LOL I know...not had time to make a trip to get them. Its an hour drive,hubby works from 7am to 5pm (dont get home till 6), and I have a 4yr old in Bible school too. Ive been so busy my head is spinning. Im gonna see if he can take me tonight. Should be home from work in about an hour. He only works 8hrs today. Im crossing my fingers that we can go. I even have a sitter :clap: I will have them at by tomm. for sure unless something else happens. Sorry ShannonMs.Bubbles said:
found a dead fish w/hole in stomach
- Thread starter trkyhunter91
- Start date
yeah, 50% water changes are never "too much." There's a misbelief that it will remove your good bacteria. This is not the case, as the bacteria are living mostly on surfaces (especially the gravel and bio-media). So you can actually do 100% water changes and your tank will be fine (although you'd have to have somewhere to put the fish while the tank is empty), as long as the gravel and filter media stay moist.
as for stressing the fish, this will most likely occur if your tank is very dirty and the conditions of their water is very different from the new, clean water. It's called "old tank syndrome." people here advocate large and frequent water changes (I do 50% water changes twice a week in my 29 gal, for example) because it keeps your tank closer to source water and thereby REDUCES the stress of water changes.
as for stressing the fish, this will most likely occur if your tank is very dirty and the conditions of their water is very different from the new, clean water. It's called "old tank syndrome." people here advocate large and frequent water changes (I do 50% water changes twice a week in my 29 gal, for example) because it keeps your tank closer to source water and thereby REDUCES the stress of water changes.
Ok I finally got the test done. I will have to wait till Thursday though to get my own test kits. I cant believe the results! Anyways here they are ( Kinda ashamed to post em though) lOL.... Nitrate .7 , PH 7.8 , Amm. 0.6 I'm not sure what they should be, but I do know I havent had such high readings since I first set the tank up w/fish to cycle. So my question now is what do I do next to start getting the water back to normal? I seen alot of diff. products that remove nitrates, amm. and so on. Do these work or is it a waste of money and time? Also I havent done the water/grav. for today yet. As soon as my 4yr old goes to bed I will begin that again. Should I do 50% or more? Thankyou everyone for all of your help. Shannon
The reason why you really need your own tests is so that you don't have to guess how much water to change...you just keep changing some out until your test kit reads 0 ammonia/ 0 nitrite.
Since you can see .6 ammonia you need to change water ASAP. If you've done a water change within the last 24 hours or so, your fish will be quite used to your source (tap) water, so changing 50% would be a good idea.
Please don't waste your money on chemicals. The best solution to toxic water is fresh dechlorinated water.
Also, don't vacuum the gravel too often, as it will contain some of the good bacteria.
Since you can see .6 ammonia you need to change water ASAP. If you've done a water change within the last 24 hours or so, your fish will be quite used to your source (tap) water, so changing 50% would be a good idea.
Please don't waste your money on chemicals. The best solution to toxic water is fresh dechlorinated water.
Also, don't vacuum the gravel too often, as it will contain some of the good bacteria.
OK I will get to it asap. I will be able to get the kit Thursday. I found one,but its a 2 1/2 hr drive from me. Yeah I live in the middle of nowhere.I will take a sample back to the pet store Tues. and have it checked again. All they had was the seperate tests at PetLand and I couldnt remember which one I was suppose to get. Wal Mart just had the dip strips and Ive read those are no good.
50% will not hurt if the water gets better will it? Not that Im looking for a miracle in the next few days or anything. I asume that it will take a good while to get the water back in good shape right.
Oh I forgot to tell you all that there was 9 MTS's added to the tank on the 22nd. I was told that they would be ok in the tank. Should I move them to start using salt again or will the snails be ok with it?
50% will not hurt if the water gets better will it? Not that Im looking for a miracle in the next few days or anything. I asume that it will take a good while to get the water back in good shape right.
Oh I forgot to tell you all that there was 9 MTS's added to the tank on the 22nd. I was told that they would be ok in the tank. Should I move them to start using salt again or will the snails be ok with it?
