Another One Bites the Dust, But Hope Remains

Yesterday after our post our little Green Glow Tetra passed. Our ten gallon experiment is now at a 90 percent mortality rate. A higher rate than the one gallon tank. I suppose it could be worse, the Dalmatian Molly is still alive… barely. His fins are wilted and his movement is influenced mostly by the currents within the tank. But he’s alive!

His tail fin should be fanned out but is clearly wilted

So what can Patrick and I learn from this?

Well yesterday after my post I re-tested the water and found very high ammonia levels. Unfortunately this was discovered after the fish were in the water. But why did it not it not show up in the PetSmart test? The only explanation can be that in route and inside a Tupperware container the water sample loses its ammonia. Perhaps it evaporates? I really don’t know. But I do know that the sample shows no ammonia and the tank shows lots.

Why is the tank's ammonia level so high?

The answer has to be the rotting food and fish waste within the gravel bed. We must have overfed the previous generations and now all that decay is emanating ammonia into the cycle. In a perfect simulated aquatic habitat the “good” bacteria is supposed to turn all that ammonia into nitrates which are not very toxic and easily controlled by the filter and regular water changes.

We can't get past the ammonia phase

After the revelation that the ammonia level is still an 8.0 (about as high as it can test) Liz, Patrick and myself initiated an emergency water change. We siphoned over 25 percent of the water out of the tank with specific attention being put on the water at the bottom. We stirred the rocks a bit and kicked up lots of debris. We replaced it with de-chlorinated water and the fish immediately perked up. The ammonia level then tested at a 1.0 – a drastic improvement but still toxic. And just an hour later the little Green Glow Tetra finally rested from the pains and sorrows of this life.

I went to bed that night all but certain the Dalmatian Molly would be belly up by sunrise. I’m not a betting man but I would have put money on it – and I would have lost. The little rapscallion survived against all odds, and I tip my hat to him.

"An individual that stalwart and persistent must be saved!", I told Patrick. We immediately tested the ammonia and it still came in at 1.0. So I issued a code red and siphoned 50 percent of the tank out, again focusing on the gravel and replaced it with de-chlorinated water. After another test it registered around .75 - better but not what I wanted or expected.

Removing half the water should've removed half the ammonia, right?

Wrong. I tested the tap water and it came in at .25 for ammonia. So how do you remove all ammonia from a fish tank if the very source of water contains ammonia? After some research we found the answer is, you can’t. We need the “bacteria factory” to do that part for us, so long as we can keep it from reaching extreme levels.

My current goal is to keep the Molly alive long enough to eliminate the ammonia. Then he should be in the clear. I may even do another water change today. For now at least Patrick and I still have a hope that we can hang our hats on. And that’s good enough to keep going.

Stephen DiJulius

Current Fish Count: 1