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  I dropped by the LFS on my way home last night and got an adjustable heater. When I was there, I asked one of the salesmen about UV blubs, he said they worked in conjuncture with the sanitizing filters. Then showed me a box that was about half the size of my aquarium. (and just as expensive)...

Thank you both. I will replace my existing heater with one that I can control. I'll also look into UV Sterilizers.   Does anyone have a preference for filters or bulbs? I'm reading about both. I'll see what my LFS has to offer, but knowing what to look for going in, would be useful.   Thanks again.

I've never experienced Ich before, so this was a shock.   I noticed the odd spots 6 days ago on one of my 9 Serpae Tetras and wasn't sure what it was. (I had to do a search to find out what was happening.)   I went and got some medicine from the Pet Store. Something called "Ich Attach" that they...

  Yes, my post was poorly written. I meant to "help" with the scrubbing.   My tank is in a position where it unavoidably gets sunlight during a portion of the day, that builds up the algae on the glass, rocks and decorations.   I clean my tank once a week: change the water (approximately 1/4 of...

Thanks for the kind responses. I was considering adding an algae eater like an Otocinclus or Bristlenose Plecostomus (As Goggy suggested - they have the Pleco at the LFS). Something to help me keep the tank clean, and avoid the weekly scrubbing.   However, I was wrong. The others didn't eat all...

I wanted some extra color in my new 30 gal (us) tank to go along with my (6) Serpae Tetras, (6) Blood Fin Tetras and (5) Zebra Danios.    My tank has been pretty stable for the past few months. (it's a fairly new tank) Water has been stable, and all seem happy. I figured I had room to introduce...

Thanks everyone for the advice.   To clarify: The new tank was not empty, I had moved the fish from the old to new. The advice about using both filters came from this website: http://www.firsttankguide.net/upgrade.php (A guy at my LFS gave me the same advice.)   I don't have room in my house for...

First - thank you everyone for the responses. As always it's very educational and helpful.   There's a lot to digest but I'll respond to Byron's just because it was the most recent and the one I can responde to with measurents.     There are 5 water treatment plants that service my city, (It's a...

The pH level of my water is quite high - 8.8. However, it's a consistent level.    My research shows that it's higher than what my current fish species prefer.    I've read that adding driftwood to the tank, or some live plants might help reduce it, but it might cause an inconsistent pH level...

I've just upgraded to a new tank - from 10 US gal to 29 US gal. This was a recommendation on this forum because I was told my old tank was not large enough to happily house my fish. It's been about 3 weeks with the new tank running both the old and new filters. In my research I read that I...

Thank you for all the responses. First to clarify a few things for your interest. I am measuring in American gallons. Every year I ask myself: is this the year we switch to the metric system, and it never happens. I've stopped holding my breath.   I have also read that trying to adjust the pH in...

... or the great self cleaning tank.   My last two tragic deaths were very easy to take care of as they simply dissappeared from the tank. No carcas sitting at the bottom, no floaters, nothing stuck to the filter intake, they were just gone.   Unless they are disintegrating, which I think I...

We went away for the long weekend and I haven't seen our Cory Catfish since.   Specs first:   10 gal tank: pH: 7.8 Ammonia: 0 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 5.0 ppm   Population: 3 Serpae Tetras 5 Danios (two pearl, three zebra) 1 Cory Catfish (I hope)   The tank started to gain some green algae...

Thanks for the responses. I'll cut back the light to see if that helps, and look into adding a live plant. I'll also do some research on Ramshorn Snails.

After several bad starts I think I have a great tank. Fish are all happy and healthy (as far as I can tell) and the water tests have been good. Stable and with good readings.   I do a 50% water change every week, and the water is clear.   The light is on a timer and the light clicks on in the...

Follow up:   I've been medicating the tank with "Melafix" for the past two weeks, and changing the water more frequently. I changed the food, and started giving them a variety - not just flakes but bloodworms as well. (they LOVE that stuff!) All of the fish are going for the food with equal...

I found a few online sources for treatment of Fin Rot:   http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/finrot.htm http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-Fin-Rot http://aquadaily.com/2009/01/26/fin-rot-symptoms-and-treatment/   For future reference.

Glad I posted the pictures! I'll see if I can find some medicine and get these guys healthy again. Thanks for the response.

I lost one of my Serpae Tetras earlier this week and another doesn't look so good. And all of them have frayed or fins that don't look healthy. (My apologies if this is a lengthy post. There's a lot to describe, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of this before I add any new fish to my tank.)...

