Jharvey
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi all... I'm setting up and cycling my friend's 5-gallon tank for her. I added some of my filter media to her filter as well as about 2.5 gallons of water from my established 10-gallon tank. (Per the advice of the lfs - I won't do this again). My established tank tested 0ppm for ammonia and nitrites but 5ppm for nitrates. I had only ever read that nitrates are a problem at concentrations above 40ppm (some places say much more), so I wasn't worried about that.
I brought brought three male, fancy guppies home in the late afternoon. Water has been at 74-76 deg. F; 7.6ish pH; still 0 for ammonia and nitrites and 5ppm nitrates. I acclimated them to the tank water by leaving them in the bag (which had maybe 3 cups of water), in the tank, and adding about 1/4C of tank water to the bag every 10 minutes or more. After over two hours, I netted them out and put them in the tank and discarded their original water.
They seemed fine the next morning. Numbers were the same. I did a pwc of about 1 quart dechlorinated water (treated with Seachem Prime). Then I left for work. When I got home 6 hours later, one of them was dead on the bottom I took water samples for testing and then did about a 25% water change. The numbers had stayed stable - 0 ammonia and nitrites, 5ppm for nitrates.
Any ideas about why he died? The pet store said having ANY amount of nitrates invalidates their warranty... I didn't realize 5ppm would be bad. Has any one else heard that?
Here's my bigger question: Should I be worried about the other two? They seem very active but it almost seems like (for one of them) his tail fin is kind of shrinking or shriveling a little. I've read about tail rot and it doesn't seem like that - no white spots or anything. It just seems a little more compressed, kind of like a partially-folded paper fan instead of being fully fanned out. Any ideas? I could be imagining things because now I'm paranoid about killing the other two (see pic below - it's the yellow/black one I'm a little worried about).
And should I wait to add another third? I don't want to stress them by having too small of a school but I also want to be cautious.
(other details: gravel bottom, three plants, 5-watt pre-set heater, low surface agitation from the filter - which came with the aquarium: "mini bow 5")
Thank you!
I brought brought three male, fancy guppies home in the late afternoon. Water has been at 74-76 deg. F; 7.6ish pH; still 0 for ammonia and nitrites and 5ppm nitrates. I acclimated them to the tank water by leaving them in the bag (which had maybe 3 cups of water), in the tank, and adding about 1/4C of tank water to the bag every 10 minutes or more. After over two hours, I netted them out and put them in the tank and discarded their original water.
They seemed fine the next morning. Numbers were the same. I did a pwc of about 1 quart dechlorinated water (treated with Seachem Prime). Then I left for work. When I got home 6 hours later, one of them was dead on the bottom I took water samples for testing and then did about a 25% water change. The numbers had stayed stable - 0 ammonia and nitrites, 5ppm for nitrates.
Any ideas about why he died? The pet store said having ANY amount of nitrates invalidates their warranty... I didn't realize 5ppm would be bad. Has any one else heard that?
Here's my bigger question: Should I be worried about the other two? They seem very active but it almost seems like (for one of them) his tail fin is kind of shrinking or shriveling a little. I've read about tail rot and it doesn't seem like that - no white spots or anything. It just seems a little more compressed, kind of like a partially-folded paper fan instead of being fully fanned out. Any ideas? I could be imagining things because now I'm paranoid about killing the other two (see pic below - it's the yellow/black one I'm a little worried about).
And should I wait to add another third? I don't want to stress them by having too small of a school but I also want to be cautious.
(other details: gravel bottom, three plants, 5-watt pre-set heater, low surface agitation from the filter - which came with the aquarium: "mini bow 5")
Thank you!