What the heck???

[Homedog98]

I'm shooting for below 20, but that's a dream right now.

 

[eco23]

Tried to talk your Mom into a Python?

 

[Homedog98]

Don't have the $ or the time. Saving up for a bigger tank, so I don't have to deal with these huge dips in parameters, and to open up my options for fish a little bit. I am getting one for the bigger tank though, but for a ten gallon that seems like overkill. As for time, it's my little sisters big showcase week for dance, which requires lots of rehearsals, my uncles coming to town, and we might have just sold our house, so we're gonna have 0 time for a trip to the LFS For the next month. Luckily I'm stocked up on supplies.

 

[Josh]

If your nitrites are dropping off your cycle is just about complete. Just keep up with PWCs to lower the nitrates.

There are live fish in there now right?

 

[Homedog98]

Yes. 3 black skirt tetras. Hopefully they stay live, but you never know with my luck.

 

[Josh]

Good. They should be fine at this point. Just feed lightly and let them keep feeding those nice bacteria.

 

[r_nichols7]

My mom helps me with the water changes by filling up a bucket of tank water, dumping it in the sink, matching the temp as close as she can from the tap, and dumps it back in.

Do you use chlorine neutralizer?

 

[Homedog98]

Yup. Prime.

 

[Homedog98]

Good. They should be fine at this point. Just feed lightly and let them keep feeding those nice bacteria.

Thanks, will do. I'll post another update later on today, after the next test and hopefully water change... But I've gotta go to school first.

 

[Homedog98]

Just did a 75% pwc, waited 15 minutes, dosed with prime. Here ya go:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 1
Nitrates: somewhere between 80 and 160... Can't tell. How am I doin?

 

[eco23]

Just did a 75% pwc, waited 15 minutes, dosed with prime. Here ya go:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 1
Nitrates: somewhere between 80 and 160... Can't tell. How am I doin?

Waited 15 minutes to test, or 15 minutes to add Prime?

 

[Homedog98]

To test.

 

[eco23]

To test.

Okay good, scared me for a sec

 

[Homedog98]

Lol. I may be a noob at cycling, but that's the one mistake I haven't made yet!

 

[eco23]

You're definitely on the right track. Just keep it up and things will be good. You've just gotta stay vigilant with the pwc's. How's your collarbone doing btw, I hear that's really painful. How'd you break it?

 

[Homedog98]

Playing lacrosse. It's been broken for almost a month now! Goin back next week for a follow up x-ray. Hopefully I can lose this stupid ace bandage that's wrapped around me like a flippin sausage casing!!! Then maybe I can actually do a PWC by myself. My moms getting POed with the whole daily water change thing, so I'm trying to be extra nice.

 

[Homedog98]

Ok, had a bit of a scare today. Walked into my room at about 9:30 and looked at the fish tank. The tetras were at the very bottom if the tank, either swimming VERY slowly or just sitting there gasping. Since it was late (for me) and I didn't want to risk my mom not helping me with the water change, I did one myself. I did a 75% change, (might regret that tomorrow, but I'd regret it mire if I hadn't!) and since I kind of panicked, added a double dose of prime just to be safe. After the fastest water change of everyone's life, they all perked up and went back to normal! (knock on wood) thank god! Since it was late, I didn't have time to test. (yet another reason for the double dose of prime) but I'm guessing I just had a nitrite/ate spike. Any thoughts?

 

[eco23]

My understanding is that you can do up to 5x the normal dose of Prime for an emergency situation, so no harm there and probably a pretty good idea. It's good to hear someone so committed to making sure their fish stay healthy. It's really sad how many people (especially lfs's) view fish as "disposable pets". Good job and keep it up. Hope your injury doesn't flare up on you, but like you said, if you hadn't done it, you might have a hurt collar bone and dead fish.

 

[Scraps]

I would try vaccuming the water out of the bottom, may have a build up of food on the bottom plus taking it just from the top is just taking the water coming from the filter. You can pick up one from a pet shop pretty cheap.

 

[eco23]

I would try vaccuming the water out of the bottom, may have a build up of food on the bottom plus taking it just from the top is just taking the water coming from the filter. You can pick up one from a pet shop pretty cheap.

Risky. Since your tank isn't established and we're not sure how far into or past your cycle we are, you don't want to remove the healthy bacteria. As I said in an earlier post, the vast majority of the bacteria is in your filter, but its also on virtually every surface of the tank. I think with what you've got going on right now you need every single bacteria you've got to stay in the tank. If you do lightly vacuum, only do a very small portion of the tank at a time. Also, if you've got a good filter in there it should turn over all the water in the tank, not just the top section.