MadMike

HELLO GUYS, MY DAUGHTER HAS A TYPICAL TANK FOR A 9 YEAR OLD. A TEN GALLON, WITH 2 GOLD MOLLIES, LOTS OF COLORFUL ROCKS AND GLOW IN THE DARK PLANTS, WHICH IS STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE CYCLE. WE ARE ON WEEK 4 WITH NO SIGN OF nitrite BUT I AM NOTICING SOME CHANGES GOING ON THAT MY KID NOTICES AS WELL AND I AM WONDERING IF THESE ARE SIGNS THAT THE TANK IS COMING TO LIFE. WE ARE NOTICING SOME DARKNESS FORMING ON SOME OF THE PLASTIC PLANTS IN THE TANK. SHE ALSO HAS A SHARK DECORATION WHICH WAS COMPLETELY GRAY WHEN WE BOUGHT IT AND NOW THERE IS A RUST COLOR BUILDING ALL OVER IT. WE ALSO NOTICE SOME OF THE COLORFUL ROCKS WITH SOME DARK PATCHES ON THEM. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN THESE EVENTS TO HER AND I THINK I KNOW WHATS GOING ON BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT THE ANSWERS I WILL GET IN HERE WILL BE BETTER AND MORE ACCURATE. MY 2 MOLLIES SEEM TO BE VERY HAPPY THUS FAR CONSIDERING THEY ARE EXPERIENCING ammonia AND ALL MY FROLICKING WHILE TESTING WATER AND WATER CHANGES.

I HAVE ALREADY DISCUSSED CYCLING WITH FISH AND THE NITRITE PROBLEM ON THIS FORUM.

THANKS FOR THE HELP
MICHAEL

Gunnie

Michael,
The brown stuff sounds like diatoms which appear in new tanks, but usually after the tank is cycled. It is normal and unsightly, but it will pass. You can scrape it off like you would algae. It will disappear as quickly as it came. One day you will look at the tank, and it will all be gone. You can also try cutting back on your lighting. This might help make it go away faster.

Butterfly

Michael I'm glad your being so observant, this will teach your daughter to be observant also. Gunnie gave you good advice- its a time thing.
Oh could you turn the caps off please? All caps means your yelling at us and it's little hard to read THANKS!
By the way....WELCOME TO FISHLORE!!
Carol

MadMike

It's a great day here... We have our first sign of Nitrite and we couldn't be more happier. My daughter is also doing her science fair project on the nitrogen cycle and she will be getting about 90% of here material knowledge from this site and with the "LIVE EXPERIMENT" we have going on it should be a nice demonstration.

So again, thanks to all who help us newbies along!

Michael

chickadee

That is wonderful and so educational. Too bad more parents are not more involved.

Rose

cherryrose

I am glad that your daughter has such a supportive father. I agree with Rose, I wish all parents were that involved. What an exciting and fun science fair project. It is great not only for you and your daughter, but for all the students and parents that go to the science fair. Who knows, maybe your daughter's project will spur other students on to be responsible fish keepers.

CherryRose

river

Having a fish tank is great for kids and parents. When my daughter was under one year old we had a 50 gallon tank. At night or the early morning she would wake me needing a change or fed. Then after we would sit and watch the fish untill she went back to sleep. When she got older and I had a son we bought them a 10 gallon. But the problem was they kept wanting to take the fish out of the tank and pet them like the cat or dog. So in the best interest of the fish we stopped keeping fish untill they were older.

River