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    Ammonia doesn't "interact" with sand.  The only thing that I can figure you are referring to is "anaerobic pockets" under the sand.  I'll be honest and tell you that unless you add a very thick (>2 inches) layer of sand, you've got very little to worry about.  If you go 1 inch, then there's...

  Thanks for the information.   I think after i've concluded the fishless cycle, I'll do several full water changes, disturbing the substrate as much as possible before each water change so as to get trapped nitrogens out. I remember way back when I introduced German Rams to an aquarium which...

  My biggest concern relates to how ammonia interacts with sand. I know all sorts can get stuck under the top layer of sand only to decay and sink to the bottom depths. I guess I'm afraid something like this would happen with ammonia making substrate disturbance potentially deadly?

I am going to conduct a fishless cycle with pure ammonia and was wondering if I should wait until after the fishless cycle before adding the substrate or place the substrate into the aquarium before I've begun the fishless cycle?   Any recommendations with regards to what brand of pure ammonia...

Well the fish is still spitting pellets out. It does this with Medikoi Beauty, Growth, Health and Garlic 3mm pellets.   Strangely though, it will eat garden peas, sweetcorn, freeze dried krill and silkworm of which are all natural, rather than man-made, foods.   I can't get my head around this one!!

  Well the three goldfish I mentioned have salt grain sized white spots on their operculum so I have a positive ID for their disease. But the Orfe is just acting strange. It has no real outward signs of illness other than spitting out food and coming across as more sluggish than the others.  ...

  Test your KH, GH and PH of your tank water and tap water. If the values are exactly the same, remove the fish to a temporary holding spot with a heater (with heat guard) and remove 100% of the main tanks water to remove the ammonia and prevent an eventual nitrite build up.   If your KH ,GH and...

One of my golden orfe pond fish has recently started taking in pellets and spitting them out. It swims with the rest of the shoal but is about 50% slower and likes to swim at the lower depths as it isn't coming to the surface for food as much.   I have inspected it's skin and there is no excess...

  Bad algal blooms use up a lot of co2 to grow during the day which causes the algae to release a lot of dissolved oxygen. Dissolved oxygen is alkaline and therefore pushes the PH up.   I recommend you try to get the algae under control by installing an abundance of wool in your filtration unit...

I do like Spring because it brings higher temperatures and it's the time of year when I get to find out if my Koi have frozen to death or not. Thankfully I don't suffer from allergic reactions in Spring; it gets me in late Summer instead!

I think the iPad is a waste of money. I've been to a local Apple store many times and played about with various coloured iPad's and it seems to me like it's a gadget for children since most of the applications from the 'App Store' are gimmicky and riddled with bugs if they are not some sort of a...

  Your welcome.   I'd put my money on it being a tumour or abscess. The latest picture you provided of the problem gives the impression that something is erupting so hopefully anything nasty in there will be ejected.

If those spots are salt-grain sized it will be white-spot. I recommend treating white-spot with Waterlife Protozin.

How often are you taking 60-70% of the water out and replacing it?   If you are replacing this amount of water weekly, the KH, and GH of your aquarium water will be more or less the same as the tap water which creates no problems. If, however, you are replacing 60-70% of the water every 3-4...

  In your case, I would NOT put any grain of salt into the water because nitrate becomes highly toxic in salt water; this is why marine aquariums require stringent nitrate control.   While 40 ppm of nitrate isn't asking for trouble (in fresh water), nitrate testing kit which tells you that your...

Remember to get a 2nd spare heater as backup for when the 1st spare heater stops working 

To me it looks like a tumour. Tumours are primarily induced by bad water quality, other pollutants or come about naturally because of the fishes genome (it's genetic make-up).   To say that you are 95% sure that water quality isn't to blame because other fish are "perfectly fine" is not...

  I would do an up-to-date ammonia, nitrite, GH and KH test and post the results here. You may want to speak with your water company to ask what they know the nitrate level to be. Nitrate test kits are VERY inaccurate so it could be nitrate toxicity, which a nitrate test kit will not so easily...

  Hi,   What is your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH level please? If you can, getting your GH and KH values will be handy to know too.

If the spot you mention is white and really small (the size of a salt grain) I would recommend treating for Ich as there simply isn't another cause for a salt-grain sized mark. The only thing that would keep me from treating such a mark would be if it was accompanied by redness which would be...

  I'm glad you've positively identified it. Remember to keep treating the water even when the whitespots have gone as there is an invisible stage to the parasites life cycle in which the parasites replicate in a trophont on the substrate. You want the salt to kill the parasites when they decide...

