Death From Below

[zoekin8yg]

They may eat uneaten food left by other fish but in general produce more waste than they would remove

 

[Kilo]

They may eat uneaten food left by other fish but in general produce more waste than they would remove

My friend who has plecos and eels told me weeks ago the same thing my mechanic told me yesterday—they never have to change their water but once a year, and all year long their water is crytal clear. They have all that I have, but how is it that we all have to (at least me,`cos I dunno what you guys here do with your aquariums) change the water every 2 weeks? Even FSs say they have to do it a couple days a week.

Well, the water is still cloudy, and the nitrite & ammonia are still in the danger zone, but the fish are still alive and active.

I'm beginning to like how I have my aquarium set up. It took a few weeks, but I'm almost done. If I didn't mention it before—it has a middle-ages Celtic forest theme. I have 5 or 6 goldish-copper plate rocks that I bought at another FS, and the other rocks I got out of my ditch which are goldish-copper, too; and I have a three-arch bridge that looks centuries old, as well as the driftwood that looks like a massive tree trunk which fell over and decayed, then petrified; and it has a deep copper color to it.

I've looked everywhere for a live plant that looks like a miniature tree you'd find on your front/back yard or in the woods. The one I bought yesterday looks like a pine needle tree. It's called a "something Wort". I have no idea what the first part of its name is.

This new guy at the FS told me all live plants will oxygenate the water as well as create good bacteria and kill the bad bacteria. Dunno if that's true or not, but I believe the part about the oxygenation. I dunno—you guys can tell me what the live plants do and can't do.

Thanks!

 

[rowdyburns21]

Your tank is still in the cycling process!! keep up the frequent waterchanges, also I noticed you talking about test strips, those things are no good as someone else has said get a liquid master test kit essential bit of kit, and no fish should go a year without a water change they may survive but they dont thrive!

 

[Kilo]

Your tank is still in the cycling process!! keep up the frequent waterchanges, also I noticed you talking about test strips, those things are no good as someone else has said get a liquid master test kit essential bit of kit, and no fish should go a year without a water change they may survive but they dont thrive!

Never heard of a liquid water tester. I'll have to look for one. I've been using the JungleLab brand of dip-strips. This is what the FSs use and told me they're very accurate and affordable. I'm about out. I also need to check just plain tapwater for Spooky76 as soon as I can buy some testers.

Yeah, I wouldn't think fish can go a year without water changes, whether they can thrive or not. Even my mother and nextdoor neighbors, when I was a child, didn't wait more than a month; and the nextdoor neighbors knew way way more about aquariums and fish than I do today.

I've been changing mine every 2 weeks. I just dunno what happened. I don't over feed them. My landlord who isn't into aquarium fish, but has a boat and fishes all the time for food, said fish can go a week without a bite. I dunno about that. I suppose they can; but he's talking about dirty, muddy, cloudy lakewater fish. Dunno if they're the same as clear water tropicals.

Guess what I'll do now for awhile anyway when the levels of ammonia, nitrate & nitrite are high, and probably do it 2 or 3 days a week until I see this stuff drop, is just empty 25% of the water only, instead of doing both that and vacuum the gravel,`cos vacuuming the gravel is a pain in the neck to be doing more than twice a month. So I'll see what constant water changes only will do as the days go by.

 

[Kilo]

My aquarium is finally declouding, but it still isn't crystal clear. Guess it will be by Friday. I'm guessing the ammonia/nitrate have dropped a bit—I dunno for sure,`cos I'm out of testers. Won't be able to have it tested until tonight; but they're all alive and active. However, the silly eel always stays hid beneath the gravel and rocks. It's been hiding ever since I got it, back when the water was safe. So it might be dead and I wouldn't know; so if I don't see its face pop out, I'm gonna have to take all the rocks and ornaments out to search for it.