Fishkeeping: Day 14

I'm back from New York and now I'm ready to kick this hobby in full gear.When I walked in the door, the first thing I did was check the fish. My neighbor had been feeding them, so I knew they were alive, but I was not prepared for what I saw. The Danio's had literally changed colors. Instead of being the iridescent white color, they were a iridescent blue.

The books I had read basically said that the fishes color were related to the quality of the water they were in, and their diet so I went ahead and checked the numbers.

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: 2.0 mg/l
• Nitrites: 0.0 mg/l
• Nitrates: 5.0 mg/l

After checking the last numbers, I was disappointed to see that the biological filter was no closer to being seeded. Additionally, the Ammonia was really high. The AquariumAdvice.com members stated that Ammonia should not be above .5 or it could be detrimental to the fish. I went ahead and filled up my 10 gallon cooler with tap water and treated it.

I then siphoned 9 gallons of water out of the tank, and put 9 gallons of new water back in and checked the numbers again:

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: 1.0
• Nitrites: 0.0
• Nitrates: < 5

The Ammonia was still high, so I buckled down and did one more water change. After the second change, the numbers were:

• pH: 7.0
• Ammonia: .5
• Nitrites: 0
• Nitrates: 0

Those numbers made me feel much better, but I could tell that the fish were a little traumatized from all the water flowing in and out. I decided to call it a night and gave Leela, Fry and Bender a pinch of food and called it a night.

(PHOTO'S)

Tank during first water change

Fry looking colorful in the ammonia rich water