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  Thanks for the picture.   Are there any fertiliser tablets or food buried in the sand? If the fish is hungry I guess it could go to strange lengths (i.e. burying it's head) to get food. Another explanation for it burying it's dead would be to get out of view of your lighting; the skin of...

  Could you provide a picture? This would help me and others to see if there is anything wrong.   It could be that it is also developing fin-rot and body-rot due to either bad water quality or from being injured on something.

Usually fish with an internal problem will sit on the substrate with their fins clamped. They need time to recover so it would be good if you could separate the ill fish so it isn't bothered by others. Metronidazole (which is anti-parasitic and anti-biotic medication) may help you. Jungle Labs...

Glad to hear you removed it. Always do your own research before buying things from P@H. They do tend to sell lots of cheap plastic tat rather than more natural products like bog wood which has always concerned me.

  The Aquavitro carbonate product will definitely raise your KH so definitely use that. You should aim to increase the KH slowly (by 1 dH per day) to prevent shocking the fish.   As for your other query, 4 drops does equal 4 dH. At this level your pH will be quite stable, but the KH is not high...

Sorry to hear about the loss.   I would recommend doing a considerable water change, using a syphon to clean the gravel as you do so, so as to remove any necrotic tissue that came off of the ill fish. This will stamp out the likelihood of the healthy fish eating something that they shouldn't.

  Well if I were you I'd contact the manufacturer and ask them what the ornament is made of. Once/if they have given you all the material names I would then recommend doing some internet research to determine their suitability in aquariums. I would especially do this as it would appear that...

One thing I always do when there is a smell in the aquarium is check the filter for fungal growths. The rim of the aquarium, where food and water can mix (in the case of my tank) and stagnate can cause fungal growths here too.   I might be wrong but I think resin can have a similar smell to...

 +1. Seems to like steam rolling over other people's views without substantiating his/her own views.

    I would medicate for fin rot and early signs of body rot. Definitely medicate for the former because white ends at the tip of the fin are actually an indicator of this disease.   You need to ideally topically treat the ends of the fins and seal them from pathogens in the water using...

Is this Cory lethargic? The reason I ask is because they usually swim away from direct light and it looks as though it's tired.    Lethargy is usually accompanied by fin and body rot probably from the onset of bacterial septicemia getting into the wounds.

  That is happening, without a doubt, due to the fact that your filter bacteria need a stable pH to thrive. Your water's carbonate hardness (KH) helps to keep the pH stable by releasing two kinds of hydrogen ions which help counteract dips or peaks in PH respectively, thereby keeping it stable...

  What are your ammonia, nitrite, PH and nitrate levels of your water?   Were the 2 fish acting abnormally or look ill prior to death? Do the remaining Cardinal Tetras look happy and healthy or not?

Calcium carbonate can be added to raise both KH and GH but will have little effect on the PH.    However, the higher the GH, the more able your filter will be able to process ammonia and nitrite; when your filter bacteria gains this ability to convert more ammonia into nitrite, a secondary...

  Cyanobacteria can grow on anything. It's up to you whether you want to take my advice or just keep growing cyanobacteria.

When you transferred the media from the old tank to the new it is conceivable that the bacterial colony on the filtration media would become depleted due to making contact with air, partially dechlorinated water, lowered temperature and lack of oxygen. With this in mind, and if your ammonia...

  I'm wanting to put a pair of German Blue Rams in there. They are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrite fluctuations so I may originally need to put Black Neon Tetras in there if there are mini ammonia spikes to begin with. Won't be putting anymore fish in there as from experience GBR's hate...

  Yes, keep testing daily and then you will get a feel for how often the KH/GH changes. When I add KH up or any buffering agent to the pond I add it gradually as a sudden jump in GH/KH can cause skin burns on fish. You may want to be cautious too, especially as your body of water is smaller than...

You have cyanobacteria growing on your plant leaves (known as blue-green algae).   Its caused by high light mixed with low nitrate or high nitrate which isn't being transported to the plants fast enough causing them to leech sugars which the blue-green algae use to grow (hence why they are...

  Glad to have helped you.   I'm doing a fishless cycle like yourself. I'm on day 8 and my ammonia has only reduced from 4 to 2 ppm, so it's a long and drawn out process but one that is very beneficial if its done properly.   Just keep topping up your ammonia to 4ppm every time it drops to 0ppm...

  To higher it, I would recommend buying 'KH up' from Nt Labs. It increases the calcium concentration of your water. I would never add something to the aquarium to leech compounds into the water that will higher your KH as you may end up with a unreasonably high KH. However, if you want to take...

