Piggy was feeling left out

[titch 104]

Piggy was feeling left out now that Winston and Dad both have their own threads... 

Do these patches look normal to you? The 'before' images were taken in October 2014 when I first got him. The 'after' images were taken in the last week.

He's always had a dark patch on his left hand side (although it has gotten considerably bigger), but the others have come up since I've owned him. I always dismissed them as naturally darker scales/patches, but what with my issues with Winston & Dad I thought it best to check with you.

As ever, all input is gratefully received! 

Edited February 14, 2017 by titch

[koko 14,377]

He reminds me of my old fish Pharaoh. Pharaoh when he was about 7 years old got these same marks. I just say chalk it up to old age hun. He looks good for being so old  

 

Do we have silver hun?

[titch 104]

He's only about 3 years old (bought him in October 2014). Is that old?

Yes, I have silver @ 250ppm.

[koko 14,377]

10 minutes ago, titch said:

He's only about 3 years old (bought him in October 2014). Is that old?

Yes, I have silver @ 250ppm.

He is getting up there in tank years hun. I would say lets put in the tank if he's in the main tank 4 drops in  

[titch 104]

1 hour ago, koko said:

He is getting up there in tank years hun. I would say lets put in the tank if he's in the main tank 4 drops in  

Awwww.... I still think of him as a baby. Even though he's far bigger than Dad or Winston! 

Ok, 4 drops in the main tank. Reminds me, are the Nerites ok with silver & do I need to remove any carbon from the filter?

How often do you want me to dose?

[koko 14,377]

Just now, titch said:

Awwww.... I still think of him as a baby. Even though he's far bigger than Dad or Winston! 

Ok, 4 drops in the main tank. Reminds me, are the Nerites ok with silver & do I need to remove any carbon from the filter?

How often do you want me to dose?

Wont bother Snails hun. Yes removed the carbon from the filter. In fact you shouldnt have carbon in the tank unless your removing meds from the water hun

I just want you to do that 2 times in one week

[titch 104]

21 minutes ago, koko said:

In fact you shouldnt have carbon in the tank unless your removing meds from the water hun

I just want you to do that 2 times in one week

Okey doke. It's WC day tomorrow & Sunday so I'll coincide it with that. 

Its the original carbon pad that came with the FX6, setup on 1st December. Will it still be active & necessary to remove it?

p.s. Did you see my update on Dad? 

[koko 14,377]

I would till we can figure out whats going on  

[titch 104]

On 2/14/2017 at 7:03 PM, koko said:

I just want you to do that 2 times in one week

Hi Koko. Just so you know, I dosed the main tank with 4 drops of silver yesterday. This was dose #1 as due to the stupid location of Dad's QT  I couldn't access it on Wednesday to remove the carbon. So one more dose to go when I do the midweek WC.

And...MY WONDER SHELLS HAVE ARRIVED!!! 

I have 5 'large' size shells (although I was must admit I was expecting them to be larger). Should I add a full one to the tank or just half? Should I wait until I've completed the silver treatment?

Bit concerned as to where to put it. Now that I don't have anything in the tank, I don't think I have a 'low flow' area.

 

[koko 14,377]

5 hours ago, titch said:

Hi Koko. Just so you know, I dosed the main tank with 4 drops of silver yesterday. This was dose #1 as due to the stupid location of Dad's QT  I couldn't access it on Wednesday to remove the carbon. So one more dose to go when I do the midweek WC.

And...MY WONDER SHELLS HAVE ARRIVED!!! 

I have 5 'large' size shells (although I was must admit I was expecting them to be larger). Should I add a full one to the tank or just half? Should I wait until I've completed the silver treatment?

Bit concerned as to where to put it. Now that I don't have anything in the tank, I don't think I have a 'low flow' area.

 

No need to worry with the Silver. I just treated my tank with the Silver and have a Wondershell in.. No problems what so every. 

So yup add the whole thing in the tank hun  

[titch 104]

Fab - will do it tonight.

[titch 104]

On 2/20/2017 at 4:40 PM, koko said:

No need to worry with the Silver. I just treated my tank with the Silver and have a Wondershell in.. No problems what so every. 

So yup add the whole thing in the tank hun  

OK, so I've completed the silver - dosing 4 drops on Sunday & again on Wednesday following the WCs (150litres & 90 litres) and I added the Wonder Shell on Monday.

I was curious if the shell would affect the PH in anyway, so decided to test the water prior to it going in and then again afterwards.

I was surprised to see the PH reading at 8.2 before the shell went in. I've never seen it this high before, it had always tested at 7.4. I don't know how long it's been at this level, as I hadn't tested for a while  

I also tested the filtered water I use (I filter my water with a Pozzani nitrate filter, treat with Prime and let it stand for 24hrs prior to any WC) and this came back at 7.4.

So I've continued testing on a daily basis this week. Every main tank reading came back at 8.2, every filtered water reading at 7.4

This morning I checked the QT that Dad is in. He had a 100% WC last night with filtered water at 7.4, this morning it's at 8.2 (12hrs after the WC).

I also checked some filtered water that I got ready last night for Winston's WC tonight (so it's been stood for about 12hrs) - this came back at 7.4

Sooooooo many questions!!!

Is PH at this level ok? What's causing it to rise? Am I ok to be adding water at 7.4 during WC only for it to rise this much in a short space of time? Is a rise of 0.8 considered a lot or am I worrying unnecessarily?

Remember I removed the bogwood/plants on 12th February - would this have any bearing on the PH? Might the wood be artificially keeping it at the lower range? 

Sorry for the essay but WHAT'S GOING ON?????

      

Just one other thing, am I right in saying I need to add in another shell when the first one is down to about 1/4 it's original size?

Edited February 24, 2017 by titch

[koko 14,377]

It does sound like the log was keeping it down. Which it can do.

