kiesha

Updates: Nitrate - 20 [around 20 give or take a couple points] Nitrite - .0!!!!! YAY Hardness - 75 Alkalinity - 40 PH - around 6.8-7.2 Do I need to work on my Alkalinity?

LOL I figured as much. I'll do another before the football game. If needed, i'll do another one tonight. I am also off tomorrow so I will have all day to nurse them as well When I did the second water change, they didn't appear to be as stressed so I was pretty happy about that. I will continue to work on it and post my results here.

I did another water change as you instructed and here goes: Nitrate - 60 Nitrite - .5 Hardness - between 75-150 (a decrease from earlier) Alkalinity - 40 PH - around 6.8 I'm guessing another water change will be in my future tomorrow lol

Unfortunately I didn't have enough money for both sets of test strips. They were 15 a piece @ my store and I'm very short on cash until payday. I thought I might have had some old amonia sticks around but I can't locate them. Is there any other way to test the amonia? Or is it safe to say if the nitrite is down to 0 then my amonia might be ok as well? I am going to see if their dad [my boyfriend] can maybe pick up a set on his way home tonight.

Hi Thanks so much, I didn't see this earlier. The log is open on both ends and also has holdes on the top of it. The plants are artificial and stuck onto the log. I did a GOOD gravel clean this morning but will also do another when I do the extra water change. I don't have a bubble stone but I do have an emperor 400 + penguon 330 on a 55 gallon with 3 fish in it. My lights are off as well as a cover over the tank. It's partially over now cause I just gave them some food. Posted friends

These numbers look TERRIBLE. Then again I expected as much. Nitrate - 60 Nitrite - 1.0 Hardness - 300 (we have very hard water in my area) Alkalinity - 60 (color in between the low to moderate range) PH - 6.8 Ok so how can I fix these numbers? I have been out of the loop so much, I don't know what to do anymore. It's like starting over as a beginner. Any help is appreciated and again thanks to all who have helped me since this whole ordeal.

Will do. I am off to the petstore now and i'll report back a little later. Should I PM you with my test results?

Yikes. I have had that stuff in there since I bought the tank but have cleaned it before. They seemed pretty stress right now, should I hold off on removing the ornaments until they are less stressed? Like they are shying away behind the ornaments and didn't know if I should take their protection out with them being so stressed? Thanks a bunch for all of your help today, you're an angel.

Yes the salt is what I was told for the ick. Also my temp is around 78 in the tank. I have pictures but they are SUPER blurry, taken on a terrible cellphone lol. I do have a log. I have finished doing the first round of water changes, should I wait to take it out when I do the second? They seemed pretty stressed with the water change. I added salt, stress coat and covered the tank, was that ok to do?

How much salt do you recommend? The same dose as when the fish had ick? The fish I first noticed had dropsy passed. In retrospect, I remember when I bought the fish the worker asked the owner if everything was ok with her b/c her scales were sticking out a little bit. The owner said oh yea she's ok, thats just pearl scales. I wonder if it was dropsy starting? My blue oranda is the other who appeared to be going down the road to dropsy and popeye. I cleared his popeye up and he appears to be doing ok. My chocolate Oranda wasn't nearly as bad as the others and she is ok. Stripe my fish of 5 years who had the ick is also doing better. His fins took a beating but they are eating and not hiding out in the log. I think they are better

Yes salt was in and also have a lot to use.

Ok I will do, what type of water change should I start out with? 25%? I am going to the pet store in the next hour.

Oh lord. They told me to put them in fish bags and put air in them so that the bacteria would live. I had the powder and they told me to sprinkle it in their flakes and put a little water to make like a paste and then feed the fish. I have to go to the pet store later to get more test strips. I ran out last night. Seems I've made things worst now, I don't know. Maybe I'm not cut out for this anymore. I wish I could find a better home for them... for someone thats knows what they are doing. I can tell you I never intended to hurt them or make them any worse, I only wanted them to get better

The fish store told me in order for the medication to be effective I had to do this, were they wrong? I have no idea. Poor judgement on my part. Introducing new fish to my main tank w/o quarantine. Lesson learned. I almost lost my oranda of 5 years due to bad judgement. He is my pet and it hurt to think that I had put him in danger.

Yes filters are off, according to the fish store, I had to take them off in order for this to be effective. Mind you, I was very concerned doing so but I have saw good results. I used VERY bad judgement. A local fish store that I trust, I bought 3 new fish and put them in with Stripe w/o putting them in quarantine before (His companion of 4 years died suddenly and I wanted to get him "friends"). It was a very bad decision that I regretted in a couple of days. Stripe has had small issues before but nothing like this. I thought that my tank was clean! My water didn't smell, And I have an emperor 400 + penguin 330 so it shouldn't have so much "waste". However I also know that sometimes things aren't what they appear to be. I will do a good water change every couple of days to make sure that their conditions are good. I'm very happy they are doing better.