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I'm feeding Leaf Zone, which is Potassium, so I wouldn't think that's it. :( Perhaps it's just something this plant does?

I've got some Alteranthera (red) in my tank - 55 US gal (48"Lx15"Dx18"H), with 150W of lighting. It's growing, slowly - new leaves being formed, and not shedding lower leaves as has happened in the past. But the older leaves are crinkly and are full of holes. Anyone know the cause of this...

Mostly rocks. You can have plants as well, but rockwork is your main decoration as a rule.

You're only running about 1 WPG, so CO2 isn't really going to help - without more light, the plants can't really make use of the additional carbon. Java moss is one of the easiest plants of all to grow, even in poor light, so is a good choice. I don't think the Ludwigia will last long, I'm...

An established tank is going to have a bacterial colony big enough for the fish load. In an unfiltered tank, those bacteria will be all in the gravel. In yours, most of them were in the filter. So you removed the filter, and thereby removed most of the bacteria. The water change will help...

The problem is that you removed the filter. In doing so, you removed the ability of your system to metabolise ammonia. This therefore jumped and killed your fish. Fifteen fish in five gallons of water with no ammonia metabolising capability - I'm not surprised in the least at the levels you...

Baking soda works very well at raising KH, which makes it harder to get pH down. What is your KH, and your GH for that matter. The other question is why you want to lower pH. 7.5 is fine for most things.

Problem is, late blooming male swordtails have a female type anal fin, not a gonopodium, as do all immature livebearers :( Only time tells.

Raising livebearers needs a lot of space. You might just manage it in a 20 gallon, with frequent water changes. In a five, or even a series of fives? :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Like nearly every swordtail or platy on the market today, she's a hybrid. Probably more sword than platy though.

Nope. Swordtails are very active fish. I've seen this behaviour in livebearers and it usually means they're dying. It seems particularly common when the water is too soft.

What's the pH? If it's quite high, then 1ppm could readily be fatal.

If the water's hard it's unlikely that there's a magnesium deficiency.

Cabomba grows like a weed, although I find it breaks up and dies in low light or hard water. Mondo grass is not an aquatic plant and will die. I'd remove it.

Are those lights incandescent (tungsten) or fluorescent?

I would suggest that the erratic behaviour is caused by the build up of ammonia that's probably responsible for the stink. Do you have an ammonia test?

It's not hole in the head disease. Far too wide and shallow a hole. There are a few possibilities: 1) Bacterial infection such as columnaris 2) Physical injury 3) Tuberculosis. Try treating with Melafix first. If this does no good, you want to try a med against external bacterial...

I don't think there's any need to lower pH. Vinegar anyway is a weak acid - it doesn't dissociate much in water - so you'd have to add quite a lot to add significant levels of H+.

I imagine the plants have started sucking up the ammonia so there's less to convert to nitrite.

Mbuna I have kept with Vallis, successfully.