Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alex on September 29, 2012 at 4:06am

I'll pass on boiling and just use the conditioner. Also I've heard it's very hard to breed Cardinals in captivity.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alex on September 22, 2012 at 1:20pm

Yeah I'm not looking to breed, I thought it was damn near impossible to breed cardinals in captivity. I just don't want to spend another $20 on fish. But since I have one cardinal id like to have some friends for him.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on September 22, 2012 at 7:30pm

Find out what the dealer's ph is. That may provide a clue. But I really think its the fish themselves. Cardinals are notorious for dying off after being transferred. See if the dealer will guarantee the fish and, if not, seek a different source. I heard Petco guarantees fish but I'm not sure if they'll have Cardinals. Petco recently bought almost 200 outdoor fish ponds in Florida. So they may start showing more variety in their stock. I'm told they were paying 3 cents per fish. I don't know much about Aquabid but if you pay by credit card they may have to guarantee the fish.

Good luck. Cardinals are a beautiful fish. I keep some with my Discus.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ŦůRbö ۰ Ҏяѻ ۰ on September 23, 2012 at 4:15am

I have a lot of drift wood in my tank, as you can tell from my pics, and I do not see any change in pH. You got to understand the pH in water all depends on the air. The air is what really helps controls pH. To prove this, get some RO water, put it into two buckets, cover one so that it is air tight, and leave one open to the air for a few days. Test the pH. note the difference. Co2 lowers (temporary) pH in two ways. One; the Co2 dissolves in water, and some of it forms carbonic acid. The formation of acid lowers the pH (but not hardness(GH)). Two; Co2 will help stablize and hold pH; due to the fact that it is heavier than air and will linger around the surface making the air harder to get to the water. (Of course, in order for this approach to be practical, a steady source of Co2 is needed to hold the pH in place. As soon as the CO2 is gone, the pH bounces back to its previous value. If you live in a big city, or have ANY polution in the air this will determine the pH.)

Neons prefer soft water; which has more to do with GH than pH, although they can survive in harder water. Typical home water softeners soften water using a technique known as "ion exchange''. That is, they remove calcium and magnesium ions by replacing them with sodium ions. Although this does technically make water softer, most fish won't notice the difference. That is, fish that prefer soft water don't like sodium either, and for them such water softeners don't help at all. Thus, home water softeners are not an appropriate way to soften water for aquarium use. Stores also sell "water softening pillows''. They use the same ion-exchange principle. One "recharges'' the pillow by soaking it in a salt water solution, then places it in the tank where the sodium ions are released into the water and replaced by calcium and magnesium ions. After a few hours or days, the pillow (along with the calcium and magnesium) are removed, and the pillow recharged. The pillows sold in stores are too small to work well in practice, and shouldn't be used in planted tanks (plants do not like salt). Peat moss softens water and reduces its hardness (GH). The most effective way to soften water via peat is to aerate water for 1-2 weeks in a bucket containing peat moss. For example, get a bucket, then, get a large quantity of peat (a gallon or more), boil it (so that it sinks), stuff it in a pillow case, and place it in the water bucket. Use an air pump to aerate it. In 1-2 weeks, the water will be softer and more acidic. Use this aged water when making partial water changes on your tank. Although some place peat in the filters of their tanks, the technique has a number of drawbacks. First, peat clogs easily, so adding peat isn't always effective; second, peat can be messy and may cloud the water in your tank. Third, the exact quantity of peat needed to effectively soften your water is difficult to estimate. Using the wrong amount results in the wrong water chemistry. Finally, when doing water changes, your tank's chemistry changes when new water is added (it has the wrong properties). Over the next few days, the chemistry changes as the peat takes effect. Using aged water helps ensure that the chemistry of your tank doesn't fluctuate while doing water changes. Peat can be bought at pet shops, but it is expensive. It is much more cost-effective to buy it in bulk at a local gardening shop. Read labels carefully; you don't want to use peat containing fertilizers or other additives.

