Recent content by lannen

The labyrinth organ has nothing to do with over coming the toxicity of the water. Bettas still put out waste just like other fish, and (even though they are not dependent on it for oxygen) they do circulate water over their gills so they are susceptible to water toxicity. But bettas are fairly...

That tank is really to small for a pair of puffers. They are very messy fish and leave a lot of food waste in the tank. Check out http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/ Three gallons would be good for one puffer, but a pair would be tough. You would probably have to vacuum and change the water very...

Since it's safe for use in human consumption, I would think it would be OK if rinsed per spec. I'm completely unfamilair with Metabisulfate, but Potasium permanganate is a standard for disinfection plants. Does the warning on the label give any indication that it shouldn't be used? ChemFinder...

You could of course use PVC pipe that has been decorated. One method can be found here: http://petfish.net/PVC_cave_tower_instuctions.htm For the airline, I would just use a solid length of tubing, but this method could also be used for some other decoration. You could also use this method...

Dwarf puffers could easily fit in a 10g. Should be able to fit 3-4 in there, especially if you can get only one male. Check out dwarfpuffers.com for a lot of info. And they are true freshwater, not brackish. Petsmart carries them too (at least many of their stores do), so they shouldn't be...

It may work out with females, since they tend to be calm and some what social, perhaps some one else has experience with this. If one or both are males, then there is almost certianly going to be territory trouble in a 10g.

If you're truly concerned about the wood rotting and releasing particles or affecting pH, then you could seal it with a clear spray (it's sometime's sold this way). It would have to be dry before you sprayed it so the spray would be effective. And because the wood is dry, it can be harder to...

Water testing depends on the stage the tank is in. If your trying to cycle the tank, you probably want to test very few days (if not more often). Though if you have a small tank (less than 5g, or maybe 2.5g) you probably won't cycle the tank. If your not cycling than you probably only need to...

That depends on how he got into that position. Often a frog will go into the zen position while floating or "standing" on it's hind legs and will simply fall into that position. If that's what happened then there should be no problem in it. However, if the frog is constantly stuck in that...

If he is actually getting stuck, then you should do something, probably remove the lilly. You could possibly replace it with other plants. But if he is only hanging out there, then there should be no problem. Just be sure to watch for normal behavior, going up to breathe, at least some...

Similar to what Blucat said, I have a algae cleaner from Petco which is just a stick with a sponge on one end and a thin, wedged plastic piece on the other end. It works great on everything that I've used it with, both glass and acrylic. The plastic end can probably scratch the acrylic, but...

I know that as a comb tail (I think crown is the same, but I'm not certian). A good resource is: http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_finnage.htm Looks like a spectacular betta, especially if he really opens up the fins. The blue green color is my favorite for males.

First of all, you should stop adding ammonia until you figure out what is going on. That's strange that your ammonia level wouldn't have changed. What's the effective range of the test kit? If you think the test kit might be wrong, you should be able to get your water tested at a fish store...

I don't know about the cleating agent, so I can't comment on that, but what you adding 10 gal sounds about right, so you could continue with that. I've never done a fishless cycle before, so I can't really comment on how much of a pH swing your have, but that sounds like quite a lot. Hopefully...

So long as all that is in the solution is ammonia and DI water, it should be fine, but there could be other things in there also, so that is something to watch out for. I'm not familiar with ammonia distributors, so I don't know what is common or possible to be used. Another possibility is...