Jason P

I have some old, dried up live rock.. I guess dead rock now is an apt term. I would like to restore this rock to it's former glory.

I know I can seed the "dead" rock with new, uncured live rock. That would cause the ammonia to spike, the bacteria to start to grow, and the organisms would start to colonize the old rock and bring it back to life.

I don't have any access to real live rock right now.. I could get some.. but it would be a bit of a pain. I'm considering trying live sand to do the same... though I'm somewhat doubtful that it would work. Sure, it would grow bacteria... but that's only a fraction of what makes live rock... well live. I need the other micro organisms that come with it as well.

Would the live sand you can find in stores carry these organisms? Or would they all have died off by the time it gets into stores?

Worried that my Otto cats may not be getting enough to eat. The set up is:

55 Gallon planted tank

CO2 injection

216 watts of lighting on for 12 hours per day.

Close to a window, however not much sunlight gets through due to direction the window faces.

Every other day I break up an algae wafer and toss it in for em. Usually gone by morning. I would like to get a bit more algae for them to graze on without having to throw in the wafer to keep them alive. Not that I mind feeding the little guys, but my other fish tend to eat on them as well and I don't want them to over eat.

I have considered adding sodium bi-phosphate, however I don't want to lower the pH. If anyone knows the proper quantity to add so it won't effect pH with water that has a KH of 5, that would be super.

Any other tips would be welcome as well.

No idea what kind they are. They must have hitched a ride on a plant I recently got. Not too concerned about them really and was about to start to take care of em to avoid an infestation and an idea occurred to me.

Since we have a Molly tank I was considering putting them in there. Mollies may eat the young snails and keep them in check and if any get old and die, the shells may add some cheap calcium to my tank. (mollies LOVE hard water)

So, does my idea hold water? Are snail shells composed of calcium? Will Mollies keep the snail population in check? I know a lot about Mollies, but have yet to deal with snails.

I have a 10 gallon tank. It's cycled, filtered, and heated. The only current resident is one female beta. I could use some ideas on what to put in there with her as she looks so lonely. Has to be something that won't nip her fins, as that's why she's in there. My a couple of my tetras didn't want to play nice with her.

Any ideas are welcome. :)

I have a couple of Glowlight Tetras and one Black Neon Tetra that have an unusual condition. They have white discolorations on them and one of the tetras is starting to show a bit of fin damage. Before anyone says Ich, it is NOT ich. Ich looks like tiny grains of salt stuck to the fish. That is not what this is. They appear to be more like blisters.

My first thought was fungus, however it appears to be under the skin and they're not showing any classic fungus symptoms such as scratching on the decorations/rocks. In fact, their behavior appears normal. They are schooling, eating, and acting as they have always acted.

I also thought it was due to ammonia because they recently upgraded from a 29g to a 55g. However, the 55g was cycled and I just did a water test that showed 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, and only 5ppm Nitrate.

I'm about to set up my QT tank for them. However, I have no idea what to treat them with. In terms of fishy meds I have Antibiotics (Tetracycline), Quick Cure (Formalin/Malachite Green), Methylene Blue, and Malefix + Pimafix on hand. The tank is a 10g with an external filter.

Since I have no idea what's wrong with them, I have no idea what to treat them with. Sorry for all the details, but I like to be specific. Any ideas on what they have?

I've had an assortment of tetras in a 29g tank for about a year now in RO water. After a recent addition of 6 more, bringing my total up to about 35, I noticed they started to look stressed. I did a quick check of the water and found the pH was at 5.0. Was a bit shocked by this. After 5 days of adding in a small amount of dechlorinated tap water I got the pH to 6.5 and everyone started looking better. I keep up with my weekly water changes. Hence my concern. The pH going for a good 6.8 to 5.0 (or less) in under a week is not something I want to happen.

After this little episode, I am considering adapting them to tap water, which is buffered against pH change... however, the parameters aren't exactly ideal from what everything I've researched tells me neons prefer. The reason I'm considering this now is they are going to be moving into a new 55g tank in a few weeks, so if I am going to adapt them to tap water, now is the time to do it.

Current water conditions in their tank is:

GH 4

KH 1

pH 6.5

Water conditions out of the tap are:

GH 11

KH 9

pH 8

As you can see, it's not likely tap water will change pH values on me. My question to those with experience with neon tetras is: How will they do in the tap water in my area? Please, only answer if you have experience with neons. Thanks!