I woke up today and could not find Burt anywhere. I was very concerned…for good reason too.

I started off by changing the water to the five and ten gallons first. All those fish seem really healthy. The babies are growing at an insane rate. It is good to know they are at least healthy.

In the betta tank, he seems to be really glad I changed his water. I really cleaned the dead leaves off of this hornwort plant that was really starting to die. The annubias in the tank is thriving. I also noticed a sac of snails eggs that I sucked up. I have enough snails already.

In the twenty gallon things have never been better. I moved the smallest sword today from the 29 to the 20. I really rinsed it and even put it under chlorinated water to ensure it was clean. I am really hoping it will thrive in there. I moved some of the other plants around in there and otherwise just did a good 50% water change. I plan on moving at least 4-5 of the platy frys into the 20 gallon as soon as they are a little bigger. I will have to wait a good bit longer before I can move anything into the 29. The neons are small and might go after any smaller fish.

As for the 29 itself…here is where the news really begins.

I searched the entire tank looking for Burt and could not find him. Half way through the water change I decided to move the main piece of wood in the tank. He had died overnight and sank in between the hornwort, glass and wood. I inspected his body thoroughly and had noticed that there were still a decent amount of worms INSIDE of him that I  could not see from the outside. I pushed his anus to get them to come out. There were not other physical signs so I am most certain he succumbed to Camallanus. Poor little Burt. I’m very sad to see him go. I did all I could so that makes me feel better.

The tank has not yet settled. Two of the neons have a pale color to them in comparison to the rest. The male sailfin molly is also showing signs of Dropsy and a really swollen infection from 2 months ago behind his left fin. I only noticed this when I got up this morning so it is fairly new. I am already using medication for Dropsy. API General Cure. The corys and the Kribensis seem fine, they look untouched and healthy. They are eating fine. My only hopes now is to get this tank settled and everyone back in good shape.

The pennywort in the 29 really suffered from the medication. The leaves on a lot of the plants have deteriorated and fallen off. I am keeping the stems in the tank in hopes that it will regenerate its leaves. I luckily moved some of the pennywort to the 20 so I now moved it back to reestablish cover.

Edit Update: The molly has gotten better since I posted this in the morning. This scales are not poking out as much. Hopefully it is not too serious and he improves.

Everyone is now moving about the tank normally. even the molly. Hopefully I will not have any more death and the tanks will settle. The only true concern for me now is how to get another Ram? If I get another Ram I will feel much better if I can quarantine the fish. I don’t want to spread anything to the other fish in the tank OR have to treat the entire tank and risk loosing my plants.

I might consider moving the betta and taking everything out of my 5 gallon to use as a quarantine tank. This is of course once things settle so like a month or so. I would take the fry from the 10 and move some into the 29 and the 20. Sell/Donate the rest. Take betta and the ottos and put them in the 10. Maybe leave like…2-3 of the bigger platy babies in there…see how it works out. There is a lot of cover. Then I can clear the substrate from the five and get a pair of Bolivian Rams. I think I am going to get a pair now…and try to bred them. Once things settle. These are just considerations!

Note: I am going to add pictures and videos to this post later. Check back by hopefully tonight.