silurus,
thank you for that link, i never knew the other common name of marbled pim, much less the latin. there were other helpful tidbits in the cat-elog for me as well.
and btw, my ammonia level was ZERO (whew)

thank you both for responding. the water is great, zero nitrites, nearly zero nitrates, i will change some water today just to be safe (as per usual)...but do you recommend any action regarding the tinfoil barbs, should i separate them from the achara while he heals, or just offer better hiding ...

ok, so i've begun a catfish collection, and i'm facing my first, hopefully fixable problem...my 10" achara had these perfect, long barbels that shared his body coloring. i just noticed this morning that they are frayed and no longer firm at the last one inch. what to do, what to do? he shares a 350 ...