Contracting MTS : A progressive disease

It all started 3 years ago when My boyfriend and I started dating. He lived in a house with 4 other guys, one of whom had a big 55 gallon mixed community tank. He loved feeding them, and just sitting and watching the tank after a long night of graveyard shift clerking at 7-11. I lived in my tiny studio apt cross town with my 2 tiny goldfish, Buck and Bob..caring for them gave me some relief from a stressful job, a 19 credit hour school schedule, and a bad case of empty nest syndrome with my 2 kids all grown up and a recent divorce.
Fast forward a year. Relocation to Portland and a beautiful 2 bedroom house rental. BF is missing the giant fish tank..Buck and Bob seem lost in their 5 gallon tank in such an expansive space. So..for a birthday present, I purchased a 10 gallon tank..and stocked it with a crap load of mollies, neon tetras and assorted other "shiny" fish bought at pet store chain. The mollies had babies....and then..disaster struck. ICK!!!! the whole tank floated in 2 days. Cycling? wth is cycling? LoL
So...a 40 gallon tank was purchased. Stocked again..with the addition of some bottled bacteria...all the baby angels have been replaced..as they slowly but surely died off. The last of the platies was last seen with it's tail sticking out of Sundance's mouth as he quickly outgrew his tank and mates...The second Tin Foil Barb swam up into a castle decoration, committing Hari Kari by getting wedged. ( you should have seen us trying to figure out where a 4 inch fish could have disapeared to...) the death of one of the albino rainbows causes us to purchase a new rainbow..and the territory bullying begins..ok. RESEARCH TIME!!! Wow. Ok. a New ( used ) 90 gallon tank is brought home. Sundance gets 2 new tank mates of his breed so he is happy..the more aggressive Rainbow shark gets moved. ( who knew they were singular fish, the 2 albinos loved each other )
We have decided we want a planted tank..some fish that are not compatible with the ph and water movements we currently have...a QT tank..more plants...shopping for a few new tanks ensues. The furniture is rearranged...some things we don't need go bye bye...( china hutch? who needs that antique china set anyway..we don't use it...) hour long drives to go look at a tank set up Cheap on Craigslist....afternoons spent wandering LFS and writing copious notes...nights spent in front of the computer reading multiple sites to cross reference water parameters and environmental needs...huge bookmark lists of fish disease identifiers...sigh. yup. We got it bad.

This forum is about cars!

theChad wrote:This forum is about cars!

.oO haha, jk!

I can relate to this in many ways. There are so many fish to choose from. Sometimes its so hard to resist a new find , especially when your new. Some of us call this NEW TANK SYNDROME (NTS).

Anyway, welcome to Washington fishbox.

yeah this is what i call newbie shock. it comes when no matter what you do u cant seem to get it right. its a pain but a necessary one. as now youll sit and think about setups that could be rather then rushing to get it all done. believe me its those well thought out tanks that turn out to be the best and most rewarding. as for dealing with craigslist, if your looking for anything please try to get it here, APFP (a place for pets in burien), Aquarium Coop (in everett) or GSAS. all places are great to not only find stock (cheaper then LFS too) but to meet people get ideas and overall learn more about what keeps us all so fascinated . GL to you in your fish journey.

Getting from here sounds awesome..but although this is a much more local forum than the one I belong to that is based in UK and New Zealand..( AAAAH! Metric system) Bremerton is still quite a hike from Portland, Oregon. Seattle is not exactly in my "hood" either.

We are about a year into our "hobby" now...and both my tanks are fully cycled.
My next build is a 55 gallon planted that will house 1 betta, 3 african dwarf frogs, 1 fiddler crab, 2 american flag fish ( jordanella floridae) an assortment of freshwater shrimp such as glass shrimp and red cherry shrimp. I plan a dark sand/ eco-complete substrate. I am busy drawing pictures...researching pumps, water circulation, lighting set ups..etc. That one will be set up in my bedroom. so..it must be perfect before I even begin. I have the 55. it was a reptile tank..so I need to re-seal it. Not sure it holds water. Will leak test it as soon as Things settle down elsewhere. lol
I am currently in the process of finding plants and upgrading the lighting system for my 40 gallon. That's the one that is home for my Angel Fish. I also need to add a few more Angels. With 3, when 2 of them decided to pair off for breeding...the lone male gets stuck hanging about in the corner all alone. ( sadness) I also need to add a few more cory's. 3 is a small school. I think they will be much more content with another 3 to fill out their school. Finally, I need to get the plec out of my smaller tank and into the 90 gallon as soon as I finish the nasty little QT. and get the ph to match in both tanks. Then...to find a bushy nose ( much smaller grown size) or a small ( 3) school of ottos.
No plans to plant the 90. As the Tin foils and the plec are known to wreck havoc on plants, they get stuck with plastic and silk. lol. the UGF in there and my unwillingness to change out such a HUGE amount of gravel for a more plant friendly substrate has a factor as well.
Both the tanks are running 2 filters rated above their volume..so cycling a new tank will tends to go quicker as we can transfer one filter to a new tank to " seed" the bacteria. I must say..the fishless cycle seems much more humane than the random killing of a metric a** ton of little fish.
I honestly think one of my most interesting learning experiences to date was figuring out who I can talk to..at which LFS...I have a fave for chemicals now...( lowest prices) one for equipment..and one where I will buy my fish and chat with the owners about developments. After a few clerks in various stores giving me BAD advise...or not checking to see my tanks were cycled before selling me a crap ton of fish...or telling me a fish was compatible that most certainly was not ( after I did my research and learned a lot more I was shocked to listen to the same guy sell a single bala shark to the owner of a 10 gallon, telling her it would get along FINE with her already overstocked tank )...there are a few shops that will never see a cent of my money again. There are also a few places that I stop into regularly...like the shop where the owner told me..no..you don't need that product..use this ( household item ) instead and save yourself the money...
All in all, I would have to say..our journey so far has been exorbitantly expensive..sometimes frustrating...and infinitely rewarding. Like rescuing Billy ( an 8 inch Tin Foil Barb ) from a shop where he had been housed in a 20 gallon community tank for 2 years..because no one in the area wanted such a big fish. and finding an 11 inch Tin Foil at another shop swimming around with a bunch of cichlids on the same day. Yes...the stress of the move and some unhealthy tank conditions in their previous locations caused a nice little columnaris outbreak that is a bear to deal with....but I love it anyway. And what else are we going to spend our money on anyway. ( besides MORE computer upgrades )