Thanks for the replies, I have now tested a mug of tap water and substrate and a mug of tap water and sand and no ammo readings.. Tap on its own is fine too. Tank still between 2.0-4.0 with ammo.

No nitrite detected yet........ Come on!!

On the bright side at least the sand and substrate don't ...

Having a nightmare still with the sand situation, went for the kiln dried sand from Wickes and figured when I do the change ill use tetra complete substrate as a base layer. Doesn't say anywhere that the substrate will effect my water parameters and I've searched and searched for anything to suggest ...

Any tried and tested methods for swim bladder disease control?

For about a week one of my 4 corys has been suffering a bit of buoyancy issues. It's not consistent and he rests ok majority of the time but every now and then I spot him struggling to stay up right and doing a few spins about the tank ...

Thanks everyone for the responses, really appreciate it. I've gone for the kiln dried sand and I'm hoping to do the switch this weekend, everything out the tank and start again. Rinsed some of the new sand in prep but in comparison to the black sand there's hardly any dirt and dust coming out which ...

Yeh I found out about the temp differences after I got the cory, I keep it at 25c figured it could be a ok compromise just 1c different. There are some that say my water is too hard for fish I have, some also say its not an issue.
I treated for fungus 2 weeks ago because my male Molly gets a bit ...

My Cory's are desperately in need of better sand, can anyone recommend some that I can buy today from a shop in London? Barbels are missing and one doesn't seem to have a mouth at all now which is heartbreaking as they definitely had some when I bought them from Mordon Aquatics as babies 2 months ...