Mini-cycles generally occur during the fragile period when the tank is new and happen because of something we do to either remove nitrifying bacterial colonies (like removing the filter media) or by rapidly adding food for the bacteria (like adding additional fish).

portrait of a fish, originally uploaded by olya. Q: SF wrote, I have a betta who is about 2 years old. He’s not well. He is quite lethargic, sits at the bottom regularly, has just developed a few white patches and has had popeye in one eye only for about 7 months. I have tried [...]

angry stick training one, originally uploaded by revs45. Q: J&J wrote, Christie, [We] have a beautiful dark blue and radiant red Beta Splenden (or at least I think that is what it is called) He has long flowing fins. His name is Earl. Two weeks after my parents gave him to me I received orders [...]