Al the Albino died :(

[reptileszz]

Hi thank you for all the replies. I hope my water is not too bad. I used stress coat with the water changes. I am in petsmart now. Getting seachem prime. Not seeing nitrite test kit. I have one at home but it is like 10 yrs old. Thinking Ineed a new one. My biowheel spins a lot and there is a bunch of algae stuff stuck to the edges of the tubing and where the water comes out. Am hoping my bio filtration is ok. Will stop changing media. Thought it needed to be done for the carbon and it is one piece in this filter wondering about these seachem alerts? It monitors levels? Getting the prime and going to another store for nitrite tester. Strips bad Iguess.

Thank you!

[mpmistr]

You want the API Freshwater Master Kit (liquid test kit), it has tests for pH, pH (High Range), Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. This contains every test you really need.

Don't know too much about SeaChem Alerts, possibly a gimmicky product. No experience there, sorry.

Liquid tests = good and Strips = bad. Scientific water testing is best but expensive.

Once you know the water parameters you'll have a good idea of what is going on in your tank.

[reptileszz]

OK sorry for my recent brevity. I was out at the stores on my cell. So here's what I did. I was at petsmart and the master test kit was $32.99. I didn't have that much and it seemed pricey. And there was no nitrite kit. I went to the local exotic fish store where the master kit was $36.99 and the nitrite kit was $11.99. I was like geez. Went outside and looked it up on amazon and bought it right then and there for 19.99 free 2 day shipping. So it will be here Tues or Wed. I figured I could use my old nitrite tester kit and see what happened for now. So I get home and I have the test solution but no card to compare it to. Great. So I did the test anyway and figured maybe I could describe the color. Well I found the card online and since my solution is a nice light blue I assume I have 0 parts per whatever. Yay! Granted its old solution with no exp. date on it. But that must be a good indicator...

To better describe my "major water changes"... About 4 weeks ago when I brought the frogs home. I did a quick vacuum, sucking out about 1/4 of the water or less. A week later I did the same thing. 1/4 of the tank. A week later I did what I would call the major water change, when I got the gravel out of there. I would say I replaced about 60% of the water, using stress coat with all the new water. In there somewhere I changed the filter cartridge which is one piece with carbon inside surrounded by floss. My bio wheel spins like crazy after I change that. I thought I had to change it to get the carbon in there. Lesson learned. Certainly cheaper to wash it in old water and put it back in. But it will get gummed up at some point and have to be replaced I assume. I have a pretty good growth of brownish "stringy" algae that hangs out of the tubes where the water comes out of the filter and assume it is all inside there as well. I thought the bio wheel was supposed to be the thing that kept the good bacteria and whatnot...

So it seems my nitrites and ammonia levels are really good. Al never ate well right out of the chute, not like Norm, so I wonder if there was something wrong with him to start with? I am going to google pics of red leg and see what that looks like. It seems odd this was on one leg but I really dont know anything about it.

Thank you so much for your help!
Carole and Norm

[mpmistr]

OK sorry for my recent brevity. I was out at the stores on my cell. So here's what I did. I was at petsmart and the master test kit was $32.99. I didn't have that much and it seemed pricey. And there was no nitrite kit. I went to the local exotic fish store where the master kit was $36.99 and the nitrite kit was $11.99. I was like geez. Went outside and looked it up on amazon and bought it right then and there for 19.99 free 2 day shipping. So it will be here Tues or Wed. I figured I could use my old nitrite tester kit and see what happened for now. So I get home and I have the test solution but no card to compare it to. Great. So I did the test anyway and figured maybe I could describe the color. Well I found the card online and since my solution is a nice light blue I assume I have 0 parts per whatever. Yay! Granted its old solution with no exp. date on it. But that must be a good indicator...

$36.99 is highway robbery, a lot of things at Petsmart and really most LFS are overpriced. Amazon.com is your friend here, that is where I purchased my API FW Kit.. for $19.99. Most LFS will test your water for free (this way they can give you a limited 'warranty' on your fish purchases).

