if your tank is heavily planted, i wouldn't recommend you use too much salt--your plants won't like it. when you bring in your fish, how do you acclimate them? as birdwidow suggests, you should float them in a container or open the bag while gradually replacing the water. when you buy your fish, bring the home as quickly as possible. CO2 and and fish waste build up inside the bag and drop the pH. when you open the bag, the rapid influx of oxygen will precipitate the pH and convert NH4 to NH3, resulting in gill burn (gill burn can take a few weeks to kill a fish, and you'll see sluggish behavior, lack of feeding etc.). on the subject of water quality...since your tank is cycled, you may want to do a large water change, including extensive gravel-vac'ing before you introduce your next fish--especially if you have a pad of waste and debris at the bottom of your tank harboring anaerobic bacteria. lastly, the water where i live is terribly shoddy so i added "chemi-pure elite" to my overflow filter and noticed a decrease in mysterious fish deaths. it takes care of some of the heavy metals you can't normally remove. it's not cheap ($25-ish), but neither is buying new fish! oh, and as to your driftwood question, the tannins in it tend to lower the pH. indian almond leaf has the same effect, and you may have come across it in relation to your bettas. good luck! -ming p.s. have you considered just keeping them outdoors in a pond or large trough? when i lived in oregon, i kept my fancies outside all year long and they loved it. p.s.s. sometimes certain fish aren't meant for us. since i moved to AZ, i can't keep a cory cat alive for more than a couple months to save my life!

Sorry to all for not responding quickly, not getting email any more. Guppies (shish - I don't think so Skygee, lol) (just curious though, what type of guppies, beautiful blue males???) Just now getting rid (naturally dying from old age) of mine, the babies my blue mom was supposed to have, (turned out red)... At any rate, gravel size is fine and I realized the problem. I have just a small layer of fine sand (ok for fresh water) and really small rounded gravel (I had read of this prior) That said their barbels are just fine. I seperated most of them to seperate 10 gallon, low light, fake plants for security.. with filter (ammonia chips) and mardel one two... and change part water daily (I find with nyc water - even prefiltered, just needs daily if can't cycle which since this is a hospital tank, isn't) Little bit of salt, and that tea tree stuff (sorry lights out and forgot spelling)... Much improvement, some fins growing back in. To my horror though a few left in original tank, had slight blood behind eye - I knew what that meant. So, even though I thought I was maintaning the tank I (only one month for fluvial) changed the outside fluvial (sp)... uck and more uck... I had changed the other two filters one each week... (alternate to keep bacteria ok) (I use a bio bug product that is great, in other tanks water crystal clear) I agree with less gravel, as is what is done in other tanks (got idea at Dr. Foster site I think) But maybe too much? about 1/3 inch maybe more in spots.... driftwood with Java ferns - but they aren't doing so well, so think dead plant matter may have clogged fluvial (wasn't that bad but wasn't that clean, more in intake outtake tubes, some sort of filmy stuff floated back into tank, so did a gravel cleaning and diaton cleaning to clean muck that was released into water. (a quick aside on java fern, seems like some sort of rusty stuff, now going on my driftwood... I took one out and it rubs right off, like spores in the water almost (not the ferns spores) just very fine stuff... I was reading on fungal rusts (but for land plants) Is this something similar.. can that effect the water quality?) I have set up a third tank (still cycling) huge round plastic form about 2 1/2 feet wide, will have Anubias, and driftwood - will go slower this time... to put 3 cave fish into. That said, I hate to say, seems like bacterial due to water quality. (Even thought the water is clear, think the gravel wasn't) I think since I put food in under water to sink some for cories, (the cave fish acted like piranahs during feeding - hogging in one mouth bite the cory pellot food). so even though I did water (10 - 20% week) changes et al each week, must not have been good enough. I feel horrible as I really like these guys and feel I wasn't responsible... So, will stay in 10 gallon until other is cycled, and I can feed less due to 'piranah feeding frenzy' problem. Was it too much bio organic stuff, driftwood, new java ferns not doing well, too thick gravel and too much food? (once a day though) Also, pet store manager thought stress from caves (only at feeding time they really go nuts plowing into one and all, even the gourami is scared at feeding time) then the bacteria set in. Thanks sorry for length... Best Sherry ok, guess beautiful blue neon drawf gourami will not be at the home of skygee, lol....

First you need to take a water sample to the pet store and have it tested. They will do this for free. Find out how good your water is. I have found that goldfish if fed an all processed diet just always get rots, fuzzy bacteria, etc... By processed I mean the pellets and flakes. I have never had a goldfish live long on this kind of diet. They are prone to thses aliments. I add frozen to the diet as well as the flake and pellets. I put a piece of the frozen cube in a little cup and pour a little tank water over it, and then when it defrosts I use a wooden skewer to hand feed it to my fish. I give peas every other day ( without skin). I feed oranges fresh, or I will soak pellets in organic pure orange juice no calcium added. They sell a packet of frozen greens at the pet store for ominovious fish and they get this too. You have to build them up so when they are exposed to these aliments their own immune systems can take the offending bacteria out. I have never had a fish survive using the over counter medicines. The only exception the Jungle antibiotic food pellets they sell at the pet store. One thing that is wonderful about goldfish is they are not picky eaters. They will eat a lot of good things. I have an indoor pond with tropical fish, two Koi, and two goldfish. The temp of the pond has been 60 degrees lowest, and highest 68 degrees this winter. I do not work heaters think nature even in the tropics has times of change. I know because the tropical orchids I have will not bloom till they get a room change that reads between 60 to 68 degrees. I keep my fish natural and a constant water temp is not natural. Also for me and my system there is always the risk of the heater burning through my preform pond , and some people have lost fish due to malfunctioning heaters. So far my tropicals have been very healthy. The Koi have been perfect. The goldfish this year got the fuzzy bateria on their skin. What I did was increased their orange intake , and fed them more greens, and the fuzzys went away in about three days by their own immune systems. They never acted sick or lost appetite. I just moved in with good food and let nature do its thing. I also keep my water very clean and fresh with regular water changes and real plants growing in the water.

Bed bugs make really large bloody spots and you would know that you have a problem. I don't think you have those. They are not like fleas they are much worse!!! Fleas can bite humans but they prefer not too. I am not sure if they die or not when they do. Regardless, they can live in rugs and fabric items for a very long time without a feeding therefore you could have brought them in a while ago and you never noticed them maybe. My sister had this same problem and by the time she noticed her neighbors cat had fleas and decided that she wouldn't allow it inside anymore her apartment was so infested that it took her a very, very long time to get rid of the fleas. Now she will never allow a stray or someone else's cat into her house. I think that if your cat is being treated and you do not see the fleas on the cat then vacuuming and cleaning really well very often should help reduce the population and then hopefully they will all go away in time. They don't like humans and if they can't feed and multiply on your cat then they will diminish in number. -renee