I forgot to mention... the common aquarium fish, zebra danios were genetically modified to produce more of a redish hue between the black stripes. Supposedly, if exposed to light, the red tissue will absorb it and glow in the dark. This was initially acheived by inserting a coral gene into the egg ...

According to the composite sketch on fishbase.org, Synodontis rufigiensis doesn't have the leopard-like pattern I saw on the fish at the store.

It honestly looked a lot like that hybrid.

I'm in the process of planning a rift valley tank and I may very well pick up one of these cats. In the even ...

A few days ago I visited a local LFS and stopped to peak at a 'rift-valley' style aquarium they had setup. I noticed a synodontis specie with striking coloring that I hadn't seen before. It looked much like an s. petricola, except there was quite a bit of blue on the tips of the pectoral, dorsal and ...

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-5/721269/driftwood.jpg

I bought this piece of driftwood a while back, and at the time of purchase I really didn't consider the white stuff attached to it. Recently, however, I've become a little more weary about what I put in my tank and so, naturally, I've ...

I'm not over-feeding. I don't even have fish in the tank. :/

It seems to accumulate on plants, and I only put food in there momentarily to see what would happen.

Any idea how to get rid of it without putting salts in my water?

Do you mean it's diatomic "algae"?

Because I thought bacteria is free moving.

Anyhow, is it bad or good, what should I do?

If you look closely at the photo, you'll see a translucent, greyish organism growing off my micro sword.

It's sort of stringy, but it can be "gooey" like, and appears to grow almost exclusively on decaying matter.

When I put something like an algae wafer or flake food in the tank and it sits, it ...

Just today I noticed that my pictus cat, the one that was troubled from before, has a red area at the base of the dorsal fin. I removed him from the other tank since I'm not certain what this problem is.

Any ideas?

I had considered that, and the one that's ill is actually the dominant of the two. There's occasional nipping, but they seem to be fairly respectful of each other.

I have two pictus catfish in an established tank with approx. 15-20ppm nitrates. One appears to be ill, and is showing this by a paleness and "shimmy." Although, the breathing is at a normal pace. There are no redmarks or noticeable inflamations on the fish at this time.

It's eating normally, and ...

Just a note, I was googling and found this highly informative page on activated carbon....

http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/carbon.html

I've rinsed it quite well(that goes along with 'shaking the excess'). Yet, there's still dust. This particular activated carbon just seems to disintegrate. Although, it works great when it's not clogging my sponge pre-filter.

Does anybody have any recommendations for a good, relatively dust free, activated carbon?

I tried a third party brand(aquarium pharm.) to see if it was better than what came with my filer element replacements, and although it's most definitely more effective at removing odor/discoloration, it gives ...

An aquaclear mini with all original parts, eh? Out of curiosity, is it close or identical to the modern version?

My brother has one and it seems like a good all-in-one unit.

As far as the wet/dry issue of bacteria cultures, aerobic bacteria need oxygen to live but the nitrifying(aerobic bacteria ...

I'm sure a lot of this has been covered before, but I'd like to see current opinions.

When I purchased my aquarium, it was suggested that I buy a tetra "whisper" overflow unit that was inexpensive and marketed as a complete solution. It does, however, lack specific design-work for biological ...

I'll continue looking for the "biospira" product, but no luck so far. I've only seen cycle and stresszyme.

As for the flake food, maybe if I coerced them somehow to eat it(:/ ?), but I tried for at least a week to feed them flakes and I can say pretty safely through my observation that they wouldn ...

I don't mean that the activated carbon removes the debri, I mean it normally collects on the element which contains the activated carbon. It's some sort of fibrous material, almost sponge like, and it does a good job of retaining large pieces. I would turn the filter off while feeding, but it's an ...

Okay, I think this is all starting to make a little sense. BTW, I really appreciate the feedback from both of you.

As for the bloodworms, it doesn't matter how much I put in there.. a few would always make it to the strainer because it's a large open strainer that sits about midway down a 10 gallon ...

Well, Shane had said previously that it's due to overstocking. So it's not overstocking, it's just not cycled?

If I could go back to the person that sold me my fish and aquarium, I'd have a bone or two to pick because nothing seems to make sense. I was told wait a week to cycle the aquarium, use ...

I'm not actually located in Seattle anymore, as I just moved to the suburbs. The tap water quality is good for drinking, but like I said.. it's hard water or all the test kits I've bought are complete shams. It's also surface water, unlike most of the area which is fed by aquafers and is ...

The tap water is exceedingly hard and slightly alkaline. It's just easier to use distilled and level out the water chemistry than deal with the hard water. What do you mean by adding salts.. is there a product and dosage you'd recommend?

I have two pictus cats in a 10 gallon hexagon, and although one was a little bruised up from what was either a heater burn or a bite mark, they're doing very well. However, my tank has recently been building ammonia to no avail and I'm not sure what to do about it(4.0ppm).

I have an established ...

Sometimes things just aren't meant to be.

If your pet is very noticeably sick, never rely on forums for answers, unless of course you're searching archives. There's no telling when somebody will respond, or be around to respond.

Recently, my bro's corydoras has developed a small white bump just above it's mouth. It's a very irregular looking bump and at one point it appeared to swell. It's not white, per say, but the tissue is lighter than the surrounding tissue which is the typical bronze color associated with bronze corys ...

Heater burn mark maybe?

Here's a pic, this is the best I could get since I'm inexperienced with my digital cam;
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A simple Google.com search will reveal at least some of the fauna.

http://www.wasai.com/fish8_7.htm

Most of the people that study that area and post information on the web in English, seem to be adventurous fisherman. South America is the new Atlantis of freshwater fishing and everybody's favorite ...

I've got two Pictus cats, young ones, in a 10 gallon hexagonal tank. I understand this is inadequate room for them and I plan on getting a larger (at least 35 gal) tank in the future. In the meantime, I've seen occasional tail nipping, and even one fish litterally gripping the other in his mouth at ...