To better describe my "major water changes"... About 4 weeks ago when I brought the frogs home. I did a quick vacuum, sucking out about 1/4 of the water or less. A week later I did the same thing. 1/4 of the tank. A week later I did what I would call the major water change, when I got the gravel out of there. I would say I replaced about 60% of the water, using stress coat with all the new water. In there somewhere I changed the filter cartridge which is one piece with carbon inside surrounded by floss. My bio wheel spins like crazy after I change that. I thought I had to change it to get the carbon in there. Lesson learned. Certainly cheaper to wash it in old water and put it back in. But it will get gummed up at some point and have to be replaced I assume. I have a pretty good growth of brownish "stringy" algae that hangs out of the tubes where the water comes out of the filter and assume it is all inside there as well. I thought the bio wheel was supposed to be the thing that kept the good bacteria and whatnot...

Algae really isn't a bad thing, but its often an indicator of a nutrient imbalance. In of itself algae is mostly harmless and all tanks in some way or another, have algae present. Biowheels are gimmicks, it's supposed to give another surface for the good bacteria to grow but there's no real hard proof. I am not a fan of 'hang on the back' filters to begin with, I really am partial to canister filters which have biological and mechanic filtration (and no worthless carbon). Look online for an Eheim 2217 or similar, great filters and highly recommended.

So it seems my nitrites and ammonia levels are really good. Al never ate well right out of the chute, not like Norm, so I wonder if there was something wrong with him to start with? I am going to google pics of red leg and see what that looks like. It seems odd this was on one leg but I really dont know anything about it.

What is really good Ammonia/Nitrite levels? The only acceptable levels are zero. Everything else is toxic and stressful to a frog. Your frog may have been sick to begin with, there's no way to really know. I purchased a few zebra danio for one of my tanks (and obviously wasn't paying attention) a while back and they all had bent spines or some kind of crazy deformity, it happens. Always best to quarantine because you just never know.

Thank you so much for your help!
Carole and Norm

You're welcome.

[reptileszz]

So it seems my nitrites and ammonia levels are really good. Al never ate well right out of the chute, not like Norm, so I wonder if there was something wrong with him to start with? I am going to google pics of red leg and see what that looks like. It seems odd this was on one leg but I really dont know anything about it.

Thank you so much for your help!
Carole and Norm

Replying to my own reply, yes. I found a nitrAte test kit here as well. Similar age and have done that. The nitrAtes look to be either in the 40 or 80 range, possibly higher. The red is pretty red in the vial... The instructions say 40 or less is good. I need to figure out how to lower the nitrates it seems. Interestingly the instructions also say that nitrates rise after the biological filter becomes established. Maybe that means I didnt screw up the cycling!

Thanks again,
Carole

[mpmistr]

Replying to my own reply, yes. I found a nitrAte test kit here as well. Similar age and have done that. The nitrAtes look to be either in the 40 or 80 range, possibly higher. The red is pretty red in the vial... The instructions say 40 or less is good. I need to figure out how to lower the nitrates it seems. Interestingly the instructions also say that nitrates rise after the biological filter becomes established. Maybe that means I didnt screw up the cycling!

Thanks again,
Carole

That's actually really high, the good news is your tank is cycling ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate however over 20ppm is very high, toxic. Frogs are especially sensitive to nitrate, try to get it down to the 5ppm to 10ppm range.

Water changes will lower nitrate. I would do 50% partial water changes daily until it levels out.

[reptileszz]

OK, just did like a 15% water change. First I tested my tap water and that is only like 5% nitrate thankfully. I was envisioning having to buy special water. Yikes. Or carting it over from someone else's house LOL. Then I came here and see that 50% is more like it. OK off I go. I am testing it again and it doesnt look good. Does anyone know if you have to shake the #2 solution for 30 seconds every time if you are doing test after test? All of this shaking is killing me hehe.

Thanks again,
Carole

[mpmistr]

What reading do you get on your tap for nitrate (in parts per million - ppm)? If you're doing the API FW Nitrate test kit, you need to add 10 drops to the vial and slosh it around a bit then shake the #2 bottle like crazy! I mean hit it against counters shake it for as long as you can, then add 10 drops. Slosh it around and let it mix together, then read it 5 minutes later. Try not to wait longer because you may get a bad result.