Child’s first fish(es)
Discussion
Turn7 said:
The biggest issue with Noobs coming into the hobby is being fed utter garbage by Saturday boys in Maidenhead type shops.
Ha! Yeah already struck them off my list.Tried shopping there for some Stability and they didn’t even know what it was or what it did. Their best advice was to “see what’s on the shelf and read the label”
Seems I spoke too soon for tonight, we are a fish down. 
Didn’t come out from hiding all evening, even when food was added.
On closer inspection it’d taken to the little cave and croaked.
Removed it immediately, much to the distress/disturbance of the other two.
Didn’t look bloated, disfigured or otherwise unhealthy in any way.
The two remaining fish look absolutely fine, are active and feeding and appear completely normal.
I wonder if it was simply a bit crowded and ex-fish simply got bullied in to submission? The blue one did seem to have a fair go at it over the last few days.
Didn’t come out from hiding all evening, even when food was added.
On closer inspection it’d taken to the little cave and croaked.
Removed it immediately, much to the distress/disturbance of the other two.
Didn’t look bloated, disfigured or otherwise unhealthy in any way.
The two remaining fish look absolutely fine, are active and feeding and appear completely normal.
I wonder if it was simply a bit crowded and ex-fish simply got bullied in to submission? The blue one did seem to have a fair go at it over the last few days.
So, dip-tested the water tonight.
Bizarrely both nitrates and nitrites came back as zero which I find quite hard to believe, but the hardness and Ph were indicating as “dangerously” high.
Have added some water conditioner as recommended. Will see what gives.
After the demise of fishy last night, the other two have settled and are acting normally, and maybe it’s me but the water seems noticeably clearer.
Bizarrely both nitrates and nitrites came back as zero which I find quite hard to believe, but the hardness and Ph were indicating as “dangerously” high.
Have added some water conditioner as recommended. Will see what gives.
After the demise of fishy last night, the other two have settled and are acting normally, and maybe it’s me but the water seems noticeably clearer.
Turn7 said:
Your LFS should be able to test all the parameters for a tiny fee, assuming they are worth a w
k that is.
The strips are "ok" but more accurate kits are available.....
.
Yes, was aware it was very much an interim method.k that is.The strips are "ok" but more accurate kits are available.....
.
We’re working on it.
The good news is CFKJnr has recognised a fish has gone and realises it was a living thing that’s no longer living etc etc.
Sad but not distraught.
Also commented by herself that we need to make sure the two remaining don’t get sick.
So it’s not all been a total waste of time.
So nothing died this week.
Marshmallow and Grace seem very happy now there’s just the two of them, although we have had occasional bouts of reclusiveness and lack of feeding.
Water quality remains precarious. Still coming back as hard and with a high Ph.
Nitrates and nitrites came back near-zero.
MrsCFK decided a 100% artificial environment wasn’t ethical for the fish or something, so “we” added a small amount of live foliage. As expected, even though it’s just one small plant, this has turned the water a bit cloudy and given it a proper outdoor pond smell.
Did a 25% water change and a monthly filter clean (
) which improved things.
CFKJnr still engaged, says goodnight to them without prompting
Marshmallow and Grace seem very happy now there’s just the two of them, although we have had occasional bouts of reclusiveness and lack of feeding.
Water quality remains precarious. Still coming back as hard and with a high Ph.
Nitrates and nitrites came back near-zero.
MrsCFK decided a 100% artificial environment wasn’t ethical for the fish or something, so “we” added a small amount of live foliage. As expected, even though it’s just one small plant, this has turned the water a bit cloudy and given it a proper outdoor pond smell.
Did a 25% water change and a monthly filter clean (
) which improved things.CFKJnr still engaged, says goodnight to them without prompting
So here we are two months in.
The two surviving fish are.....surviving and water quality appears a bit more stable since the early demise of their tank mate.
The two snails have, sadly, also departed though, a couple of days apart but they weren’t appearing to contribute much in keeping the tank clean. No idea what happened there. Fine one day, then just nothing. Water went a bit grotty until they were removed but soon recovered.
Deceased snails smell REALLY bad by the way and transfer that smell to anything they touch.
Gravel was also starting to look a bit sludgey so I gave that a clean using an aquarium vacuum (cool gadget btw....very therapeutic to use).
Thing is, I think that stirred up a lot of finer debris and toxins - fish went in to hiding for a few days, to the extent I thought we’d lost (another) one of them.
But, pleased to say the water’s cleared, the fish appear happy and maintenance has become routine. A 25% water change takes less than ten minutes now (water prep time aside)
The two surviving fish are.....surviving and water quality appears a bit more stable since the early demise of their tank mate.
The two snails have, sadly, also departed though, a couple of days apart but they weren’t appearing to contribute much in keeping the tank clean. No idea what happened there. Fine one day, then just nothing. Water went a bit grotty until they were removed but soon recovered.
Deceased snails smell REALLY bad by the way and transfer that smell to anything they touch.
Gravel was also starting to look a bit sludgey so I gave that a clean using an aquarium vacuum (cool gadget btw....very therapeutic to use).
Thing is, I think that stirred up a lot of finer debris and toxins - fish went in to hiding for a few days, to the extent I thought we’d lost (another) one of them.
But, pleased to say the water’s cleared, the fish appear happy and maintenance has become routine. A 25% water change takes less than ten minutes now (water prep time aside)
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