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

[Steve Connor <sconnor317@gmail.com>]

If anybody has filter material (or some active gravel) I live on Bainbridge
and would love to get some from you if you could spare it.

On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 8:03 PM, Steve Connor <sconnor317@gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh, I forgot to mention in the first post that two days after I get the
> aquarium, I noticed a female platy that had looked happy and healthy
> hiding behind the filter.  I thought her demeanor looked sort of familiar
> and sure enough out plops a baby.  I netted the mother where she gave birth
> to 10 babies now residing in a breeding net I bought after she gave
> birth.  They are probably adding to my ammonia problems but have been a big
> boost to the interest of my very reluctant to get an aquarium wife !
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 7:47 PM, Steve Connor <sconnor317@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Cory and Roy,
>>
>> Thanks for your responses.  I did add Nutrafin Cycle, supposedly a
>> bio-enhancer. Whether that is all gone as a consequence of the water changes
>> is an interesting question I have been pondering. From my by-gone days of
>> aquarium keeping I have negative memories of the ick treatments with dyes in
>> them staining the silicone in the tanks (and everything else).  Does the
>> malachite green or the Ick X do that?  I guess I should also worry about the
>> tetra issue as I have both neons and red eye (or lamp) tetras in the tank.
>> As an observation, the tetras I lost were the cardinals (and only the
>> cardinals) that had been included with the group of neons.  It certainly
>> seemed as if they were more sensitive than the neons.
>>
>>   On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 7:31 PM, Cory McElroy 
>> <corywmcelroy@hotmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> 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
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > GSAS-Member mailing list
>>> > GSAS-Member@thekrib.com
>>> > http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member
>>>
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>>
>>
>
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