fourthtimelucky
Fish Crazy
I left my tank in the care of a friend for six days. I think he has been over-feeding them slightly as my readings were:
Ammonia <0.1 (just slightly darker than 0, but definitely higher than 0)
NitrIte 0.1 (up from 0)
NitrAte 12.5 (I use NitrateMinus as my tapwater has high nitrates in it)
My tank is 5g hex with wet/dry trickle filter (built in) and an airstone, with 4 male guppies. I did a fishless cycle before they went in and my readings for ammonia & nitrite were 0 for over a week before I added fish. There are three plants and four or five moss balls in the tank.
I did a 50% water change as soon as I had done these tests to get the NitrItes and Ammonia back down, and a thorough vac of the gravel. There did seem to be slightly more debris than usual, but I could just have been imagining it. All the gups seem very active & healthy.
However, my blue boy's tail now seems to have a 1-2mm band at the edges which is darker than the rest & doesn't have the same light blue iridescence. There is no sign of fraying/bleeding/splitting etc. The dark colour is the same as his belly. He is thriving in every other respect & has grown quicker than the rest (used to be the second biggest, now the same size as his larger tankmate. About 3mm bigger than when I got him a month ago). I have been watching for fin nipping and although he and the other larger one chase each other around every so often I haven't observed any actual biting.
Is this slight ammonia & nitrite spike the reason? Could it be ammonia burn at this low level? Is it *gulp* a symptom of a disease? Or is this just new growth that hasn't coloured up?
Didn't want to post in emergencies section as it doesn't seem to be affecting him at all, but maybe one of you guys can explain this to me!
Ammonia <0.1 (just slightly darker than 0, but definitely higher than 0)
NitrIte 0.1 (up from 0)
NitrAte 12.5 (I use NitrateMinus as my tapwater has high nitrates in it)
My tank is 5g hex with wet/dry trickle filter (built in) and an airstone, with 4 male guppies. I did a fishless cycle before they went in and my readings for ammonia & nitrite were 0 for over a week before I added fish. There are three plants and four or five moss balls in the tank.
I did a 50% water change as soon as I had done these tests to get the NitrItes and Ammonia back down, and a thorough vac of the gravel. There did seem to be slightly more debris than usual, but I could just have been imagining it. All the gups seem very active & healthy.
However, my blue boy's tail now seems to have a 1-2mm band at the edges which is darker than the rest & doesn't have the same light blue iridescence. There is no sign of fraying/bleeding/splitting etc. The dark colour is the same as his belly. He is thriving in every other respect & has grown quicker than the rest (used to be the second biggest, now the same size as his larger tankmate. About 3mm bigger than when I got him a month ago). I have been watching for fin nipping and although he and the other larger one chase each other around every so often I haven't observed any actual biting.
Is this slight ammonia & nitrite spike the reason? Could it be ammonia burn at this low level? Is it *gulp* a symptom of a disease? Or is this just new growth that hasn't coloured up?
Didn't want to post in emergencies section as it doesn't seem to be affecting him at all, but maybe one of you guys can explain this to me!