Recent content by Cup o' Joe

Well obviously it's not going to be a super professional operation, but I was able to check for obvious signs of worms. I just made an incision in the ventral region with a sharp toothpick and pried it open from there. No worms in the abdominal cavity. Trust me, I was not happy having to do it...

Started off with some goldfish and bettas here and there, neglected them pretty badly just out of ignorance. Finally got a 30 gallon tropical tank 7 years ago, actually did some research and had some moderate success (had 4 widow tetras that almost hit the 5 year marker). Sadly, all my fish died...

Just an update. The sickest fish died after not eating for a week. The better of the two seems to have made a full recovery however. I'm a bit confused at this point, as the contradictory results really aren't helping me file away diagnostic info for future reference. I had guessed that it was...

Well, the more you know... I was always told that leaving it for a week after adding bacteria supplements and some food is enough. I've seen several sources that say for a small tank adding a lot of plants along with bacterial boosters is enough to get the cycle going in a week. The nitrate...

Thanks a bunch for the advice. I'll make adjustments as soon as possible. The temperature problem is here to stay I'm afraid though :( I live in the south with a pretty weak A/C so it's inevitably going to be high during the summer months. It should drop into the upper 70s soon though.

The tank was cycled for a week before I got any fish so no problems on that front. Thanks for pointing out the high kH. I hadn't made that connection though it seems obvious in hindsight that the pH can't be adjusted as a result (I know a decent amount of chemistry but never apply it because I'm...

Congrats! 6 years is an impressive amount of time

My bad, totally forgot to include tank parameters. Tank size: 16 gallon pH: 8.4 ammonia: unknown nitrite: 0 nitrate: 20 ppm kH: 300 gH: 75 tank temp: 80F The tank is around a month and a half old, have had the swords since day 3. They've basically been in this shape since then, no better no...

I will have to respectfully disagree with Sean on this one. General medications like ones I just listed have no known harmful side effects for tetras. Some people even use them as a preventative when adding new fish to aquariums (the manufacturer even suggests it). In this case where your fish...

First of all your tank parameters sound fine although I would caution against doing 50% water changes as that can cause a lot of stress for your fish. Generally from what I've heard if you have to make a big change back to back 25% changes are better, and you should never go above 50% in a short...

Tank size: 16 gallon pH: 8.4 ammonia: unknown nitrite: 0 nitrate: 20 ppm kH: 300 gH: 75 tank temp: 80F Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Not very energetic, tend to hide in lower half of tank/inside decorative logs. Eating only...