I would also suggest an airstone be turned on at night to cause some surface turbulence so your water releases more co2; since with light the plants "breathe" in co2 and "exhale" o2 (oxygen) and without light they "exhale" co2. I have turned on the light in morning, a few times to find all my fish at the top gasping for oxygen. Kind of off topic, but the lack of o2 maybe helping to kill them. As you can tell; I'm an explainer, and I like to talk. I find auariums and the biology behind keeping them so very facinating, even working on my master's degree in biology, lol.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alex on September 29, 2012 at 4:23am

I'm on the fence about turning off the co2 at night. I like your idea about an airstone to come on at night. I like this article on turning co2 off at night. http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/night.html

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Peter on September 24, 2012 at 3:21pm

U just blew my mind turbo holy Cow so much info I need to read it like 3 times to pick up all u explained. Well done

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ŦůRbö ۰ Ҏяѻ ۰ on September 25, 2012 at 2:57pm

LOL yeah I know! that is why Im so facinated by all of this. I thought water was water. What really got me into GH and pH and all that, is how one have a saltwater tank with 8.0 pH if salt makes the water soft? blows my mind.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jeremy I on September 24, 2012 at 1:35pm

you're adding way too many at once. Any fish you add to a tank will increase the bioload output, and the tank needs a chance to re-stabilize whenever  you add anything new. Just add one neon a week or two (maybe two the first time so they have at least a bit of a schooling formation) and they should be fine. Also, are you drip-acclimating them? They can be taught to tolerate most water perams, but it's the shock from going from whatever ph they were in to whatever yours is that kills them.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alex on September 24, 2012 at 2:54pm

I didn't add them all at once. I first added 3 neons from my QT at night to my main tank then added the other 2 the next morning. 1 week later I was down to 2 neons. This is how I acclimate all my fish.  I bought them drove home which took 30 mins then I floated the bag in the tank with the lights off for about 30 mins then I added 1/4 cup of my tank water to the floating bag every 15 mins for about a 1.5 hours and then added the first 3 neons. I then turned on the 'lunar lights.' Oh and I net caught them and released them in the tank, did not add bagged water to tank.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jeremy I on September 24, 2012 at 5:12pm

adding them how you did still counts as 'all at once' in this instance. Even if you did not put them in at the exact same time, they were added close enough to each other that it would make little difference. The time gap is needed for your tank ecosystem to balance itself out so the bacteria can deal with the raised waste production and ammonia levels. If you add any  more fish before the time it takes for that to happen fully (about 2 weeks in this case), it will make little difference. Less than a day apart will hardly change anything. Keep in mind that for just 10 gallons, one or two fish will substantially effect the bioload.

Your acclimation process still doesn't give the fish any opportunity to adjust to your water parameters. The ideal thing to do would be to use the drip acclimation process, where you put the fish in a bucket (or the bag in a bucket), tie a  knot in a piece of airline tubing, and just let water from your tank drip into the bag. If you really don't want to do this, you could modify your method by instead of adding 1/4 tank water once, add At Most 1/10 tank water to the bag at a time, and nearing the end start taking water out of the bag before you put fresh water in. It's a long and painstaking process that can easily be avoided.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on September 25, 2012 at 1:14am

Sorry that I don't have a good answer for mitigating ph shock but keeping fish in a bag for any length of time is hazardous. Buckets are a little better but not by much. Imagine what the bio-load is in a bag with very little water and no beneficial bacteria. A lot of people say that bags are for emergencies only - like transferring fish from one place to another. Think of it as buying a quart of ice cream at the supermarket and taking it home. My fish go right into the tank when I buy them.

People who ship fish know what I'm talking about. There are strict shipping procedures and not even this guarantees survival.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ŦůRbö ۰ Ҏяѻ ۰ on September 25, 2012 at 8:35pm

Thats what I do. I get home with bagged fish I dump half the water out and add half tank water, let them sit for the time it take to smoke a cigarette (3 to 5 minutes) and then into the tank. Never had a fish that I just bought die within a day or two. Except the one time I bought from petsmart. lol.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page