Recent content by Mauricia

I've had similar problems, although my pH is higher than yours, about 8.5. And the city website says the pH is 9.2 on average! ugh. My water is very hard too. My fish always just die in the same way, and their symptoms don't match any symptoms I've ever been able to figure out. No medications...

You could see if you can convince someone to take him for a month to get him stronger for the journey since it would probably be hard for him to ship him now. I've never shipped a fish so I dont have much advice there, but I have received a lot and the ones in bigger bags always see to be...

Why do you want to breed, because your fish is building a bubble nest and think they want to breed? Bettas just build nests and want to breed but they're just fish so it's not like he's sad if he can't make babies. Breeding bettas is quite stressful on both the male and the female, I don't think...

Well if you had somewhere to put the remaining guppies, you could feed the filter with ammonia until you get the girls, then you can keep the bacteria alive. I wouldn't put guppies with the female bettas though.

Yeah feeder blocks are more likely to kill them than just not feeding them. I haven't used the automatic feeders, but I've heard there is some risk of spilling and over feeding. If you do use an automatic feeder try to get one that would only feed the bettas once of twice during the vacation...

All my tanks have a film it's nothing to worry about as long as you're sure it's not from soap or some other chemical. If you want to eliminate it then just make sure the filter output is disturbing the water surface, then it won't be noticeable. If you put filter media in from your mature tank...

Well that photograph is magnified a lot so it sounds like your worms are planaria. Otos are very sensitive to ammonia, so even a small spike could kill them. The new guppy is already stressed from the move so ammonia is likely to kill them too. I think your first step is to do water changes...

I would only use Epsom salt on a sick fish with bloating, not on a healthy fish. Fish aren't meant to live their lives in Epsom salt. If it really seems like constipation and she won't eat a pea you could try some daphnia, which works as a laxative and is more appetizing than peas. I don't...

I always wonder the same thing, Assaye. I know Attison's Betta Spa claims to bind to toxic ammonia making it safe, so I wonder if those breeders use a similar water conditioner. Also, their water is probably a lot softer than water in the United States, so that would help make the ammonia less...

Or you can always soak a pellet and see how much they expand. I use a non betta specific pellet, I forget which brand, but the ingredients are good. It doesn't get any bigger when soaked, and none of my bettas have had problems with it. I don't like the Hikari anymore, I've had a lot of bettas...

If you divide some sections in the pond I would be careful to make it so the bettas can't jump the dividers. I wonder if there would be some way to make 1/2-1 gallon boxes for the males out of the craft mesh that people use for dividers, it seems like it would be more secure than rock dividers...

The glofish is weird for a glofish but there are definitely zebra danios that have fins like that so it seems within their genetic capabilities.

I'm glad to hear other people get as sad as me though, everyone always tells me I'm being ridiculous for crying and getting all upset and having funerals when my poor fishies die. :( I don't feel so bad when they're clearly very old though, it's mostly bad when they get really sick and die...

I agree, I think from the position of the bulge it might be constipation. I would put him in a breeding net right away if he's having trouble swimming, that way it won't be hard for him to get air. If you don't have on, you can come up with some creative way to help him sit up near the...

You can't cycle it if there's no filter in it, but I really would recommend putting a sponge filter in it to make your life easier. Without a filter, probably every 4 days, depending on the fish. You would probably want to get a test kit and test daily for a few weeks to get an idea of how much...