Unfortunately, my last cory died last night -- he was hanging in there for a while and I had high hopes that he'd make it but it wasn't meant to be.

So I've been doing water changes to reduce the salt level in my tank--it is currently down to about 5 Tablespoons (in a 20 gallon) and I'll continue ...

My gravel is not very smooth -- probably a bit rough for corys.
No idea what the platy had -- it was swimming around with clamped fins
for a few weeks and seemed quite lethargic -- no one else in the tank
seemed to be sick then...

the barbels didn't deteriorate very rapidly -- slowly over time so I suspect it was probably my gravel. My nitrates are around 30 ppm -- my incoming water is about 13
so I can't do much to get them alot lower.

Another clue to all this may be the key -- a few weeks ago my LFS recommended I add alot ...

my nitrites test at 0 and I haven't medicated the tank -- just salt (my lfs recommended
that I add a large amount a few weeks ago -- if it was the salt, wouldn't it have killed
the corys sooner?)

this morning, he was laying upside down on the bottom, looking very dead. I went to scoop him and he ...

I'm having a hard time keeping catfish in my 20gal tank -- otos and bronze corys don't seem to last very long. I currenlty have only one cory (and 4 zebra danios, 4 cherry barbs, and 3 var. platys). I lost one cory last week - was laying on his back on the
bottom - when I went to scoop him, he swam ...

thanks - I've been thinking about plants -- is 20 watts (24" bulb) on
a 20 gal long (12" high, 12" wide, 30" long) enough for low light plants?
-deb

Thanks for the info - will the silicates 'disappear' over time or will they be replenished
each time I do a water change?!

:?:
hello - I have a 20 gallon long tank that's been up and running for about 2
months. It currently has these fish:
4 zebra danios
4 cherry barbs
4 marigold plattys
2 bronze corys
1 oto

I've been having a bad problem with brown algae. I know that oto's
eat brown algae but oto's seem not to ...