Levels going down....yay!

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new2betas

new2betas

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
May 31, 2008
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I just checked my nitrite and ammonia levels and they are both at .25! Yay! I am almost there. My nitrates were about 10-20. I am thinking that by tomorrow I will be at 0 for both! They were both around a .5-1 this morning! I am so happy! Bert the Betta will have a new 10 gallon home soon!! And, I have decided to keep my 2 gallon as my QT tank! I am excited!
 
Ladies and gentlemen.....drum roll please.......My tank is now completely down to 0!!!! OK - 'nuther newbie question.....after I do my PWC and my temps come up to where Bert will like them....what's the best way to acclimate him? Pack up Bert......today is movin' day! lol
 
May want to wait another day or 2 incase it wants to spike a little.

If the temps are the same in both tanks, and your water should both be the same, like PH ect.. Then you can just transfer.

If the temps are different then its best to set them both the same 1st(well new tank set to the current tank temp), then transfer. Then if you want/need to change the temp do it 1-2deg a day or so.

Also turning the light off after you transfer can help if they were stressed.

For new fish, new to your water parameters, the drip method is best

Hey I see you have Fire bellied Toads, how do you like them? I have a fire bellied newt but it doesnt seem to eat, so not sure if its going to make it. What do you feed the toads?
 
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SpeedEuphoria said:
May want to wait another day or 2 incase it wants to spike a little.

If the temps are the same in both tanks, and your water should both be the same, like PH ect.. Then you can just transfer.

If the temps are different then its best to set them both the same 1st(well new tank set to the current tank temp), then transfer. Then if you want/need to change the temp do it 1-2deg a day or so.

Also turning the light off after you transfer can help if they were stressed.

For new fish, new to your water parameters, the drip method is best

Hey I see you have Fire bellied Toads, how do you like them? I have a fire bellied newt but it doesnt seem to eat, so not sure if its going to make it. What do you feed the toads?
Click to expand...

Aww....wait another day or two...it will kill me...lol. His temp stays a steady 78 during the day and sometimes goes to 76 during the night. So, I turned my heater down on the 10 g and it was at 74 this morning, so I upped it a bit. What the heck is the "drip method"...sorry.
Yes...I am also into my fire bellied toads right now too! I completely re-did their 10 g tank last week and have to do it again soon, because I found a better substrate for them. I love having them. They are so fun to watch. I actually had just a female as of last week, but added a male last weekend. I had a pair of them, but lost one a couple of years back and she had been "single" since. I re-did her tank and decided to bring her home a "pal". She is delighted and so is he. He calls to her all the time and I find him "squeezing her waist" quite frequently ;). I added a waterfall type filter and some feeder guppies to their water. They are not eating the guppies much to my surprise and the darn things are already having babies! Yikes! I feed them small crickets and meal worms and they both have voracious appetites!! Is there a forum anywhere on here for toads? I would love to post pictures of them! How old is your newt? Try varying his diet on different worms, crickets, etc and see if he/she improves.....
 
new2betas said:
What the heck is the "drip method"...sorry.

I feed them small crickets and meal worms and they both have voracious appetites!! Is there a forum anywhere on here for toads? I would love to post pictures of them! How old is your newt? Try varying his diet on different worms, crickets, etc and see if he/she improves.....
Click to expand...
Basically there is 2 main methods, one is where you take the bag that the fish came in and float it in your water, this is to get them acclimated to the temp, then every 15min or so you scoop in about a turkey baster full of your tank water into the bag, so this gets them used to the PH, ect.. You should not dump the water from the bag into your tank. So after awhile you just scoop the fish and transfer and throw the water in the bag away.

The drip method is where you basically do the same thing but dump the fish and water into a container. Then you have a hose from your tank, like a gravel vac(siphon) and pinch/tie a knot in the hose, then let the water from your tank drip into the container slowly, so they get used to your water. Basically this is preffered as its a slower more controlled method.

I've only had the newt 1 month or so but it was the largest one they had. I have not tried live food yet and that may be what I need to do? The LFS said they feed them these "newt & salamander bites", but not sure that it eats those. So I try giving some frozen bloodworms that I have. Basically I dont see it eat so I'm worried. They also had guppies in the tank at the LFS, I have some fry that I could put in there, lol, not sure if it would catch them and eat them.

Those toads, they need to get out of water also right?
 
SpeedEuphoria said:
I've only had the newt 1 month or so but it was the largest one they had. I have not tried live food yet and that may be what I need to do? The LFS said they feed them these "newt & salamander bites", but not sure that it eats those. So I try giving some frozen bloodworms that I have. Basically I dont see it eat so I'm worried. They also had guppies in the tank at the LFS, I have some fry that I could put in there, lol, not sure if it would catch them and eat them.

Those toads, they need to get out of water also right?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the "drip method" explanation :D.

I would most definitely be feeding your newt live food. Everything I have read about my toads said they have to eat live food. It is so fun to watch them grab stuff and shove it into their mouth too...lol! I would try to get out soon (how long has he not been eating?) and get some live food for your newt. I would try the fry and see what happens.

Yes, my toads get out of the water. They have a half land/half water tank. I have a food dish that they just know to get in when I am putting their food in their...it is so funny.
 
Also...now that I am ready to do a pwc...do I turn anything off while doing that (heater, filter)? or keep everything running?
 
For the drip method, usually it's a length of airline that's used. Little easier to control the flow than larger tubing closer to gravel vac tubing.

The heater would need to stay submerged to the min fill line. If it goes below that you need to unplug it.
 
I have done my pwc now and will wait awhile to test water parameters. I am getting excited though. I did have to unplug my heater, it went way to low to leave it plugged in.
 
new2betas said:
I have done my pwc now and will wait awhile to test water parameters. I am getting excited though. I did have to unplug my heater, it went way to low to leave it plugged in.
Click to expand...

Okay -- I waited a little while (30 minutes) to let the water settle down after the pwc and tested my parameters. I am a little confused though. My nitrites and ammonia were still at 0. My pH was around 6.5.. My nitrates, however, were around 0-5...I would say closer to 0 than to 5. Is that okay? I thought the nitrates were supposed to read at a low level not 0 ???? Is something wrong (dare I ask)?
 
Great article. Instead of using a plant weight, you can use a suction cup to secure the tubing inside the aquarium. To get the flow started, using a children's medicine shringe works really well with no fear of tasting aquarium water.

Depending on the level of Nitrates in the Aquarium before your water change, the size of the water change, and the amount of Nitrates in your tap water you could easily see numbers like that. If you've also got live plants, they can further reduce the amount of Nitrates. Having sufficient quantities of plants to demand more Nitrate than what is produced in the aquarium is why Nitrate dosing becomes necessary.
 
Fire Bellied Toad pics

SpeedEuphoria said:
Hey I see you have Fire bellied Toads, how do you like them? I have a fire bellied newt but it doesnt seem to eat, so not sure if its going to make it. What do you feed the toads?
Click to expand...

I know this might be a no-no, but I wanted to post pictures of my toads for speedeuphoria to see.....I redid their tank recently also. My oriental fbit is the bright green one (she's the female) and the dark brown in a european fbt (he's the male). They are very happy in their new digs and my female is very happy with her new male roommate....lol. I promise no more fbt pics again....
 
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