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Mystery Solved
Apr. 29th, 2009 11:36 amAlas too late for the majority of the tetra, but the answer is: NEVER mess with PH.
You remember when my first mysterious tetra death happened, and then her/his lover jumped out of the tank to his/her doom (and to the great interest to the cats)? Well, at that point, I checked all the various chemical levels in the tank (PH, KH [hardness], NH2, NH3, etc.) I THOUGHT that that water was too alkaline... so I messed with it.
When I talked to the guy at the fish store, I confessed to all this, but he didn't think that should cause a mold. So I didn't change it. Though I did buy a PH up and a PH down kit, because my instincts told me to. Oh, how I wish I'd just listened to those inner voices....
Because only one little (and I do mean LITTLE) guy was left, I nearly broke down the entire tank. I removed the driftwood, the plastic leaves, almost everything. Then I took out about eighty percent of the water. Putting in the water softener pillow, I did a very slow water change (remembering how badly the others reacted to the shock of the cold, hard water.)
Then I thought... I need to change the PH back to whatever it was because no one died when it was at 7.8. So I did.
Guess what?
Spots are gone. Fish is still swimming.
All alone.
But alive. That's good.
Oh, and in other news, I finished Tate's book on time for deadline last night at 1:30 am. I just finished printing it out and am taking it to the post office in about two minutes. One book down, two more to go!
You remember when my first mysterious tetra death happened, and then her/his lover jumped out of the tank to his/her doom (and to the great interest to the cats)? Well, at that point, I checked all the various chemical levels in the tank (PH, KH [hardness], NH2, NH3, etc.) I THOUGHT that that water was too alkaline... so I messed with it.
When I talked to the guy at the fish store, I confessed to all this, but he didn't think that should cause a mold. So I didn't change it. Though I did buy a PH up and a PH down kit, because my instincts told me to. Oh, how I wish I'd just listened to those inner voices....
Because only one little (and I do mean LITTLE) guy was left, I nearly broke down the entire tank. I removed the driftwood, the plastic leaves, almost everything. Then I took out about eighty percent of the water. Putting in the water softener pillow, I did a very slow water change (remembering how badly the others reacted to the shock of the cold, hard water.)
Then I thought... I need to change the PH back to whatever it was because no one died when it was at 7.8. So I did.
Guess what?
Spots are gone. Fish is still swimming.
All alone.
But alive. That's good.
Oh, and in other news, I finished Tate's book on time for deadline last night at 1:30 am. I just finished printing it out and am taking it to the post office in about two minutes. One book down, two more to go!