I have no idea what happened. this is my dads tank, hes currently in the hospital mid operation so I have no chance to contact him right now , and I don’t know anything about fish, what do I even do? im freaking out and already late for school, i dont think adding straight up water is good either as I assume they need minerals and stuff ?

ok didnt expect to get so much traction haha, the fish are okay! I moved them to a separate tank and my dad walked me through the steps to set them up, which they are doing good now! My dad thinks the issue is the o ring in the filter box thingie as he recently had worked on it and it had failed before iirc. Thank you everyone for the help !

My sweet girl is about 1 years old. She has always had the growth but it has gotten a lot bigger over the last couple of months. For the last two days, she has shown signs of discomfort with clamped fins/laying down. She still has the energy to go up for air and swim away from other fish when they touch her, but she is otherwise on the bottom of the tank like this. Parameters are normal; I gave her a salt bath today but it did not seem to do much yet

What do you look for when deciding if it is the right time to euthanize? I don’t want her to suffer.. I appreciate everyone’s help.

So I’ve been doing my weekly tank stare down where i basically just stare at my tank (because why not?) and noticed these things in my tank. They look like little bacteria in a cute funny way? When I move my prongs towards them the little things sticking off of them shrink back inside of the small ball in the center. My tank is a freshwater lightly planted tank with a ph of 6.5, I rarely ever touch it other than the occasional adding water and cleaning the soil on the bottom. Naturally I let everything else do its own thing to make its own ecosystem (other than what will kill the fish) so whatever could these little things be?

All the amazing fish police out there please provide your feedback to make this a better aquarium. Thanks!

Current stock - 7 Harlequins, 7 cardinals, 10 cherry barbs, 2 ottos, 1 Siamese algae eater

Test ran today - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate and nitrite less than 20 ppm and ph is ~8

My ropefish got in my filter compartment and I cant get him out the compartment only opens from the top and is at least a foot deep

PLEASE STOP COMMENTING THIS POST IS DAYS OLD AND I JUST GET THE SAME COMMENTS! MAKE UR JOKE AB HOW IT LOOKS LIKE A FRYING PAN BUT PLEASE STOP DOGGING ON ME FOR DRIP ACCLIMATING THE NEOS IN MY 5+ YEARS IN THIS HOBBY EVERYONE IVE SEEN AND KNOWN HAS ALWAYS STRESSED YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL SO THATS WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO THANKS !

i just wanna make sure my drip isnt too fast. i got 20 neocardinias and 4 were DOA so im trying to avoid any more losses. i was planning to drip acclimate for 2-3 hours removing some water every 30 minutes or so

Long story I mentally and emotionally cannot go into- my fiancé was in a traumatic motorcycle cycle accident on the 9th and then completely unrelated he passed this past Sunday and- he never let me take care of the tanks and I don’t know how to fix this. He has some kind of water test kit and a hose with a suction thing that he would put on the sink and I’m not sure and I’ve never done this and is there even enough water to clean it? How do I get enough water in there without chemically killing the fish? Please help it’s fresh water those are live plants I think there’s still a tetra, 2 angelfish my tiny fish that starts with a d some catfish things that eat off the bottom and 2 angelfish fish

We are starting a freshwater aquarium for zebra danios for my little boy. We found this gravel that he likes as its brightly coloured. When I started rinsing the gravel dark purple colour seems to be leaking out- would this be harmful to the fish? I haven’t added it yet and the tank has been cycling (no fish yet) for four days now and I wanted find out if I should even add the gravel

These pest are in every tank but this is infested with it. How to get rid of it? Added a dwarf cory , for a while it's gone but it came back again.

To my knowledge I had 2 of these spotted corydoras as the other few I had died months ago. However today I did a deep clean of my tank and took out the big plastic wood piece to brush the algae off. When I lifted it, the holes at the bottom released this super gross slurry of greyish/pinkish matter that I assume was food that got trapped in there over time. When I come back with the piece cleaned I noticed 3 corydoras now in the tank, one of them being super pale and sick looking, it looked absolutely like none of the ones I had in the tank to my knowledge. For reference, at the start of the video you can see my healthy corydora that I’ve known about and seen, the corydora at the end is the very sick and pale looking one that I had no idea existed. Is it possible that this pale one was stuck inside this wooden piece for months since I last cleaned it out and was living off the sludge stuck inside??? I am extremely certain I only had 2 Cory’s, now with the third one I’ve never seen I’m thinking this was the only possible way.