If you moved some plants that had extensive root systems, pockets of ammonia and aeromonous bacteria could have been dragged out with the roots. I did this once and my Corydoras went down hill afterwards, and because they liked to hide among the leaves, I was not able to spot that they had both...

  I'm not totally sure if Myxazin is able to tackle internal infections. It might be worth ringing Waterlife up in morning/early afternoon period (UK time) and ask their chemist if it is appropriate to use. In my view, a remedy needs to be ingested by the fish to tackle an internal problem.

Hi Kad191,   I'm really sorry that nobody was able to offer any assistance promptly. However, what you must understand is GBR's are one of the hardest and temperamental fish to care for. They only live for 2-3 years and the balloon ram is artificially bred for it's colours rather than vitality...

If the white spots are salt grain sized and white you need to be treating for Ich. Protozin is good at eradicating this if you haven't already gone down the salt treatment route.   Also, no matter how thoroughly you scrutinise fish prior to adding them to an aquarium, you will not be able to see...

What substrate are you using? Did you disturb any of it? This is a good cause of an ammonia spike, whether detectable using a testing kit or not.   Have you switched to a different food, fed the fish more frequently or changed your water change frequency?

Is the dorsal fine, above the white patch, damaged in anyway or is there a possibility it could have got this fin caught?    If that fin has been trapped/damaged it could have allowed a fungal/bacterial infection to get into the fish via a wound.   Due to the extent of the necrotic tissue being...

For how long has your nitrate been at 40 ppm and did the odd behaviour show if/when the nitrate level was below 40 ppm? How about your ammonia, nitrite, GH, KH and PH levels? Unless you have used inorganic fertiliser to achieve a level of 40 ppm of nitrate, I would be tempted to believe that the...

      A total ammonia concentration of 0 ppm will appear a distinct yellow with an API ammonia test kit. If it doesn't appear yellow some argue that the chemical reagents are interacting with what you are putting into the water (possibly nitrate or phosphate fertiliser) or the ammonia level is...

Sick fish will eat blood worm even several days before becoming deceased from personal experience.   What were these puffers like when you purchased them and when they were being transported in the bag? Did they suddenly go down hill when they were placed in your aquarium?   I noted that you...

  They prefer a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 and a KH and GH of around 4dH. They like to filter sand through their gills, swallowing any food within the sand as they do so. Corydoras seldom go up to a pellet and bite chunks out of it which they would be forced to do if they have pea gravel (they cannot...

If your fish have fin rot you need to correct this by doing a 100% water change to remove any ammonia in the aquarium. Raising the temperature with a total ammonia value of 0.25 ppm is something you should never do because total ammonia comprises two components, one of which is the deadly free...

  I think when your ammonia is converted into nitrite, the pH drops since nitrite waste has an acidic pH value. In some cases I've known it take the pH down to 6.5 which brings the cycle to a halt.   When I first joined the forums a couple of people advised that I added calcium carbonate (they...

A fine sand is the best substrate for Corydoras. I'm not sure of the suitability of gravel with it being so jagged which will cause a lot of friction on the barbels.   The ammonia/nitrite reading is too high. These high readings will be preventing the fish from taking up o2 by damaging the gills...

  I bought it from Amazon. I use the one called 'Power Max Ammonia'.     I've decided to boost my PH to 8.2 as it was staying at around 7.2 and I think this might be making the cycle sluggish. I still have the same water results as described at the end of the list in my first post.   I'm using...

+1 

A PH of 8.0 is a bit high for a Corydoras as they do come from South America where the PH is acidic/neutral in their natural environment. You may want to try reducing the PH very gradually to see if the reddened patch disappears. I'm sure that if you told an experienced LFS fish hobbyist that...

  Well thats what I thought initially but I had significant problems with a orange slime and surface film, of which took all the oxygen out of the water, when I neglected water changes for the several months in which I was doing my previous fishless cycle. Either something from the air got into...

I have experienced this exact issue and the tank water was completely devoid of oxygen. It came about despite the fact that I had NOT put any food into the aquarium so it wasn't derived from the food. I associate it with a lack of filter maintenance and/or something from the environment getting...

Ok, on the 06/3/2013 I started a fishless cycle in which I dose my 120 litre aquarium with 4.2ml of pure ammonia and re-dose every time the ammonia reading goes back to 0 ppm.   I just wanted to check that my ammonia and nitrite readings are where they should be by bringing your attention to my...