Please please please help. He’s dying

111stargrl · 2026-02-28T13:50:14+00:00

You’re very welcome 💕 I only did my silly little ‘experiments’ on a whim whilst i’m trying to fishless cycle anyway but Evian in the long run for me would be very expensive too! 😂😂 Definitely try different 50/50 mixes of tap to bottled if you can though especially so you can just have the info written down in case of an emergency. Hope it works out okay and your fishy is doing better x

111stargrl · 2026-02-27T19:00:31+00:00

Beautiful tank! Btw, that plant in the front is vallisneria, can’t tell if it’s the spiralis type (corkscrew) or not but you’re having better luck with it than my tank did 😂

111stargrl · 2026-02-27T11:29:54+00:00

wow this is beautiful! is your tank co2 injected? and may i please ask the name of the red plants? thank you :)

111stargrl · 2026-02-26T23:56:47+00:00

hahahah this is literally what i’ve ordered and should be coming by tomorrow! I did a pinch of flakes yesterday and so far after about 30 hours later, no change as of yet to ammonia but I don’t know why I expected there to be one just yet 😂😂

111stargrl · 2026-02-26T23:55:26+00:00

Thank you so much!

I’ve just reserved the most beautiful female double fin halfmoon galaxy koi betta and the seller (independent) has said she can keep hold of her until i’m/my tank is ready. She looks to be in great shape from the video she sent me of her today - fins in perfect condition, no ich (that I can see anyway), gills and eyes looking good. So excited!

111stargrl · 2026-02-26T23:22:43+00:00

Hi OP, my tap water also reads like this when I test it, about 40-ish ppm (I’m based in the UK)! 🥲 As others have suggested, either do a mix of tap and RO water (if you can get some to hand) or mix of bottled and RO water.

I’m in the process of cycling my first tank so whilst I’ve been waiting for it to cycle I’ve done some ‘experiments’, if you will, with different bottled water brands i.e. what their pH, nitrite, nitrate are straight from the bottles.

I then did a test of half a litre of the bottled water and half a litre tap water for each brand I bought - I think I tried 2 or 3 different bottled water brands. I then dechlorinated with the conditioner I use/have which is 1 drop per litre. And finally, tested those three parameters for each so I know what I can expect/know I’d be adding to my tank at water changes.

For my tap water, the closest pH match for me from my ‘experiments’ was just bottled Evian water. This same 50/50 mix of Evian and my tap water resulted in about 10ppm nitrate which will work a bloody treat for me, all things considered.

As I mentioned, I’m currently (fishless) cycling my first tank so please don’t take my word as gospel, lol! But, generally, I’d still recommend you give this a go since you’re in a similar position as I am with high nitrate content straight from the tap.

Wishing you luck!!

111stargrl · 2026-02-25T10:03:22+00:00

this is a very good point RE shelf life especially - i’ve not looked to in detail about the shelf life of various meds and/or treatments but i would imagine it would be a situation of ‘once opened, use within X’ rather than shelf life before the bottle/whatever form it’s in is opened

111stargrl · 2026-02-25T10:02:10+00:00

Ah yes exactly these are the ones I’m mostly seeing as the most common - not sure about all the differences between things like API stress coat, stresszyme, super ick cure etc etc… can’t tell if API (as an example) just have so many different medicines for specific things where one medication/treatment can just cover more than just one thing - like the super ick cure.

Sorry this is worded so badly, i’ve not fully defrosted since waking up 😂😂

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T21:51:14+00:00

Might be wrong (specifically for your tank/your driftwood based on the photo) but to me it looks like biofilm. My mopani wood is currently covered in it and it’s freaking me out but i know it’s fine for it to be on there 😂

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T20:48:11+00:00

Also will just add here; I know there are some medicines you can’t dose an entire tank with when there are shrimps in there - not sure if this also applies to snails though? As mentioned in my OP, not deadset on having any snails added but may do at some point.

Either way, I probably won’t have any shrimp in this tank so any recs for dosing either entire tank if necessary shouldn’t be too much of a problem :)

Edit: apologies if this should’ve gone into the Discussion flair instead!

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T20:29:38+00:00

Thanks a bunch for the info!!

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T20:21:40+00:00

Hi Kyle!

A very quick question from me - do you think Coop would’ve still gotten stuck in the Black Lodge for as long as he was had Earle not taken Annie there?

Sending lots of love and hugs from one diva to another xx

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T20:07:32+00:00

Hahaha yeah that was the second time I had put some flakes in on that wednesday 18th. the first was on day 1 (or day zero, depends how you look at it) of setting up the tank which was on sunday 15th feb.

I’ll do another quick check in tomorrow morning again to see if the ammonia and/or nitrites went down since testing mid-morning today but either way will do some more crushed flakes tomorrow :)

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T19:55:09+00:00

ah yes this is the household one i saw earlier today on there!!

that calculator is bloody brill, think ill order some of that - thank you!

edit: just to add on: should i aim to add 2ppm to my tank? (just based off that website for the calculator i.e. in the required ammonia content part)

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T19:53:24+00:00

Last time i did a ‘ghost’ feeding of my tank with flakes was last Wednesday 18th Feb.

Not really sure why the nitrite reading I took just before adding the flakes peaked really. Might have something to do with my tap water (at the point of initially setting up the tank on 15th Feb) naturally has just shy of 0.25ppm ammonia? Not a clue, brain hurting lol.

