Ferryman's 3ft construction

i'm taking some water to pet a pond today, just called, they said they will test all the chems for R15, which i can afford

@slagter, i went out yesterday to look for some tests, but then found my bank balance couldn't take the payment at present, so i'll need to hang tight till my semester tests are over, so i can go to work on the weekends again, one weekend=R300 so, getting the tetra kit is about 450 or so, getting the API kit is 530, getting each kit individually, (i think they are test strip kits) is about 120, 120 and 90 or something like that, so either way, i need about two weekends worth of pay, four if you take into account i need about 2 fillups on my car to get to uni and work in a month, thats almost 300 per tank fill...

So, for now, i'll quickly go do the R15 test at the pet store...

 

Tank update

Okay, the cory didn't go gulp air at all yesterday, breating was slow and normal like the others, no redness and its fins were all spread out normally as well

This morning i found both albino cories swimming about, and both sniffling in the sand etc, normal behavior, though the one seems to stop and take 'rests' more often than they usually do, so its swim snaffle snaffle swim swim reeeeest, repeat...

The danio hasn't been bullied as far as i know, the whole group had like a kind of 'fight/tag game' going on a day or two ago, all seems normal,

this morning i found the one still hanging about topside, gave em all flakes (it floats) and everyone pigged out, except Mopyfish...
the other two come hanging around topside but they go back lower mid-tank and swim in and against the powerhaed or HOB currents. Mopy is the only topside fish all the time

I had a floating stick which i drifted in the water when it reached Mopy, it'd swim down low, but then when the stick drifted past, itd go back up and Mope some more...

Well i'm off to test the water

here's the fish pic

 

You have an emo fish, put on some My Chemical Romance
As long as Mopy isn't swimming all retarded and hanging around the bottom I don't think he'll have swim bladder disease. That's what two of my Harlequins died of early on and they would sink to the bottom then flop around in the water in no particular direction then sink to the bottom again, all the while breathing erratically.

The Cories should be fine, mine used to be very active but now they seem to hide away till feeding time or lights out. So maybe they need some more shaded areas? I also know that Cories are sensitive to Nitrates, and mine are quite high so it could be the Nitrates making them less active.

Perhaps add some hornwort that will float on top and see if that changes their behavoir.

By the way, what's your current tank temperature?

 

Tank temp @ 26.8 degrees
Room temp @ 25.9 degrees, will cool down a bit tonight though, heater set to 26 degrees.

Okay, results,
Ammonia - > 0mg/L
Nitrite NO2 - > lower than 0.3mg/L
pH - > 8.2 ish, still...

The guy didn't do a Nitrate test, since he knows better and those tests aren't necessary...... In fact, ask him anything, he probably knows better (like male and female betta can't be kept together in a betta tank at all, he will definately kill her...), IN FACT, i need to prepare my next water change with swimming pool acid to bring down my pH.....

W...T.....FFFFFFF?






Anyway, had a glance in the tank now, happy to see the cories hoovering away at present, as long as its moving around and eating/sniffling i'm happy with it.

Mopy is still nosing around topside and his groupies are sticking around for a while, the non conformists are swimming around.

 

That 8.2 pH is likely what's making them act all weird, and possibly the Nitrates. But if you've done a water change recently that would have brought the Nitrates down anyway. I think my pH might also be too high, but I'll need to get a better test kit to be sure, maybe it's time to get a digital one.

You could easily bring your tank temperature down as well, there's no need for it to be at 26, 25 or even 24 will be enough to keep all the fish happy and save you a few rands electricity.

 

I think it is the PH dude... 8.2 is pretty high. Danios are hardy, tough little guys, but I recon that is still a bit high. Cories DEFINITELY like the PH to be a little lower!! between 6.5 and 7.5 would be ideal. I recommend putting some Black water tonic in the tank to soften it up a bit, or get some peat moss and pop a bit in the filter. You could also use RO water. Mix it 50/50 with dechlorinated tap water. This will bring your PH down.

http://www.fishyportal.com/cgi-bin/pub/diag?c=v&id=8&did=240054

 

I'll do so. i kept it up there as with my Hydor theo heater, it would't go any lower, now i have the jager, i'll probably have no probs, should i set it to 25? i've taken daily room readings, it usualy gets around 25. (btw, i misread earlier, it wasn't 26.9, it was just 26.0

I know the tetras also want lower water pH, i have peat moss, i had almost two tennis balls worth in a stocking drifting in the tank, no noticable effect, although i have read that it works, i dunno how to apply it correctly, cause for me it didn't work, it should supposedly bring it down to about 6.8

I dont have an RO unit, and certainly no funds to buy one, or to buy water every water change, remember i'm not a hardcore hobbyist just a normal one with a low low budget.

any ideas on how to better use peat, than dangling it in a sock? my hob's are full, there's no space to stick peat in. and i packet a corner filter (airtube driven thing) with peat too, no effect

 

i'm starting to think i caused that problem, not sure but it also possible.

