Robinowitz

Thanks for the suggestions.

Google suggests one tsp/gallon of salt to start. Guess I’ll give it a try.

How much salt per gallon would you recommend?

This Blue Grass male is losing his tail. I’ve treated him for 10 days with both Maracyn and Marycyn Two at the same time. (5 days, 30% water change on 6th day then another course for 5 days. 50% water change two days ago and returned filter with charcoal to neutralize the AB’s. Nitrogen cycle is shot from AB’s but am testing daily with API master kit. Using prime and stability as needed per testing. He’s in a 10 gallon tank with one other male and 5 females. None of them show signs of any problems. What do I do next for this guy? Want to isolate him in another 10 gallon tank and treat him alone but don’t know what to treat him with. He’s not lethargic, eats normally and I see no signs of fungus on him anywhere. Any suggestions?

Yes, there are a lot of variables to consider when looking at raising fish. I’m attempting to control what I have control over, which in this case is how I acclimate the fish. I’ve used both methods advised by others in this thread. I haven’t been successful with either. I pay very close attention to my water quality and can keep all other varieties of freshwater fish and invertebrates alive in my tanks. The guppies have been kicking my ass. For the delivery I’m receiving today I have changed my supplier. Not sure what acclimation method I will use today but I will tweak what I do to reduce stress with some of the information I’m gleaning from reading here and other research. The question is, do I open the bag and immediately net the fish into my tank to avoid Ammonia poisoning or slowly tritrate the shipping bag water with my aquarium water to equalize the ph? There are ways I can improve on both methods from how I’ve done them in the past.

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the feedback.

I'm struggling to keep new guppies alive that I buy online that are shipped to me. My water parameters are all within recommended ranges. What acclimation process is everyone using to transition the fish from the shipping bags to the aquarium?

Patric_G, your comment about old rules not applying since we add nitrates for plants is an enhancement of my original question. I am curious to know from those who add nitrate as fertilizer for plants have found to be acceptable levels for their fish only aquariums. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a nitrate reading of 50ppm or more in my tanks and if I did would probably consider it an emergency of sorts. So what are the new rules for nitrate levels in aquariums with fish and since I’ve recently added some red cherry shrimp to a couple of my tanks with fish what are acceptable nitrate levels in them? It feels like I should know new nitrate levels associated with keeping live plants in an aquarium. Suppose I’ll start researching…

Thanks. I started putting live plants in my aquariums about a month ago. Different varieties of Anubias, Java fern and Najas. So far they all seem to be ok. Not decaying and certainly not dying. Amount of light they need with my lights is still somewhat of a question but I’m letting them tell me. The level of nitrates were a concern because of the toxicity for the fish. Based on what you’ve both told me I will carry on with what I’ve been doing until I see a need for change. I love the dance.

A few weeks ago I started adding live plants to my tanks and am slowly discarding the plastic ones. I understand that nitrates in the aquarium are good for the plants. My tanks are cycled and mature. I’ve always done partial water changes based on nitrate levels being above 10-20ppm on the api master test kit. So partial water changes happen about once a week. I’m curious about what level of nitrates (ppm) to leave for the plants before I do water changes?

Right, that is my understanding. So how do the different BB populate the media in a cycled tank. Is one dominant over the other? As I understand the nitrogen cycle you get ammonia that is broken down into nitrite, both being consumed/processed by different bacteria. The bacteria exist in response to the waste products. In what proportion do each groups of bb exist? Why is the media from my cycled tank processing ammonia into nitrite but my nitrite isn’t being processed? Leads me to believe the different bb exist in different areas of my cycled tank. And apparently the bb that processes nitrite isn’t on media, or in sufficient quantities. Meaning it’s hanging out elsewhere in my cycled tank because I have no nitrite issues there. Ugh. Interesting stuff. Need to understand though to be able to react and adapt to new challenges.

After testing today if the nitrites are still high I will add another baggie of media from the cycled tank. It’s a valid exploration. Thanks Scapexghost.

I set up a new 10 gallon quarantine tank 2 days ago. I seeded it with media from one of my cycled tanks. I have 4 new livebearers and 3 mystery snails in it and am testing parameters daily to follow the nitrogen cycle progression. All parameters are good except for nitrites which read .25-.50ppm. I’ve done 40% water changes each day with prime added to bind the nitrite. Why didn’t my cycled media bring BB to deal with nitrites from the cycled tank that has no nitrite issues? Any guesses? Any other thoughts? I’m trying to figure out how to have access to a cycled quarantine tank on demand without having it up and running as a cycled tank all the time.

Thanks for the feedback Scott. I was not aware of the ammonia poisoning issue when opening the bag. I did net the fish out after stabilizing temps and slowly adding some of my aquarium water into the bag. I had read not to add the bagged water to the aquarium. This was my first attempt with online purchases. It has prompted me to dig further into the details of water quality issues. I’m enjoying the learning curve and looking forward to improving as a hobbiest. Be well! Edited to say I will research medicated food. At the moment I am trying to figure out if I lost my cycle to the AB. Should be able to determine that quickly!!

Thank you for the very informative and thorough response, Fish Folk.