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Recently, my Neon Tetras exhibit a strange behavior when they are fed. They eat flake food and they all have good appetites. Part way through their meal, they lose the ability to swim normally. Instead of swimming with their bodies in a more or less horizontal position, they all swim with...

How long is a Marineland Penguin biowheel supposed to last? I bought the pump/filter assembly about six months ago and the biowheel has stopped turning. I have disassembled it several times, cleaning the shafts and bearings, but a few days later, it stops turning again. It has been erratic...

Ebo Jager heaters (at least the TS model) have a low water safety switch built into them that turns the heater off if the water level gets too low. They also have an accurate, easy to read dial that makes it easy to set the temperature without guessing. You pay a little more, but not that much...

I recently purchased a couple of Ottos and one of them didn't survive. I'm not surprised, because when I put them into the tank, one of them didn't seem to be as active as the other. My LFS has a replacement warranty, but you have to bring in the deceased fish and a water sample. I won't be...

I may have come across a way to provide a decent amount of light for a bargain basement price for smaller tanks such as quarantine tanks. Please don't flame me. I consider the suggestion to be kind of a temporary method since it isn't the cleanest approach, but it does get you 1.9 watts of...

Can a fish knock itself unconscious and if so, does this possibly indicate a problem (besides stupidity :wink: )? My daughter recently got a couple of Mollies to add to her community tank. It seems that one of the Mollies likes to swim up and down along the side of the tank and I think it...

Someone suggested to me that I could keep a Betta in the QT to keep it cycled. Then when I need to quarantine new fish, move the Betta into a glass container (similar to how they're kept at the LFS) to keep it from possibly catching anything from the new fish. Once quarantine is over, move the...

I have a 10 gallon tank that doesn't have a top of any kind. I am using a Penguin Bio-wheel (HOB). I am thinking of making a light hood and would like some advice please. I am considering just making a wooden box that sets on the tank. It wouldn't be as deep as the tank, which is 12" deep -...

Does the crab food Tankgirl mentioned contain Iodine? I have read that ghost shrimp need to have Iodine drops added once a week to the water for when they molt and I'm wondering if the crab food can take the place of the Iodine drops. I would imagine that all crustaceans would need the Iodine...

I forgot to mention that when I initially filled the tank, I used about 3 gal of water from an established tank and I sloshed the filter material from the established tank around in this water, so the quarantine tank was seeded a little to start. This was another reason for supplementing with...

Thanks Tankgirl. I thought I was supposed to be testing the various levels daily. Would there be any point in starting back up with supplemental ammonia to get the levels higher? I am hoping to quarantine 6 Zebra Danios and a few Ghost Shrimp when it is finished cycling and I'm...

I am running a fishless cycle on a QT and I am trying to make sense of what has happened so far. The tank is going to be used to make sure any new fish are healthy before they are introduced to the main tank. I have a 10 gal tank with no substrate running a sponge filter with a powerhead (no...

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this or not. I also use the Aquarium Pharm. kH test kit. I haven't been testing for this water parameter for very long, so I didn't have a history of readings for comparison. Anyway, I have, on at least one occasion, had it turn yellow on the...

I figured out why the pH has gone up in the tank. It has nothing to do with the conditions of the tank. I just tested my tap water and its pH is 7.6. So the partial water changes explains the change in the value over the last three weeks.

I just tested the pH, ammonia, nitrite and gH levels of two tanks. One is a 20 gallon planted tank with only four small guppies. The other is a 10 gallon with a few floating plants with about a dozen guppies or so. Here are the readings: 20 gal: 0.025 or less ammonia 0.0 nitrite 7.6 pH 3 gH...

Hi, I just tested the KH and pH of my tank and I'm trying to understand now what this means when it comes to adding CO2. I haven't started the CO2 yet. I wanted to get a baseline reading on things before I started. I'm using an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test where you add drops one at a time...

I was at Home Depot today and noticed they have some Phillips "Daylight" 19 watt fluorescent lights for $8 that screw into incandescent fixtures. They are labeled 6500K. They claim to be equivalent to a 75 watt incandescent bulb. I am thinking about using three of them in a hood over a 20...

I took the Rio powerhead back to the LFS to discuss the problem. One salesman said it should create bubbles using the venturi attachment. He tested it and couldn't get it to work. He tried a venturi from another package and it wouldn't work either. Then he asked a fellow employee about the...

I just bought a Rio 180 powerhead for an undergravel filter. I have looked through the instructions, but I am unable to find the answer to this question. It comes with several attachments/accessories. The two I am wondering about are the 'Discharge adapter with Venturi jet and flow control'...