Luniyn

The platys might be more comfortable at 78oF, but 80 shouldn't be killing them. Higher temps mean higher levels of toxic ammonia, but again 2oF doesn't change it enough to be that much more of a strain. If you are using a heater to get it that hot then yes turn it down a couple degrees, however, if your house is just that hot normally this time of year, there isn't much you can do but spend money on chillers. And for 2 degrees it's just not worth the effort, the fish will adjust. I think the bigger problem is just the water quality during the cycle. Best you can do it keep up the water changes and hope for the best. Good Luck!

capekate

Thanks Luniyn
The heater is the source of temp* as its still only about 50* outside. I guess I can turn it back down to a 78* degree. And yes, I will continue with the water change til the tank as cycled. Guess thats all I can do at this point. The molly seems to be breathing heavily and just laying around the bottom of the tank.. The other platys however are cowering in a corner. For some reason they are frightened by the dwarf gourami who is the 'big' fish in the tank now. And i think that its picking on the playts lately.

Luniyn

If your fish are breathing heavy then I would check your nitrate levels. If they are high that can actually change their blood to a brown color. This also inhibits the ability of the blood to carry oxygen, and that is why the have trouble breathing. If your nitrate levels are ok, then do you have any air stones in the tank? Also what kind of filter do you have? If it's a hang on back type then do you have the water level right near the outflow? If you do then try taking out a little bit of water so some splashing occurs. This splashing will help aerate the tank even without air stones. As for the Gourami, yes some can be bullies, but how well do you have your tank planted (fake or real)? If you have a good cover for the other fish to "hide" in that will make they feel safer and come out of the corner. It will also break up the line of sight of a bully fish and keep them from having a change to get irritated by any fish. Out of sight... out of mind.

justhelping

Capekate- I have been trying to make sense of this thread. On your first post it looks as if your tank wasn't even cycled yet. I didn't see what size tank it was either. You were complaining about buckets of water. I recommend you get a python for water changes. When you use ammo loc & then test for ammonia, it will give a reading of ammonia, so no use testing for that while you are using ammo loc.

Normally when someone does a water change, say once a week removing about 1/4 of the water, they should vacuum just 1/4 of the gravel. Next week, they will vacuum another, different portion of 1/4 of the gravel, etc.. The point being you do not want to remove too much bacteria at one time, as that bacteria is what you need to eat that ammonia. Also when you clean your filter just swish it in your bucket of dirty water, as you want to keep bacteria in that filter media also.

Since fish don't like drastic changes in their water, personally if it was me, I would only change 1/3 of that water every third day, till the ammonia reading came down to 0. But that's just my own personal opinion.

As far as the API Master Test Kit goes, I do not understand what you are saying. I only saw ONE on there at the ONE price. There were other kits, but they weren't complete. I only saw the one Master Test Kit by the company API for freshwater. I could not find an expiration date on mine, but it looked like it was made in 2006.

Now that you mention it, my packaging looked completely different than the one on that site. Also the one on that site shows it having 6 bottles for testing. Mine came with 7 bottles. I suppose things & packaging change with time, & it was just too inconvenient & costly to change their picture. Mine uses 2 different bottles to test for nitrate. 1bottle to test for nitrite. 2 different bottles for testing ammonia. And 2 different bottles for testing PH, 1 for normal PH & the other for testing your PH if it is high.

I hope this post makes sense to you, & I wish you the best of luck with your tank. And remember that once your tank is cycled with 0 ammonia & 0 nitrites showing, then the best thing you can do for that tank is keep up regular water changes & partial gravel vacs every week or two weeks. Feel free if you have any more questions.

Luniyn

This isn't true for the API test kit which uses the salicylate based testing process, this is only true for Nessler based kits. If you see ammonia with the API kit then you have ammonia. The amount is the only thing questionable as the bound up ammonia tends to take a little bit longer to get rid of then unbound ammonia, but when you test your tank you will eventually get a 0 reading of ammonia even if you continue to use Ammo-Loc or Prime, or whatever.

capekate

hello Luniyn
It is only the one fish, the molly that is breathing heavy. It is now hiding out inside the steer skull decoration. Did a water test and these are the readings. Havent changed much.
ammonnia: almost at a 2.0
nitrate: 5.0
nitrite: 0
PH: still at 6.0
I have a heavy planted 29g tank. With both live and fake plants.. There are lots of hiding places there. I use a aqua clear 50 filter that hangs over the side. And I have a air wand that is going as well. Did a 60% water change on 4/29; did a 50% water change on 4/30; a 50% on 5/1. Nothing today so far. I also noticed that one of my silk plants is showing brown, like a copper color all over the leaves. What can that be caused by? Is this affecting my fish somehow?
thanks for your help!

