xander13;1536042; said:
haha once bitten twice shy, im not taking abny chances anymore
and thanks
if ammonia was present at all it was definitely due to a combination of your high bioload, low filtration, and lack of water changes.
i think what will need to be done is getting a COMPLETE (ALL details) procedure of what you do for feeding, filtration (knowing about pumps and numbers of pumps doesn't help...water movement isn't really filtration...how many FILTERS do you have on the tank, what kind of biomedia do they hold), and water changes over a given week. also EXACTLY what fish are presently in the tank and how big they are.
understand we are trying to help here, and in keeping a fish like this you need to accept more responsibility than was shown previously. trust me, this species is not easy to keep (at least comparatively among the primitive fishes), and especially for someone relatively new to this aspect of the hobby.
letting us know all those present details (listed in the earlier paragraph) will help get an idea of what is going on. also, if i get the chance, i will come up with a suggested regimen for the tank so you'll have an easy set of directions to follow (that have been tested and worked in the past and presently as well).
and as richard said (and i can't stress this enough either) DO NOT mess with the pH!!! adding part of the new substrate is probably your best bet now...and i would do it around the time of water changes so as not to throw things off too much. i would never suggest using a pH modifying chemical, especially with a Cuban gar.
oh yeah, i would also work on increasing aeration...do you have any airstones? they will at least help move water from the bottom up. good luck--
--solomon