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Some of my rainbows are displaying some ragged tail fins - I think they've been nibbling on each other a bit and I wanted to add Melafix and Pimafix to the tank to help them heal. I know that certain meds aren't good for certain fish (i.e. cories) and I want to make sure that all my other fish...

Three of my Serpae Tetras (the first batch of fish to be added to my tank 1 1/2 years ago) have developed fin rot. As soon as we noticed, we put them in a 5g quarantine tank. We first did a full dose of Maracyn. There was a bit of improvement, but not much. So, once that was done, we did TWO...

I have a 5 gallon Hex that I was thinking of bringing in to my work to put on my desk (so I can enjoy my fish at work, too!!)... I need something that wouldn't require care over weekends and was thinking of bringing in some of my baby/young guppies. If they start multiplying, I can bring some...

When looking at lighting for my upgraded puffer tank, I noticed that they sell a lot of lamps as either FW or SW. Which do you choose for brackish?

I am upgrading my figure 8 puffer from a 10 gallon to a 20 gallon tank. In his 10 gallon with regular factory light/hood, there is a terrible brown algae problem. It can easily be wiped off the glass and rocks during weekly water changes, but it's pretty unsightly by the time that comes around...

A coworker of mine had to move out of state. His kids had a tank of guppies at home, but they couldn't make the trip, so he gave 11 of them to another coworker (who has never had fish before). The 11 guppies arrived at work in a vase (no heater, filter, gravel, etc; just water) the other day...

Several months ago, I went to a wedding where I won the centerpiece... a bowl with a betta in it. I wasn't comfortable putting him in my larger tank, so I bought him a 5 gallon hex. He never really looked that well from the very beginning, but he did last about 4-5 months and just mysteriously...

Ok, I need some serious help with my plants. It’s now at the point where we are going to rip them all out and buying plastic ones unless I can figure out what is going wrong. The tank is a 46 gallon which has been set up for almost exactly one year (see fish list in signature). It is not in...

I just bought three Boesemani rainbow fish two days ago. We've tried sexing them to no avail. Two are smaller than the third, but other than that, the coloring is exactly the same. They are all young, around 1 1/2 inches long. As soon as they were in the tank, they seemed to get along fine...

Last night, I did a complete cleaning of my filter (Marineland Emperor 400) and besides finding lots of baby snails (which I sort of expected), I also found a couple of small dark colored worms. They were tiny and looked flat and sort of pointed at each end (though hard to tell b/c they were so...

I'm new to this and keep trying to fiddle to get things right with the plants... Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 5 (should this be higher?) pH: 7.0 KH: 3.4 GH: 4.5 CO2: 10 Fe: 0 (dosed after test) PO4: off charts (did 30% water change after test; most likely from water change not being...

How can you tell the difference? Some of my tetras are showing bits missing out of their tails (one on his dorsal fin). Other than that, they seem fine... How can I tell if it's just nipping that caused it or if I need to treat for tail rot? Also, do you treat for ragged tails if it's from...

I've had cories and serpae tetras now for a couple months and just have added some more fish today. The thing that is really bothering me is that whenever we walk near the tank, ALL the fish all swim to a back corner to hide. I hate to stress them out, but I'm not sure why they are so skittish...

I'm just starting to get the hang of my planted tank. I started out a newbie of fish and did my research, but never realized what it takes to have plants! I didn't research nearly as much as I should have! Well, just upgraded my 46 gallon to 110 watts (from 30), started using fertilizers...

I have six serpae tetras (among other fish) and one of them has developed black patches on his body. Basically, it looks like he's dirty. I've been trying to research to see if it's a disease and can't find anything. The only thing I found is "black spot", but it said "small black specs" and...

My male gourami developed a couple of white fuzzy patches. I diagnosed it as body fungus and my lfs sent me home with Maracyn-Two. Two tabs the first day (in the 10g QT), one each additional for 5 days. On day two, I noticed that two of my tetras had the same fuzzy patches. Added them to the...

I know that I've written about this before, but I just lost another cory (3 total now) and it's just so upsetting! It's always the day after a water change. I did a 20-25% water change last night and today, one of the cories is trying to swim but only doing spirals and crashing to the gravel. I...

I've read all the stickies, but things with plants can get pretty confusing for a newbie... :) I have 6 plants that were bought for their looks not realizing different plants need different light, etc. Now, that I've actually realized what it takes to have a planted tank, I'm trying to correct...

So, our male gourami seems to have the same affliction as our female (just much less, only one small spot of body fungus)... our female died yesterday. I ran out and bought all the makings of a hospital tank right after she died and it's been running for 24 hours. I used some gravel from the...

I got a pair of gouramis one week ago today. From the start, you could tell they were stressed out in the bag and then when I let them go, the female hid behind the filter most of the time. She was really shy, mostly only came out to eat, but didn't swim around much. This morning when I woke up...

About a month and a half ago, I decided to set up a tank (having never done one before). I got a great deal on a 46 gallon bow front and set it all up. Cycled with 3 serpae tetras and then have been slowly adding new fish now that the cycle is over. Well, I did TONS of research on the fish...

Now that the cycling is finished, I've started to stock my tank... so far I have 6 serpae tetras (middle of tank fish) and one cory cat (bottom)... I'd like the next round to be top of tank fish. Any ideas on some cool pretty fish that a beginner can handle? My pH rounds around 7.2, temp...

I had just finished cycling my tank with three serpae tetras, so we added a couple more serpaes and three really small Julii cory cats. They did extremely well for two days and I monitored the water closely. Yesterday, I went home from work at lunch to find all the fish happily swimming around...