Fishtank stress
Last weekend, I cleaned the fishtanks. The small one was fine with a 50% water change, a good gravel vaccum, and a filter pad change. The large one needed a bit more, however, as I had had several fish die in it, due to a combination of factors - including a fungal infection of some sort. For that one, I vaccumed the gravel, scrubbed the ick off the glass and submerged filter pieces with a plain scrubby, and did a 75% water change. I changed the filter pad in the charcoal filter, but left the little spinning drum in the biological filter alone.
So, they're both cycling. The 20-gallon is doing well, and everyone seems happy in there - the three purple-blue cichlids go insane when they think I'm going to feed them, and the weensy yellow "cichlets" zip around and in and out of the rock features.
The 40-gallon, on the other hand, had an ammonia spike yesterday afternoon.
It seemed quite sudden! When I had left in the morning, the water was clear... but by the time I'd returned home, the water was cloudy, and the room smelled funny! o_O I tested the water, and while it wasn't at "dangerous" levels, the test strip indicated that there was just enough ammonia in there to "stress" the fish. I treated it with Ammo-Lock, but this morning, it was still cloudy. I've got good aeration going in there - both the regular and the biofilter dump the water back in from above, and there's a curtain of bubbles along half of the back of the tank - so hopefully that will help.
I'll have to do a partial water change, this evening. I just wish that I could drop some magic drops in that'll clear everything up.
I wonder if there are any extra additives in our tapwater that might be causing this. (I know that, in years past, when the reservoir got low, the city added stuff to the water to keep it potable and non-smelly.)
I don't want to lose any more fish! I know that I didn't have to pay for them, but that doesn't make them any less special and beautiful! It pains me to see them sick - especially since I can't really comfort them, like I would a sick or hurt fuzzy pet, nor just up and take them to the vet for a shot. I've kept fish since I was a kid, and most all of my charges died of old age. I just can't figure out why I've suddenly become bad at it. ):
So, they're both cycling. The 20-gallon is doing well, and everyone seems happy in there - the three purple-blue cichlids go insane when they think I'm going to feed them, and the weensy yellow "cichlets" zip around and in and out of the rock features.
The 40-gallon, on the other hand, had an ammonia spike yesterday afternoon.
It seemed quite sudden! When I had left in the morning, the water was clear... but by the time I'd returned home, the water was cloudy, and the room smelled funny! o_O I tested the water, and while it wasn't at "dangerous" levels, the test strip indicated that there was just enough ammonia in there to "stress" the fish. I treated it with Ammo-Lock, but this morning, it was still cloudy. I've got good aeration going in there - both the regular and the biofilter dump the water back in from above, and there's a curtain of bubbles along half of the back of the tank - so hopefully that will help.
I'll have to do a partial water change, this evening. I just wish that I could drop some magic drops in that'll clear everything up.
I wonder if there are any extra additives in our tapwater that might be causing this. (I know that, in years past, when the reservoir got low, the city added stuff to the water to keep it potable and non-smelly.)
I don't want to lose any more fish! I know that I didn't have to pay for them, but that doesn't make them any less special and beautiful! It pains me to see them sick - especially since I can't really comfort them, like I would a sick or hurt fuzzy pet, nor just up and take them to the vet for a shot. I've kept fish since I was a kid, and most all of my charges died of old age. I just can't figure out why I've suddenly become bad at it. ):