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Check your KH levels and ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and temperature and give us those numbers. Gill flukes will also cause this problem as the fish are not getting enough O2. Check with where you purchased them at to see if they do a routine treatment for gill flukes. If they don't, there...

The algae is probably just a temporary thing caused by an imbalance in the ecology of the new tank. As the tank matures, it should go away as long as you are not overfeeding or under-maintaining the tank. In a mature tank, there are lots of different microbes and bacteria that eat the...

DO NOT USE ALGAE KILLING CHEMICALS IN YOUR TANK. There is no need for it as the green water is a temporary thing caused by an imbalance in the ecology of your tank. When you did the complete "strip down", you actually messed things up even more. You may have "cycling" issues to deal with so...

I'm not sure if myxobacteriosis would cause scale loss without showing many other symptoms first. It's actually from the flexibacter sp. like columnaris and it causes black spot disease and in some cases, a darker fuzzy growth whereas columnaris causes a lighter fuzzy growth. I think with any...

I know Tokis knows this but I wanted to clarify for others who might read this. Tokis showed links to two pics but they are not both shubunkins. The round-bodied calico was Ryukin and the long-bodied calico was a shubunkin. They also have calico comets which get the longer tails so check out...

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=129060 is an older thread on the topic.

The opaque/white spots on the fins are likely Pox or KHV (Koi Herpes Virus) which are viruses and can't really be cured. Often, they will show up on a fish that is stressed out. I kind of compare them to fever blisters / cold sores that some people get on their lips when they get stressed or...

How big is your pond. You only say small. I hope it's at least 350G and hopefully larger. More than likely, you added a female. You could separate the chased fish to keep it from getting too stressed out. Did you quarantine it first? If you didn't, and it's now getting stressed out even...

NO! Your tank is not big enough for even your single goldfish, much less three of them. If you want to rescue them and save your own, go get a 55G, 4' long tank, which will be good for three small goldfish for a year or two depending on your tank maintenance and their genetics. After that...

Remember that with planted tanks, you will not have as many nitrifying bacteria anyhow. The N-bacteria colonies will only grow to the size needed to process any available ammonia/nitrites. If your plants are using them all up, then technically you won't have N-bacteria. If your snails...

If a 4L "bowl" is all you have room for, you could go with a few (2-3) Cherry Shrimp and a small bunch of live Anacharis planted in the gravel. Cherry shrimp can live, thrive and breed at room temps down into the low 70's. If the room where you are keeping it is kept at a consistent...

I don't think you'll have a problem with your goldfish ever refusing any kind of food. The only goldfish that refuses food is a very sick or dead goldfish.

Glad to see Freaky is doing well. Why hasn't your friend netted out all of the tadpole? It's not like it's a giant pond. You didn't say how deep it is but assuming it's 2' deep, it's around 90G. Certainly not large enough for 5-6 goldfish for very long. Is Freaky and the others round-bodied...

If your tank is large enough, go ahead and get another one. I find that while they do fine on their own, they do seem to be social fish and hang out with each other when more than one is in a tank. Of course, I think that has as much to do with one fish thinking the other fish might know where...

Two ways to remove tannins from your water. Frequent 25% PWC's or adding fresh chemical filtration (carbon or Purigen or other advanced chemical filtration). Remember that carbon is only good for about 2-3 weeks before it needs to be discarded/replaced. I haven't used carbon in a few years...

Just young unless they've been intentionally stunted. The closest I've seen to "small koi" are Sarasa Comet (red & white) goldfish or shubunkins (calico's). They would be better suited to your mini-pond since you already know koi get too big.

Now one thing that can alleviate some of the worry about copper pipes is if you are in an area with hard water or moderately hard water. The calcium/mineral buildup on the insides of pipes get so thick that none of the water actually touches the pipes any more. This is very common down here...

Bamboo shrimp?? I've seen algae growing on my mystery snail shells so I guess it could grow on a shrimp shell also. The larger the shrimp, the less likely to molt compared to smaller shrimp. They only molt because their shells do not actually grow so as the shrimp is growing, it needs to...

It might be best to check with the manufacturers of eco-complete (see below). Shrimps are rather new to the masses of the hobby and I've read many reputable articles with conflicting advice about using ferts in tanks with cherry shrimp so I'm sure you will get the same advice here. Some will...

Everything I've read says it takes 48+ hours to outgas chlorine and around a 7-14 days to break down the chloramine and outgas the chlorine. The ammonia will be handled by your biofilter. If your tap/source water is treated with either of these, it's not advisable to put fish in the water...

