Recent content by catbirdie

Hi KittyKat... >>>>>>If the tank is completely empty, then cooked or raw shrimp is fine (but household ammonia is better) *******okie dokie... sounds good! >>>>>The maintenance decreases as the tank becomes more established :) I still recommend that you investigate going seriously planted as...

>>>>>That sounds good, you should be adding a source of ammonia to feed the filter or the bacteria will die back. Household ammonia (ingredients have to be only ammonia and water) is great. Otherwise, toss a shrimp in, the sort which are used for cooking and eating: it will release ammonia as it...

Hi KittyKat... I had a lot to do before writing you back so here's the update: >>>Do you have access to shells? Like mussel or oyster shells? Or crushed sea shells? If you do, clean them well, then add them to the filter, it will help buffer the water. You might also want to consider adding...

>>>>How high is the nitrite? What does Prime do to it? Do you live in the countryside or an area with low or no pollution? Can you collect rainwater? ***The nitrite was at least 5.0 on the chart. So the nitrites are still quite high. The Prime says it detoxifies nitrite and nitrates. I live in...

>>>>An airstone can improve things, or you can try to move the filter in such a way that surface disturbance increases. The only problem with airstones is that the airpumps are loud unless you get a decent one and suspend it mid-air on some string. It certainly wouldn't hurt, but a lot of the...

>>>KH is carbonate hardness: http://en.wikipedia....bonate_hardness It acts as a buffer, which kinda means that it shows if your pH is going to be the same or if it will change *****OK.. I don't have a test for KH here, I have to order it from the internet so will take a couple of days. In the...

>>>>>What is the KH of your tap water? It is worth figuring out what causes the pH to drop before adding fish. The process of nitrification (ammonia being converted to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate) acidifies the water ****** I don't know what KH means :( ...... the pH of my water is 7.6. The...

I checked the tank tonight, nitrite still high but the pH is down to 6.0 again. I also wanted to mention that the bio wheel (HOTB) is not spinning as it should. Last few days I've had to take it out and just put it back in and then it works fine for a while. This could mess things up too...

>> think of what would have happened in a 5 or 10 gallon (which is why I recommend you keep all of your apple snails in the 29). ***** I hear you there. Can I keep the apple snails in the 5 gal without fish or is it too small a tank for them? If so, how many could I keep in a 5 gal and would...

>>>>What species are your snails? Live snails are low bio-load, as are small dead snails (ramshorns, MTS, physa, etc).. but a dead apple snail (or similar) is a huge bio-load. If you have any apple (mystery) snails in there, do check all of them. If you're not sure whether one is alive, take it...

Are the plants looking healthy? Do you vacuum the gravel during water changes? Have you cleaned the sponges recently? Always in old tank water? What ornaments do you have in there? Yes, the plants are fine, I vacuum the gravel when I do a water change, The sponges get cleaned in old tankwater...

>>>>>I'd ignore the snails unless they become a problem. Have you tried adding 5-10 bunches of plants to that tank? Yes, I added plants after you told me to earlier. That right away cleaned up the ammonia at the time. Then the tank started to develop high levels of ammonia and nitrites without...

>>>>I still think that the nitrite problem is nothing to do with the fry and everything to do with your pH: I have had 10-100 times more fish in a tank that size without problems (granted, under different conditions, but the point is that a decent filter should be able to handle your 10 odd...

>>>Safe for ammonia and nitrite are only 0 ppm readings. Anything above is not safe. ***I know I'm trying... I double filtered the H2O last night which when tested before adding to the tank, the ammonia was eliminated, but the nitrites were still high. I did do a 3/4 water change with that...

>>>>So are there any fish in the 29 gallon now? >>>>The problem with the guppy and platys sounds like what is caused by long term ammonia or nitrite exposure. ****Yes, there are 3 guppies and six baby platy's in the 29 gal. They are acting alright for the moment. **** I double filtered the...