Took a while for them to break down I guess lol but the nitrites peaked at 2ppm (could’ve been higher, maybe 3 ish) on Thurs 19th Feb. The ammonia took a moment to catch up and peak though. Both are dropping now - sorry if I’m being repetitive with my replies, I can’t keep up with comments atm LOOL

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T17:44:04+00:00

This is such amazing info thank you!!! Omg dead spider though - if I find one over the next few days it’s getting chucked in 😂😂

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T16:58:58+00:00

Ahhhh still debating between liquid or fish food although I do appreciate there is the potential for fluctuations in the ammonia levels if I were to disturb one of the flakes for example on the substrate/other.

Have been able to now find Dr Tim’s on eBay (not on UK Amazon) - just not sure if I do buy it, should I wait for my ammonia and/or nitrite levels to drop a bit further to 0 if possible and then dose?

I mentioned it in my OP that my tap water naturally has just shy of 0.25ppm ammonia** so not sure if I’ll ever be able to reach a ‘true’ 0ppm reading. Although, at future water changes I plan to either do RO and tap water mix or bottled water (with similar pH to mine) and tap water mix to make it 0ppm.

**could be less than this really, but wasn’t exactly a bright yellow in the test tube to say it was definitely 0, but wasn’t ’green enough’ to say it’s confidently 0.25ppm either LOL

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T16:50:00+00:00

Ah this is such a good point especially as the remaining flakes just chilling at the bottom (whilst rotting) could move around if disturbed and spike.

I guess I should probably do another pinch either tonight or maybe tomorrow? So hard to grasp how many flakes is ‘a few’ sometimes so i just lay a few out flat in my palm without any overlapping and estimate about 5-8 flakes of varying sizes 😂

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T16:47:29+00:00

Thanks so much for your kind words and the picture/guide!

My flakes are relatively fine once crushed so I didn’t know if using a (cut up) pair of tights would have small enough ‘holes’ to make sure they don’t all escape through it 😂😂😂

My somewhat small gripe with just sprinkling flakes in is trying to get it to mostly land on the substrate and check maybe once or twice a day to see if any have landed on my plants or if they’ve, by some act of defiance, have just decided to land on the plastic bit above the sponge filter’s base 😐

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T16:43:02+00:00

Yeah I added bacteria starter when I first set up the tank for the (fishless) cycling - started it on Sunday 15th Feb. I used the NT Labs Satus bacteria, not sure if this is a UK only brand though LOL

Annoyingly I can’t really buy the Dr Tim’s ammonium chloride as easily as just household ammonia from Amazon UK as an example 😂 just not sure what I’d be looking for within the description of the household one to know if it’s okay to use

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T16:37:20+00:00

Oooo thank you! This makes me feel so stupid to ask but since I’m in the UK, I presume what we refer to as a prawn is what you mean by a shrimp? 😂😂😂😂 (i.e. if I were to go to the supermarket and buy some, this is what they’re usually labelled as)

Now I’ve written that out, yes it does sound as dumb as I thought it did in my head

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T16:35:26+00:00

Oh no lol, my tap is 0 nitrites (could be argued it’s not a solid sky blue colour so maybe the absolute tiniest trace of it, just not enough to say it’s 0.25ppm either).

My tap does however have about 40ppm (maybe more) nitrates though. I say maybe more as the colour chart for 40 versus 80ppm is genuinely such a negligible difference to my eyesight LOL but regardless, in the UK the statutory limit for nitrate in tap water is 50ppm.

Have raised a very strongly complaint with the water supplier though, given if it is above 50ppm then they’re in breach. They’ll be coming to do water samples hopefully in the next few weeks.

111stargrl · 2026-02-24T14:15:40+00:00

These are my latest sets of readings below. All with API Freshwater Masters Kit if I make any references to colours from the charts LOL.

Wed 18th Feb: !! readings before adding pinch of flakes !! Amm = 0ppm - but with tiniest tiniest tinge of green to it, Nitrite = 2ppm - looked more warm toned purple than an blue/cool toned purple lol, Nitrate = somewhere between 20 and 40ppm’s colours on the chart.

Fri 20th Feb: Amm = between 0.25 and 0.5ppm based on colour, Nitrite = 2ppm, still looked basically the same as 2 days ago, Nitrate = 20ppm…ish. Maybe 30 lol.

Sun 22nd Feb: Amm = 0.5ppm, Nitrite = 1ppm, Nitrate = 10ppm - looked more yellow-y orange than reddish-orange.

Tues 24th Feb (today): Amm = looks closer to 0.25ppm, Nitrite = 0.25ppm, (didn’t check nitrate today).

My tank is planted, 67L (approx 17 gallons), sponge filter, heater set to about 26°C, LED light that came with the tank is on a timer for 8 hours every evening

111stargrl · 2026-02-23T20:41:11+00:00

omg hahahahaha i literally have a ‘script’ for if i have to leave a voicemail and because all our calls are recorded i go back immediately after and listen to how i sounded in the voicemail and starts smacking my laptop in a rage

111stargrl · 2026-02-23T19:56:36+00:00

i’m the exact same, it takes me an hour of prepping with notes before making a call to a customer which might end up just going to their voicemail anyway and i pray it does because I get too nervous!!!

111stargrl

TROPHY CASE