Zac

So I’ve had these 5 lemon tetras for about a month now and I see this ongoing issue. There is 1 that will terrorize the other 4 for about a day or so, and then stop for about a week or so. They’re in a 29 gallon with 4 Pygmy corys, 8 ember tetras, 7 blue king tetras, 2 cockatoo cichlids, and 1 clown pleco. Tanks not overstocked but it is at about max. I’m guessing it’s possibly mating behavior because the fish doesn’t nip, but rather rubs itself up against the others (it is a male). Any other thoughts on this behavior and if I should do something about it even though it doesn’t happen that much?

Some water conditioners detoxify ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. You can add some to an aquarium if your toxin levels are spiking

Question regarding water conditioner I was thinking about water conditioner and whatnot and thought of an interesting question. If you go to treat an aquarium with water conditioner, how long does the conditioner take to dissipate? Let’s say you overdose your aquarium, will the conditioner starve all of your bacteria over a couple days or will the conditioner dissipate after a short while?

That’s exactly what I was thinking. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t dealing with any disease. I’d much rather deal with a spike than disease. I’ll probably add some fritzyme to my tank because I have some left over from my initial setup and see where what happens from there. Thanks!

It’s been up for about a month so it’s nearing the very end of its cycling and it’s been very stable up until I swapped my filter. I used to have a marine penguin filter but it had backflow issues so I switched to a tidal 35. The restart in filtration is what caused my spike and my guess is that the fish could just be stressed because of it. I quarantine each batch of fish I get for 1 week and I have had no fish loss so far. The size is 29 gallons. I have one more group of 6 blue tetras waiting in the quarantine before I complete my tank stocking. I don’t want to add them yet until I know everything is good. None of my other fish are experiencing issues and I know apistos tend to be more sensitive to spikes and whatnot

Ammonia is almost 0 and nitrite is .25 and going down. I just had a nitrite spike so it’s much better than where it was. Nitrate is 5-10ppm. I use prime conditioner when I change water and change it whenever the nitrates go above 20 or if something else spikes

Got a cockatoo cichlid with itchy gills for the past 2-3 days. Ammonia is at 0 and nitrites are at .25 (recovering from a spike). He has been acting a bit more aggressive towards my other cockatoo. He is still very active and always wants to eat. I have 5 lemon tetras, 8 ember tetras, 4 Pygmy corys, and a clown pleco and none of them are experiencing any issues. Is it possible this is due to the nitrite spike? I posted a picture and perfectly healthy from what I can see and I’d hate to run unnecessary meds. What should I do

I changed my filter pad out a couple days ago and my tank has been spiking in nitrite levels. Originally I thought I was over feeding so I cut back on the food and did a thorough gravel vac and water change. My levels are still spiking. Not as high as initially, but still getting up in between the .25 and .5 range. I’ve been doing daily 20%-50% changes to keep it down. Was this due to the fact I swapped the filter pad? And will this go away soon assuming it was the filter pad?

I have some picky fish. Some lemon tetras, cockatoo cichlids, and ember tetras. 2/3 won’t eat anything except for frozen brine shrimp/bloodworms. The embers eat crushed pellets once in a while. The fish have been on a frozen food only diet for a week or 2 now and they seem to be doing great. But I read that you can’t feed only frozen food to fish because of the nutritional value. However, I also read that it’s completely fine. Thoughts?

I have a 30 gallon that’s close to a month old and for most of its time it’s had white growths on the silicone but nowhere else in the tank. I know it’s not calcium. My guess is it’s either bacteria colonies of fungus. Doesn’t seem to be harmful. I have a 10 gallon and this doesn’t happen and I find it odd that it happens in one but not the other. Does anybody know what it is? I’ve attached a photo.

Hello, I’m looking to set up a 150 gallon tank with a pair of Oscar’s and a pleco. But I don’t want a common pleco because my tank would be too small. Debating between the blue phantom or gold nugget. Does anyone know any other species of pleco that grows somewhere between 7-10 inches besides those two? Thanks!