karenz

Yes, I have been away for a little over two weeks so the normal pattern at home has changed, in that the lights in the house and the aquarium light are not put on regularly and there is less movement in the room, also the television, which is visible from the tank would not have been on much at all, though I have been told that the loaches were swimming around quite a lot and begging for food up until Tuesday morning, it was only when I got back and looked for them on Thursday that I noticed they were hiding in a log. Also I do think that having the goldfish there is not a good idea, my daughter has a goldfish tank but it is a cold one, would my goldfish adapt to that given that it has been in a warm tank for around 6 years? The Pleco I would not mind rehoming as he really is quite big, and would like to get more loaches. They are about 4 or 5 years old. Can't measure them now because they are hiding but think they are about 10 to 12cms.

The temperature gauge is too hard to read, must buy a new one, but the temperature didn't change between Tuesday and Wednesday, yes it is strange but the goldfish is really social and active, and was tiny when it went into the tank about 8 years ago along with the Pleco which was also tiny, only has a mutual problem with the Pleco, which tries to ram the goldfish but the goldfish (Goldzilla) rises at the last moment and the Pleco bangs into the end of the tank. The Clowns have been really active and social up until Wednesday and I can see them moving around in their log when it is food time, last night one of them came out when I turned the light off but scuttled back in straight away when I walked past.

it's 80cm wide by 58cm high x 40cm wide, not sure of the levels as I don't have a testing kit, not many other fish in there just a big goldfish, a big pleco and 4 black widows (the goldfish was the original inhabitant and the tank kind of grew since there - 4 upgrades later. I change around a third of the water weekly but it had been 2 weeks since the last change because I was away

Mine have always been active and outgoing, every day up until now they would swim up and down in the corner of the tank waiting to be fed, almost like they are begging, sometimes clicking their teeth. My daughter said they were still doing this up until Tuesday morning. The only thing that has changed is that the aquarium light would not have been put on regularly at night for a few hours (if at all).

My two clown loaches, which I have had for around 3 years, have suddenly started hiding in their log and not coming out, even for food, previously they were very active and outgoing especially in the morning and evening around feed time. They do not appear to be sick but I am worried they will starve to death, I have not introduced any new fish or changed their tank around.

The goldfish is the original occupant and is huge, we call it Goldzilla and it has a fine time taunting the pleco which is the second occupant (hence the heated tank), though the tank has been upgraded three times since the original one. This the first time in years that I have lost any fish. I use Prime at every water change. Is it safe to use water straight from the hot water tap rather than boiling the water if this is a contributing factor (depleting the oxygen levels). The clowns seem really happy and outgoing, they have a variety of logs and rock formations to explore.

The tank is 48cm high 38cm deep and 80cm wide, the filter is an Aqua One, it is mounted on the back of the tank and expels water through a spout into the tank, which creates quite a few bubbles which are clear and dissipate, the bubbles I noticed earlier this week were more solid, almost soapy. I have charcoal balls (like a ping pong ball with holes filled with charcoal), a charcoal bag and filter wood as the filtering media. The tank does not have any live plants and I haven't introduced new food, new fish or new decorations. I have 2 clown loaches, 1 YoYo loach, 2 skunk loaches, 2 striata (they were called tiger loaches at the pet shop) and 2 which I am not sure of the name, they could be young Pakistanis, they are very lively and outgoing and hang with the Clowns. I also have a Pleco, a large goldfish (the original inhabitant) four black widow tetras, 2 glowlight tetras and 2 danios. I do boil the water and mix the hot in with the cold when I do water changes, is it OK to use from the hot water tap as I believe boiling the water takes the oxygen out.

I change around 1/3 of the water about every 10 days, clean out the filter and replace the filter wool, I also vacuum most of the bottom of the tank, the tank has been fine for 3 years now these are the first fish to die and I have never seen this reddish brown colour in the filter before,

Something is infecting my tank, I have had 2 loaches and 2 glass tetras die, when I was cleaning it out I noticed a dark reddish/brown colour to the waste in the filter, it has always been a dark brown up until now. Nothing has changed as far as feeding or decorations, but I noticed a kind of "froth" on the top of the water over the last few days. I don't use aerosols anywhere near the tank. Any idea what I can put in to treat this, as most of my fish are loaches I know a lot of treatments can burn and even kill them.