Think Fish Keepers Daily News. [2016-2019]

Oh dear @fcmf you don't seem to be having much luck with those neon greens... bad batch perhaps... we know your fish husbandry (is there a female equivalent of this word??) is top notch... my sympathies...

With starting a new job at the end of July, and having to work away from home several days a week, I don't have as much time with my gang as I'd like. This week I also had a quick trip to Cardiff as my father had knee surgery, which all went well. The early morning starts, driving, and sleeping in different hotels on a regular basis has all been quite tiring, so when I got home yesterday I spent the evening catching up on my sleep.
Luckily, the automatic feeders on the community tanks are doing their job, and although my gang aren't getting the attention or variety of diet that they are used to, we all seem to be coping at the moment.
It's not leaving me a lot of time to spend on the forum either, but I'm sure things will settle down eventually. 

Sigh... the last remaining female neon green rasbora died at some stage between breakfast time this morning and mid-morning, in an almost identical repeat of Fri morn (i.e. healthiest of the NGRs still in the tank, perfectly fine at breakfast time, lying dead down by the filter by mid-morn).  Ironically, that now leaves me with what has always looked like the two weakest NGRs (both males) - one from each of the two batches bought last year.  I know fish always fare well if in larger groups but, given how poorly they've fared, I haven't been keen to replenish them, and certainly won't be getting them again.

Ironically, I had been almost certain of finding a dead harlequin rasbora this morning.  Two have curved spines when viewed from above, evident for most of this year.  Both like to hang immediately below the water surface.  One was looking particularly pale yesterday and a strange shape - hunchbacked/emaciated with his rear half almost drooping - and kept getting agitated and almost obsessed with his reflection.  I took quite a bit of video footage yesterday but it doesn't really do the situation justice.  Definitely not at the point for euthanasia as appetite still fine.  I would expect him to be next to go but, currently, it's the healthier-looking fish who seem to be doing so...

As ever, water quality (ammonia, nitrite, nitrates) is optimum at 0, 0, 20 consistently, although I have no live plants these days except for some anubias. Water is very soft but there has never been a PH crash (helped presumably by whatever is added to the water by the water company to increase its PH). Water changes are 50% weekly, with thorough siphoning of the substrate (perhaps overly so, as absolutely all decor is removed for the purposes of removing snail poo).  If any of this, or any other potential factor, might be contributory, grateful for any comments. [Edited to add: after seeing others' photos recently of their luscious plants, I do wonder if the lack of live plants in my tank means it's a sub-standard environment for them...]

Thanks, Sue - there are certainly plenty of fake plants and hiding places in the tank.

Somewhat embarrassingly , I've discovered since putting on the light that I've been mourning the wrong fish - I got the confusion/fright of my life after the lights came on to realise that the fish I thought had died is actually doing very well, but the fish that did die is actually the weakest one of the neon greens i.e. the last of the original batch who had a forked tail and whose eyes seemed quite large in proportion to his tiny body and who I never thought would survive as long as he has. When I removed him from the tank and put him in the container, he's been upside down, hence why I didn't realise who he was and had ID'd him through looking at the two remaining fish in the dark. Doh! Looking back at yesterday's video footage which I was trying to take of the deformed harlequin, I can see that this particular neon green was extremely tiny and therefore it's of no surprise that he's passed away, although his appetite and activity levels were always good. Although of some consolation that it wasn't a seemingly healthy fish that had died, I feel a bit daft, having mistaken which fish had actually died.

Sorry to hear about your fish @fcmf   

Best of luck to your new arrivals @fcmf   
I hope that they settle in quickly and complete their quarantine without incident. 

I'll be starting a new thread on my tank soon but, in the meantime, thought I'd show a photo of the new arrivals.

  I hope your cardinals are doing well! I’ve always been a fan of Tetras primarily due to their colours. It was my birthday recently and my kind mother has given me a 60L tank to get back into the hobby after 15 year break 

I hope your cardinals are doing well! I’ve always been a fan of Tetras primarily due to their colours. It was my birthday recently and my kind mother has given me a 60L tank to get back into the hobby after 15 year break 

Thanks.  Excellent that you're revitalising your hobby - looking forward to reading of your developments.

I know this isn't especially fishy news but I just fixed my dishwasher and have cancelled the repair man. Amazing what a bit of YouTube can do... and the fish siphon hose came in very hand too (now thoroughly cleaned of course).  Very happy to have saved minimum £85!

Well done, Matt.  Sometimes I find I can get a bit impatient watching YouTube videos, and would rather read a list of instructions, but your example today definitely shows how it can be worth it!

I like that attitude  So many people rush into things then find they aren't working as they expected.