So, the 3 year old thought the fish were hungry...

[papa_bear_21]

bio spira added at about 1315 today...will be monitoring results...

 

[severum mama]

Great! I bet it will help.

 

[papa_bear_21]

my fiance will be testing the water if she gets the chance later, and I will post the results...I figure that if the stuff worked, we will see results at this point in the stage?

*EDIT TEST RESULTS*

ph-8.3 to 8.4, amm-025,nitrate-10, nitrite-.50 to 1.0

I would think our numbers would be lower? The only thing I can figure is that I had been using some melafix, and had not replaced my carbon before putting the bio spira in? if its not better in the morning, we will be going to get more, carbon's been running since the bio spira was added...could the melafix have messed things up?

 

[papa_bear_21]

Second dose of bio spira added, 1248, hopefully we will see an improvement in water quality. I am curious if the melafix counteracted the bio spira, as the only difference in numbers was a higher nitrite level...I dont figure a second dose can hurt the fish, as its all good bacteria, and you can never have too much good bacteria, right?

 

[papa_bear_21]

lost another guppy today...and I dunno if this is normal, but the pleco's fins are almost see through? he's only a couple inches, is it normal?

 

[Marconis]

Second dose of bio spira added, 1248, hopefully we will see an improvement in water quality. I am curious if the melafix counteracted the bio spira, as the only difference in numbers was a higher nitrite level...I dont figure a second dose can hurt the fish, as its all good bacteria, and you can never have too much good bacteria, right?

Nope, pretty sure you can never overdose BS.

 

[papa_bear_21]

Second dose of bio spira added, 1248, hopefully we will see an improvement in water quality. I am curious if the melafix counteracted the bio spira, as the only difference in numbers was a higher nitrite level...I dont figure a second dose can hurt the fish, as its all good bacteria, and you can never have too much good bacteria, right?

Nope, pretty sure you can never overdose BS.

now if it would just start to work...LOL

could my nitrite test have gone bad? ammonia is zero, nitrates are up to 15, but nitrites are constantly testing above 5ppm. The fish dont seem to be acting funny, and they're not dying daily...just one here and there...could my results be off or something?

 

[papa_bear_21]

ok...so I had a chat with one of the folks down at my lfs, and told them I've been having issues with fish loss and high nitrites. Their response was a bit shocking, and I took it with a grain of salt (no pun intended, read on...LOL). She told me that with having the tropical stock I have, and the problems as such, that I should add some aquarium salt. I bought a breeder tank for the mollies, and a new nitrites test kit, to see if the old test was bad. I added the correct dose of API aquarium conditioning salt, few hours later I ran a test with the new kit. It was blue 0ppm, did a test with both kits, 2 blue 0ppm tests. Will do a full test later tonite, but I believe the tank has cycled with a bit of help...

Thanks to all who have helped and supported us through this experience,

Bear

 

[severum mama]

That's great, Bear! The aquarium salt isn't necessary for your mollies, but it's good to have around the house in case you ever need to treat for ich. It isn't something that you need to add all the time, but it won't hurt anything either so don't worry. It sounds like you are on your way to having an established tank. Test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate tonight, and post some numbers!

 

[papa_bear_21]

we're gonna do a partial tonite, if things go well, a test will be done before hand. Then another tomorrow before we leave. The salt is in a dish with some gravel on top, it doesnt disolve right away as it would if spread throughout the gravel. I am glad things are starting to fall into place, and that we have mollies who are breeding...LOL hopefully the baby mollie lives...

 

[papa_bear_21]

Day 1: baby mollie seems to be doing good, he's swimming around and more active...he appears to be teasing the bigger fish who cant get to him. I know this goes against most advice on here, but we were at the LFS to get some supplies, and found some new fish the we really liked...so we picked up a few...Added a pack of bio spira when adding the fish. Few replacement guppies, and some glass cats...I think the glass cats were bought a little prematurely, as I am not sure what to feed them, but they sure do look nice in the tank. Will be doing some research on what to feed them...Any tips/hints/advice will be well taken, and I know that this may not have been the best move, and understand what consequences this decision can cause...

Thanks again to all for the help