Reddit mentions of API 5-in-1 Test Strips Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Test Strips 25-Count Box

Hey, /u/terciopelo can you tell me what exactly pirates blood smells like? Is it sweet and intoxicating? Dark and musky?

Dearest /u/szor, as we both have these testing strips on our lists, I'd like to take a moment to gripe about the cost of fish-tank supplies in pet stores. Why can't they price match amazon? Would it kill them to knock off a few dollars? Don't they want our underwater friends to stay happy and healthy? Get with the program, PetSmart and PetCo!

Hold off on the food. Adding food means adding poop and increasing potential for ammonia problems. These large fish should be fine for a week without food, and snails can hibernate for weeks without food. Don't feed too much of the food either, go slow so you can catch ammonia problems.

Buy a water test kit. It needs to test: Ammonia (NH4), Nitrite (NO2), and Nitrate (NO3). The API Master Test Kit is one of the best. Something like the API 5-in-1 test strip is not good because it does not test ammonia (NH4).

EDIT: Subreddit wiki is a good resource: https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/wiki/index

you definately have some angel fish, and i think a rainbow shark,. maybe some mollies . . .not sure. those arent goldfish are they? sorry im more into betta fish and have trouble recognizing other fish. I think these are all tropical though . . .

next question: the medicine i do not recognize. Many of us do not believe in using commercial medecines that much/have not had much success from such products. I believe this. BUT there are ppl who have been pleased with results. hopefully some else knows more about the medecines.

salt helps treat injuries, fungal infections, ick/ich, finrot, dropsy etc. Basically it helps all the MOST COMMON fish diseases. So given that your fish are sick, they likely have one of these common problems. basically use the salt yes i think you should.

i dont recognize this food but its probably ok.

You NEED to get an ammonia test kit. liquid kits are best IF YOU KNOW HOW to use them. i actually tell beginners (especially those who do not have someone to teach them in person) to get test strips but maybe practice using the liquid kits. somthing like thishttp://www.amazon.com/API-33G-Aquarium-Test-Strips/dp/B000HHOAIY

You nees to check the ammonia levels in particular.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2303
Basically do a water change when the levels are too high.

I would not add any more fish till these are healthy AND you are sure you know how to keep their conditions good so that they wont be sick again.

OH get a heater and a thermometer. like i said these seem to be tropical. i think around 75F al little higher while they are sick the heat helps tropical fish heal.

Yes, those will be good. I also recommend a pack of these. You want to make sure your pH is around 7 (neutral), and your hardness is pretty high, at the very least above 100ppm I would think.

Your crayfish is likely a white morph if Procambarus clarkii, so do some research on that species if you'd like a better idea of their care requirements.

Whatever you do, never release your crayfish into the wild. If you get to a point where you don't want him, put him in a ziplock back and into the freezer. I know that's not a fun thing to think about right after getting a new pet, but these crayfish are dangerous invasive species and I have to make sure that you are aware of that. Also, in the future, if the people at your pet store tell you something about crayfish, double check here. Odds are that they don't know any of this stuff, but we do.

Keep us posted!

Edit: As I said above, you can go with a fish tank or aquarium. A good compromise would be to get all of the stuff you asked about (pump, decor, etc), and place it in a ten gallon tank instead of the fish bowl. The tank is a good investment.

This and this is what I have, but for about the same price you can get the gold standard. I honestly wouldn't be using the strips, except I got them to test my water for hardness before I had any tanks (it's liquid rock) and the Walstad setups I have have a different ecology than a traditional tank.

There's debate about whether test strips or liquid test kits are better. Most recommend the API Freshwater Master Test Kit (liquid tests are usually more accurate, and probably more economical than buying test strips, but it's hard to properly clean the test tubes). Test strips work just as well (Cory from Aquarium Co-Op uses strips; they're quicker, easier to use, and don't require cleaning test tubes).

So, uh, like, if you didn't test your water, um, how did you cycle your tank? >:[ Seems like everything turned out OK in the end, though. Fish-in cycling just isn't very popular in this subreddit. Or maybe you took your water to a LFS (also not a very popular practice here).

Your vet friend does indeed sound like an awesome person, which is why I think it's shitty to rely on him to take your pets when you move away. Having a vet pet-sitter is great. Having a vet you can schlep all your unwanted pets onto is great - for you, not for him. The right thing to do would be to not get pets you can't care for, IMO.