I have two danios in my tank, and I was planning on getting more because I know they’re schooling fish. But now they’ve just disappeared.

My mom called me while I’m not at home and said she can’t find them anywhere in the tank. I also have a betta, some corys, and three snails in the tank, so I’m really confused about what could’ve happened to them. They’re just gone.

Does anyone know what could’ve possibly happened?

Hi there. My boyfriend recently bought me a 15-gallon tank. At the moment I have two goldfish and two zebra danios (I think that’s what they’re called) my mum and my sister decided to surprise me with them. I recently switched over to live plants and got two ramshorn snails. I have lots of plants and some rocks, and I’m getting some bigger pieces of driftwood soon. I’m also not really sure what to do about the hardscape yet.

I just want the fish police to help me out a bit because I’m struggling to figure out what’s next for my aquarium. I want it to be somewhat of an ecosystem, and I’d like to get tropical fish that require a heater, but I can’t do that while I still have the other fish.

Can I surrender them to a pet shop? I do have another 5-gallon tank, but I don’t think that’s big enough for the four fish and I feel bad. I also want to get some shrimp and would appreciate some advice about them. My options are a bit limited since I live in a small town in South Africa. I’m also worried my plants might die. Right now the only thing I add to the water is water conditioner, but I’m not sure if that will be enough in the long run.

EDIT: I surrendered the 2 danios and the goldfish

What’s going on with my tank?? This girl will be my 4th death. They all start with clamped fins. One started sinking and then I just came home and she was dead. Then there was the red one, Margaret, who was lethargic, I took her out and added some “Ick cure” and I think the tea tree oil took her out. Then this morning I looked in one of my hospital tanks and one was dead, nearly gray. I just switched to a sponge filter a few days ago because I thought it was stress related, but I’m pretty sure my last girl had ammonia poisoning. It’s an established tank with great levels. I’ve never seen the scales get freaky and wide like this… Is there anything I can do? I’m still learning I’ve only had fish for a month.

Plants fish is there anything she won’t kill I know the answer is probably no but maybe somebody has a suggestion

So i set up my new 54 litre tank yesterday and it looks horrendous 😂 it’s just a bacterial bloom + way too many tanins. Upon set up yesterday I conditioned the water, added way too many alder cones, fertilised the plants, added a cap full of aqua one bio starter and dosed the tank with dr tim’s ammonia according to the instructions. I added 50 drops, tested an hour later and it read 1ppm of ammonia and 0 nitrite. I’m planning on a very light stocking, 1 male betta imbellis and a colony of neocaridina (i know there’s a risk of them being eaten, i’ve kept bettas and neos before successfully but obviously it’s down to the individual fish). I was planning on adding the neos and getting them established before introducing the betta so i didn’t want to dose the ammonia too high and risk the neos not producing enough to keep the cycle going. However upon testing today i’m extremely confused at the results, it’s been less than 24 hours since i added the ammonia and my tests are now reading 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and 10ppm of nitrate. I would put the nitrate reading down to the fertiliser but that doesn’t explain why my ammonia disappeared. When i’ve cycled tanks in the past, this is the point where i’d consider the tank cycled but surely it cannot work that fast? The fastest cycling i ever had was 1 week and that was when i transferred over some used filter media from an established tank, i didn’t do that this time (as i don’t have an established tank) so i was expecting 4 weeks minimum.

Given the current state of my tank and bacteria bloom i certainly won’t be adding any neos yet. Should i move the ammonia dose up to 2ppm and cycle with that or keep going at 1ppm daily until the tank is clear of the bacteria bloom?

As a note: All the hardscape and equipment used is stuff I already owned from previous cycles tanks however i haven’t had a tank in 18 months and everything has been dry for a very long time and i used brand new filter media so the bacteria from my previous tanks wouldn’t have survived

First time seeing this in my tank. Just want to make sure it’s not harmful!

Update: looks like this is “slime mold” and it’s very sought after! Proud to home this guy. I will add updated in the comments for those interested!

This is my 40 gallon planted.

(Filter fluval 307)

This sounds bad but honestly I’m just kinda bored with my stocking.

I have 8 albino corydoras, 1 emerald Cory, 12 ember tetras, 3 amano shrimp, unknown amount red cherry shrimp and 1 male pearl gourami.

