that's a fantastic red tail shark. really. i never had luck with mine. i went through 3 or 4 and finally stopped trying. they'd get some sort of bloating and look like pineapples. and die. nothing else in the tank would die/get sick. you've got great balance of fish and veg.
getting the itch to start up again!

Thanks! The RT Shark is actually Gonzo's fish. That bastard will never die, (I'm referring to the fish, not Gonzo). LMAO The shark has been in this tank since we started it up almost 2 years ago. He's been through a lot. I had a Marineland heater malfunction and damn near boil all of my fishes, but he, along w/ a few others survived.

It sounds like your sharks had Dropsy. If that was the case, none of the other fishes would have gotten it. I've had a few get it, and sadly, there's not much that you can do for them. Some suggest Epsom salt baths and feeding blanched peas, but I never had luck.

i don't know why, but i lol'd pretty hard at that.
my wife is becoming suspicious.LMAO

:evil:

My last 58 mini mbuna tank..... I had/have a good collection of rocks.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5738/1001290.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/4323/1001299a.jpg

LOVE it.

Enjoy the hornwort and wisteria while you can.

I started with two 6-inch pieces of hornwort when I first started with plants.

In 4 weeks, the flow of water had turned it into a bushy ball. When I painstakingly unraveled the ball, I had 4 strands over SIX FEET long.

I prune 4-6" off my wisteria every 2 weeks and it doesn't seem to make a real dent.

Was it a Stealth (black polymer)? They recalled those and I got 100% of my money back by mailing it to them.

Yep, pine-coning usually means dropsy. Epsom salt baths and peas (I use frozen peas and thaw them in tank water) are both excellent suggestions. I would also suggest adding Methylene Blue to the salt baths.

You can also feed anti-biotic food but it usually won't work because sick fish don't want to eat.

Thanks! I'm sure I would have the same problem w/ growth if I would remember to dose my Excel every other day. Lately, I've been forgetting to do so and my plants are looking a little rough.

Yep. It was a Stealth, (I can't remember the model number, but it was on the recall list). I ended up taking mine back to Petco and they gave me store credit. Funny thing is, I originally bought it on sale and they gave me a full price credit. Ha! Suckers! I ended up buying an Aqueon 200w Submersible Heater. So far, so good.

Excellent advice on the Dropsy, btw! :thumb:

Excel probably helps keep algae down moreso than anything else, just based on the plants you do have.

For instance, the wisteria could grow 2 inches PER DAY even without Excel, in my experience. Both it and the hornwort seem to go through an explosive growth period once they reach about 4-6" tall.

What all do you have in there. I saw Anacharis (something I've never had luck with, it just melts), maybe Bacopa, some swords, and Java Fern.

Fish sucks.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...9d82822723.gif

IIRC, I have 2 Amazon Swords, Anubias (Nana and Petite), Crested Java Fern, Cryptocoryne (Wendtii and Spiralis), and Water Wisteria. In the video, you will notice 2 purple plants, (left-rear), 2 large plants, (center and right-rear), and a burgundy plant, (left-front) - those are plastic. I have since removed all of my fake plants.

Duh, I saw the crypt wendtii, don't know why I didn't mention them (since I have dozens of them). You'll like those - you carefully place them where you want them and a couple weeks later, a whole new plant springs up out of the gravel, 6 inches away. :)

I guess what I'm trying to get at is don't get "set" on your layout. It's going to change because live plants won't ever do what YOU want them to do. Once you accept that fact, it gets a lot easier (not being OCD like I am helps too!).

Oh, trust me. I've moved those plants around so much that you would think that I have OCD too. LMAO Plus, I have a 5 gallon w/ a few plants as well. When they get too big for that tank, I move them to my 55 gallon.

My main problem at the moment, (besides slow growth), is green spot and black beard algae. I recently adjusted my photoperiod by using a timer and I only have 84 watts of usable light, plus 28w Roseate.

I get GSA and BBA too. The oto catfish and SAEs help some but not completely. I honestly don't think they can be avoided. Just peel off a few leaves once in a while to reduce the ugly factor.

On my 55G I have a 54W T5 HO 6500K "full daylight" and two 15W 18" T8 6500K, so 138 total watts of full spectrum. I also have a 54W T5 HO 5500K Roseate.

I will say this - given your total wattage, I'd dump the Roseate. Depth penetration of 5000-5500K lighting is pretty poor, so it will only affect your tallest plants and even then, it's only going to help certain ones. It makes my Ludwigia turn downright pick, for example. But it doesn't even get to my crypts because they're too deep. You'd be better off adding another 28W of 6500K full spectrum light.

Thank you for the advice! Sadly, I'm not running HO. I just have 2 - 48" Coralife Aqualight 56w double strip light fixtures over my tank.

In one of the fixtures I have 1-6500k + 1-10000k. In the other fixture I have 1-6500k + the Roseate. I had considered changing out the Roseate w/ another 6500k, but I was afraid that would produce too many watts per gallon. Btw, I'm not using CO2, just dosing Excel.