G
Guest
Guest
Issue #1: Temperature control. Although all my tanks have heaters, I am finding it very difficult to control the temp in my tanks...sometimes as much as a 10 degree difference between night and day temp. I live in florida. I run my Air Conditioner all day at the same temp (75 degrees F) but like it or not, it gets incredibly hot during the day and overpowers the AC, and cools off considerably at night.
Despite my best efforts, I wake up to 74 degree tanks and go to bed with 82 degree tanks.
The fish don't seem terribly bothered, but I know i am asking for trouble. Is there any way to get this under control?
Issue #2: PH balance. I am finding that as my tanks get more established, the pH drops drastically to between 5 and 5.5. They start out around 7.5, but drop as the bacteria establishes. To combat this, I have started adding crushed coral to my tanks. It seems to be helping. However, why does the pH start to drop so much as the tanks become more biologically stable?
Issue #3: Fish paranoia. I am constantly concerned about every odd twitch, every little spot on a fin, every time they don't eat, everything. I am running myself broke with test kits, as i test them constantly looking for any possible issue. How do I get less worried? they seem so delicate, and no offense, but this site has me concerned that they are constantly going to die off. lol.
Issue #4: white scales on my molly. My gold sailfin molly has been in QT since I brought her home a month ago. She has whitish scales on the top of her body. They look kind of "dried out", like a molting snake. She acts quite healthy, but i am concerned this is some sort of infection. What is it? It isn't cottony or filmy, just whitish edges on the scales on the top of her body, like lime stains in the shower.
Issue #5: Feeding. While I try hard to be a good fish mommy and give lots of variety, NONE of my fish will eat anything but flakes. I have tried red cabbage, zucchini, cucumber, orange slices, peas, fresh garlic (my GBRs did like this), frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen spirulina, and some frozen mix cube. They ignore everything but flakes. How can I get them to try something new?
Issue #6: No nitrite spike, ever. All of my tanks show nitrates, but none have ever shown nitrites during their cycles. Ammonia was heavily present in all tanks at the start. Now all hover at about 5-10 NO3, but none have ever shown NO2 at all. Is this a concern?
Issue #7: Water change queen. I do more water changes than i should have to i think. I change water is pretty much every tank every day. With 5 tanks running and no python, this is a lot of work. If i even get a positive reading for ammonia, i change water at least 25%.
I have a relatively low mortality rate. I have had about 50 fish altogether and have only lost maybe 7 total in 4 monts, 4 of which died the day they came home.
Thanks
P.
Despite my best efforts, I wake up to 74 degree tanks and go to bed with 82 degree tanks.
The fish don't seem terribly bothered, but I know i am asking for trouble. Is there any way to get this under control?
Issue #2: PH balance. I am finding that as my tanks get more established, the pH drops drastically to between 5 and 5.5. They start out around 7.5, but drop as the bacteria establishes. To combat this, I have started adding crushed coral to my tanks. It seems to be helping. However, why does the pH start to drop so much as the tanks become more biologically stable?
Issue #3: Fish paranoia. I am constantly concerned about every odd twitch, every little spot on a fin, every time they don't eat, everything. I am running myself broke with test kits, as i test them constantly looking for any possible issue. How do I get less worried? they seem so delicate, and no offense, but this site has me concerned that they are constantly going to die off. lol.
Issue #4: white scales on my molly. My gold sailfin molly has been in QT since I brought her home a month ago. She has whitish scales on the top of her body. They look kind of "dried out", like a molting snake. She acts quite healthy, but i am concerned this is some sort of infection. What is it? It isn't cottony or filmy, just whitish edges on the scales on the top of her body, like lime stains in the shower.
Issue #5: Feeding. While I try hard to be a good fish mommy and give lots of variety, NONE of my fish will eat anything but flakes. I have tried red cabbage, zucchini, cucumber, orange slices, peas, fresh garlic (my GBRs did like this), frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen spirulina, and some frozen mix cube. They ignore everything but flakes. How can I get them to try something new?
Issue #6: No nitrite spike, ever. All of my tanks show nitrates, but none have ever shown nitrites during their cycles. Ammonia was heavily present in all tanks at the start. Now all hover at about 5-10 NO3, but none have ever shown NO2 at all. Is this a concern?
Issue #7: Water change queen. I do more water changes than i should have to i think. I change water is pretty much every tank every day. With 5 tanks running and no python, this is a lot of work. If i even get a positive reading for ammonia, i change water at least 25%.
I have a relatively low mortality rate. I have had about 50 fish altogether and have only lost maybe 7 total in 4 monts, 4 of which died the day they came home.
Thanks
P.