[rant] Well after 3 days of doing 70% water changes on a 55 gallon and a 30 gallon and adding salt I'm dead tired. The reason being really high ammonia %. And god help me the test just came in its somewhere between 0 ish and 25 ppm.

I may be locked up in an insane asylum before I get a zero 0 ppm read. Allthough it was at 2 ppm yesterday so I feel a lil better. And I just added a salt treatment.

In the past week I've taken better care of my comets that I have myself. Whew, I'm exausted!

Hmmm now where did I put that ammo lock?

[/end rant]

if youre using prime, some test kits can be screwed up and give you faulty readings. my hagen 1 reagent ammonia test kit would always give me high ammonia readings when i used prime, but when i switched to API 2 reagent test kits, ammonia reads normal again.

If your tank is not cycled yet and you are striving to keep the ammonia down until the tank finishes a cycle, a reading of point two five (0.25)ppm ammonia is deemed acceptable for most fish. At this level, it is easy to use Prime or Amquel+ to detoxify the remaining ammonia/nitrite in the tank until the next water change. And, yes, you probably will have to do 50% plus water changes daily on those tanks as they cycle. It is a LOAD of work.......

You will NEVER get the ammonia to go to zero unless you do a 100% water change and remove the fish, or until you get a biological nitrogen cycle going.

why don't you use Python? I used it when I was cycling my new tank and sometime I changed 50% of water twice a day for my 55. And I didn't feel any pain...

Because I didn't know about it until I came here a day or two ago.

I've already spent a small fortune this past week and am not in the position to do so now. But the vacuum I did buy I bought at Pet Smarts and its a piece of junk so I'm going to try to take it back and see if they will let me put the 20 bucks I spent towards getting one. I also have some gravel to take back thankfully.

I just moved from Canada from the US and until I get authorization to work I have to keep an eye on all of the pennies I have unfortunately.

Daryl thanks! I just nuked the tank. Removed all the little guys and spent the better part of 2 hours boiling gravel in treated water. I had way too much in there and didn't want to create a parasite play ground.

And my shark steamer finally has a greater purpose! Getting into all the nooks and crannies of my tank.

They seem to be swimming around happily now. And for the first time AHHHHH the ammonia level is 0. I know it won't stay this way for long but I actually can't sleep well if I think they are in danger. (Yes I know I am a maniac)

Its funny I did both tanks treated water with amquel, made sure it was the right temp etc. My little guys are fine and resilliant. I don't think they are too happy about not having anything to pick at through my gravel though and I took out my hogwort and amazon sword plant, they were picking them both clean and it was clogging my filter something awful.

The big guys however are complete freaked out, very upset and hiding.

I believe there is a price difference between online and retail version of python. All you have to do is price match at the retail store. The cost at petsmart.com is $23.39 only. Make sure you print their web page saying $23.xx for the product..

Thanks smallranchu I'll try it. After changing a 55 gallon and a 30 gallon and doing the suck water though the tube things I don't care what it costs. I love my fish but I never wanna drink fishy water again.

:::shudder:::

Be careful using a steam cleaner on glass. You can change the temperature too fast and, on the cheaper tanks that do not have the heavier, tempered glass, crack your tank. (even the tempered glass is not completely safe!) I am sure that the "Shark" comes with a warning about using it on windows and shower doors, right? My LadyBug definately does.... I can fry the paint off a car, blow up a window and crack concrete with that steamer!

You should never have to suck dirty fish water. Fill your syphon hose at the sink, put your finger over one end and hold both ends up as you walk to the tank. Lower the tube end into the water with the opening upwards so you get no air in it. Then put the hose end down ito your bucket and take your finger off the end. When you need to stop, simply put your finger on the end of the hose and lift it up and into the tank so that it is under the water. It will hold prime until you come back and lift it back out into the bucket.

You can also purchase a syphon starting bulb from a car hardware store like PepBoys. These bulbs are uses to start syphons from a gas tank in a car. You simply stick it on the end of the hose, squeeze the bulb and the one way valves inside start the syphon for you. A new one is clean enough for the fish - just never use it on the car, ok?

Daryl

You and Laurie P are my hero's! Thanks for the giggle...

I ended up getting a python (which is cracked) I'm going to exchange it tommorow...And you are right, no one should ever have to drink fishy water. I think the ammonia fumes have gone to my head.... Luckily I took your advise and made bigger water change amounts each day. It's getting there...

And god help me I just fell in love with a Panda Oranda on Ebay ...Thank god they don't ship to Canada!