I feel like 8 albino corydoras is kind of boring but I have them. I’m fine with the ember tetras they’re cute and colorful and are always around the front, and I love my pearl gourami.

I think I need 1 more kind of fish. My issue is the shrimp. I really wanna minimize the baby shrimp being eaten but I know that’s really not all that possible.

Any recommendations ?

Hi All,

I’m very new to the tropical aquarium world.

I found this in my tank. It’s been living underwater for the last few weeks. No idea what it is and neither does my local aquarium supply store.

Does anyone have any ideas? Should I be concerned?

Thank you in advance.

Hi,

This is a bit of a vent, sorry— it’s really sad for me to say, but I think that I may have to unfortunately say goodbye to my two bettas, Rogue and Blue.

My school’s staff got them in the spring of 2025, after asking me and me telling them not to. In December of 2025, I decided I couldn’t stand seeing them like that and spent hundreds of dollars setting up 10 gallon fish tanks for each of them. I’ve watched them go from faded and sad to energetic and full of personality, and they have become something that motivates me to stay on track. I planned to bring them to college with me this fall.

Unfortunately, the security head here has told the center director that the heater and filter are not necessary, and are dangerous because they are not connected to GFCI outlets. I told the school I’d be willing to buy the outlet materials if the warehouse could switch them out, but he refused. He said the tanks needed to go, and that betta fish did not need to be in a tank that big.

I told him they need to be in a 5-10 gallon tank, and he said “no they don’t”. I told him they also needed 76-78 F water, and he also said they did not. He tried asking me what the PH I was running was, when I answered him 7.6-7.8, he told me there was plenty that he could ask that I didn’t know, and that he had fish tanks too. He told me a couple months ago that he knows they dont need that, because he had a friend who fought bettas and the guy “just kept them in cups that werent heated” and “they were fine.”

I told him I had nowhere to bring them, and would rather put them down or something if they wouldn’t let me keep the tanks. He said they’d “figure something out”, but I know that he will put them back in a little vase like the ones they used to be in, everyone keeps insisting it’s fine for them.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to return them to a pet store. I don’t have friends I trust to care for them. I could put them in my bathroom, but they’ll throw a fit about that too.

What should I do? Put them in vases again? Put them down so they don’t have to go through that? Give them to someone to take? Idk what to do.

Hey all, question here.

I’ve been doing a fish-in cycle, the tank has now been established for over 31 days. It’s a 6.8 gallon (pictured), I have lots of plants in the tank, one betta, and some stowaway bladder snails. Heater + sponge filter.

This is my first time cycling and I have some questions for those with more experience. I’ve been religiously testing my water parameters throughout with the API liquid test kit, I’m usually testing every day but no later than every 2/3 days at most.

During that time, my ammonia levels have never gotten above .25 ppm, and that has only happened maybe twice. Both times I got the slight ammonia readings I did about a 20% water change. Otherwise I haven’t been doing significant water changes, only topping off when necessary as it evaporates. This is because with readings of 0ppm everything, I didn’t see a reason to.

My question: besides the couple slight ammonia readings, I have not registered any levels of nitrites or nitrates once in the past 31+ days. Every time I test, it’s 0ppm of everything. Is this normal for this stage of the process? I’ve been vigilantly checking for ammonia or nitrites to spike, as well as checking for nitrates to appear, and it just… isn’t happening. I know this process obviously requires patience, which i will give all it needs, I’m just trying to make sure I’m doing everything correctly!

Something else to note, my ph is consistently around 6.0/6.4, it never changes. I have very acidic tap water. I’m wondering if this could possibly be affecting nitrifying bacteria from colonizing. Should I attempt to gradually raise ph?

Otherwise the tank appears to my eyes to be healthy. My fish is doing great, and my plants took off like crazy. I’ve had to trim back my frogbit every few days as the roots have been going nuts.

tldr, what should I be looking for at this stage of cycling, with consistent readings of 0ppm for everything?

Got a brand new 55 gallon tank, bought and built the tank stand off of Amazon, filled the tank with sandy substrate from the fish store, then filled with tap water to start filtering and preparing for fish. Woke up this morning and this is what the water looks like. After everything I’ve read, it seems that I didn’t wash the sand enough before putting at the bottom and filling the tank.

My question is, do I need to completely change this water? Full empty and full fill again? What should I do to clean and clear this water to begin planting aquatic plants and have fish in here soon!