Yeah.. Apple and Mystery snails have been outlawed. I've seen the Japanese Trap Door Snails being marketed more heavily lately in the USA. http://www.pondkoi.com/trapdoor_snails.htm Here is the pinned topic on snail types. http://www.fishforums.net/Snail-species-t75554.html

That's good. I can never find the active ingredients in any of the online ads for the meds.

I have moderately hard water with a pH of 7.6-7.8 but it will go up during the summer months to nearly 8.0. I keep the tank at room temperature which fluctuates between 75F-78F (during the hottest part of the day). My KH runs around 7dH out of the tap and the tank stays around the same due to...

OK. The tea color is most often associated with tannins release from driftwood, peat, rotting leaves, etc. What kind of substrate was in the plants? What does the water smell like? Does it smell earthy and clean or rotten/sour? Give us some numbers as far as ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH...

Don't medicate the tank. Never add medications until you are certain of what you are treating. I've seen too many people throw various meds or chemicals into their tanks without even knowing what they are treating. Now... what kind of shrimp do you have? There are hundreds, if not thousands...

Washington State Dept. Of Agriculture Entomology Dept. should be able to ID it for you. http://agr.wa.gov has this info for contacting folks in the Entomology Dept. Ask them for their email address and send them a picture and description as far as size. Entomology Dr. Jim Marra, Managing...

No such natural thing but the way breeders are selectively inbreeding mutated goldfish to "invent" new types, I wouldn't doubt they will come out with a "dwarf goldfish" but if they are anything like their mutated cousins, they will have many health issues. Most of the fancy goldfish have all...

You guys/gals in the UK need to get on your politicians. They are so strict about what they will allow you to import or own, but then they let the companies sell stuff without saying what's in it. I've noticed that on all of the Interpet medications/chemicals and every other med/chemical sold...

Cherry Shrimp - I'm still surprised at how much they sell for online since they seem to breed so easily. Mine are breeding like crazy (like guppies of the shrimp world) and I now have a deal to supply my LFS with 25-50 at a time for 50 cents each. They sell them for $1.00 each (US). I see...

It would be best if you could move the fish with Ich or move the inverts and plants (if any) out of the tank. Here's a nice long article on Ich which also covers the various treatments http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml After the treatment is over, do a series of 25% PWC's...

Here's a Google Image search of "ryukin" with 1,460 pictures found. Browse through them and I'm sure you'll see most of the range of colors. Of course, gold, red/white and calico seems to be the most common colors. http://images.google.com/images?q=ryukin&a...tart=0&sa=N

You need to retest your water and post your numbers. There is almost no way your nitrates would be 0.0ppm.... unless you have the pond very well planted or have it filtering through a bog. Instead of saying the tests are normal or fine, please give us the numbers so we have something to...

If it's a white cloudiness, it's probably just some of the bacteria blooming. If it's green, it's an algae bloom. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different bacteria that grow in a pond so until they balance out the ecology of the pond and find a surface area home, they will bloom in...

Since you have over 1,400 posts, I'll presume you know about the nitrogen cycle. Did you have cycled filter media that you added to the pond filters? Did you use Bio-Spira? Or what did you do to cycle the pond... or were you planning on cycling with the fish? If so, what are your ammonia...

What species of plecos do you have access to or were you going to order online? Even the dwarf pleco's grow to around 6", like a BN (bristlenosed) pleco. Common Pleco's grow much too large for your tank.... 18"+. If you kept only two of the fancy goldfish in your tank, you could probably...

Don't add any more fish to your tank. It's already overstocked. You don't say how many of each but you list 5 different types of goldfish, including common goldfish which get way too big for a 48G tank. You can't successfully keep 5 goldfish of any type in a 48G tank as they should get much...

How can you say 6 goldfish in a 150G pond is OK without knowing what kind they are? What if they are common goldfish which should grow up to 24" long each? One common goldfish would not thrive in 150G mainly since it would not give the fish any swimming room. You may not have seen a 2' common...

Dropsy is the name of the visible symptom which looks like the scales are like a pinecone when viewed from above. The effect can be caused by several different internal issues from bacterial infection to parasitic infestation to organ failure, namely the kidneys so the fish is unable to expel...

Hi Jakester, Let's get the bad news over with first. A 150G pond will not be big enough for 6 goldfish as they mature. If they are under 4" each right now, they will be OK but depending on the species and presuming they are all long-bodied varieties, they will grow to 12" - 24" each. They...

Feeding depends on the type of fish and the age of the fish. As babies and juvis, they should be fed several meals a day as they are in the rapid growth/development phase of their lives. As they mature, then feeding 1-2 times a day is fine. For goldfish babies/juvi's, it's recommended to...