Nina

I have my first mild/moderate black beard algae outbreak. I've cut off a lot of infected leaves and removed and cleaned the rocks, but I can't get everything and want to keep defeating it (slowly over months is fine). I've heard H2O2 works well, but I have snails. What is the correct dose of H202 and in it safe for snails?

I'm not sure what is wrong, but I've never been able to keep pet store guppies alive. I've had tons of success with tetras and rasboras living years and years, but the two times I bought guppies they were dead within hours or days. Guppies can be very weak. I've found other types of fish, like tetras and rasboras, very hardy. I also have very soft water, and I think that didn't help. Anyway, you may just be choosing the wrong type of fish. If they were raised in water that is different from yours at all, they may not make it. Try a hardier type of fish!

I have lot of tetras--mostly neon and black neons. And I have a lot of rasboras, which seem to tolerate similar parameters. I've found that my tetras can live in very low or very high GH. Mine are pretty hardy.

I have four albino cores in a planted, established 20 gallon with some tetras and rasboras. I've had them about 1.5 years. They use to lay a TON on eggs -- if I fed them a lot I'd see eggs on the glass at least once a week, sometimes several times a week. Over the past 3-4 months they've stopped and I haven't seen ANY eggs. What could be going on? The only thing I can think of that has changed is the season -- they stopped in late fall. I have a light, but they do get some ambient light from a window. Could there be something I'm missing? My parameters have been pretty stable but I haven't been monitoring PH a ton in that tank because it has crushed coral and usually seems to be in the 7-8 range. What makes corys unhappy?

I love the co-op green idea! I would definitely buy one of those.

Also, to clarify, these devices work well, it's only the user-error part of the design that doesn't seem optimized. If I still had both, I would probably put some bright nail polish on the air pump to distinguish it (obviously not on the heater, since that's going in the water). I often have a neighbor or family member take care of my tanks when traveling and I'm way too scared of them getting these devices mixed up to use both.

Cool experiment! Thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love most aquarium co-op products. However, I recently bought the heater and air pump and they look SO similar. I fried my air pump the first day by sticking it in the tank thinking it was the heater. I know ... stupid mistake ... but in my opinion the similar shape/size/color of the two made this user error WAY too easy to make. (I know the air pump has settings on the front, but I actually assumed those were for adjusting the temperature when I glanced at it.) This mistake is especially likely during low light / power outage scenarios which I experienced last week. I think the co-op could fix the problem by changing the color of the airpump or adding optional plastic "wings" that could be attached to give the pump that curved shape like the Tetra pumps. It might also help to make a heater in the traditional shape. I love how much work aquarium co-op puts into design, but design also needs to minimize the chance of user error. Since they've deviated from the traditional shape of both devices, while making both products super-similar, I think they have created a situation where user error is more likely than it needs to be. I decided to stick with Tetra for my air pumps and other brands for my heaters. I still love the small USB pump and the co-op is still my go-to retailer for everything else fish related. I wish I could love the heater and air pump as much as the other products.

I don't have an easy answer, but I get detritus worms in my 10 gallon planted tank. It could be that in the small tank more food, etc. is getting into the bottom. I have detritus worms in the tank I feed fry food in because it's much harder to get it out versus pellets and large flakes. I hope you figure it out!

Hmm, maybe fin rot? I have a very similar issue in one of my albino Cory's -- three are perfectly healthy, but one has almost no top in and is missing part of his back fin. It' been that way for months, so I don't think it's anything aggressive, but I'm thinking about putting him a hospital tank. He seems so happy with his buddies that I hate to, but I'm also worried he could spread it. I may use API fin and body cure. Not sure yet.

Nerites are amazing! I first got one for my 10 gallon and it did so much good work getting rid of green spot algae that I ordered 4 more for my new 20 gallon with tons of different types of algae. It took a few weeks, but they got the algae under control. It saves me time and it helps me balance my tank -- prior to the nerite I never really got it to balance. I've never had one escape, but they do sit above the water line sometimes. I have a rimmed tank and they've never gone over it, even when the lid is off. They do leave little white eggs on the glass and hardscape. It's easy to scrape them off the glass, but harder on the wood (then again, I haven't really tried but may next time I clean)

OMG -- beautiful. Also, I LOVE Irene's videos for beginners. My niece just got a betta and I'm sending her some of Irene's content to watch. It seems really kid friendly (and helpful to adults too).

Good luck! I'm in a similar boat -- just got my niece a betta tank. She's 10 years old and lives in a different city, so I can't be there day-to-day to monitor things but I've sent her test strips, a heater (currently the betta is a room temp), and other supplies. I've talked to her parents about the nitrogen cycle but they (and she) might not understand it. I think I'll send her a link so some of Irene's videos -- she's has a really good way of explaining things to beginners and I think her videos are awesome for kids (and adults).

Do you know what the water parameters of the store were compared to your tank? I've sometimes found they a wildly different and it makes the transition extra difficult unless I adjust them. Hopefully the bullying was the issue and he'll recover soon. Is he swimming right or is he missing food because of his vertical position? I've created hospital tanks out of an empty plastic container if you want to move him and have an extra air stone / air pump. I just change the water really frequently.

Thanks @Colu