Luniyn

If the brown wipes off of the plant easily, then it is most likely diatoms which are a good sign because it means your tank is cycling. They will go away on their own as your tank gets further along. Also with the water changes, you could probably get away with 25% changes so you aren't changing so much of the water each time. It will create less up's and downs of the contents of your tank and make for more gradual changes over time. Considering your pH is only 6.0, if you keep your temp at 80oF, even at that total ammonia reading of 2 you only have 0.001ppm of toxic ammonia which won't effect your fish at all. So as long as your pH is constant (be sure to keep checking that) it's not as critical to do 50% water changes to keep the levels low.

As for the fish, your nitrates are low, you have good aeration, so it seems like there is something else wrong. I'm guessing he's stopped eating? Does he come out of hiding at all or does he need to be coaxed out? When he is out, do you notice anything different about him. Do his fins look normal, do you see any scratches or spots or discoloration of any kind? There has to be something wrong because it doesn't seem that your tank water is in all that bad a condition at the moment even though it is cycling. Does he look bloated or extra round in the belly or for that matter does his belly look sunken?

capekate

Hi Luniyn~
well after watching the molly, it seems to be in good condition as far as not having any scratches...no discolor.... OOO OOOO... wrote that before I did another check. It went into the skull decoration sometime this am and I observed it there to have a labored breathing. But sad to say.. Yin did not make it. I looked it over,, there is no bloat.. no eye bulgeing... no sunken belly.. no cuts.. slime.. ich... cotton... eyes seemed good. body in good condition, fins fine. So all I can say at this point is that I have no idea why it died. After turning up the aeration all the fish seem to be more perky. Maybe they needed more oxygen in the tank? who knows...
I googled the diatoms after browsing the forum on water conditions and read up on them. So im not worried about that now.. whew!!
I really was worried about the high ammonia level and is why I did such drastic water changes. The water I put back in, after being treated with prime was the exact same temp so I made sure not to fluctuate the water temps. I will back off on the amount of vacumning I do with each water change, as I hated to see the mess on the bottom and the uneaten food getting moldy. Ive since cut down on how much they get fed at one time.
My neighbor just gave me a great end table with drawer and it looked a how lot better than the table i had the 10g betta tank on, so i ended up doing about a 80% water change in that one so that I could move it. Now I will slow down on the water changes to at least every three days. So I guess the tank should be cycled soon, its been about 6.5 weeks now.
thanks so much for the help! ~ kate

capekate

Hi There,
maybe its just an earlier packaging is all. I dont know. My API master kit has all the same things that yours has. I plan now on slowing down the water change. It is a 6.5 weeks old new tank set up. And so its still cycling. I may be vacumning way too much as well, thanks for the advice. The buckets I mention are the buckets that I empty the water from the tank into. I use the syphon vacumn hand pump. Which btw has to have a trick to it?? cuz wow.. its hard to get that water pumped up into the tube before it starts flowing. I bought a mini one for the ten gal tank and that doesnt work at all. I must be doing something wrong??
anyway.. thanks for your help!

Luniyn

The suction level of most of those hand started one's isn't all that great. I have one that has a squeeze ball on the output end that you pump a few times to get the water flowing. I get the water flowing no problem but the suction is pretty lame. I've watch flakes of food be lifted up off the gravel in the large hard plastic end of the device only to settle back down to the gravel instead of being sucked into the soft plastic tubing and my water flow is as strong as it can be without a pump. Squeezing the ball once the water is running actually makes the water stop and flow in the opposite direction back into the tank while you are pressing on it. So I'm actually looking into the python myself just so I can get more out of my rocks.

capekate

thanks Luniyn
I will have to check it out as well. I am able to finally get the syphon going with a good flow,, but it causes such a tidal wave it really upsets everything in the tank and im sure stresses the fish. I will check out the python and see what it is.
thanks ~ kate