SurrogateFishMom
New Member
Hi Everyone.
It is nearly 6 AM and I have a feeling I just won't got to bed tonight. I am here online reading as much as I can about all of the fish and creatures I have recently become the "Surrogate Mother" of. I have only raised one betta before, and that was an uncomplicated matter, for some reason (I was young and naive?). Unlike the issues lately...
Since returning to the USA on a temporary basis (4 months starting Sept.), I have become the caretaker of my father's recently built pond and younger sister's multiple fish. My father's pond is surviving, although I doubt the balance of life has really been established. Fortunately water quality seems fine (according to the strips), although I had to solve a few problems before I even got around to testing: water was not dechlorinated!!! (yikes, that was a no-brainer.... how did they make it, I wonder?) and finally, a pond goldfish with a bad case of dropsy (died in its hospital tank). My only concern is whether his pond cycled??? After all, he was using water straight from the hose.... ? That is my next project, after I get past...what follows below.
The main source of my stress and efforts are the three fish tanks my sister has recently set up... all from a LFS without much consistent and quality advice. Anyways, we have two bettas each in one gallon filtered, lit tanks: and we have three White Clouds in an Eclipse 3. All of these tanks were set up two weeks-three weeks ago, and all have not yet cycled! Had we known better, we would have waited on the fish.
One betta seems to be thriving--loves food, loves us, makes bubble nests and is active, beautiful... a happy camper and joy....
The other betta died tonight. I can't tell why. His only trouble sign was wanting to nestle into the gravel below, listlessness... He had been moved into two different tanks, but I refuse to believe that was the problem... unless his capacity for stress was ultra low. We do regular partial water changes... so I am pretty sure this betta (new to the tank) didn't have high levels of ammonia or nitrite. All our fish are in bottled spring water (although I will probably gradually switch or do a combo).
I have decided to investigate his death further: to keep the tank running, have his water checked at the LFS to see what was wrong, and examine his body even more carefully, before I clear out the tank or even consider letting another live in it. I really can't tell what might have made him ill. He was always a less cheery betta, had less personality than "peanut," the happy camper, but was very healthy looking. Perfect fins, gills, scales... I just can't see any obvious signs.
The third tank is my greatest source of concern and the most-time-consuming. This is the Eclipse 3 with 3 White Clouds. We have 1 female and 2 males. they were all great from the beginning and surprise, surprise, somehow managed to produce two babies within 1 1/2 weeks. I am assuming the female was pregnant with eggs beforehand. I got very concerned about the baby and therefore went back to the pet shop. I couldn't mount a breeding net of course, so I got more plants, hoping to provide more hiding places for the baby. One of them was so large I had to remove it immediately because it crowded out the rest of the tank and disturbed the adult fish. I substituted Elodea for it, which made the fish happier, but didn't clean up the mess left behind by this enormous shedding plant!!
So I thought things were still A-OK. But then, 2 nights ago, I tested the water and found all to be "okay" except this one 'peculiar' reading of high nitrate levels--off the scale, to be frank. I was worried since it said that nitrite was extremely dangerous to the fish... Since that second I have been reading up (and thank god, done frequent small water changes). I learned quickly there was nothing peculiar about that reading at all, and was devastated to realize that it was as worrisome as I feared and due to my sister's lack of research before impulsively buying these tanks!!!
This website has been extremely helpful so far. Kossy and Alien Anna, above all, have provided the crucial information to help guide us through this 'painful' process, and I am actively working to prevent my fish from being sacrificed to cruel cycling. My plan after reading up on it all here and elsewhere is thus:
1. to feed super sparingly (already started cutting those suckers down to every other day)
2. to make 5-10% water changes twice a day if not more often (all spring water, same brand as original, room temp)
3. to look for established gravel or filter media. I thought about my dad's pond, but have to find out if that sucker is really cycled, now that I know it wasn't dechlorinated till I came home a few weeks ago...
4. to complain to the pet shop for not forcing fish purchasers to read about cycling and setting up an aquarium before buying materials!!!!
Despite my elevated level of worry (far worse than the terror alerts on TV), I honestly think our white clouds will make it. Fortunately they seem to be behaving normally and are in general, ' hardy fish.' My only concern is the baby. One of them I don't see anymore (might be hiding), but one is still visibly there, chilling near the surface, darting about a bit. Should I remove it to a small tank--unfiltered, but totally clean and current (as well as ammonia and nitrite) free? Or let it weather out this storm and not subject it to changes??? I wish the babies were on their way much later, if not at all. But now they are here, I just want to see them make it.
I did another water test this evening. Nitrite was still really high, but I did finally get a reading for Nitrate. I just hope this thing will roll over soon!! Let's hope it's right, that the Nitrate is starting. I am going to check again in the morning. Crossing my fingers.
Well, I have got to get to bed now. If you made it through this post, thanks for listening and for participating in this forum. It's such a good feeling just to know what is happening, evn if you can't control or prevent tragedy all the time. If you have any advice regarding the mysteriously dead betta (after 3 weeks), the babies in the cycling Eclipse, or whether to upgrade or how to maintain the current tank our happy camper betta is in, please feel free. I would be grateful.
