KittenFishMom

I have a day to try to get my tanks back in balance after 2 weeks of trying to care for them as I dash in for an hour while caring for my mom at her home. (She starts a new treatment tomorrow; we have our fingers crossed) I have been changing water and vacuuming the tanks and such. I don’t trust the well yet, so I am using bottled spring drinking water for my changes. The 10 gallon tank with one male betta , 2 peppered corys, some guppy fry, lots of snails and IAL has high ammonia with 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites. I don’t see any sign of dead fish or snails. A week ago, I opened the curtain on the north facing window a little in hopes that the plants and algae would help consume the nitrogen While I was helping Mom. The floor and ornaments of that tank are mostly covered with a thin dark green layer, I assume it is algae. I am guessing that the 2 medium sponge filters are clogged up and need cleaning. Would this explain the weird water parms? I am hoping to get an idea of what might be cause the parms before I do something that might make the situation worse. Normally I only clean one filter before a water change. (I alternate which filter I clean to keep the tank well cycled.) I am thinking I should clean both before I change the water. All thoughts are welcome.

Quick update: Fish are still swimming and eating happily. The doctor's finally decided to admit Mom to the hospital after the second unit of platelets did not raise her dropping count. We will all sleep better tonight. The UV filter person came and took water samples today. In the morning, I will test all the tanks and see what needs doing. Thank you to everyone on the forum who did all they could to be helpful and supportive while I was trying to deal with the well problems in very limited amounts of time and with very limited amounts of mental energy.

All the fish are swimming, eating and acting healthy,

Tuesday, I only had time to stop at one store. I went to a store that only had distilled water in gallon bottles. I can't lift a case of water, so I bought the distilled water. I figured it was better for one partial water change than leaving them in water with high ammonia and nitrates and high pH. Wednesday the road and driveway were a sheet of ice, so I could not carry water in to the fish. I figured I would boil or treat the well water as best I could for partial changes on the tanks that really needed changes. Next time it will be bottled spring water from a different store. The time constrain is that my cataracts are not ready to be removed, and driving after dark is no fun. Mom needs me with her now with her platelets counts at 8. We had someone stay with her for a few hours while my husband and I went to work on the fish. We will get the well fixed again as soon as we can. We just had a few too many things going on right now.

We have had the well fixed twice and shocked it many times. The UV was working well until the water got cloudy, which it does from time to time. When things settle a bit, we will start making calls to get the well fixed again by yet a different company. A previous owner had the bright idea to put a driveway over the well. I am guessing that a heavy truck drove over the well and caused a crack below the 4 feet we unearthed for the first repair. We will get the well fixed, but first I need to care for my Mom. We are also trying to get the fish tanks cleared up and healthy and leech free. After that, spring will hit with a lot of things that need doing. I am beginning to see that the 55-tank build may have to wait until fall. I had planned it to be destressing my winter project. A full life is better than an empty on, but once in a while it feels like it is overflowing.

I have to a very limited time to get back to my Mom so I am post this as Urgent. Wrencher_Scott recommended adding plain bleach in the well water that is contaminated with coliform because it would be faster than boiling the water. He did not say how much bleach per gallon to use for water contaminated with coliform to be dechlorinated and used in the fish tank. I sent him mail, but he is no longer logged on. Anyone know how much bleach it would take?

@Wrencher_Scott How much plain Clorox bleach per gallon of water? My bottle of Fritz Complete says one cap full to 50 gallons of water, and DO NOT OVERDOSE. I and not doing 50 gallons at once. I'll see if the web site says how much per gallon. I will be mixing in a 2 gallon pail that I can lift easily.

@Wrencher_ScottWe sent the water to the water lab. The water is full of coliform. The tanks were fine and clear until the well water went cloudy and blocked the UV filter and the tanks went cloudy and smelly. I test the water daily, and change often. No problems in the tanks until the well water went cloudy. Now the tanks are cloudy and smelly and I see stuff floating in the tank water when I vacuum them that look just like the stuff we use to see floating in the tank of the toilet before we got the UV filter in the summer. long slimy string stuff, white, tan, brown slime. Very gross. The tanks with 2 water changes are much better than the tanks with one water change. I am sure it is the well water.

I have Fritz 7 and SeaChem Stability. I could also get some API quick start. If I hit it with all three, something might work.

interesting... I could boil the well water... that would kill the stuff without chemicals.

