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Three strategies none of which berates you for your wife's fish selection or decor. Add the surface plants that @davros suggested, bottom-dwelling (benthic) fish are always on the lookout for predators from above. I have found when I have dwarf water lilies, water lettuce, or frogbit at the...

The thing I am most concerned about with the hundreds of MTS in my tank is sudden die-off due to occasional Rx treatments. I watch water parameters like a hawk during those periods in case decaying MTS cause an ammonia spike. Otherwise, the population seems to have only a positive impact on the...

Excellent question! Rarely, and not within minutes of each other. Another proof point for group exposure to a toxin.

Dying fish absolutely do not play one last game of tag. One of the charms of danios is their playful schooling so this is progress.

The rapidity of death, while all of your water parameters are good, raises the likelihood of exposure to a toxin. Deadly pathogens rarely come on this quick. Were there any other animals in the tank prior to adding the fish, like snails or shrimp that are still doing fine? As mentioned...

@shandanielle77 what is the word, has your bala improved?

As others have said, this does present as ick with a secondary infection where the tomites have left open sores, making it look a little blotchy. However, ick seldom appears asymmetrically as you described if it has reached the level of infection we see in your photo. Spitballing in an effort...

Not to belabor the point, but the 20 gal Rubbermaid Brute will fit in most closets and could hold the contents of your current tank in an emergency. 22.34 x 19.38 x 22.88 inches. And you can get a dolly that would let you roll it from the sink to your tank so lifting is not an issue.

I hear you. If you get the type with a snug fitting top, storage outdoors is an option. I label mine “fish tank only”

I use a dedicated heavy duty plastic trash can and a cheap pump. When not changing water it serves as a tidy covered container for buckets, and all of the paraphernalia that you accumulate for fish keeping.

It takes a bit longer but I use airline tubing as the siphon hose. :lol:

This might sound crazy, but do a water test on the water you are using to change. If your water district made changes in their treatment process resulting in more ammonia and nitrites at the tap it could be the source of the bacterial bloom and compounding the problem with each water change.

ph, KH, and GH are intertwined. That said, I do think pH is important to a point, and I never ignore it because pH shock is real and I have seen it kill fish. For example, I live in a region that relies on groundwater that is at risk of saltwater intrusion. The pH can swing from 7.8 to 8.8...

I have never read anything as silly as filtration has nothing to do with stocking levels and it is unrelated to biological load and the amount of dissolved oxygen in the tank. There is a whole category of filter media designed specifically to address biological filtration. Circulation directly...

I am not a moderator as some are in this thread, but I managed an LFS for about 6 years and have kept fish for 50. A word about pH & KH: There is an ideal found in a fish's native habitat and this is important for wild-caught fish, but for many fish sold in the trade, they have never...

Cat allergies.

Agreed :)

@AbbeysDad, bleach breaks down the biofilm, it does not act like scrubbing bubbles and clear out or "burn" away the detritus in the micropores. It may return the media to a like-new appearance, but it has not returned it to a like new state. The point being, the bleaching regimen you have...

This is not hole-in-the-head disease. Hole-in-the-head is not symmetrical, and for it to cause wounds of this size it would be so advanced there would be numerous holes on both sides of the fish. The fins are in tatters as well, the poor fish has been blinded by its tank mates. Do a Google...

1) If the tank has developed significant Nitrobacter to compensate, why bother going through the regimen you have outlined? 2) are you not arguing both sides of the coin? If it is just marketing hype, what exactly is being recovered? The surface area you say is being reclaimed by “burning off”...

The average established tank with a system that employs bio-media is in balance and the colonies of Nitrobacter are in equilibrium with the production of wastes in the system. Removing 50% of the media and killing off perfectly good bacteria with the intent of recovering lost surface area for...