Matt,

Thank you for the note. Its been three days, and there have been no more deaths, so I'm cautiously optomistic. I did some reading, and I think that the problem with fish that have died in the past week, and the ones that aren't looking good, is "fin and tail rot". I'm on day two of treatment ...

And my snail died.

I don't understand this. We had no fatalities for six weeks, and now everything is going south, and the water chemistry is perfect!

I have a medicine to treat fungus, but not an antibacterial med. Will try to get to the store first thing tomorrow.

Two more of the cardinals look bad - their fins on the top and bottom are coming apart - they're stringy and seperated rather than together. ?? Any ideas?

Another cardinal died today - no sign of anything wrong, and the water chemistry is fine.

I'm tempted to treat the whole tank just because everyone seems to be doing poorly!

Could they be stressed from not enough sleep? Maybe I leave the light on too late. The light isn't on more than 12 hours ...

Howdy all.

We have a tank about five weeks old now. Its 55 gallons, and we started it with nine cardinal tetras and one 2" common pleco. After it went through the first cycle (complete with amonia and nitrite spikes - I test every day), we added six panda corys, two small clown loaches and seven ...

LOL - not at all.

I live near the Chesapeake Bay, and when I think of a shoal, I think of a shallow area, or an area that may be exposed regularly depending on the tide.

So what do you think - 55 gallon tank - how many pandas should I get for them to be happy?

Thanks!
Erin

Racoll,

Thank you for the advice and tips.

And - can you please tell me what you mean by a shoal. I've heard the phrase several times here now, but I don't know what it means in terms of aquariums.

Thank you!
Erin

Another question.

Our tank currently has 9 cardinal tetras and the one small common pleco. After the tank finishes cycling for these, we're adding 10 purple emporer tetras. After the bacteria cycles up from that, we want to add a small school of panda corys. Can we get six, or should we stick to ...

I feel awkward about creating a new thread every time I have a question, and if I'm bothering ya'll with noob questions - please let me know.

My 55 gallon has been running for about 12 days, and has had fish in it for 8 days. The amonia level has been perfect (I test every day) but the nitrite ...

Contrary to other opinions, i reckon that if you really love this catfish and are prepared to give him a big home, why not go with your desires? better you look after him in a proper set up tank, which may be 6 foot and still slightly too small, than someone else buy him and not look after him ...

Great news! I just got off the phone with my local aquarium store owner, and he says that he would be happy to give my common a good home when he gets larger. He has a huge display aquarium in the front of the store (where it gets a lot of light), and he wants more large plecos to keep it clean. Tom ...

Well - I've gone from out and out rejecting the idea of removing my common pleco, to considering it. If anyone else has any opinions, I'd appreciate them.

I'm thinking about asking my LPS if they would "adopt" my pleco. They have just set up a second, aquarium only store, and it seems like its ...

Asking me not to get sentimental about an animal, and especially about a pet, is like asking me not to breath. I'm a wildlife rehabber, and I've got two miserable cats that I'd rather not have (being a bird person) but they were strays and I couldn't find homes for them.

I agree with Shane. It's ...

I would not mix a Hypostomus with Otos as the Otos will never be able to compete for food and will starve. Your Hypostomus will give you more than enough algae control

Oh bummer. :( I was so looking forward to a little school of Otos. But I'll cope.

The black neons or emporor tetras sound nice ...

Shane,

Great - I love Cardinals, so the more, the merrier. Think I could do 20 cardinals and handful of zebra dannios or fancy guppies for the mid/upper tank level action?

I'm afraid I can't get rid of the common. The whole reason we got the bigger tank was really for him. If he eats the plants ...

Now that the 55 gallon has is set up (since Monday) and our currenty finny-friends have moved in (as of tonight), our thoughts turn to who should keep them company.

This tank does get some direct sunlight at various points during the day, so we know algae is going to be an issue. (We have an open ...

Just as an update - we boiled the drift wood for about 10 hours (with many water changes) and by the end - not the slightest trace of cig-scent remained.

Our new 55 gallon is now all set up, planted, and as of tonight, "fished" - five cardinals and one small common pleco, who are very happy to be ...

Thanks for the tip. I think I'll do exactly what you said (boil it a few times) and see how it smells.

I always wanted to try to boil mine but the wood I buy is too big to fit in a pot on the stove.

LOL - we borrowed a crab-cooking pot from my in-laws - works like a charm.

Erin

Can I boil it (for the quicker preparation as opposed to soaking) with the carbon?

And thank you for the suggestion!

Erin

Evening all,

We're setting up our new 55 gallon here. Our "local" pet store (its about 45 minutes away, and the next is 2.5 hours away) has a very limited drift wood selection. We picked a piece, brought it home, soaked it, and it absolutely reeks now of cigarette smoke (we don't smoke).

I'm ...

Thanks, guys!

The cardinals continue to look better tonight. Four out of the five, in fact, look completely "normal" now, and the last looks much better.

I'll be breaking out the test kit in the next few minutes to see how the levels are doing in there.

Erin

Okay - I came back today not with a 20 gallon tank, but with a 55. My neons continue to look a bit better today.

Hello all. I'm sorry for the late night frantic post, but this evening, my cardinal tetras have started showing red gills.

Here is the situation:

5 gallon tank, established about 6 weeks.
5 cardinal tetras (there from the beginning)
1 common pleco - 1.75", 11 days.

The tank had three plants ...

Howdy all!

I'm very much a catfish noob, and an aquarium noob, too, to be frank. I had a small 10 gallon most of my life with a few guppies, and really enjoyed it, but well - that's not saying much in terms of experience.

Hubby and I set up a 5 gallon for our son for Christmas, and we have been ...

They are nice, and a lot more clever than they look at first impressions.

He is obviously a very clever and inquisitive little fish. Now I grant you, in a tank of tetras, he doesn't have much in the way of competition for that description, but....

That is very unlikely. They are omnivorous with a penchant for animal matter, so you may find your fish ignoring algae altogether.

Animal matter? Do you mean my other fish (small cardinals), or do you mean flake food remenants? From what I've read here, I thought that the common pleco was good ...

He's smallish - maybe 1.75"

yeah, real cute when small; like a Great Dane (!).
puppy-love and all that.
:roll: :D

unfortunately he won't stay that way;
I like to compare these with Great Danes, as they almost always outgrow your tank!
they're dead-easy to keep, true; but once they pass the 1 ...

Hello all. I'm a total pleco-newbie, but I'm so in love. I bought this little guy at Walmart (ack - sorry - the "good" petstore in town is always closed when I get off work) just because we had a bit of an algae problem. We've had him since last Thursday. And now I spend my nights browsing pleco ...