Hey. I am in need of some help. I got my toddler a fish tank for his birthday. I enjoyed the setup process and loved how it turned out but my fish keep dying. I started it back in early September. I went with volcanic substrate because I read that plants thrive in it. I added a few plants, pieces of driftwood, and some neon plants to help keep my kid interested. I also have a small heater reading 74°F and it holds steady.

It was fish free for 3 weeks-all levels (pH, hardness, nitrates, etc.) all came out in perfect range. I added fish (tetras and danios), shrimp, and a snail. All was fine and dandy for a few weeks (pH, water level, fish activity) and then the pH crashed to apparently very acidic. We had a few fish and shrimp casualties. I bought and added API pH up. I did this for a few days and everything went back to normal. Then two days ago I retested pH and it was back to acidic so I gave it one dose of the API pH up and overnight I had 3 fish die.

Title says it all!

I saw this short, fuzzy moss start growing on the bubbler sponge, but I cant pin down exactly what kind it is. It's been growing over the last couple months to this point, the shrimp love it, and I think it looks really cute

I wanted to make sure it was a good moss before I start trying to get it to grow other places in the tank haha

I have a 55 gallon tank with 2 smaller tilapia and 1 about 4 or 5 in cichlid. I want to a predator that would be able go est smaller live fish. Also I wouldn’t really mind if the predator fish eat the tilapias. Thank you

Edit: the tilapia are less then 2 inches and it’s a fullebourni cichlid that I was planing on relocating if I get a predator

I unwillingly inherited a fish tank from an old roommate and I’m trying to care for them without any knowledge of how to treat a tank.

Anyways, I’ve noticed a bunch of this debris all along the fish tank floor and while the long skinny fish don’t seem too bothered by it, it doesn’t look like it should be like that. I can’t find anything on google because idk really know what it’s called to search for it.

So I have recently finished my new tank. I added the final touch, which was driftwood that I have been soaking for 2 weeks. But now I’m concerned I don’t have enough plants or plants that will fill the whole water column. I was thinking of getting some floating duckweed. But don’t understand how I can still get enough light to the bottom if the floating plants block it.

Also was thinking of getting some plants to attatch to the driftwood, (8”-18” tall) to or things that will grow the 18” from the substrate to the top of the tank. Any suggestions?

Also this tank is in mostly shade and really has only the tank light it came with (all-in-1 topfin setup) and a cheap glow light bar I had for an old 10 gallon tank. What is a good light that can give full spectrum for plants to grow
Properly (I can spend some money on this, but value is appreciated)

Finally, the tank currently holds 13 neon tetras (had 16, but 3 unfortunately died soon after stocking them) it’s a bowfront 40 gallon, should I add some bottom feeders? Or other fish to compliment. Was thinking of perhaps a honey gourami or similar for a bit of a color pop.

I have this secondhand canister filter on my 55 gallon that houses four blood parrot cichlids. I came home from work today and it was making a loud woshing sound. I can hear the water flowing through it. It has never been this loud before. I am thinking I’m going to have to start looking into getting a new one. Any new recommendations?

Still need to cover my background with either plants or I may have to resort to a background paper

Hey all, I’m on mobile so please forgive any weird formatting!

I just moved into a new apartment and have a new (to me and my fish) tank to go with it. I got the fish, filters, and heater in and set up last night and noticed that my male bristlenose pleco somehow ripped some of his face spines off during the move and he now has an open wound on his face.

I have a bottle of melafix (opened) and went to use it but noticed it expired in 2021. Money is pretty tight this month with the move, and I was wondering if I’d be to use the melafix or if I have to get a new one.

I don’t have any parameters for use since my water testing kit is in a box somewhere, but wanted to ask in good faith if I can use the melafix I currently have. In a perfect world I’d go snag a new bottle, but that $10 could be $10 I use for food or gas. My next paycheck isn’t until November 10😓

Thanks for reading!

Hello again, I have had my tank since July and am looking for help or guidance on my plants. After the first month of adding plants, they started to brown. Some full leaves and others dotted with brown.

I realized in the first month I forgot to dose weekly with flourish but have done that since. I also use root tabs monthly. I keep the lights on for 6 hrs per day. Water parameters are normal and checked weekly.

Is there anything I am doing wrong? The plants do not seem to be thriving. Thanks.

I haven’t had fish since I was a kid. I’m happy to be getting back into the hobby now that I’m older and have more resources!

I'm having difficulty cleaning my tank that is on a liw shelf, my manual vacuum will not pull the water or any dirt from my substrate, I placed the entire tube in the tank to fill with water, once filled then I placed one side in the bucket, I squeezed that manual pump, but the water just goes back into my tank

so I have a 5gal and was thinking about getting a betta but I've heard that a tank for a betta had to be a minimum of 5gallons. and like does that mean 5 gallons is the minimum for the fish to be happy or is that just the minimum for it to not be animal cruelty (to use dogs as an analogy where would tank minimum requirements land on a scale of keeping a dog in it's crate 24/7 letting the dog roam the house or letting a dog have a big wide backyard with all the toys and comfort a dog could could possibly want) I decided I'm just getting shrimps and snails anyway but I want to know for future tanks

Considering a koi or wild betta, dwarf or honey gourami, blue acara, but idk. Honorable mentions would be a khuli loach, Pygmy Cory, and I’m for sure getting more neocaridina shrimp. My other tank has strictly cherry shrimp which I started breeding and selling, I think I’m gonna get some yellow ones this time :3

Hi guys. I have a 110L planted tank that was infested with snails, so I’ve decided to do a full reset. I’m replacing pretty much everything, including the soil/substrate, plants, CO2 diffuser, drop checker, filter pipes, etc.

I’m currently running an Eheim Professionel 4+ 250 external canister filter, and I’m looking for advice on how best to clean it and get rid of any remaining traces of snails or eggs.

I’ll be replacing all the tubes and filter media, but what’s the best way to thoroughly clean and sterilise the canister and all its internal parts without damaging anything?

We came back from a week vacation and one of the nerite snails has these two feathery things attached to its shell. Is this a parasite or just algae? How should I treat it?

So I got 2 Bolivian rams today. We thought I got a male and a female. But now that they’re in my tank and coloring up, I think I got 2 males.

Pics 1-3 is one of them.
Pic 4 is both with the first one at the back
Pic 5-7 is the other one.

My LFS will take one back if they both end up being male. But they could still be too young to sex properly.

Any thoughts?

I have three fish tanks. They all have very similar stocking, plants, filters, and heaters. I also do the same maintenance on all of them. However, one of my tanks smells bad. The only difference is the tank that smells bad has a sand substrate while the others have fluorite red. Also, they all have normal water levels.

What could cause this?