poppet

Hi everyone, well it is has been a whole week now and I am very happy to say that my little platys have survived! With our terrible start by having our 2 cory cats die after their first night I have worried every day that we will also lose our other 2. I am happy to say that they are happy and well and beginning to get little personalities which I never thought that they would have. Our little girl (Molly) comes up to us when we walk over to the tank and that gives me a real buzz. Our little boy (Max) doesnt seem as interested but he might pop over for a quick look and then take off again. I am spending more time watching them than watching the tele! They are very distracting.
Anyway we are about to get another female to take the stress off Molly and hopefully she too will be just as happy and well as the others are. I want to thank you all for your advice that you have given us about water cycling etc, etc. It has made a world of difference and I cant believe how much I am learning and how much there is too learn!* Well I just wanted to share our little milestone and will keep you informed about our new additions.* Cheers..*

COBettaCouple

Congrats on the platys.. they are little characters and fun to watch. Best of luck with new ones and with the fry.

Gunnie

Excellent! Make sure your tank is cycled before adding any more fish!

poppet

We have certainly learnt our lesson about not having our water cycled by losing our cory cats. We are intending to get more additions but not for a few more weeks. We did think however that another platy might be able to go in now as the other 2 are doing so well and the water seems to be ok for them. OUr tank has now been going for nearly 3 weeks. Maybe in another fortnight or so, we will slowly introduce some others.

COBettaCouple

platy's are hearty fish but will feel some stress in cycling water.. what are your parameters now?

poppet

Hi our water parameters are ammonia .1 ,nitrite 1.6mg/l, nitrate 15ppm ,ph 7.4 and temp 26deg/c.

COBettaCouple

how often are you doing partial water changes? i'd do them each day until the ammonia is 0.

Luniyn

Keep doing them even after the ammonia is 0 until the nitrite is 0 as well. You are doing great by the way . Do a few water changes over the next few days to keep those nitrates down too. They are still in the ok zone but it would be better to keep then under 10 in this stressful time for the fish. After you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite then it can be in the 10-20 range without worry for most fish. I say "most" fish because certain fish require it to be more like 5-10 max, but by and large most fish won't be bothered by 10-20 and some can tolerate even higher. Keep up the good work!

poppet

Hi i believe the ammonia is actually below .1 as on our test when ammonia is 0, the test stays yellow and .1 has a green tinge. Our test had the slightest if any green and i to be on the safe side i said .1 instead of 0. Thanks for all the help will keep posting results on tests.