Search results

Hard to say.

Is it not just a translucent gill cover, and you're seeing the redness of the gills underneath? Looking at pictures online, most of them seem to have it.

I saw that you'd kept them before so your water is probably hard enough, but it's still something we'd need to be sure of to eliminate it from possible causes. If the water was just slightly too soft last time, they would probably have taken a while to succumb to it.

Anaerobic pockets can easily develop in a less than clean ug filter, if it's full of mulm for example, or in areas that aren't cleaned, like under plants or decor. Its all more likely of course with deeper gravel.

Platies need hard water. Plecs come from soft water. Different fish types often need different water. A fish that has evolved in hard water will not do well in soft water. This is why we need to know the hardness of our tanks, so that we can keep fish that are suited to the water.

Needing parameters is a standard first question with livebearers, because if you're keeping them in soft water that will most likely be the cause. If the GH is zero, that's seriously soft water.

What are the water parameters?

You think things need to be harmless to all animals to be harmless to fish?

Well, you could transfer a portion of the mature media and you'd have a cycled tank.

Actually it doesn't, because it's not toxic. It's mulm, which is the inorganic residue of biological filtration, and maybe a bit of poop and stuff that's been drawn in and is being broken down. It's usually full of bacteria and is a great way to seed a new filter. I transfer a bit of the media...

Proper fish-in cycling, where you're creating the ammonia and nitrite in with the fish and changing loads of water to try to keep the levels low, is just barbaric animal abuse. Many fish die, and even those that survive are often hurt by the process. The new 'instant cycle' products can work...

Be careful what you read. Some of these bacterial products do work. Waterlife Seamature (now Bacterlife) has been working since the late 1960s. Dr Tim's works, and Tetra paid them for the recipe so now Safe Start works. And from the sounds of it there are now others that also work. The only...

You wouldn't have this problem if you weren't feeding them. Remove as many as you can physically, and feed (a lot) less so there's only enough for the fish. Also keep the substrate clean.

Nope, that's the worst thing you can do. Leave her alone, she's about to give birth. Catching her and moving her to a different tank (she doesn't know its safe) or to a tiny box floating out in the open, is frightening for her. It can kill her or cause premature birth and stillbirths. The best...

Some information might help. What are the water parameters? Temperature? Is it eating? Was it eating? How long has the tank been set up, and is it cycled? What size is the tank? How long have you had the fish? What are the other fish?.....

They give birth hiding in amongst the plants so... plants, plants, plants. Lots of them. Fluffy plants aswell like the Myriophyllum types.

This is Corydoras habrosus 2.0 Hoplisoma habrosum.

As @Essjay has already said, the soft water is the problem. Mollies simply cannot survive in soft water.

You don't have some kind of "denitrifying sponge" in there by any chance?

Ok so it seems like you have dentrification. In theory it's possible whenever the flow through a filter gets all its oxygen removed. But that would take a lot of foam and an extremely slow flow rate, and it would need to be constantly slow. In my attempts to make diy nitrate filters it was...

Have the nitrates in the tapwater changed?

I disagree. I think that's just your take, from the perspective of not liking long posts. The poster that wants information will read it, which is the main thing. I think most people will start to read the post and decide as they go, whether to continue reading it or not.

Couldnt agree more. The main issue with long posts for me is presentation. When it's just one long paragraph for example, often with not great punctuation, it's a harder read.

All depends on the post. Some are long-winded, yes, but some need to be long to be explanatory, and some give a wealth of information and/or food for thought. I always try to be concise and to the point, but I'll often elaborate in an attempt to get the asker to understand the answer.

You've been in the water with Arapaimus guidedmissilus? Yikes. Reminds me of a video of a diver, in full wet suit, snorkel and flippers, in a clear pool in the flooded forest at dusk, with a foot long gulper cat trying to swallow him elbow first. It's probably a good thing tetras aren't a foot...

I wonder if someone, possibly in the far East, is working on a fish that changes colour with pH ... red in acidic, green in neutral, blue in alkaline.. or a fish that changes colour if there's ammonia, or nitrite, or gets redder as the nitrates rise... maybe the tattooists will develop a fish...

Well they're all still the Corydoradinae, so I guess we can still correctly call them Corys, just not Corydoras. As always, the internet will be both the first and the last to change, so I might have to give up pedantry.

What's a pedant supposed to do now then? Osteogaster aeneus will always be called Bronze Corys, so how can I tell people they're not Corys? ????

Ignorance always wins, when left to its own devices. I still see the same ignorance now as I did fifty years ago. It's much easier now to find out about the environment of almost any tropical fish, but the ignorance that makes people believe that if you work in a shop you must know about what...

The "Common plecs" these days are all Pterygoplichthys. This one looks like a Hypostomus from the 'Cochliodon' group. It's a wood eater and must have softish wood in it's diet. Its hard to be sure from a video... especially that one. Can you get some good pictures of it?

It's one of the many man-made varieties of Bristlenose (Ancistrus).

Why on earth would you put two GGs together? The chance of them not fighting is almost zero. You'll need to keep them in different tanks.

It defies logic for a gregarious fish to "thrive" on it's own. Why do you think they thrive? Because they live a long time? Because they remain peaceful?

Agreed, albino Red Pacu. They grow 2ft plus, and need to be in a group.

Looks like one of the Darter Tetras, Characidium sp.

They're both females. Pelvicachromis are very easy to sex from 1" long. Female pelvic fins are short and round, and males' are long and pointed. The difference in these fins is why they're called Pelvic-achromis.

If you're adding Prime, then chloramine is not the problem.

73-ish species, with a wide variety of personalities. Some, such as B. imbellis, are actually very peaceful, and some can be kept in pairs, although most are best raised in groups so they can pair up themselves. If you search individual species, seriously fish and practical fishkeeping have some...

5 won't overload your tank, and they'll be healthier than 2 or 3. Otos really do need numbers. They live in groups of hundreds and even thousands, and 5 isn't even enough, but it'll be much better than 3. Be careful buying them. Don't buy any with sunken bellies. And if you don't clean the back...

As long as the parameters are similar, you cannot change too much water. I actually love doing water changes, the bigger the better (within reason), because they're good for the fish. After a big water change they'll be more active, and hungrier (appetite is linked to nitrates, the lower the...