I have 4 suction cups in an open-top aquarium and I have just noticed that they are covered in a white slimy substance (it has a very slight yellow tinge to it too). To the touch it resembles a cream that say you'd apply to the skin/face.   There's also a bit growing on the output pipe.   Take a...

  I've never had fish fry so I can't really give you an opinion of how they will deal with highered ammonia/nitrite. I do know that fry are supposed to be very sensitive so it is my guess that you (I'm sorry to say this) may lose most of them if they are subject to an ammonia/nitrite spike.

  Your tap water KH is probably quite low then. Have you done a KH test on your tap water? A mix of 30 mg/L of KH and a heavy bio-load equals frequent PH crashes in my mind.   It might be worth getting a KH buffering agent to increase your KH slightly.   I've used something called NT Labs KH up...

Fish illness and water quality issues are nearly always caused by disturbance of the substrate. You need to ensure that your ammonia and nitrite level is at 0ppm before treating the fish as you will not be able to tell whether it is your water quality or a pathogen causing the problems/deaths...

With a KH / alkalinity level of 250 mg/L you probably also have an inappropriate PH level since your KH level can influence, indirectly, the PH.   A high KH typically causes a high alkaline PH which results in alkalinosis which causes the following symptoms in fish:   Flashing / rubbing Jumping...

  In doing this, the said sponge will have some ability to process ammonia (ammonia typically is consumed by Nitromonas bacteria at the end of week 1. Prior to 7 days, there wouldn't be any Nitrosomonas colony) but it will NOT have any ability to process nitrite whatsoever since you need a...

A low KH is the cause of a PH crash. The lower the KH, the more the PH fluctuates and comes to closer to uncontrollably crashing. The KH level lowers over time naturally in response to calcium and other nutrients being used by the biological system, the fish and the plants. Either your tap water...

A hazy bacterial bloom usually comes about in reaction to the aquarium lights. It is my guess that this prompts them to use CO2 to grow but when the light is no longer on, they revert to utilising oxygen in the dark. This may explain the gasping you've described. As already advised, keep doing...

I will second what has been said above; be sure to clean your plants before introducing them into the aquarium. I place my new plants in a bucket filled with mixed hot/cold water (from the bathroom faucet) containing either a weak bleach (Interpet pond disinfectant) or an over-dose of Sterazin. ...

  Did you purchase reverse osmosis water from your LFS? If not, I'm not sure how you filled your tank with purely the water of your LFS.

I'm 99% certain that those spots are white spot. To treat it you need to be adding the Protozin promptly and increasing the water temperature to the higher limit of what the Zebra Loach can deal with.   I'd recommend treating the tank for an additional 1-2 weeks after the spots have disappeared...

Many of the Waterlife products that I've used have caused my Corydoras to become lethargic but this didn't alarm me too much as all their medications can be used compatibly with Corydoras. I think you did right, however, to do a large water change because the Myxazin seems to be one of the...

It does look like HITH to me.    Has anybody had any luck with using Seachem Metronidazole to treat HITH?

The nutrafin ammonia test is a good alternative as it remains transparent for a reading of 0 ppm. This may be of use for people with colour blindness.   I think that you have a reading between 0 and 0.25 ppm according to your pictures. The correct reading is ascertained by placing the vial right...

Where are the strands stemming from?   I personally haven't seen anything like this before. Are your plants growing well? I know any kind of plant can release their sugar contents if they are dying (i.e. trees release sap which comprises mainly water and sugar). It could be that the aquarium...

White stringy poo is a typical symptom of a bacterial infection caused by internal problems of which are usually parasite-related.   I'd advice that you treat the tank with an anti-bacterial named WaterLife Myaxin and begin to feed all of your fish peas that have been cooked but which have...

The white spots on the fish are lesions from where the free-swimming parasite has dug into the fish. If you no longer see them it doesn't mean you've solved the problem as the mature parasite will have swum away from the spot and encapsulated itself in a tomont (in which it begins to replicate...

I have contacted my Aunty and advised that she use de-chlorinator at all times and never use bleach.   I've donated some Aquasafe (500ml) to her and will get one of those Seachem ammonia sensors that continually monitor free ammonia concentrations very accurately.     If there is anybody out...

  I remove everything before bleaching**   Yes, I've disposed of it all and removed the rocks I had. I've bought some Unipac course sand which is supposed to be best used in aquariums (places like Aqua Essentials sell it of which sell fish food / aquarium plants etc). Instead of re-adding the...