reilly960
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Came into some cash around the holidays, so finally bought that 80 gal tank I have wanted for a while. First time with an aquarium, but did tons of research and felt pretty good. Community tank seemed to be the best way to start, so headed in that direction.
Got an emperor 400 filter, 2 200w heaters, 300lph airpump just for aeration, 2 thermometers including a digital, artificial plants that look real, a couple resin rock caves for extra hiding places and a few pieces of driftwood.
Set it all up (perhaps not rinsing everything as well as I should have due to the excitement of putting it all together) and ran the tank for 2 days before starter fish. People seeing the tank were impressed, and even motivated 2 folks to get or restart their own aquariums. I am feeling real good at this point.
There is a bunch of small particles floating in the water, but I figure the filter will deal with this over time
Got 5 platies and 3 swordtails as starter fish I planned on keeping, floated the bags for temp, and kept the LPS water out of my aquarium.
By day 2 I figure out that one of the FM swordtails is pregnant, and by day 4 I have some quantity of fry (wow they are small). Momma swordtail continues to spit out fry for next couple days.
Somewhere about this time Ich started, but I do not diagnose it as such until day 7 (as it starts to really get bad). 25% water change here, and overall ammonia levels are still barely measurable.
Day 8, momma swordtail is dead, by day 9 no evidence of fry any more. Mail swordtail has not been seen since yesterday and I fear the worst. If he does not show himself today I will start pulling decor out to try to find him.
For the Ich - I have gradually raised the temp to 86 over last 2 days to avoid meds (since I am planning on inverts) and all but one platty and one swordtail have it bad now.
It is now day 11, PH is a little higher than I wanted (7.3) but taking no action there based on advise. Used stresscoat for dechlorination on startup and water change. Still no nitrite or nitrate registering. I am using dip test strips for all.
Bad luck, or am I missing something?
Got an emperor 400 filter, 2 200w heaters, 300lph airpump just for aeration, 2 thermometers including a digital, artificial plants that look real, a couple resin rock caves for extra hiding places and a few pieces of driftwood.
Set it all up (perhaps not rinsing everything as well as I should have due to the excitement of putting it all together) and ran the tank for 2 days before starter fish. People seeing the tank were impressed, and even motivated 2 folks to get or restart their own aquariums. I am feeling real good at this point.
There is a bunch of small particles floating in the water, but I figure the filter will deal with this over time
Got 5 platies and 3 swordtails as starter fish I planned on keeping, floated the bags for temp, and kept the LPS water out of my aquarium.
By day 2 I figure out that one of the FM swordtails is pregnant, and by day 4 I have some quantity of fry (wow they are small). Momma swordtail continues to spit out fry for next couple days.
Somewhere about this time Ich started, but I do not diagnose it as such until day 7 (as it starts to really get bad). 25% water change here, and overall ammonia levels are still barely measurable.
Day 8, momma swordtail is dead, by day 9 no evidence of fry any more. Mail swordtail has not been seen since yesterday and I fear the worst. If he does not show himself today I will start pulling decor out to try to find him.
For the Ich - I have gradually raised the temp to 86 over last 2 days to avoid meds (since I am planning on inverts) and all but one platty and one swordtail have it bad now.
It is now day 11, PH is a little higher than I wanted (7.3) but taking no action there based on advise. Used stresscoat for dechlorination on startup and water change. Still no nitrite or nitrate registering. I am using dip test strips for all.
Bad luck, or am I missing something?