Kellie
Aquarium Advice Activist
I'm bad at being brief but I'll try, actual questions in bold if you just want to skim.
10/8 - Got and set up a beautiful new 36G aquarium, a generous gift from my sweetie cuz he knew I really missed the tanks I'd had years ago.
10/9 - already knew about cycling from past tanks, researched ways to quicken the cycle, found out about silent cycling, thought, hmm live plants never done those before, bought a bunch of low tech no fuss plants. started working on my future stocking plan.
10/11 - Decided on future stocking plan, bought the ever popular API test kit, checked water, all 0 but maybe a slight trace of nitrate, saw signs of the plants growing, lightly seeded the tank just to be safe, went out and bought 7 rasboras (5 harlequin, 2 espei). Planned on waiting 2 weeks pending perfect water conditions before adding more stock.
Checked water every day for 3 days, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less then 5 but more then 0 nitrate (my tap water reads as 0 nitrate). Question 1, added a little liquid plant fertilizer, smaller then suggested on bottle dose, does that make nitrate reading show higher?
10/14 - Sent my BF to the LFS to pick up more mopani wood to join the pieces I already had soaking. BF knew I wanted panda cories and was admiring them when the sales guy told him they were the last 4 they had left, and that they usually sell out same day. He asked him to hold them, came home, got a sample of tank water (he didn't want to read the instructions on the API kit) brought it back to the store, had the guy test it, BF said he tested it with liquid drops, not stips, and said it was perfect. So he surprised me with 4 panda cories. I came home, 3 were swimming together like champs, one was hiding and not so active, BF said he had trouble getting one out of the bag, tested water .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, did a 50% PWC.
10/15 - Cory 1 dead, ammonia at almost 1ppm, nitrite 0, did two PWC that day about 30% each. Second cory looking inactive, had a bump on his head, looked like an injury. Other two looked great.
10/16 - Cory 2 dead. Ammonia .5, nitrite less then .25 but more then 0. Cory 3 showing signs of pop eye, two 50% PWC, Cory 4 perfect, all rasboras perfect. Before bed the popeye looked really bad, so put cory in a 3G "hospital tank." He was dead by morning. BF cried.
10/17 - rasboras and last cory looking/acting perfect. Ammonia less then .5, nitrite just a bit more then 0, but less then .25. Did a huge PWC and added my mopani after days of hot water soaking.
Today - Everyone looks healthy, this morning BF tested just for ammonia, said it was .25, he did a 30% PWC. I came home several hours later, both ammonia and nitrite were reading above 0 but less then the next color on the scale, Nitrate between almost 5ppm. I did a 25% PWC.
So time for the rest of my questions. I am almost certain the addition of the cories overloaded the little bit of seeded BB I added and what the plants could handle, correct? Is it possible that this was a bad batch of cories? The one looked injured and the popeye on the other was just on one side, I'm aware they like perfect water so I'm sure the stress of the possible injuries with the less then perfect water did them in. I carefully looked at the dead cory gills, didn't see any red, and none of the living fish have any signs of ammonia poisoning, if it was all due to just ammonia poisoning there would be some sign yes? They died before adding the mopani so not sure what they could have hurt themselves on, I added some wonder rock I turned into caves the same night the cories were added but the edges are all rounded and the rock itself is fairly smooth.
The last cory looks like he is definitly going to be fine, aside from trying to school with his reflection he looks the picture of health. And the rasboras have never shown any signs of stress at all. I know I should definitly not add anything else to the tank until the water is back to perfect (and told BF that I love him surprising me, but stick to jewelry unless he's going to consult with me first).
So I'm concluding the plants were enough to handle the silent cycle with just the rasboras but couldn't keep up with the addition of the cories, if the plants continue to suck up the bad stuff how will I know when the BB is ready? How long should I wait after perfect water readings to re-populate the panda cories? I don't want to overload again, but I don't want him to be stressed from being alone (although the espeis try to keep him company when he looks like he's schooling with his reflection, its both cute and sad.)
