3/17/23

3/17/23

T1: Churro was acting strange yesterday hiding behind the heater and a little clamped. Goldie Hawn has developed a tiny blister on her tail. I have so far diagnosed it as lymphocystis. That may be wrong though.

The tank was evaluated for anomalies such as temperature and water quality. Goldie was given a methylene blue dip to prevent secondary infections. Prefilter sponge was squeeze cleaned in a bowl of aquarium water.

 - Discovering the nitrates were hight I performed a vacuum water change. Not wanting to accidentally disrupt the benbac I only did a 15% and waited.

This morning I discovered their behaviors hadn't changed. Nitrate levels had improved but not enough. I just performed another 15% water change without vacuum and another Prefilter squeeze clean. Would defeat the purpose of rebalancing parameters if I suck all the bacteria out of the substrate. 

Churro is out and about now scouring the tank for snacks with his girlfriends. I'll test the water again later today.

T2 has developed some choice orange platys. Their color could best be described as the innards of a cara cara navel orange. The older adults have been moved to T3 as feeders. This is where I start selectively breeding.

Guppy Grass and anacharis are failing in T3. I suspect the red Ramshorns have been eating them. I'm testing the possibility that they are not getting fed enough by dropping an extra couple of bottom feeder pellets this week.

Nitrates are still elevated. Hit it with a nitrate treatment dose of API Aqua Essentials. Will test again in the morning.