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Can anyone help me I.D. this kind of algae, and tell me what causes it and how to get rid of it? It is a brownish/green color, like a really dark khaki, and mostly grows in fuzzy balls on my decor. My water parameters seem to be normal: ammonia = 0 ppm nitrite = 0 ppm nitrate = 10 ppm pH = 7.5...

My eye was caught in Petsmart by the fancy plant mats that line the bottom of your tank. Does anyone have these? Are they easy to clean and vacuum the gunk up during regular water changes like gravel is?

After a disastrous experience with kuhli loaches in my betta tank, I'm nervous about adding even the seemingly gentle cories to my tank. My betta, Patches, has a habit of sleeping on the bottom of the tank. While he was napping, I caught the (well-fed) kuhli loaches in the act of sucking on and...

I bought 4 kuhli loaches yesterday and added them to my tank with my betta. My betta is fine with them (phew), but I did have one pass away last night. :( The other 3 were swimming and exploring, but he just hid. He also had a paler color compared to the other 3, so I chalked it up to "maybe he...

I was under the mistaken impression that bottom dwellers were useful for clean-up, but really weren't meant to be enjoyed--all the beauty and action are surely the fish in the mid to top regions of the tank right? I was WRONG! :oops: In my hunt for a clean-up crew, I've fallen in love with...

I've been in a nitrite spike for 5 weeks now with my fishless cycle, and they are showing no signs of dropping and my nitrates aren't rising. Ammonia is still being consumed, but that's all that's happening. My nitrites were initially way off the charts (around 20 ppm) and I've done enough water...

I think my nitrites are out of control! I read them (by using the dilution method) at around 19 ppm. At the time I was adding enough ammonia to bring it up to 2-4 ppm each time it dropped to 0. I did several large water changes (using declorinated water) and finally brought the nitrites into...

I have the nitrate test tube kit from API, and I get different (I think false) readings from it when I follow the directions perfectly than when I miss a step. Method 1: Add water to test tube. Add 10 drops from bottle number 1. Don't shake test tube. Shake bottle number 2 for at least 30...

I've been reading about -and drooling over!- pythons to make water changes easier. (No more buckets to lug around! Hurray!) My worry is: I have a home water softener. My cold kitchen tap is bypassed, and that is the water I use for water changes -declorinated and left to reach room temperature...

I'm on day 23 of my fishless cycle. My ammonia goes to 0 ppm every couple of days and I then add enough to bring it up to 2-3 ppm. My nitrites spiked off the chart at over 5 ppm (a strip test shows it may be over 10 ppm) at day 14 and have stayed there ever since. My nitrates have been steadily...

In every book that I have read about setting up an aquarium, it recommends sloping the gravel/substrate up higher on the sides and rear of the tank than in the front to better support the plant roots at the back, and also to all the waste to fall to the front for easier siphoning. I have...

I just bought a 28 gallon bow front aquarium and am in the end stages of fishless cycling. Soon I will be able to add fish! For now, I was just going to put in my 4+ year old betta in there (he's currently living in a bowl) and let him live out his life in greater comfort. After that, I plan...

Hello, everyone! My name is Lady Cougrrr (well, not really:clown:) and I'm very excited about fishkeeping. My parents were really big into the hobby, and I grew up surrounded by tanks up to 200 gallons with fish that grew to monstrous proportions! At 17, I tried my hand at keeping fish, with...