Byron

Byron, when junglebee in the thread Parasites Killed My Fish posts again, can you walk him/her through cycling? I'm not sure if (s)he knows what that is and you understand and can explain cycling. I would appreciate it, thank you. :)
Certainly. You were on the right track, no doubt of that; I entered the thread to save some time by getting more info from the OP. I'll keep an eye on it. B.

Byron,
I believe my tank is cycled. No ammonia, no nitrite. 10ppm nitrate. I have 7 cherry barbs currently and i am ready to stock the Neon Tetras. 10 total. Can I stock 10 at once? I updated a previous post yesterday and asked this but didnt get any responses. I believe i need to stock the glass catfish last per your previous advice.
Yes, add all neons together. I assume live plants are present. And Glass Cats last. B.

Thanks for all your help.

For the record, I asked about those people you mentioned out of curiosity, certainly not because I doubted you were being genuine. I didn't need specific names but thank you for providing them. It is nice to know some of those people are still active.

Filter media meaning the blue casing that the white insert goes into or remove carbon from the white part and put it back in the blue casing? Im not real sure what the end product should be.

Hey Byron, Just had a quick question. Should i remove the white insert that holds the carbon out of my filter? My tank is cycling, lots of plants etc. I just read something recently about not having the carbon in a planted tank but havent really seen much info on it. Just curious. I also read i should basically never change that piece.
It is best not to use carbon in planted tanks as the carbon removes essential nutrients that the plants need, such as DOC (CO2 source). Filter media in general should be rinsed as needed to keep the water flow good, and only replaced when it falls apart or no longer performs its function. Byron.

I am having a dilemma with my 29 gallon community tank. Up to this point this tank had been going very well. I aquired 6 marble hatchetfish a couple weeks ago and within a few days 4 had died. The 2 remaining ones are doing quite well and look great BUT I now within three days have lost almost all of my ten neon tetras that I have had for at least 6 months. They are just dying off several a day. I noticed one of the two remaining ones has white cottony stuff on its head like ich. That is the only one that has shown any evidence of any disease before just dying. Do you have any idea what could be happening? Any suggestions for treatment? I now only have 2 young angelfish (that look and act fine), the 2 hatchetfish, 3 three-lined corys and 1 oto cat (I intended to add more otos soon) and a mess of cherry shrimp. This tank is heavily planted and all my water perimeters are fine. I am afraid if this is neon disease I have read about, the entire tank is doomed.
Thread started.

Hi Byron, just want to say thank you so much for all the articles you have written, to find this information written in a way that the average person can understand (without a chemistry/biology background) is truly a gold mine. I have so many fish books but none of them explain in detail the finer points and balance that we need to understand in order to give our fish the habitat they deserve.
Thank you for your kind words, they are much appreciated. B.

Bryon, yesterday I added 6 marble hatchetfish to my 29 gal community tank. It is heavily planted and everything has been doing great. I gradually added tank water to the hatchetfish and checked the pH in their bag. It was 7.2 and my tank is constantly 7.6 but the GH KH is between 50-100ppm. I can not get my pH lower. I have boxwood, oak leaves and have recently added Indian almond leaves. I am concerned my water might be too hard for the hatchetfish. Should I be concerned about this?
No, I see no issue. Even at its hardest, 100ppm is only 5 dGH, and I raise my GH to 5 and 6 dGH and I have a large group of wild-caught hatchetfish, both Marble and Black-winged. GH is actually the more important. The pH may lower as the tank matures; if you want to pursue this, start a thread in Freshwater Aquarium. B.

Thanks Bryon. I didn't find your response until today. I guess I didn't know where it was posted. I contacted the seller of the driftwood and he says the wood is NOT cedar. I have put the pieces I bought in the aquarium and so far, so good. How soon did you notice you had a problem when you had driftwood kill half your fish? What wood do you recommend?
If the wood begins to get real soft and basically rot, take it out. As for anything toxic in it, this is impossible to determine until it leaches out. I've only once had this occur in 20 years, and it was with some softish wood that in hindsight might have been cedar or similar. Since then I use Malaysian Driftwood, sometimes called ironwood; is it very dark brown, hard, and heavy, it sinks immediately. B.

At this point, I completely agree with Mikaila's advice. I'll move on to respond to a couple questions that you (jeff) had along the way. But before I do that, may I offer my sincere best wishes...

I concur with Gwen on sand substrate. The scientific name of the ram genus is Mikrogeophagus, which is from the Greek for small eartheater; the name refers to this fish's substrate eating method,...

I saw that spot before. It is not ich, at least from what I can see in the photos I wouldn't think it was. No doubt related to the fin nipping. Follow the suggestions we've previously indicated, I...

New See-Through Nano Tetra Discovered (http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/06/12/new-see-through-nano-tetra-discovered/)

First off, dhaval0603, welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.:wave: Now, to your questions. First being the filter. Is this a Fluval "U" series, by any chance? If it is, you can adjust the...

Plain sand will be fine. You do not need enriched substrates like Eco-Complete, I haqve tried them and they are not (in my view) worth the cost. Sand is fine. If the filter can hang in one of...

New See-Through Nano Tetra Discovered (http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/06/12/new-see-through-nano-tetra-discovered/)

For a 10g tank, I would not use any filter other than a simple sponge. With plants this is more than adequate. On the corys and water, what exactly is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your tap...

This topic was in another thread, and from that thread you no longer have the neons, so I just wanted to "close" this topic off here so others don't think it is unresolved.:-)

Some forum members may have noticed a change to what appears in the "Status" box in the User area that shows at the left of each post made by a member. This change was made following a discussion and...

In my glass-partitioned tank, the silicone was not absolutely watertight so water got in to the "land" area with the gravel. I just lkeft that. If plants are planted in the gravel area this is...

This is something I have not tried. Generally speaking, most blackwater streams are devoid of aquatic plants. These streams occur deep in the rainforest and are shaded by overhanging forest canopy...

That would be nice. I happen to have these together in my flooded Amazon tank. At least 12 of each (you've lots of room for these and more in your 38g). Substrate fish would be nice, a group of...

The fish cannot grow externally, meaning the physical size getting larger, because of the tank size which affects not only the physical space but the water quality [more below]. The internal organs...

This reliable data may help you. I've not kept this species. Betta coccina – Scarlet Betta — Seriously Fish (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/betta-coccina/)