Search results

I've read that there's no need to do water changes with fishless cycling. If you do that you'll reduce the nutrients and thus reduce the bacterial population, which you're trying to grow. Looks like you must have some of both bacteria because it's being converted to nitrite and nitrate...

Great idea, thanks!

Do you think it might be something to do with the fact that they're all mickey mouse platies? I know that sounds silly at first but maybe they need to outbreed a little. I've heard platies are platies, though. I've heard they don't discriminate on the basis of coloration. :dunno:

THat is so true! I'm new, too. Welcome!

Anyone? Just want to know if the tank will need to be cycled again..

:*)

BTW I agree that the workers and conditions at these stores are all variable. For instance I've never kept bettas before but feigned ignorance at several stores just to see what they would say... the woman at a locally run mom and pop store told me that bettas could survive as long as they had...

I don't live close enough to do anything about it, unfortunately. I'm in Canada and they're in Virginia. Anyway my parents aren't the types to admit mistakes. My mother's in complete denial about the whole thing... overstocking, overfeeding, infrequent water changes... It kills me. My only...

My sister wants to get rid of her big fish tank - I think it's a 30-40 gallon. Right now it has guppies and danios. It will take me 24 hours to travel from her house to mine. My main concern is the tank. I'm guessing all the beneficial bacteria will have died over the 24 hour span. What's...

Banned!? You can't be serious. Wow.... you must really have been exposing their inadequacies... On the vein of Wal-Mart I got into fishkeeping only over a month ago and am learning a lot. But my mom has had goldfish for a year. She went to Wal-Mart recently and told them she had an algae...

How about another mollie or some other types of platies? Yeah, I'm crazy about livebearers.

I love em too! I have 3 mollies and 2 platies. So, what kind of mollies do you have?

Definitely need to add ammonia. Also, some tap water can contain nitrates, so that doesn't mean your tank is cycling.

Some of your bacteria live in the filter, too. Another good reason not to change it too often because that wipes out part of your population. When adding a new cartridge, I hear that it's best to keep a bit of the old one inside it for awhile to inoculate it with the bacteria. Haven't done...

Mix the water coniditioner with the water before adding to the tank. Mix and let it sit a few minutes. Same temp. is important, too. :D Never add tap water to your tank directly. It can be lethal to your fish.

My male molly is only about an inch long, dwarfed by the female. Every time he comes near she sort of stops and lets her head float upward until she looks like she's falling over backward? :* Is this what mating looks like? It's hilarious. He nudges her belly a bit but other than that he...

Her fins look like little ears :P

My platies do that in 2-3 corners of the tank! Guess it's normal. Sometimes my mollies join in. :fun:

Platies and mollies! They always nibble my finger when I open the cover. They're so friendly (apart from the odd nasty one). Never kept guppies, myself.

They all seem good now after the water change. Must have been ammonia. :*)

Same EXACT thing happened to me, except in my case I knew which molly had given birth. I still don't know whether my fish had only two fry (they were exceptionally big) or whether the rest got eaten. Maybe you've caught the tail end of the whole episode. Anway, 4 weeks later my 2 fry are...

I also read somewhere on this forum that medication and too many fast water changes can cause deformities. I don't know if it's true, but I'd try to introduce changes to your tank as little or as gently as possible.

She's probably stressed out by the net. What other fish do you have, and why do you need to use a net? Is it possible to let the fry take their chances in the main tank? A lot of people do this. SHe might be more comfortable giving birth in her own spot in the tank.

Thanks, Wilder, you are like a walking library, man! She doesn't look like this, maybe it was just the high level of ammonia. Still puzzled by what could be causing that. Maybe overfeeding.

Thanks. At this point I see no signs of fin rot. I had a fish that had that before. I'll check to see if she's bloated. Just did a 25% water change, she's swimming around again.

I am currently treating my 10 gal. tank for a mild case of ich. All fish are active and normal with only a few white spots each. Except my red platy. She has clamped fins and is inactive. She's huddled by the heater all day and didn't eat this AM. She is naturally bright red so I can't tell...

There are a lot of beginners out there. Sometimes people are utterly clueless about how a healthy fish is supposed to look or act. I certainly was when I started. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.

OK, let me explain. There's no connection whatsoever from toiletries to the fish section of the store. Wal-Mart doesn't say, "Hmmm, people have stopped buying toothpaste, toilet paper, and laundry detergent at store # 1532. Geeez, I guess we should shut down the fish tanks there!"

Even fish stores have crappy conditions, let alone Wal Mart. I wandered into a new fish shop this week-end to find nice clean healty tanks for most fish but miserable conditions for the bettas. They were almost all diseased and barely covered in dirty water in tiny cups. I feigned ignorance...

Internal parasites.... Great.... :-( Well, thanks for the help, everyone. I'm treating them for ich and will let you all know how it goes. I'm sure they'll be fine now.

Now that I look closer I do see that there are just a few white spots on two of the fish, but none on the one that is flicking most. Guess it's ich. Crap!! I'm confused. My water params are all good except my pH (see initial post at top for parameters). I thought diseases were a sign of bad...

OK - I thought so, too. I'll keep a look-out.

I think my fish may be starting to get a disease. I have 3 mollies and 2 platies in a ten gallon. My water params are: ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 pH 8.0 Temp 80 My tank has 1 T salt per 5 gallons and I put in several real plants a few days ago. All fish appear active and healthy but they...

One more thing. If you cycle properly that could be fun for your daughter, too. She could be responsible for the testing. Kids love to play with test kits. Some of the chemicals may be nasty, just supervise her while she's doing it. My two cents, I'm done now. :) I really do think fishless...

Listen to the horrified woman :) Read the cycling posts on the beginner's forum, they will tell you how to cycle your tank with ammonia, not with fish. Letting your tank sit there won't do anything good, either. I "cycled" my tank with fish and they died. It was awful. I think my guilt was...

Well you can do fishless but some of the fish are going to die, and that might be more disappointing to your daughter than waiting. I did the same think a month ago when I started: it was heartbreaking when my fish died.

THe problem is my parents have had only 1 fish die in over a year.... while I have had 3 die within a month of starting :S . Granted, I keep tropicals, they're harder to keep. But the fact that I have not been as successful in keeping fish alive gives them some satisfaction in thinking they...

"Just keep a quiet log of all the missus buys thats totally just for her... then just remind her of them, after you have come back fromt he fish shop Always works, they always spend more than us" :o WHAT?! Corbypete, that's too funny....Actually, my boyfriend spends WAY more than me on his...

PS. Yes, another PS. I just remembered it's not 2 goldfish my mom has in a 5 gallon with the oto, it's 3.... :S can anyone guess where they get their fish? Yep.. Walmart, the people at Walmart told them this is A-OK..... :crazy:

As for puffers, have you seen those cute little pea puffers that are less than 1 inch long!? I don't know anything about them. But they look too darn cute.