That's what I figured, but this was one thing I wanted to make sure I wasn't messing up. Thanks all for the great suggestions.

I just added a new school of Red Minor Serpae Tetras to help populate a tank with a few a couple other tetra species. (three skirts and 1 black neon) They seem happy enough, two days later, the water seems fine - no spikes in Ammonia - pH levels are stable. However, at feeding time, the older...

I've thought about this, but it's not very practical for my situation. I have no place to store the water as it prepares itself.

You called it! Water from the tap was 7.4 ppm and a day later it had climbed to 8.0 ppm. I don't have the tests to measure this. I test for the following: pH: Currently at 7.8 ppm, but I did a 50% weekly water change less than 24 hours ago. I expect it to climb to 8.2 by mid-week. Ammonia...

In my continuing effort to learn more, I've discovered that my pH levels are not as stable as I thought they were. I had posted before that I had a high pH level, but I had been testing it with a kit with a low-pH tester. When I finally tested it with a high pH tester it came out with a high...

I like this plan. When I'm ready to try again, I'll see if he gets along with any other species besides the skirt tetras. The girl at the LFS may have some ideas on this. Thanks again for all the help.

Would you replace the decor - in my case, several medium sized river rocks, some clear glass balls, and a bunch of plastic plants - with new ornaments, or simply rearrange what I have so that the configuration is different?

Okay - bad strategy. Do I have any other options?

Thank you all for the responses and discussion. First I think I should address this: I don't really think my fish is "evil" - I was being a bit facetious. ;) I was trying to find out if this was normal behavior for a fish I had read was a "schooling" fish and preferred others of his kind...

I have a black neon tetra that is the oldest fish in my tank - old being relative - I started the tank in April. (about half a year) It has survived my steep learning curve on how to keep a fish tank: two major fish kill disasters, high ammonia levels and several full water cycles to get the...

Drip acclimation was very easy and seemed to allow the new fish to join the tank in confort. That was before I noticed a rise in Ammonia earlier this week; trying to get used to giving more food to more fish, I think I was feeding them too much. But although I tried to add just bits at a time...

I thought of that, but the store I bought the latest batch of fish are using filtered water whereas I'm treating my tap water. That could be what's creating the difference. At least that's my guess. Yes. If this current batch doesn't make it, I'll try that next.

I'm not going to try to decrease my pH levels, but continue to acclimate any new fish to my water conditions. (all other levels, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are okay) I'll swing by the store this evening and bring home a couple more black neons, and maybe one more skirt. I'll report back in a week...

Progress: (sort of) Last week I went back to the store and brought home two tetras - one black neon and one black skirt. When I got home I did a very long slow acclimation: 20 minutes floating the bag to even the temperature. Then I put the bag in a container that was close to the bags...

Thanks everyone for the responses and advise. In response to jb1997mcd - my research tells me that 7.0 ppm is "Neutral" pH - in between acidic and alcaline. 8.2 is more alcaline. I didn't think to ask about pH levels, I was more concerned about Ammonia - which I think caused my initial fish...

I've done my best to keep my water levels stable and consistent: Ammonia stable at 0ppm Nitrite stable at 0ppm Nitrate around 20ppm But my pH is up to 8.2ppm using the API High Range pH test. The low range pH test was always a dark 7.6 when I compared it to the color chart, so I tried the high...

Thanks so much for the responses. Will try again, with less speed, more care, and hopefully, better luck.

I fed them, but not until the following morning. (I usually feed the fish first thing in the morning - when I turn on the light) So I had cleaned the tank in the late afternoon, added the new fish, and the following morning, turned on the light and added a couple extra flakes to accommodate the...

I've been carefully cycling my 10 gal. tank with two fish (one Black Neon Tetra and one colored skirt tetra). After keeping the Ammonia and Nitrite levels at 0 pps for about 6 weeks, I thought I'd try adding a couple extra fish to help the other two with company - The LFS was low in stock but...

I've seen the same fish called "Colored Tetra" and a "White Skirt Tetra" - the Local Fish Store labeled them "Colored Tetra" and a Google search for images shows the same fish. I was watching them last night and they were very active, but it looked like the Black Neon was the more aggressive...

This makes sense too. It is a carbon filter, and they are not terribly expensive. I can change them as per the manufacturers recommendations. I will look into getting a sponge filter that I will leave alone - until it starts to fall apart, as you say. Thanks again for all the advice. It's...