BrendaJ

Hi ckmullin, Thanks for the condolences!

Hi geleen, I did clean the filter before adding the new fish. I took it apart, rinsed everything in a large bowl of tank water and replaced one foam insert. I also added twice the amount of Prime that I usually do because I have heard that the Spring run-off can cause ammonia jumps. The filter is the likely culprit, likely not enough bacteria left for the additional fish. Ammonia and NitrItes build up quickly and killed the fish.These new fish were stressed and would have been weak to start......We have all been there done that I am afraid. pls consider a quarantine tank for new fish they are the likely cause of fish death in an existing tank. Hi geleen, thanks for your reply. I did test the water after the first fish died and the levels were, and still are fine. And only one of the new fish has died. The others have all been from my old stock.

Hi geleen, I did clean the filter before adding the new fish. I took it apart, rinsed everything in a large bowl of tank water and replaced one foam insert. I also added twice the amount of Prime that I usually do because I have heard that the Spring run-off can cause ammonia jumps.

Last week I bought 6 silver hatchetfish to add to my community tank. Since then, the following casualties have been: - 1 of the aforementioned silver hatchetfish (died the day after I introduced it into my tank) - 5 lemon tetras - 2 cardinal tetras - 3 ember tetras I have extremely infrequent deaths in my tank, so this is very troubling. The other inhabitants of my tank are so far unaffected: - bolivian rams - marble hatchetfish, and no other silver hatchetfish have died - african dwarf frog - shrimp I've noticed that the fish, before dying, have had some pale patches. Sometimes they swim apart from the others. I've tested my water parameters and all is good. I usually do a 25% water change each week, but the day before I added my new hatchetfish, it had been three weeks (my bad!) since my last WC. I did a WC then, bought and added the new fish, and am now back on track and have done another WC just yesterday. My questions: - Did my sketchy water changing bring this on? - Is this the dreaded neon tetra disease? - Did these new hatchetfish bring something nasty with them? - How should I proceed? Thank you so much!

Thanks cullymoto, your post makes a lot of sense to me. It's true, I wasn't doing enough water changes when the frogbit all died off. This has since changed. It looks like I will need to start fertilizing! Thanks again!

Hi, I am a fairly novice aquarist and am having trouble keeping the floating plants in my 48 gallon aquarium alive. I have tried frogbit & duckweed. The duckweed never really took hold, but the frogbit seemed to flourish for a few months and then gradually disappeared. I was under the impression that these two types would be easy to grow, so I am baffled as to why they haven't survived. My other aquarium plants are doing well: bacopa, spiral val, sword plant, java fern & cryptocorne. My substrate is laterite. My aquarium is situated near a bright window, and the light is on for 12 hours a day. I'm not sure if it's a fertilizing issue (I don't fertilize), a lighting issue (I have the standard bulb that came with my tank), or if my lemons or cardinals are eating them. I have other fish, but these are the only ones who really ever come up to the surface. I would appreciate your advice on how to proceed, and for any recommendations on alternate floating plants that you feel might be successful in my tank. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I'm brand new to the hobby and am in the process of setting up my first tank. For the past 30 odd years, I have had just about all of the warm-blooded pets one can have, and am excited to try something so foreign to me. Growing up, we had fish tanks, but I was never involved in the process, so although I'm a bit intimidated right now, I am looking forward to diving in! I am beginning to understand how obsessed one can get with this hobby. In the last month I've been to several different aquarium stores multiple times checking out fish, plants, etc., and have read all sorts of articles on this forum, and in many other places on the internet. I think about it during the day, when I drift off to sleep and when I wake up in the morning! So far I have purchased some very nice rocks, laid out my substrate, and am soaking my driftwood. Soon I'll be ready to set up the hardscape and then add some plants. And finally the fish! Can't wait! BrendaJ