Thanks for the insight, Sean. I guess I was associating anaerobic solely with old, compacted substrate. So, as the plant roots get established, it will help with this situation? Would it be a matter of not planting heavily enough at the outset? Actually, I got 3 carpet plants in that grab bag from G...

Mark, This is a new nano (2.5 gal), set up approximately 3 weeks ago. I've been doing regular partial water changes (every 3 or 4 days) and 2 complete water changes, to facilitate planting. Until this time, I've gotten the good "earthy" smell. This time, however, it was "fishy". ...

Drained out almost all the water yesterday, to accommodate planting. Aquasoil literally reeked. Not the damp soil smell, but a dead fish smell (no fish in tank yet).

Plants are rooting well, even if new leaf growth is slow.

Is this normal?

Make that 4, please.

Now you tell us

Man, I feel like Ziggy here.

What can I get that:
1) will eat the critters
2) will fit in a 5..5 comfortably
3) isn't something I have traditionally had in my other tank (e.g., small tetras/rasboras)

Did a massive water change last night, trying to siphon off the bottom as best as possible without disturbing the substrate. Also wiped down the glass with a sponge. Number of critter sightings way down this morning, though they might be hiding. Will go shopping for something small, interesting, and...

In the 20 years my 30 has been up and running, I've never seen any of these things. Maybe it's because I do have fish in there, but you'd think I'd see one once in a while. Ok, so they're not shrimp. I hope to see some of those soon enough. Who can I stock the tank with that will eat these beasties ...

Aaron wrote:Could they be hydra?

Don't think so. They aren't branched, and lay flat against the glass. But everything's so small right now, who know what they could be. The copepods couldn't be shrimplets, could they?

I might disagree about the worms being planaria, though I haven't used a magnifying glass. They do not appear to have a "head" let alone "eyes". They are clearly round, not flat. I've been feeding the shrimp about 1/3 a Hikari algae wafer every other day. I guess even that's been...