Caryl

I would put both in both. Carbon is NOT really necessary unless you are wanting to remove meds from the water. It is a personal decision though. I am a scrooge so I never use carbon 8)

Baby tears will grow too tall for a foreground plant.

That should be plenty. I would use filter wool and lots of ceramic noodles.

If the fish are happy I wouldn't try and alter the pH at all. If you really want to raise the 6.2 though then adding shell or bird grit is easiest and will stabilise it.

It wasn't the number of fish I was thinking of, it was the fact the bichir will eat anything under the size of a full grown congo and that is fairly large! As he grows, so will the size of fish he can eat

Yeah, check thoroughly that it isn't stuck somewhere but most likely the other fish have eaten it. A whole fish can disappear overnight.

I suspect planaria too. A result of overfeeding and/or poor maintenance. Harmless critters. Cut back on feeding and do a thorough gravel vac ought to fix it

Often caused by some fish foods. Try the paper towel trick.

Don't bow to me! I know little about fish disease as I have rarely had any experience with it. I just thought it possible it was something else and the suggestions might help.

Running a tank for a week with nothing in it will do nothing Is the ornament meant to be put in an aquarium?

I get the wide wallpaper scrapers from the $2 Shop. They work well. Fish do not eat that hard algae. There is a silver scrubbing pad which works well too. Can't think of the name offhand. Those green pads work well. Make sure you don't gather up any fine substrate under any of them though or it will scratch.

He really needs to get a siphon as who knows what is lurking in the substrate. It is possibly dropsy but possibly their diet as the scales only seem to be sticking out in the tummy area, which they will if the fish are getting constipated or bloated. Tell him to try feeding them some cooked shelled pea and see if that helps. Also, what is he feeding them? Some of the cheaper brands of goldfish pellets and sticks etc I found tend to expand more than others when water is added so after the fish swallows it, it swells up in their digestive system and they have trouble getting it to go right through.

I wouldn't treat it with anything if it is otherwise acting normally. Keep an eye out for secondary fungal infection though and keep the water quality as good as you can and it should heal itself. If it does develop a fungus around the wound, treat with anti fungal med.

Then you certainly don't need an air pump as well. As for water changes, I rarely do them but my tank (a similar size to yours) is very heavily planted and lightly stocked. The last water change I did was mid Feb and I am about to do another one this week. When I do water changes I replace about 60L which is 6 buckets. As an aside, I will be doing a pictorial guide to doing water changes in the next Aquarium World magazine so you will all see my before and after tank pics as I clean it out

If it was my tank with those fish in it I wouldn't add anything else.

You do not need an air pump at all. What sort of filter do you have? If you want to run it and can't slow the bubbles down enough you can buy clamps to put on the air hose, or use a peg.

plus the oscar!

You won't have so many fish soon as some of those mentioned will happily eat the others so the fish won't be gasping for long

I suspect they may be planaria. Harmless but unsightly. Usually a result of overfeeding and/or poor maintenance.

Depends on the size of the tank, the stocking levels, and how much they have to eat. They will breed at about 5cm I think.

That is small compared to sailfin or common plecs

Maybe. Maybe they have a gill infection or something. Any other symptoms? What else is in the tank? What size is it? Any other fish in there diong the same or they OK? If it is only some fish, or one species, I would suspect something other than lack of oxygen. Check your temperature.

I throw a handful of plain salt in then a good rinse to get rid of all the salt. Doesn't actually take much rinsing to get rid of it as it is a bare tank so nothing for it to get into. Then cycle the tank afterwards.

I would clean out everything. The noodles can be boiled and the tank washed out and scrubbed with salty water. Rinse well afterwards.

My Africans always got 50% water changes (when I got around to doing water changes). Not only that but they were from the garden hose hauled through the window. The fish didn't seem to mind the change in pH or temperature and liked to play in the strong current from the trigger gun attachment on the end of the hose.