Hi,

isn't ultraviolet sterilizer quite expensive? the antibiotics is about
$4-$5/pack for the full treatment regimen.. I would think UV sterilizers
are
much more expensive...?

This depends on the size of your tank and the duration of your dose.

oh. right...

My experience is that for a larger tank and a dose over a period of
days, the $5 a pack pills end up costing me over $100.00. A UV
sterilizer will no doubt cost you more today, but you will have it for

tank is 37G (actual volume after gravel, etc is probably more like 30G).. so
the $5/pack will allow me to do the full treatment course, fortunately...
if things don't improve after the full treatment course, then doing it again
probably won't help :-P

a long time. Your call. Neither may help in this case and you may
be best just doing the water changes. Personally, I draw the line at
extreme measures. I will change the water, make the best chemistry
that I can and make the best environment that I can, but I stop at
that.

hopefully I won't have to do anything drastic beyond reasonable... too
stressful for me and my fish...

I guess I better hold off on adding the CO2 injector (nutrafin) that I
bought few weeks ago, in the expectation that I will finish using the
flourish excel... CO2 injection will probably mess up the pH even more
from
the sounds of it..?

Yes and no. I would be reluctant to add any other variables until you
resolved what is happening to the water, but at this point you are
more or less free to try what seems like a good shot. There is some
discussion in this thread regarding a possible lack of buffering
capacity in your water, but all things appear right from the
descriptions. The PH swing seems like a normal daily plant effect of
CO2 depletion, but the GH swing has to be from some external source or
a bad measurement.

ok.

Some times you have to put the numbers aside and observer your tank
with all your senses. How does the water look, smell and tast? What
color is it, and what are the signs inside the tank telling you. I
know this can seem like BS, but your senses can tell the difference
between a sick tank and a sick fish.

that's the thing. I have a pretty keen sense of smell.. so I can smell the
difference between tap, rain, tank, stale water... so to me, the tank
always has some musty smell (not necessarily bad.. just smells "lived-in".
I'm probably smelling some of the beneficial bacteria, etc). I don't think
I want to taste the water tho.. (yuck). Color is somewhat brownish tinge
due to the tannin (getting lighter than it used to be, though). some fish
looks bloated but rather healthy (can't tell if the bloat is from water
condition, over eating, illness, egg, etc), while others turn listless and
stops eating. this has been going on for a while (going listless and stop
eating, etc). so my sense is telling me *something* is going on with the
tank, but I'm not sure if it's just due to the pH fluctuations stressing the
fish, or there is some other infection going on that some fish are more
resistant to...

I think based on all the inputs I got, I'll do some increased-pace water
changes this week, monitor pH more carefully, and go from there... and
hopefully the listless fish will perk up a bit. (I've moved some of them
into quarantine tank to see what would happen if I try to treat the
fish--cleaner water, no plants, neutral pH, that sort of thing.. some are
perking up, but not all)

linda





James Ervin
Remove SPAM to email me.