I soaked vermiculite in a jug for a week or so, until everything was waterlogged, then i put the waterlogged stuff in a stocking with an airstone , the idea behind it, i read that vermiculite is a good kation exchange mechanism, that helps plant growth, having air in the sock would agitate the stuff to move around in the sock...

after a minute in the tank, quite an amount of tiny tiny vermiculite dust particles had escaped through the stocking which had me take out the stocking immediately, stupid damned idea it was... DONT EVER TRY THIS!!

anyway, i had to wait for the particles to settle to try and vac it up. which eventually happened. in the mean time, the fish would most probably have 'breathed' that stuff in. and this possibly affected the mopy fish's gills, thats why it looks pinkish and probably why its doing the 'rapid breating thing'. Its a theory, dunno if its possible cause the other fish are all fine, but it is probably worth concideration. Still, if thats the case i have no idea how to rectify the situation

@ slagter - I went to that diagnostic site, it spits out that the fish has cold, or asphyxia or some bacteria. dunno how you got alkolosis, but thats what it gives me... its not asphyxia due to low oxygen content, and its not ammonia, i dont thing it'd be nitrite poisoning as the concentration is too low, probably because the water was changed yesterday (50%) that there was a tiny cycle on its way out

 

Oooohhhh.... Vermiculite? You're supposed to put that under the gravel, with potting soil AND THEN cap it with a gravel of your choice!! It's not supposed to be floating in the tank! It could be your reason, but I don't think it's the only cause...

I got that answer by selecting a few of the symptoms you told me about. Obviously, you know what the fish looks like first hand. So I was not the right person to do that for you, but it could be accurate.

 

i hope not, cause unless someone can tell me how to use peat effectively, when i cant stick a glob in my filter, then i cant do anything about the pH. I checked my tap pH too, its also at 8, so using tap instead of borehole wount have an effect

I know its supposed to go under the gravel, but i also read an article on it having a lesser effect if its just placed in a bag in the water... tried it, it didn't work out so well. If its the vermiculite, my fish probably now has something like asbestos lungs... and i cant help it either. so i really friggin dont know if this fish is gonna be fine, or not, but i have nothing i can treat it with

On a related/repeated note, i still wanna find a way to get a lower, sustainable pH, but i dont have RO, and cant afford buying liters of water either. it should be peat, or chems, which i do not want to mess with at all... i need a natural solution

 

Hey Ferry - PM me about a natural solution - we can discuss

 

HI Zafgak can't you maybe make a thread were we all can see how to bring down our PH levels in the tank because I have a few tanks that I would like to get a 7 or 7.5 Ph but I want it to be stable not jump up and down

 

Would adding loads of wood / plants no lower the PH? I gave up on trying to control PH - seems like all the fish / plants I have are doing OK I found initially that trying to control every aspect of a tank is what makes the hobby no fun.

Let the tank and its content settle (3 months) before you embark on the holly grail -unless something is broken - then try and fix it.

 

Hey Gareth and all others - After the LED lighting fiasco, (still have not found suitable enclosures) I do not want to get anybody's hopes up. If you guys hang on about a week I will start a pH thread. (and a few other threads as well..)

Just want to say - beware of playing with pH unless you understand buffering and are willing to accept a pH crash....

Thanx for the patience in advance ....

 

Thanks Zafgak
I will wait till you post in the near future be for I start playing around with the PH in my tanks

 

So will i. I know that playing with Ph isn't the smartest thing to do, as the Ph scale is a log scale, so a drop from 8 to 7 is actually more drastic than we think when we think its only a one point drop, and the variation is also stressfull to fish, i also know you first need to get it to a neutral point, then you need to buffer it so it wont fluctuate as much with the regular water changes.

It is actually better to have a neutral or lower pH from the start, and if not, using pH downers is like spraying aerosol in a room, it fades and needs to be repeated.

Oh well, its gonna bug me, but i dont know if theres anything i can do for that mopyfish. I arranged my scape now, so the fish are more visible to the front, so i'm happy to leave the tank well enough alone for a few months, only maintain, feed and watch...

a vid of the fish, its grainy and small, but upload is easier
http://s73.photobucket.com/player.s...ms/i207/Bufamotis/Video011.flv&fs=1&os=1&ap=1


The mopy fish

And friends

and the new scape

 

These guys are long-finned zebra danios. They are pretty inbred and are not all that robust. If you alter pH values too much, although 8 to 7 is not too much, then they are likely to develop problems. Your addition of vermiculite will cause all the haze but will not cause any damage. Why the hell did you add it in the first place though? This is an entirely inert medium which does not really benefit plant growth as it is?

I would do a 50% water change with conditioned water, or water treated with a dechlorinator, add a tablespoon of course salt per 100 litre and then stop fiddling with the tank parameters all the time. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. I would certainly not go into some or other major treatment frenzy.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks for the input Prof,

i know i shouldn't have added the flippin vermiculite in the end
I was adding some to my dried out bonsai soil and thought i'd try it
EVEN THOUGH i asked you and you said not to, so apologies for not listening, it was stupid... i thought, hey, maybe i'll get better plant growth... sigh. Dumb ideas prosper as well...

i did a 50% water change yesterday, i'll add the course salt then, and leave the tank in peace (save for cleaning feeding and ogling of course)

hopefully the mopyfish will come right with time

BTW, at present, and since about a week ago already, i have had no peat in my tank, i decided to take&leave it out when i didn't notice an effect

 

i would not tamper with the ph in anyway, the important thing is to keep a stable ph, aerate water you plan to use for a water change atleast a day or 2 before the WC, i use a 2000Lph powerhead with venturi for this, also gives some good movement etc, you can also heat water while you are doing this.

 

this is just weird,

This morning i turned on the first light and saw all the danios swimming about in the currents, then a bit later i turn on the cfl and the cool whites, and when i walk past again later, the mopyfish is up top again... it was Just swimming around a second ago...