I'll try to give the reader's digest version of the story so far... set up my 30g tall on Mar 14, almost 3 weeks ago. I primed the filter with Tetra's SafeStart product, which from my reading is what used to be marketed as Biospira. I had planned to use Dr. Tim's One and Only, but could not find anywhere local that carries it. The one LFS that used to carry it (a well-respected shop, from what I can tell), told me that they stopped selling it because they never had much success with it. Just what I needed, more conflicting stories...
In any case, I got the tank up and running, made sure the heater was working, etc etc. Initial water readings were 0/0/0, but I figured maybe I wasn't quite hip to reading those little test tubes just yet (API Master Kit).
2 days after I had the tank set up, we added 5 zebra danios. These guys seemed all happy happy, zipping around like crazy and generally doing the danio thing. No signs of distress at all. For good measure, I have a Seachem ammonia alert placard in the tank - solid yellow (safe).
After a week or so, I added two gold danios. Right after this, one of the original zebra danios turned up missing - not in the filter, under the driftwood, he is just gone. Still scratching my head on this one, have no idea where he could have gotten to.
Water readings still 0/0/0, Seachem reads safe.
About 5 days later, added 3 peppered cories. One of the cories died the next day (it was much smaller than the others and never was very active - I think it may have been simple stress on that poor guy). All other fish are happy, showing no signs of distress. Water reads 0/0/0, Seachem is still yellow.
The day after the cory died, I lost one of the gold danios. He started getting very listless, swimming on his side, etc. I ended up euthanizing him. All other fish look "normal", water is 0/0/0, Seachem is safe.
2 days ago, I changed my HOT Magnum 250 filter for a SunSun 302 canister, reusing the foam sponge media from the HOT Mag along with a shelf of bioballs and a shelf of the foam media that came with the SunSun. I also added the last 1/3 of the SafeStart directly over the bioballs.
Water is still reading 0/0/0, which seems odd - I should have *some* nitrates, at least. I tested our tap water and it read 0/0/0. I'm now wondering if my API reagents might need to be replaced - I don't know how old they are as they came with the tank (bought from CL).
However, the Seachem placard is new and reads solidly in the "safe" zone for ammonia. None of the fish show any signs of ammonia poisoning and in fact seem quite happy, with one exception.
About halfway through this process, I noticed one zebra had a small white splotch just below the dorsal fin. I figured he had bumped the heater or gotten nipped, as he showed no other signs of distress. About 5 days after I noticed the splotch, I saw he had a similar splotch developing on his head. Needless to say, it is / was extremely difficult to get a zippy zebra to hold still long enough for a good look, but from what I can see it looks very similar to the pics I've seen on the web of cottony fungus infections. Until today, he did not seem any different than the others, today he is hanging near the top of the tank, still swimming and occasionally playing but not the normal "fish on crack" zebra behavior. I've attached a pic, unfortunately the splotch on his side is around the back from this view.
I've dosed the tank with Pimafix to see if that helps. FWIW, neither of the other two casaulties (the gold and the corie) showed any external signs of illness, and the zebra is not gulping air or acting distressed. He is simply "quiet" - he ate with no problems along with the rest of the crew.
So, I have odd readings (or lack thereof) after 3 weeks, and a zebra with fungus (I think). I've been changing between 20-30% of the water every 3-5 days, and I know there are nutrients in there as I'm cultivating a nice crop of algae. I take this as a positive sign, and have some live plants on the way to help suck up some of those excess nutrients.
At this point, I'm planning to just let it ride, keep checking my parameters (going to buy a new test kit) and doing water changes to see what happens over the next couple weeks. Any other thoughts / suggestions?
In any case, I got the tank up and running, made sure the heater was working, etc etc. Initial water readings were 0/0/0, but I figured maybe I wasn't quite hip to reading those little test tubes just yet (API Master Kit).
2 days after I had the tank set up, we added 5 zebra danios. These guys seemed all happy happy, zipping around like crazy and generally doing the danio thing. No signs of distress at all. For good measure, I have a Seachem ammonia alert placard in the tank - solid yellow (safe).
After a week or so, I added two gold danios. Right after this, one of the original zebra danios turned up missing - not in the filter, under the driftwood, he is just gone. Still scratching my head on this one, have no idea where he could have gotten to.
Water readings still 0/0/0, Seachem reads safe.
About 5 days later, added 3 peppered cories. One of the cories died the next day (it was much smaller than the others and never was very active - I think it may have been simple stress on that poor guy). All other fish are happy, showing no signs of distress. Water reads 0/0/0, Seachem is still yellow.
The day after the cory died, I lost one of the gold danios. He started getting very listless, swimming on his side, etc. I ended up euthanizing him. All other fish look "normal", water is 0/0/0, Seachem is safe.
2 days ago, I changed my HOT Magnum 250 filter for a SunSun 302 canister, reusing the foam sponge media from the HOT Mag along with a shelf of bioballs and a shelf of the foam media that came with the SunSun. I also added the last 1/3 of the SafeStart directly over the bioballs.
Water is still reading 0/0/0, which seems odd - I should have *some* nitrates, at least. I tested our tap water and it read 0/0/0. I'm now wondering if my API reagents might need to be replaced - I don't know how old they are as they came with the tank (bought from CL).
However, the Seachem placard is new and reads solidly in the "safe" zone for ammonia. None of the fish show any signs of ammonia poisoning and in fact seem quite happy, with one exception.
About halfway through this process, I noticed one zebra had a small white splotch just below the dorsal fin. I figured he had bumped the heater or gotten nipped, as he showed no other signs of distress. About 5 days after I noticed the splotch, I saw he had a similar splotch developing on his head. Needless to say, it is / was extremely difficult to get a zippy zebra to hold still long enough for a good look, but from what I can see it looks very similar to the pics I've seen on the web of cottony fungus infections. Until today, he did not seem any different than the others, today he is hanging near the top of the tank, still swimming and occasionally playing but not the normal "fish on crack" zebra behavior. I've attached a pic, unfortunately the splotch on his side is around the back from this view.
I've dosed the tank with Pimafix to see if that helps. FWIW, neither of the other two casaulties (the gold and the corie) showed any external signs of illness, and the zebra is not gulping air or acting distressed. He is simply "quiet" - he ate with no problems along with the rest of the crew.
So, I have odd readings (or lack thereof) after 3 weeks, and a zebra with fungus (I think). I've been changing between 20-30% of the water every 3-5 days, and I know there are nutrients in there as I'm cultivating a nice crop of algae. I take this as a positive sign, and have some live plants on the way to help suck up some of those excess nutrients.
At this point, I'm planning to just let it ride, keep checking my parameters (going to buy a new test kit) and doing water changes to see what happens over the next couple weeks. Any other thoughts / suggestions?
