OK don't laugh its a serious problem

[newland]

Hi All

I've already got one fish tank set-up and due to fish breading i'm in the process of setting up 2 new tanks.

I've build a special unit to house them. A kinda shelf unit. with 3 shelfs.
1 on ground floor one weight height and one at eye level.

Now i've put one of the tanks on the bottom shelf just to put the gravel in and set it up. I'm awaiting some hardware such as filters and heaters.

Any way my cat got in the just a month and he looked like he got confused and was contimplating using it as his loo. I managed to get him out but it smells like its not the first time he has used it. Luckly only for weeing in.

Now for the question.
Shall i or shall i not wash out the wee?
As wee contains amonia in it would this help the filter get started?

Or would it be best to clean it out with cold water?
If so whats the bet way to cleam cat wee off of gravel?

Thanks
And please don't laugh too much.

 

[dartos]

I unfortunately cannot answer your question, but I just have to say that this is one of the funniest questions I have read. All I can say is that is an interesting predicament you are in. Who needs fish for cycling when you have cats!!!

P.S. I read this while I was at work and people started to look at me funny when I literally laughed out loud as soon as I read this.

 

[newland]

Well I'm wondering if i sould shoult at the cat or laugh.

Its really funny but at the same really anoying.

I've had to shut the cat out as i move the tank to the top shelf and he's meowing at it.

I really hope he starts using he other cat loo.
What's he going to do once its set up. At least cats are afraid of water. I hope.

 

[rdd1952]

Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the answer to this either. I'm sure that cat pee is pretty much the same as a fish's except in much larger quantity. Since you haven't started the cycling process and just have gravel in it, I would say throw the gravel away and clean the tank good with bleach just to be safe.

 

[newland]

Hi there

I would rather not throw the gravel away as it was really nich gravel and cost me about £7 to fill the tank.

Why would washing it in water not work?

 

[astroboy]

LOL< boiling water will be fine. Empty the tank and wash it and the gravel with boiling water. Its just piss, easily washed away, but something you don't want in the tank

 

[kaz petts]

I have to agree with astroboy.
Just empty the gravel out and wash it with boiling water. I would also recommend that you wash the tank out with boiling water too rather than use bleach as you don't want to accidentally leave a tiny amount of bleach in the tank either.

What a position your cat has put you in.

 

[newland]

Cheers for the help.
I'm going to put the gravel in boiling water and clean it.

As for the tank i'm a bit conserned about putting boiling water on glass thats not pyrex. Will it be ok or could it crack?

What i'm thinking of doing is washing it out with warm water and then prehaps putting some boiling water thats had a chance to cool a little maybe to around 80-90oC.


Yeah what a cat. All that trouble and not even any fish in there yet.

He is now banned from the room.

 

[kaz petts]

To be honest the tank should be ok with boiling water in it as it is very thick glass. You could just put about an inch of boiling water in the bottom of the tank then rinse the rest of the tank with the water in the bottom of the tank. I could be wrong on this though and I wouldn't like to say either way. You could just use v hot water. The idea of using boiling water is that the heat kills of anything untoward.
All the best and good luck

 

[The-Raven]

Terrestrial animals' (cats, dogs, elephants, even humans) urine doesn't have very much ammonia in it actually. The primary ingredient is Urea - which has far less nitrogen in it than ammonia. This is because the nitrogenous waste cycle in the excretory system requires water to turn amino acids into ammonia. The more water, the closer the amino acid gets to ammonia. Most terrestrial animals only have enough water to produce urea and uric acid - which makes your urine yellow. The more water you drink, the further down the chain your kidneys are able to break down the amino acids, trading water for nutrients, until all that's left is pure nitrogen - ammonia. Fish produce solely ammonia because well... there's more than enough water to go around.

Basically what I'm trying to say here is that your cat's urine doesn't have any ammonia in it, and thus is worthless in terms of helping along the 'cycling' of your tank.

 

[newland]

Thanks for all the information on this subject.

I've remove the gravel and am in the process of boiling it.

Tank has been cleaned and near boiling water put in it. Lets hope all is good.

Cheers for the info on cat wee. I was wondering if cat wee would contain much amonia or not.

Well i've learnt a valued lesson here.

 

[The-Raven]

Cheers for the info on cat wee. I was wondering if cat wee would contain much amonia or not.

And who said you never learn anything in college... point of fact, I learned all that stuff about urine in my Entomology (Insects) class...

 

[xanthianacid]

Actually, I beg to differ on cat's urine. Cats have a higher level of ammonia in their wee, and are more prone to get urinary tract diseases because of it. It's important to their sense of security (ie marking out territory), and in their smells socially to each other for other purposes (ie in heat). The smell of chemicals containing ammonia will stir up a cat, and they will probably spray, (like in a floor cleaner I once used). it's common sense if you've ever had the misfortune to smell cat urine. It's far stronger than dogs for sure.

 

[nc_nutcase]

I don't have the medical background to challenge the "no ammonia in cat wee" theory... but I know when my girlfriends dog pees in the basement.... it REEKS like ammonia down there.

 

[The-Raven]

I don't have the medical background to challenge the "no ammonia in cat wee" theory... but I know when my girlfriends dog pees in the basement.... it REEKS like ammonia down there.

urea and ammonia smell alike, because they don't have distinct 'smells' you're just smelling the nitrogen - which smells like a sumo wrestler had mexican diahrea on a burning tire.