u/Pyromethious

Vid is from Day 1 in hosp tank. She's swimming better now, but still doing controlled sinking.

She's on day 5 of salt baths after observing her in the community tank a couple days. I'd done the WC on 5/3 and Ferts + KH/GH+ (2~4 hours apart). I have to dose the latter over 2 hours because of the way it works vs the desired dosage. I do my best to make sure that nobody is swimming where I pour it in (noting that I pour incrementally in different areas of the front to spread out the dose into the water). I have to watch the bettas (the male will do it too in his tank) because they want to see what's going into the water.

What I think has happened is that she must have swam through it without me realizing it and got a strong dose of it directly in her face. I say that because when I can get a look at her, her face does have what seems to me like irritation on the face. I noticed that she was hopping between her many resting spots (filter tops, floating log, etc) around the tank, but generally not moving and not wanting to eat.

She's been in the hospital tank for 4 days now and IS swimming better, but mostly resting between baths. Sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom. She wasn't a fan on the sun coming in the window across the room, so I also started putting the towel around the tank walls so that she's not getting stressed that way. I've tried giving food, but she's not responding to it or the food spoon yet, so I'll have to mind that. That would hint at her not having eaten somewhere between 5-8 days at this point, but Does seem to be getting a little better.

I do have Maracyn 1/2 onhand, but wasn't sure if those were appropriate for what I'm seeing. My interpretation of the issue is a combination of chemical burn (swimming through chems) and swim bladder (her sinking). She's not pineconing, so that's good at least.

Based on my logs, she's been hanging out at the various (intentionally stationed!) resting spots in the tank. Ran the numbers and the only thing up is Nitrates (20-40 currently) again. I'll probably do a 50% tomorrow, but may need to pull her out in the meantime as she's not keen on swimming right now. She's not having breathing issues and the sequence of events suggests that perhaps she decided to swim through the ferts + kh/gh+ mixture I dosed on 5/3. The nitrates have been 10-20 / 20-40 since I trimmed the plants and it was suggested to modify my fert dosing (halved the Std Flourish), but that didn't seem to change anything, numerically. I did add some Kubotai a few days earlier, but remembered to dose Prime this time. Dosed it again every other day I 'think' since. Nobody else is having any visible issues / behavior changes, so hopefully she's just needing to rest. Kinda thinking she skipped the Saturday daphnia (no food on Sunday) I put in the tank and may just need to poop. >.<

So I'm basically assuming at this point that the original 3 Nerites I got were all male, because I've never had this behavior in the tank until I added the spotted one. Mr. Zebra has been full on bunny rabbit with her daily now it seems. >.<

I didn't manage a video at the time, but these two crazies are apparently different genders based on what I saw Before this shot. The older zebra on the right was doing "the snail pivot" on the back of the newer one on the left (Orange?) before racing away. I of course can't find my Olive anywhere in the tank right now, but there are intentional voids in the back of the tank for things to hide. I normally would find that one (him?) on the ceiling of a ceramic log in the corner. I think he figured out it's the same color as his shell and used it for camo for the longest time until I caught him finally.

Hoping to actually get this posted / help on because its been sitting in MOD limbo over on /DIY forever w/ out any response.

And of course I can't upload the image to this forum. Argh: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FG876YWN

So this will mostly be a "help me design / shop for components" piece.

Basically, I have this piece of furniture that already has a ~200lb aquarium on the top shelf and I'm looking to put a slightly smaller one on the middle shelf (~150lb). I'm not concerned about the weight as the MFG rates each shelf at 330lbs. My primary concern is going to be weight distribution, tolerances, and of course safety (tipping). Needless to say, anything that will sit above the shelf will need to be water resistant / rust proof.

The primary reason / need for the project is that the opening is 15-1/16" H and the tank (15 gal) is going to hit around 12-3/4" H, so you can see where I might have trouble gaining access. I've looked at alternative tanks and the Only thing that fits is a 5.5 gal as anything else immediately jumps to the aforementioned height. The tank itself will likely need to be partially offset as there is an electrical panel on the right side that needs 2" - 3" of clearance and the light for the tank will have cables running on that same side, so an additional 1" will be needed, almost certainly necessitating the tank being left aligned to the shelf. It is important to note that an aquarium with a frame only requires support on the bottom edges, not the full bottom as the frame itself lifts the glass off the surface.

I've looked at many concepts (lazy susans, etc) and my primary concern with them all is the fact that the weight would be More concentrated than I feel would be safe as I'm dealing with manufactured 'wood' and steel (?) that's not the thickest in the world. What might not be apparent in the image is that there is an airgap just below the shelf as it is mounted onto the metal crossbeam, so I'll have room there to mount / route something to it for structural support. I'm not certain if drilling through the metal is a good idea or not, but it might be necessary depending on what type of reinforcement is utilized. I may consider draining the tank partially (up to 50%) before sliding it out to help reduce the risk of tipping as the safety of the whole setup is imperative. Read: I'd like NOT to have a ~200lb tank decide to crown me at random.

My current concept now is to use heavy duty, ball bearing-based slide tracks that run under the L/R sides (or preferably the whole bottom) of the tank so that I can gently / carefully / controllably slide the tank 6"~10" forward. I'd Like to have a locking mechanism once it's slid out so that it doesn't move and possibly enabling me to place something under it for support during maintenance. Think of it like adding a heavy-duty cabinet drawer without the sides. This iteration of the concept feels like it would require side mounts (rails?) that drill into either the existing shelf (not ideal?) or with a piece of material in between (acting like a drawer bottom). Friction would be an issue if a secondary piece of material is used.

Additionally, I'm thinking that it may be prudent to further reinforce the shelf using the gap underneath, while keeping in mind that there are cloth drawers that will still need to move freely. All while trying to keep the total weight under ~200lbs as I'm not trying to come even close to the rated weight the shelves can support. Especially since the top shelf already has a ~1/16" sag (stable since install / filling).

That's a lot of words, but unfortunately I'm not the best at knowing what things are called (in the hardware world) when it comes to looking for things. So this is why I'm here.