It’s been a pretty quiet week following our unusually quiet Thanksgiving. My main excitement—and one I could do without—was a resumption of my fighting ammonia spikes in our aquarium.
We have one fish. One puny little 2-inch fish. Little orange guppy named Zippy. He has proven to be pretty hardy, having survived the initial ammonia spike starting November 8th, when we got him and two others. His two tank mates died from a combination of the ammonia and a mouth fungus. But Zippy survived.
Our tank settled for a while, but the ammonia continued to creep up too high every day. For a while it would go up to 0.5, and I would change out the water and put in chemicals. I even installed a new sponge filter with air pump to increase filtration, which will hopefully bring the ammonia under control once it gets established.
Instead, the ammonia went crazy (coincidentally, not to do with the new filter). Spiking up to 1.0 every few hours. The recommended way to remove excess ammonia is to change out some water. At one point I changed out 6 gallons of water a day—and we only have a 5-gallon tank! This could not go on.
Upon advice from an author friend who is also an experienced aquarium person, I did what felt counter-intuitive. I stopped changing out the water. My friend said changing out so much water might have “broken” the bio filer cycle, because while it gets ammonia out, it also removes the good bacteria that eats the ammonia. So she said to leave the water but bomb it with nitrifying bacteria (“good bacteria”). Put in many times the recommended amount. So at my daughter’s bedtime, I changed out half the water in the tank and then I poured in 4 capfuls of the bacteria (and a capful of the ammonia detoxifier). Four hours later, when I went to bed, I put in another capful of ammonia detoxifier and another 4 capfuls of the bacteria. Then I went to bed and hoped Zippy would still be alive in the morning.
Zippy almost gave me a heart attack in the morning, because I couldn’t find him in the tank. Often that means they died and are laying on the bottom somewhere, obscured by gravel, shells, etc. But I found him eventually, hiding half-asleep behind his favorite plant. Whew!
I tested the water, fearful the ammonia would be sky-high. Instead it was 0.25—normal for my tank (although it should be 0, but never has been in 3 years). I could hardly believe it. I tested the water every 2 hours the rest of the day, and so far it has stayed at 0.25. I did add more bacteria and more ammonia detoxifier a few times through the day.
So, fingers crossed the ammonia stays stable. Poor Zippy has been through a lot, and frankly I am shocked he is not dead. It would be nice if he could just enjoy his tank without my constant intrusions for a while. And our water bill will be much lower!
So how have you spent this week that transitions us into December?
trying to get a whole house generator set up. My sister is better at talking to contractors., and today, the electrician spent 8 hours hooking up. Plumber was supposed to hook up the gas lines, but he had to go out on an emergency, so that job is pushed off until next week. I’m hoping to have it ready to go before winter really sets in.