Re: [GSAS-Member] Problems with my new tank (and the potential revocation of my new GSAS membership)

[Cory McElroy <corywmcelroy@hotmail.com>]

Keep up on the water changes to get you through the ammonia. Like 50% daily. 
Also I recommend buying Seachem Stability. As this will speed up the beneficial 
bacteria colony. 

As for the Ick. At Conway Tropical Fish and at home I use Hikari's Ich X. Have 
had very good results with it. 

As for the grape vine. I have tried it in the past, but after like 6 weeks of 
straight fungus, after scrubbing it off I gave up. I've read that is doesnt 
stop growing fungus eventually, but takes like a year. Your best bet is to just 
find more aquariums suitable wood. Such as Bog log.

See you at the meeting,
Cory

> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 18:30:16 -0800
> From: sconnor317@gmail.com
> To: gsas-member@thekrib.com
> Subject: [GSAS-Member] Problems with my new tank (and the potential   
> revocation of my new GSAS membership)
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I just joined the GSAS this week and really look forward to
> participating. It seems like a great group.
> 
> I am terribly embarrassed that my first post is about all of the mistakes I
> have made with the aquarium I got for Christmas. I will not disclose all of
> them, but suffice it to say, I have done just about every dumb thing you
> could do starting an aquarium up and am suffering the consequences.  (I kept
> aquariums starting as as a kid, had multiple tanks, bred angels, had
> saltwater tanks  etc so I must have been a bit too smug getting going again
> here after a fifteen year- plus haitus).
> 
> My beginning problem -as you probably already canguess- is that I put too
> many fish in my 29 gallon before letting it cycle.  The  present issues
> arising from my dumbness that I could use some help on are:
> 
> 1.  My ammonia skyrocketed and, after losing some cardinal tetras, I
> panicked and got  Ammo-Lock.  It seemed to help the fish immediately but I
> continue to have very high ammonia readings.  I understand that one of the
> problems of using Ammo-Lock is that it messes up your readings but I don't
> understand whether that is a permanent thing or not.  I also don't
> understand whether by using that I have prevented the creation of nitrites
> and thus blocked the cycle from happening.  A secondary consequence of this
> is I don't know where I am in the cycle and am not clear whether all of my
> fish are about to die from some nitrite spike
> 
> 2.  A couple of fish now have a some spots of ich.  ( I got most of the fish
> from chain stores).  I didn't want to add anything that would further mess
> up my tank chemistry or stain the tank and the chain stores I went to did
> not seem to have any product with just formalin in it.  Instead, I added
> salt and increased the temperature to 82 but am worried about the corydoras
> I have in there.  I cant tell if it has solved the problem as a few fish
> still seem to have a couple of spots ( I started the salt three days ago but
> hadn't reall gotten the temperature up to 82 until today). Any suggestions
> on this front?
> 
> I have been doing 25% water changes every other day to try to ameliorate the
> problems I have caused.
> 
> The third problem/question I have  unrelated to my overstocking is I
> boughtsome driftwood from one of the chain stores which said it was suitable
> for terrarium or aquarium use.  I think it said it was grapevine or grape
> wood or something with grape in the name. After soaking it and  getting it
> to sink I put it in the tank and after a few days started to notice a
> fuzz on it.  At first I thought that  it was just fiber from the wood but it
> continued to grow (it was white) and i started to think that it was some
> kind of fungus.  I have taken it out of the tank but am wondering if anybody
> has any idea what that was and any comments about "grape" driftwood.
> 
> In view of the foregoing I may attend the first few meetings incognito
> butwould appreciate any feedback.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Steve Connor
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