SouthernCross
Fish Addict
Have come home to madness and I'm worried! 
Have been away for five days and upon our return we realised the power had been out for sometime but had recently come back on before we returned - but we have no idea how long it was out for. We realised because the clocks were reset, the fridge wasn't cold, and when I raced to check my fish - the water temp had dropped considerably (to about 20 degrees celsius) and the timer I'd set for the lights was all outa whack. And I'm guessing it had been getting no oxygen for awhile cos the pumps would have all been off. I was especially worried because my usually colourful pearl gourami was hiding and looking very pale and greyish. Cardinals still had colour, platies too but were clamping a little, and my bronze cories dark stripe was a bit faded.
I took a test straightaway to find out if my filter had uncycled - my readings were ammonia 0, nitrite elevated at a bit less than .25, nitrate the usual around 20. The nitrite reading, although not high is scaring me - has my filter become uncycled and will it take ages to get back to normal? Is there anything else I should do?
My fish - the temp is slowly on its way back up - but I'm worried about the nitrite. Could my pearl gourami's condition be mostly due to the temperature problems cos he got cold or something else?
I last did about a 50% water change on Monday before we went away. They were fed on Monday and again when I got home - so they shouldn't have been producing a ton of waste while I was gone...
Any thoughts/advice/help for my current situation? Why do these things always have to happen when I'm not home!
Have been away for five days and upon our return we realised the power had been out for sometime but had recently come back on before we returned - but we have no idea how long it was out for. We realised because the clocks were reset, the fridge wasn't cold, and when I raced to check my fish - the water temp had dropped considerably (to about 20 degrees celsius) and the timer I'd set for the lights was all outa whack. And I'm guessing it had been getting no oxygen for awhile cos the pumps would have all been off. I was especially worried because my usually colourful pearl gourami was hiding and looking very pale and greyish. Cardinals still had colour, platies too but were clamping a little, and my bronze cories dark stripe was a bit faded.
I took a test straightaway to find out if my filter had uncycled - my readings were ammonia 0, nitrite elevated at a bit less than .25, nitrate the usual around 20. The nitrite reading, although not high is scaring me - has my filter become uncycled and will it take ages to get back to normal? Is there anything else I should do?
My fish - the temp is slowly on its way back up - but I'm worried about the nitrite. Could my pearl gourami's condition be mostly due to the temperature problems cos he got cold or something else?
I last did about a 50% water change on Monday before we went away. They were fed on Monday and again when I got home - so they shouldn't have been producing a ton of waste while I was gone...
Any thoughts/advice/help for my current situation? Why do these things always have to happen when I'm not home!