Thanks,
Surrogate Momma
It is nearly 6 AM and I have a feeling I just won't got to bed tonight. I am here online reading as much as I can about all of the fish and creatures I have recently become the "Surrogate Mother" of. I have only raised one betta before, and that was an uncomplicated matter, for some reason (I was young and naive?). Unlike the issues lately...
Since returning to the USA on a temporary basis (4 months starting Sept.), I have become the caretaker of my father's recently built pond and younger sister's multiple fish. My father's pond is surviving, although I doubt the balance of life has really been established. Fortunately water quality seems fine (according to the strips), although I had to solve a few problems before I even got around to testing: water was not dechlorinated!!! (yikes, that was a no-brainer.... how did they make it, I wonder?) and finally, a pond goldfish with a bad case of dropsy (died in its hospital tank). My only concern is whether his pond cycled??? After all, he was using water straight from the hose.... ? That is my next project, after I get past...what follows below.
The main source of my stress and efforts are the three fish tanks my sister has recently set up... all from a LFS without much consistent and quality advice. Anyways, we have two bettas each in one gallon filtered, lit tanks: and we have three White Clouds in an Eclipse 3. All of these tanks were set up two weeks-three weeks ago, and all have not yet cycled! Had we known better, we would have waited on the fish.
One betta seems to be thriving--loves food, loves us, makes bubble nests and is active, beautiful... a happy camper and joy....
The other betta died tonight. I can't tell why. His only trouble sign was wanting to nestle into the gravel below, listlessness... He had been moved into two different tanks, but I refuse to believe that was the problem... unless his capacity for stress was ultra low. We do regular partial water changes... so I am pretty sure this betta (new to the tank) didn't have high levels of ammonia or nitrite. All our fish are in bottled spring water (although I will probably gradually switch or do a combo).
I have decided to investigate his death further: to keep the tank running, have his water checked at the LFS to see what was wrong, and examine his body even more carefully, before I clear out the tank or even consider letting another live in it. I really can't tell what might have made him ill. He was always a less cheery betta, had less personality than "peanut," the happy camper, but was very healthy looking. Perfect fins, gills, scales... I just can't see any obvious signs.
The third tank is my greatest source of concern and the most-time-consuming. This is the Eclipse 3 with 3 White Clouds. We have 1 female and 2 males. they were all great from the beginning and surprise, surprise, somehow managed to produce two babies within 1 1/2 weeks. I am assuming the female was pregnant with eggs beforehand. I got very concerned about the baby and therefore went back to the pet shop. I couldn't mount a breeding net of course, so I got more plants, hoping to provide more hiding places for the baby. One of them was so large I had to remove it immediately because it crowded out the rest of the tank and disturbed the adult fish. I substituted Elodea for it, which made the fish happier, but didn't clean up the mess left behind by this enormous shedding plant!!
So I thought things were still A-OK. But then, 2 nights ago, I tested the water and found all to be "okay" except this one 'peculiar' reading of high nitrate levels--off the scale, to be frank. I was worried since it said that nitrite was extremely dangerous to the fish... Since that second I have been reading up (and thank god, done frequent small water changes). I learned quickly there was nothing peculiar about that reading at all, and was devastated to realize that it was as worrisome as I feared and due to my sister's lack of research before impulsively buying these tanks!!!
This website has been extremely helpful so far. Kossy and Alien Anna, above all, have provided the crucial information to help guide us through this 'painful' process, and I am actively working to prevent my fish from being sacrificed to cruel cycling. My plan after reading up on it all here and elsewhere is thus:
1. to feed super sparingly (already started cutting those suckers down to every other day)
2. to make 5-10% water changes twice a day if not more often (all spring water, same brand as original, room temp)
3. to look for established gravel or filter media. I thought about my dad's pond, but have to find out if that sucker is really cycled, now that I know it wasn't dechlorinated till I came home a few weeks ago...
4. to complain to the pet shop for not forcing fish purchasers to read about cycling and setting up an aquarium before buying materials!!!!
Despite my elevated level of worry (far worse than the terror alerts on TV), I honestly think our white clouds will make it. Fortunately they seem to be behaving normally and are in general, ' hardy fish.' My only concern is the baby. One of them I don't see anymore (might be hiding), but one is still visibly there, chilling near the surface, darting about a bit. Should I remove it to a small tank--unfiltered, but totally clean and current (as well as ammonia and nitrite) free? Or let it weather out this storm and not subject it to changes??? I wish the babies were on their way much later, if not at all. But now they are here, I just want to see them make it.
I did another water test this evening. Nitrite was still really high, but I did finally get a reading for Nitrate. I just hope this thing will roll over soon!! Let's hope it's right, that the Nitrate is starting. I am going to check again in the morning. Crossing my fingers.
Well, I have got to get to bed now. If you made it through this post, thanks for listening and for participating in this forum. It's such a good feeling just to know what is happening, evn if you can't control or prevent tragedy all the time. If you have any advice regarding the mysteriously dead betta (after 3 weeks), the babies in the cycling Eclipse, or whether to upgrade or how to maintain the current tank our happy camper betta is in, please feel free. I would be grateful.
Thanks,
Surrogate Momma
