Recent content by Norm_Deplume

Same thing happened to one of my platys the other day. She was fine, then all of a sudden she got sick. Now I'm worried about adding any new fish to the tank, worried that there's something wrong in there. The two remaining platys seem okay so far, but feel like I should treat the tank somehow...

She'll pick at the flakes a tiny bit, but is mostly uninterested in them. I have found that if I turn the filter off when I feed them she'll put a little more effort into the eating, but still not nearly as much as when I put a pea in the tank. Then she'll thrown down and get into some real...

Cliff's notes of my history: New 10 gal tank at end of August, did a fish-in cycle with 2 platys. I lost one of them to ammonia/nitrite poisoning (still feeling guilty about that), the other, a male red wag survived the ordeal. After the tank was done cycling 3 weeks ago, we added two other...

Thanks everyone. He was definitely happier when his original roommate was alive. She only lived about two weeks. He nearly succumbed to the fish-in cycle as well, but he pulled through. Least I could do would be to get him a couple of girlfriends, no?

My son got a 10 gallon aquarium for his birthday at the end of August. Having followed the advice of the pet store people, we bought two platys to live in it. But only one of the fish survived the fish-in cycle. After a fair number of challenges (my tap water turns out to have very high nitrites...

I'm in the middle of the US, 2 hours' drive south of Chicago. ETA: Found Kent RO Right online. I'll get some ordered right away. Thanks for the recommendation.

10 gallon tank has been set up for 3+ weeks, cycling with one platy in. The last several days I've tested the ammonia, it's been down to 0. I've been struggling with high nitrites though. I didn't realize until the other day that water changes weren't helping the nitrites because my tap water is...

Thanks so much for all your help. I just put 2 liters of the RO water in, but will hold off adding any more until I can find some remineralization salts. There is a LFS a couple of towns away, I'll call them this afternoon and see if they have that. I know he's just a $1 fish, but we've all...

when you say "a bit", how much do you mean? I have a 10 gallon (38 L) tank. Should I only be changing out one liter at a time, or stick with percentages? Is 10% too much? (BTW, just went and bought bottled water. Testing it just to make sure I'm not just screwing up the testing. Sure enough...

I'm using API Tap Water Conditioner. It claims to remove chlorine and detoxify heavy metals, but doesn't mention nitrites. Edit to add: I've called my local health department and left a message about testing water. Meanwhile I'm heading to the grocery to get a few gallons of filtered water.

Yes, yes, yes, and lot number is 26A0612 Exp 06/2017 I just re-tested the tap water with a brand-new test tube that I hadn't used before. And the test turned bright pinky purple again. I don't want to be a jerk, but I'm thinking about taking my test down to the city water department and see...

Nitrites are reading 5 ppm. It's a 3-week-old tank with one platy in it. (Bought fish before I knew about fishless cycling. Had two platys, but one died last week. Working very hard to keep the other one alive, but this is a whole lot of work for my kid's birthday present, you know?)

I live in the US, where the acceptable level is <1.0 ppm. I'm doing a nitrite test, with the API liquid test kit. I've been doing daily water changes in my new tank to keep the ammonia level down. That's been working, but the nitrites are consistently high. I've read and re-read the test...

I have been testing and testing, and water changing and water changing, and finally it dawned on me why my nitrites might be so high. So I tested my tap water, and sure enough, it tests high in nitrites (I'm not surprised-- I'm in a small town surrounded by farms). No wonder I'm having troubles...