The developments continue.
I've moved both comets to my backup tank. I believe it's a 25 gallon. I took a good bit of gravel from the main tank, and filled it 3/4 with main tank water and the last 1/4 from the tap. The filter is a Marineland Emperor 400, which is excessive but all I had handy. After the water had settled, I got a face full of thrashing fish water and dropped them in.
After a while I noticed they looked even more sullen than usual, so I ran water tests. The nitrates were a bit high (around 60ppm), but then I expected that from the main tank water I transferred. The bigger surprise was that I have apparently picked up an ammonia spike of about 1.5ppm -- in an hour -- despite a (re-checked) zero reading in both the main tank and the tap water.
All I can say is it's hard to keep medication in the tank with all these water changes.
I've moved both comets to my backup tank. I believe it's a 25 gallon. I took a good bit of gravel from the main tank, and filled it 3/4 with main tank water and the last 1/4 from the tap. The filter is a Marineland Emperor 400, which is excessive but all I had handy. After the water had settled, I got a face full of thrashing fish water and dropped them in.
After a while I noticed they looked even more sullen than usual, so I ran water tests. The nitrates were a bit high (around 60ppm), but then I expected that from the main tank water I transferred. The bigger surprise was that I have apparently picked up an ammonia spike of about 1.5ppm -- in an hour -- despite a (re-checked) zero reading in both the main tank and the tap water.
All I can say is it's hard to keep medication in the tank with all these water changes.