What do I need to use to treat distilled water in clean tanks with clean filters to be able to put fish in it? I have fritz 7 and SeaChem Stability. What can I buy at PetSmart? PetSmart does not have Seachem Equilibrium. I have problems with my well water and aquariums and am not sure how to proceed. My well water got cloudy, which reduced my VU filters effectiveness. Now the tap water from the well has coliform in it. I am getting smelly white and brown slimy stuff in my aquariums. The fish are still doing well, but I don’t know how long that will last. I have 5 active 10-gallon tanks. 2 are very effected due to water changes, 3 are doing OK, but need water changed. I can take the goldfish to the lfs, to reduce the number of active tanks by 1. (Maybe a distilled water change on the goldfish would work and take less time than taking them to the fish store?) When I was cycling a new tank. I put in my 4 sponge filters to use as seed filters when I restarted the other tanks because of the leeches. Can I boil those sponge filters, or will they melt/fall apart in boiling water? I have 10 gallons of distilled water. I can buy more. I can go to PetSmart and buy stuff to set my 2 empty 15 tanks. I will have to clean filters, and do some type of quick temp bottled cycling if I am to put fish in them. The complicating factor is my mom’s platelet count dropped to 8 on Monday as was still 8 Tuesday after a platelet infusion. So, I have been staying with her. My husband can stay with her for a while this afternoon, while I do some work on the tanks, but it will be a very limited amount of time, and I cannot watch the tanks afterwards I am afraid all my plants may be affected too. I have gotten rid of so many plants and have spent so much on replacing them. Is there a good way to treat my plants so they don’t bring the problem into the new tanks as I set them up?

I want to try to set up one of my tanks like the tank in "The automatic guppy fry sorter!" by Bandy in the thread in "General Discussion" from Oct 29, 2020. I have a 15 gallon tank, the 2" matten filter pad, the uplift tube. I plan to put a sponge filter on each side. I am looking for advice on keeping the pad in place. I remember someone talking about it recently, but I can not find the thread. Brandy's thread says: I used the matten sponge from the 10g in this new 20g high, and made a frame out of pvc. Two things I learned as soon as I filled the tank the first time was that the matten filter and frame, while well fitted, want to float, and when a 20 high is full the glass bows just slightly, loosening the fit. I used black silicone to attach the frame to the glass. I don't see the frame in the photos. I know I am missing something. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks.

@Flumpweesel I have ordered Prime, so we can use the city water from our house until the cottage water clears. Here at the cottage, there is weird well water, and lake water and water you bring from home or the store. We will get a full work up done on the water on Monday.

Listening to many HOBs, the wind chimes and my snoring spouse under a snoring cat. (Ice is to far out on the lake to hear the ducks and geese.)

I'm glad you are doing well and thinking fishy thoughts. Remember, "Slow and steady wins the race." Take care of yourself and your fish. Cracked ribs from CPR are no fun, but no CPR is less fun. I'm glad you are still with us. Warning, here comes a mini rant: Everyone should learn CPR and first aid. It gives you something to do while waiting for the EMTs to arrive.

My membership saved me $300, Now I have to spend another $2.03 for free shipping. "Same days are just like that, even in Australia" to quate a favorite children's story.

@lefty o That is OK, I don't have nice even fish.

@Cinnebuns Thanks !

@modified lung That would turn my forehead into powder !!!! How 'bout you show me how it is done?

I bought some Giant Wonder Shells on line by accident. They are HUGE. Is there a good way to cut them up without them turning into a pile of powder?

My bottom feeders define "bottom" as "Anything with food on it"

@H.K.Luterman and @BeginnerFishKeeper Here are some photos of my betta hammock in action. At least someone is using the betta hammock (Note: The water is this tank is very cloudy. See my other posts today in "General" for info or to offer help) My feeding circle is over my betta hammock. the food drops to the hammock and the cory comes up to vacuum: I had the phone at an angle, but you get the idea. The betta log is in the background

Your secret is out !! Maybe I can get some guppies that way.

@Guppysnail The photos of slow fish worked pretty well, the ones of the guppies were just burrs. I bet you were photographing fast little zippy guppies !

@Fish Folk I will be keeping the fish I catch. I Do mostly catch and release, but I like to keep some on hand because my Mom, who is on chemo, has lost her appetite, and really likes very fresh fish. I can take the biggest swimming fish in my tank and have ready and in her frying pan in about 45 minutes. It doesn't get fresher than that. I swap the fish in and out all summer, so they tend to be very wild and skittish. I feed them handfuls of local earthworms and fresh seaweed and am going to have big scud colonies this summer as well. The earthworms are full of fine mud, that make a mess of the filters very quickly. (NOTHING goes into the tank other than local fish and fodder. All new filter media and everything is cleaned very carefully so as not to introduce anything to the lake. We own the cottage and take extra good care of the lake. We even set up a pool pump to run a big fountain to put extra oxygen into the lake water.) In the spring and fall, mostly big bullhead catfish and some mudpuppies because they are fun to watch. During the summer it is a wide variety of what I catch. most sunfish, perch bluegills, a load of huge snails, and crayfish from the lake to clean the tank. The DEC says they are mystery snails, but GuppySnail says they are apple snails. Thanks for the tip on the videos. We have limited band width here, but I will watch them as I can.