[Prev][Next][Index]

fw:Re: Re: HELP! High CO2



More from Joanne.

Regards,
Shaji

---forwarded message---->

From: stevensj at calshp_cals.wisc.edu
Received: by calshp.cals.wisc.edu;
          id AA163792919; 1.37.109.16/42; Wed, 12 Jul 1995 10:28:39 -0500
Message-Id: <199507121528.AA163792919@calshp.cals.wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: Re: HELP! High CO2
To: aquarium%emuvm1.bitnet at wigate_nic.wisc.edu, aquatic-plants at actwin_com
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 95 10:28:39 CDT
Mailer: Elm [revision: 70.85.2.1]

>If there is one thing I have learned in 40 years of doing aquariums
>(actually almost 50 years) it is that we do more harm than good.  Here
>are Dave's rules:
>
>1.  Don't add anything unless you are CERTAIN it will help or you are
>DESPERATE!
>
>2.  If things go badly, see rule 1.
>
>I have lost more fish fixing things than any other way.  The next
>biggest cause of loss was being too big for my britches (old fart
>talk).   Dave
>Dave Gomberg, Experimenta      San Francisco CA USA   gomberg at wcf_com

Well, when you seen most of your fish lying at the surface & get a
40 ppm CO2 measurement, what would you have done Dave?  Lowering the
water level to get more aeration did not seem to help.  Putting all
the fish in another tank may have helped but I did not realy have 
room.  I am pretty sure that the CO2 levels killed the eel and the
angelfish since the clown loach looked pretty bad but recovered when
I put it in another tank.  Unfortunately I expected CO2 to go down
during the day instead of up.

I think that the Seachem Neutral Buffer that I added when I did water
changes somehow sucked more CO2 into the water.  I did a 30% water
change last night using just RO water & things are a bit better now
expect for the nitrogen cycle.  The pH is > 7.6 (that's as high as
my test goes) and CO2 is <10ppm, GH= 4.5 and KH= 4.  I think the
buffer also interfered with readings yesterday becuase I had readings
of CO2 > 40 ppm, pH 7.2, GH 6 and KH 4.

The tank is still cloudy and ammonia & nitrites are very high.  There
are a couple of guppies in there still that are surviving amazingly.
They are the least precious of my fish & I left them in there because
the tanks I transferred the other fish (corydoras catfish & clown loach)
are now overcrowded & have slight nitrite levels (possibly if the eel
& angelfish had survived the 25 gal tnak they may have died in the
overcrowded 10 gal tanks).

I'm just going to sit it out from now on in & never use tap water or
buffers again!

Joanne.

P.S. Joe Palermo suggested that maybe the yeast from the DIY unit got
into the tank & kept elevating CO2 levels after I removed the unit.
I don't think that's likely, but I'll see if CO2 levels stay the same
or rise now.  He also suggested removing some plants:  I had hoped
the plants would remove CO2 during the day.  They certainly don't seem
to have elevated it overnight now.  I think the problem was the 
combination of my nasty hard, alkaline tap water with buffer, peat &
possibly  an interaction between the buffer & Tetra Aqua Safe One Step
chlorine, chloramine, toxic ammonia remover.  I am hoping that the
polyfilters will remove the buffer & Aqua Safe (of course, after its
done removing all my plant fertilizer :-().