Sounds like an essential bit of kit if you have high nitrates in your tap water.
I moved from an area with zero nitrates in the water to an area having around 15ppm nitrates. That was a bit of a shock to the system. Would hate to have nitrates as high as your tap water cathie

Isn't the seachem matrix supposed to remove nitrate as well? Would be interested to see if it works . No idea what pozzani is meant to do you've baffled me... (it generally doesn't take much tho!)

My minnows bellies always look slightly lumpy too
Water readings look good. Keep an eye on the Nitrate tho. Try not to let it creep over 40ppm
Def post a pic tho and someone will have a look.

Hi crmpicco
50% is an awfully big water change and should really only be done in an absolute emergency. Big water changes can upset fish because of differing water composition between mature tank water and treated tap water. Around 20 - 25% changes every week are usually recommended. This is assuming there are no water quality issues in the tank. Medication can reduce the amount of oxygen in the water so an air stone and pump would be good.
Have you go any water readings for the tank? Also what size is the tank?

Hi LisaB
Female WCMM have quite distended bellies compared to the males. If the fish is behaving normally and your water params are all good then I wouldn't worry too much. If you could post a pic that would help to confirm.
By the way, WCMM are kept in shoals of 6 or more. If you could manage to get a few more they will look beautiful! (they're one of my faves)

Still having trouble with ammonia. After the blip with the ammonia remover I had a 4 hour power cut which has really knocked the filter. Been struggling with readings of 4ppm for 3 weeks now. Am doing daily 25% water changes and using ammo lock and seachem ammonia alert. Am assuming that I'm having to cycle the tank from scratch. So, is there anything else anyone can suggest to make this process quicker or safer for the fish.

Thanks Cathie. Am still a bit concerned because after using the ammonia remover last week and testing the water after 2 hours there was no ammonia showing up. If the ammonia was 'locked up' I would have had a possitive reading. The guy at P@H said this stuff actually removes the ammonia and doesn't just 'lock it up'.
Edit - Its called 'Interpet Ammonia Remover'

Hi folks,

had a bit of a blip last week when I discovered 2ppm ammonia in my trops tank. After identifying (dead apple snail) and removing the cause and doing a few big water changes I decided to use P@H ammonia remover (couldn't get any ammo lock). This seemed to sort out the problem.

However, testing the water today I discovered to my horror 1ppm ammonia. So, my question is, by using the ammonia remover, have I unwittingly uncycled my filter? Am a little loathed to use more ammonia remover now incase I just make things worse. Have ordered ammo lock from ebay but this won't be here 'till the end of the week.

What on earth do you do with all those buckets? I only have one. Am feeling quite inadequate now!

I was a bit puzzled when I got my aqua one too. I came to the conclusion that which strainer you use depends on what substrate you have in your tank. If you have sand substrate then the intake should be placed slightly higher otherwise sand could be sucked into the filter. If this is the case then the smaller strainer should be used. Don't think it matters so much if you have gravel substrate. I have gravel and use the longer strainer because I prefer the way it looks.

If anyone else has any other ideas it would be interesting to hear them.