Fry and filter media

[twubs]

So I have a 15 gallon tank that has been up and running for 3 months now. We have been pretty successful with a few casualties along the way. Tank cycled rather quickly and have the tank up to full stock(faster then we should have). biggest issue has been a high PH that seems to go down after each water change and slowly rise up prior to the weekly water change. Currently stocked with 4 platy, 2 julian cory, 4 dainos a dwarf gaurami.

So had a few questions:
I have a TopFin HOB filter. I have not changed the media yet and when I took it out last night to give it a gentle rinse during PWC it started to desinagrate. I immediately took the only other filter media I had (wrong size and threw it in the HOB to try and start letting it build up the bacteria. What are my options here? Can I get the correct size media and install it correctly and leave the old one in behind it to help prevent a small mini cycle.

That gets me to my next issue. One of my female platy gave birth to some fry. We thought we only had one or two in the back of the tank. To appease the wife and kids I got a breeder net and tried to net them up. In the process I discovered 11 fry and now have them safely in the net on the top of the tank. Questions here, will a mini cycle be a death sentence for the fry? Where should the breeders net be locate in our out of the current of the filter? I have it in the filter current becuase the net blocks teh light to my plants on the other side of the tank.

Thanks

 

[BigJim]

That's really poor quality if your filter media started falling apart after three months. Adding new media and leaving the old media for a while is your best option.

As long as you've got the old media in the tank, you shouldn't see any cycle.

 

[twubs]

Thanks Jim. Picked up new filter media today. Would agree that I thought I was going to get a little longer then 3 months life out of it.

Do you have any take on what side of the tank to put the breederes net on? Between adjusting the flow to low and the fine mesh of the net it seems like the current is minimal.

 

[BigJim]

When I use one, I usually put mine in the front of my tank for easy access. Keeping it from cooking under the light is probably more important than keeping it out of the current. If the fry aren't getting blown around, you should be fine.

When I do use the breeder box, I usually throw some java moss or a piece of water sprite in the box for cover. Pieces of plastic plants or even colorfast yarn rubber banded to a cork will also work.