still in their quarantine tanks, so I have plenty of time to sort the new tank out, but I'm not known for my patience, and plant growth is not always known as speedy. 

I think we might need a photo of that @fcmf