Hello Everyone,

Allesandro is still doing good and floating upright. Alas, he does pretty much sleep at the top of the tank with his butt at the surface...well not actually his "butt" butt but rather, the top of his tail is breaking the surface. I keep an eye on it to make sure he's not getting sores or anything from it drying-out from sticking out of the water. Doesn't seem to matter much how much or what I feed him he just always sleeps that way. I figure he is just wearing out (he just turned 16).

Anyhow, I have been really taking good care of him since the upside-down business and have been doing partial water changes (15%-30%) 1-2 times a week. Vacuuming the Gravel too.

Parameters look good.
Nitrates are around 15-20 (I'm going to increase water changes to get it down more)
Nitrites are 0
Ammonia is 0.
Total Alkalinity (KH) is a little low around 80
Hardness (GH) is around 75.
Ph is between 6.8 and 7.2
All readings are very steady
I have maybe 2 TBS of aquarium salt in his 20 gal tank
I condition the tap water I add with Jungle Water Safe Plus.
Temerature is 73°F

Question is: should I mess with this low KH and lowish Ph? I don't want to add a product that will subsequently cause the Ph to crash (like while I'm at work or sleeping) thus endargering my little geriatric fellow. But I want him to be happy too.

If he was mine I wouldnt change a thing as youve had him for 16 years which is fantastic in itself.
Your nitrate level is good as well and you should test the water from your tap to check the nitrates from their as that might be the lowest you can get.
Might not have helped your question but why fix something that aint broke?

Hi Al, wow!! what type of fish is Allesandro? We just lost two of our fancy gf, one, Crystal who was 6" long with tail, she was a silver Shubunkin, 4 1/2yrs old, and in our smaller tank, Lilly, our 3" Ryukin, she had Swimbladder disease, we handfed her daily and had to put a little Neosporin on her belly since it was exposed to the surface... we did our best, but she didn't make it.. very sad for us.

good work, though! please tell us more about your tank and other fish if you hav any? I couldn't find your profile information?

Lynn