I'm a nano-fish gal, myself. Currently obsessed with pseudomugil rainbowfish at the moment (I have several pseudomugil gertrudae, and I'm planning to get some pseudomugil luminatus in the coming months. I currently keep 1 female plakat betta (unfortunately I recently lost her beautiful mate to dropsy), 2 powder blue dwarf gouramis, 12 spotted blue eyed rainbowfish (pseudomugil gertrudae), 1 bamboo shrimp, 12 amano shrimp, 12 blue velvet shrimp, and 8 blue dream shrimp in a heavily planted 60 gallon community tank. I'm intentionally very understocked as a way to ensure my feesh have lots of space, and used plants, rock caves, and driftwood to ensure they had lots of hiding spaces for when territorial disputes occurred (bettas and gouramis can both be territorial/aggressive). Keeping smaller species allows me to get more fish (hehe), and I just generally like the look of a big jungle tank with appropriately sized smaller fish darting through it.

It's a bit unclear what your experience level is. You mention "upping my game" but then say it's a "starter" tank.

I have a 2.5 gallon Fluval Spec III which has been running for about a year so I can give you some insights.

A refractometer is an excellent tool to invest in and will help you make accurate measurements.

Any salt mix that advertises as being "reef" formulated is probably fine, I seriously doubt there are big differences between brands.

Aim to do a 30-50% water change every week. Even if you slack off you will still generally end up doing it every 2 weeks which is a good pace. Water changes are essential to replenish trace elements and remove wastes.

For smaller tanks, Cobalt Neo-Therm Heaters are a good choice and have a slim profile. 50 watts is plenty for a 5.5 gallon tank (I have a 25 watt).

Get a two glass thermometers, one for the "display" of the tank and one for the rear chamber. Check them daily.

Get a suite of SALTWATER SPECIFIC test kits that cover pH, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Calcium, and Carbonate Hardness (alkalinity). Test strips are nice to have for spot checks but are not to be relied upon. The only parameters I actually check regularly are pH, Calcium, and Alkalinity. Once the tank is stable, other parameters are unlikely to fluctuate much between water changes.

Invest in a good light! Seriously, it's one of the most important pieces of equipment so don't skimp out. You could get away with something like this if your corals aren't picky (I did for months with this light and it actually grew SPS alright) or a dodgy Chinese LED fixture from eBay, but I recommend something like the AI Prime HD (which I just upgraded to). It has built-in wifi control so you can set things like color temperature, auto timing, and weather patterns.

For a small tank, an auto top off (ATO) is essential. I have a Smart ATO Micro and I love it, works perfectly. Without an ATO your water will evaporate, your salinity will fluctuate, you can't risk leaving it alone for more than a day, and if you neglect it your pumps might even run dry and destroy themselves. Trust me, this is $124 well spent.

Upgrade your return pump from stock. I put an AquaTop SWP360 in the back of my Spec III and it works really well, good flow and just the right size. In a 5.5 gallon tank you might get away without an additional powerhead for flow, but I'd recommend a small (small) powerhead for good measure. (Pro tip: repurpose the stock return pump for that!)

What else...

Get GFCI power strips so that you don't electrocute yourself.

If you're getting a Fluval Spec III or V, consider investing in this excellent media basket.

Well that's some good advice to start from... let me know if you have questions.

http://imgur.com/NmBvujH.jpg

Thanks! I'm thinking about getting this test kit Is this good enough or should I do a more thorough water test?

If you want to make it all much easier, just get the ten gallon tank and then get him to squeeze his filter sponge into your filter. If you do that and wait a few weeks you should be ready to rock. You could even add the fish right away if you can commit to testing the water every day. You only need two things for testing the water.

5-in-1 strips

And ammonia strips

And one thing to fix it.

Basically, the squeeze from your friends tank will give you the bacteria you need. Putting a fish in will give those bacteria something to eat (fish poop breaking down) until the bacteria colony is fully established. pH isn't a real issue with bettas as long as it stays roughly the same.

You just have to use both test strips every day, if anything spikes (nitrites will spike right before you are done) then change the water 30% and replace it with new water treated with that dechlorinator. A couple weeks in, all of the sudden you won't be getting any ammonia, you will have no nitrites, and you will have just a little nitrate meaning you are done. From then on just test and replace a gallon of water per week (always using dechlorinator).

The heater is the easiest thing! Most are set up to automatically sit at 78 degrees which is perfect for a betta. They like still water so if you can, grab an internal filter like the Whisper 10i. It moves the water less.

I'm fairly new at this, so if anything up there is inaccurate someone please chime in!

https://www.amazon.ca/API-Freshwater-Saltwater-Aquarium-25-Count/dp/B000HHOAIY/ref=sr_1_2?gclid=CjwKCAjw4NrpBRBsEiwAUcLcDOpgV-J__ymjrimioW6G6L596dWcZ7klheDBD9UnLlLNqL4AqvJiHxoClVcQAvD_BwE&hvadid=208330564037&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9000995&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7231071992543510082&hvtargid=kwd-309405953735&hydadcr=3209_9645626&keywords=aquarium+nitrate+test&qid=1563887704&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Is this what you're talking about?

Dip Strip

https://www.amazon.com/STRIPS-Freshwater-Saltwater-Aquarium-25-Count/dp/B000HHOAIY