Hurricane/Beginner Proof Fish

I worked for 48 hours straight during hurricane Wilma, and the entire time I worried about my 2 little Black Skirt Tetras! My hubby (who was also working) told me I was nuts! LOL Guess he doesn't know how happy I am with my 2 little fish. When I finally got home, there they were swimming to the top of the tank looking for food. Now my PH still sits somewhere near 7.8, and since the planted driftwood I ordered is from FL, it will be a while now.

I do have to give these 2 credit. They have lived through me learning, no electric for 20 hours, and no food for 48 hours. Today I have vacummed out their gravel, ordered a few snails for their tank, and did a 30% water change. They seem much happier, and I want to go out to get a couple Cory cats, and in a week or 2 a couple of more BS Tetras to get a school going. The snails won't be shipped for a week, so that should give me some time. Thank you all for your help, and I just wanted to suggest a BS Tetra to beginners.

Val

 

Sounds like a good plan. Glad all are well. Where are you located? Your fish can go a few days without feeding, in fact it lowers the bio-load some in case of emergency. Some experienced fish keepers advise a fast day once a week anyway. Keep us posted.
Carol

 

Fey,
Everything sounds great! Just make sure your ammonia and nitrite are both at zero before adding any new fish to the tank, and add them slowly.

 

I cycled my tank with White Skirts and put them through a terrible ordeal. Overstocking, too much food, feed too often. My water chemistry was horrid. Only the Skirts survived all my beginners’ misadventures. Hopefully I’m done with them too. ??? Skirts are wonderful, hardy fish that will always have a soft spot in my heart. Welcome to Fishlore!

 

I live in Collier County, so it made landfall here. Luckily, no damage and all of our utilities are working.

Twelve hours after my water change, my chemistry was: Ph 7.6, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, and Nitrates 5.0. I used bottled water, as I just am not fond of my well water. Kinda feel guilty with all those people not having water, but bought extra weeks ago to have on hand for these guys and their tank. It's PH was comparable to my tank, as I do not want to send anyone into shock. We bought 4 juvenille Panda Corys. They are so tiny, I hope that they are going to be okay. We let them acclimate to the water almost 2 hours (lost track of time cleaning) before putting them in our tank.

They are making it to the top to get their bubble. My one Tetra acts as if she going to go for them, but backs off at the last moment. The Corys just seems to take it in stride. I know that they do best in schools of six, but did not want to get too many too fast. I just think they are the cutest little things. I am going to hold off on the Tetras for another couple of weeks, and will definitely take that fasting day into consideration. Other than that, we are just going to see how the Corys adjust. So, again I have to just sit and wait and see how they do. Thanks again for all of your help, it has made a world of difference. ;D

Val

 

How is everyone doing?
Carol

 

Carol,

Thanks for asking, I just got back today so I didn't get a chance to ansewr earlier. I lost one cory cat the next morning, but he seemed overly stressed from the time I put him in the tank. The others are doing great, and the Tetras have adjusted to having tank mates. I did have a spike in the ammonia levels (.75%) about 3 days later, but did a 50% water changed and it cleared up. The nitrite levels never changed, so I thin I caught it in time ;D. We moved the snails back another week to give the tank time to get itself back in the swing again. Thank you for asking, and all of y'alls help or I would not have known to quickly do the 50% water change. So, we should be getting our snails either next thurs or friday. The PH is still sitting at 7.6-7.8, but everyone seems to be adjusting, and the snails should love it. That's it for now, thanks again so much and hope all are well.

Val

 

Glad things are going so good. Sounds like you were on top of the ammonia spike good for you.
Carol