Lets do another test hun. Get a 1 gallon jug, put water from the tap in it. Put an air stone in it and let it sit for 24 hours. Test it first then after 24 hours test it again  PH

I add another Wondershell when its gone  No worries for PH going up, its the down swing that causes Ph shock to fish

 

What is the ph in the QT on the other fish hun.? 

[titch 104]

32 minutes ago, koko said:

Lets do another test hun. Get a 1 gallon jug, put water from the tap in it. Put an air stone in it and let it sit for 24 hours. Test it first then after 24 hours test it again  PH

What is the ph in the QT on the other fish hun.? 

Just checked - PH on both QT are at 8.2. Main tank also reading 8.2

I have some 24hr old filtered water which I'll be using for Winstons WC tonight. That's reading 7.4

I don't have another air stone to use. I only have 2 & I'm using one in each QT. 

[titch 104]

17 hours ago, koko said:

What is the ph in the QT on the other fish hun.? 

Not sure if you saw my reply above. 

Is it ok to use water with ph of 7.4 for my WC? Is that too much of a shock? Should I be doing smaller changes (currently 90litres on Wednesdays & 150 on Sundays)?

Edited February 25, 2017 by titch

[shakaho 6,312]

Add baking soda to your tap water a little (like 1/4 teaspoon) at a time to get the pH over 8.  Measure how much it takes to get that high so you can add it all at once in the future.  Then you can do 100% water changes safely.  

For the main tank, you should consider small daily water changes.  10% daily will maintain the water quality in a cycled tank as well as 50% weekly, without any significant pH changes.

[titch 104]

31 minutes ago, shakaho said:

For the main tank, you should consider small daily water changes.  10% daily will maintain the water quality in a cycled tank as well as 50% weekly, without any significant pH changes.

Thank you!

Could I adjust my WC water for the main tank in the same way, therefore continue with my 90litre/150litre routine? Or is there a risk of a build up of baking soda over time?

Daily changes aren't really feasible for me I'm afraid 

[shakaho 6,312]

Someone else will have to tell you about build up, since my water has a high KH so I have no experience with baking soda.  You should read this.  Alex said that you need 100% water change periodically to avoid sodium build up, but he didn't say how to do that without shocking your fish.  

If you try aerating the tap water, you may find out you don't need baking soda.  The fact that your tank water has a stable pH suggests that aeration of the tap water will raise the pH.

[titch 104]

12 minutes ago, shakaho said:

The fact that your tank water has a stable pH suggests that aeration of the tap water will raise the pH.

I guess that's why Koko wanted me to do the air stone test. I imagine the aeration is increasing the tap ph seeing as the water in my QT is raising from 7.4 to 8.2 overnight (not sure how quickly it's happening however).

I can't do the test at the moment as both my air stones are in use in QT. 

In your experience how long does it take to raise ph using aeration? For my large WC I have 6 buckets of aged clean water (25 litres each) so could only aerate 2 at a time. 

[shakaho 6,312]

As I said, my water has stable pH, so I have no experience with altering it, but it won't matter if it did, since your water is not my water. 

Most people get a large container and aerate over night.  Doing the one gallon experiment Koko recommended with hourly pH tests will answer your question.

[titch 104]

8 minutes ago, shakaho said:

 Doing the one gallon experiment Koko recommended with hourly pH tests will answer your question.

So we would be taking hours then? Not something that's likely to happen in say 15 minutes or so? (Just thinking logistically/practically for my large WC)

[koko 14,377]

47 minutes ago, titch said:

So we would be taking hours then? Not something that's likely to happen in say 15 minutes or so? (Just thinking logistically/practically for my large WC)

If the Ph is changing the way Im thinking it is. It would take at least 24 hours for the change  

[titch 104]

 

7 minutes ago, koko said:

If the Ph is changing the way Im thinking it is. It would take at least 24 hours for the change  

Not the answer I was looking for!! Lol!

Out of interest, how/why do you think it's changing?

FYI - I did Winstons WC last night using 7.4. By morning it was at 8.2 - approx 12 hours

Don't really know where to go from here ref large WC then. Could do the baking soda trick but run the risk of build up in the tank. Could do smaller more regular changes but daily really isn't an option I'm afraid.

Could possibly do 3 WC per week (tues, thurs & sun) - if this was the way forward what volume could I get away with each time?

Depending on the volume I change each time, could I continue using 7.4 ph water as the ph change wouldn't constitute too much of a shock (ie so small it would be negligible)?

Also, as an aside, I'd thought about adding an air stone to the main tank (when one becomes available from one of the QT). Is that likely to increase the tank ph further and therefore a bad idea?

 

[koko 14,377]

Adding an air stone to the main tank won't harm the Ph at all hun. Its got a natural balance to it. It takes time for it to raise up.

 

Now one way an old member did it cause her Ph changed like that too, is to Get a large garbage can fill it with water put and air stone in it. Let it rise over night. Then to do a water change you can't get a pond pump or a power head and use that to pump the water into the tank.  This way the Ph can go up and you will have plenty of water to use

 

[titch 104]

 

12 minutes ago, koko said:

Adding an air stone to the main tank won't harm the Ph at all hun. Its got a natural balance to it. It takes time for it to raise up.

 

Now one way an old member did it cause her Ph changed like that too, is to Get a large garbage can fill it with water put and air stone in it. Let it rise over night. Then to do a water change you can't get a pond pump or a power head and use that to pump the water into the tank.  This way the Ph can go up and you will have plenty of water to use

 

Yes!! That is my plan at some point, but I would need a way to heat the water up to tank temperature beforehand. I've already got the water container (200 litre) & pump but have been researching about a suitable heater. The container would reside in the garage. 

Doesnt help in the short term though.