I am going to test the water daily and PWC at anything more then 0 ammonia/nitrite.
10/8 - Got and set up a beautiful new 36G aquarium, a generous gift from my sweetie cuz he knew I really missed the tanks I'd had years ago.
10/9 - already knew about cycling from past tanks, researched ways to quicken the cycle, found out about silent cycling, thought, hmm live plants never done those before, bought a bunch of low tech no fuss plants. started working on my future stocking plan.
10/11 - Decided on future stocking plan, bought the ever popular API test kit, checked water, all 0 but maybe a slight trace of nitrate, saw signs of the plants growing, lightly seeded the tank just to be safe, went out and bought 7 rasboras (5 harlequin, 2 espei). Planned on waiting 2 weeks pending perfect water conditions before adding more stock.
Checked water every day for 3 days, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, less then 5 but more then 0 nitrate (my tap water reads as 0 nitrate). Question 1, added a little liquid plant fertilizer, smaller then suggested on bottle dose, does that make nitrate reading show higher?
10/14 - Sent my BF to the LFS to pick up more mopani wood to join the pieces I already had soaking. BF knew I wanted panda cories and was admiring them when the sales guy told him they were the last 4 they had left, and that they usually sell out same day. He asked him to hold them, came home, got a sample of tank water (he didn't want to read the instructions on the API kit) brought it back to the store, had the guy test it, BF said he tested it with liquid drops, not stips, and said it was perfect. So he surprised me with 4 panda cories. I came home, 3 were swimming together like champs, one was hiding and not so active, BF said he had trouble getting one out of the bag, tested water .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, did a 50% PWC.
10/15 - Cory 1 dead, ammonia at almost 1ppm, nitrite 0, did two PWC that day about 30% each. Second cory looking inactive, had a bump on his head, looked like an injury. Other two looked great.
10/16 - Cory 2 dead. Ammonia .5, nitrite less then .25 but more then 0. Cory 3 showing signs of pop eye, two 50% PWC, Cory 4 perfect, all rasboras perfect. Before bed the popeye looked really bad, so put cory in a 3G "hospital tank." He was dead by morning. BF cried.
10/17 - rasboras and last cory looking/acting perfect. Ammonia less then .5, nitrite just a bit more then 0, but less then .25. Did a huge PWC and added my mopani after days of hot water soaking.
Today - Everyone looks healthy, this morning BF tested just for ammonia, said it was .25, he did a 30% PWC. I came home several hours later, both ammonia and nitrite were reading above 0 but less then the next color on the scale, Nitrate between almost 5ppm. I did a 25% PWC.
So time for the rest of my questions. I am almost certain the addition of the cories overloaded the little bit of seeded BB I added and what the plants could handle, correct? Is it possible that this was a bad batch of cories? The one looked injured and the popeye on the other was just on one side, I'm aware they like perfect water so I'm sure the stress of the possible injuries with the less then perfect water did them in. I carefully looked at the dead cory gills, didn't see any red, and none of the living fish have any signs of ammonia poisoning, if it was all due to just ammonia poisoning there would be some sign yes? They died before adding the mopani so not sure what they could have hurt themselves on, I added some wonder rock I turned into caves the same night the cories were added but the edges are all rounded and the rock itself is fairly smooth.
The last cory looks like he is definitly going to be fine, aside from trying to school with his reflection he looks the picture of health. And the rasboras have never shown any signs of stress at all. I know I should definitly not add anything else to the tank until the water is back to perfect (and told BF that I love him surprising me, but stick to jewelry unless he's going to consult with me first).
So I'm concluding the plants were enough to handle the silent cycle with just the rasboras but couldn't keep up with the addition of the cories, if the plants continue to suck up the bad stuff how will I know when the BB is ready? How long should I wait after perfect water readings to re-populate the panda cories? I don't want to overload again, but I don't want him to be stressed from being alone (although the espeis try to keep him company when he looks like he's schooling with his reflection, its both cute and sad.)
I am going to test the water daily and PWC at anything more then 0 ammonia/nitrite.
and the testing of course
