Just thought I'd share my sad story from a few months ago that could have and SHOULD HAVE been prevented...
I was SOOO PLEASED w/ my African (mainly Malawi) tank. Back then my signature read: 40 Gallon African Planted: 3 Red Jewels, Red Zebra, Blue Malawi, Albino Red Top Zebra, Red Peacock, 2 Lemon Yellow (ready to spit out fry any day), Common Pleco. Those little buggers kept me thouroughly entertained. I had just gotten to the point where I had been able to "spend time" w/ each one & learn their unique personalities. I had gotten to watch the Electric Yellows mate which was very cool. I was very pleased w/ my first Cichlid tank!
Well, one day, towards the begining of May, it was time for a water change and I had just ran out of Stress Coat. I was at Walmart & remembered that I needed more. So I'm in the fish supply section when Tetra EasyBalance with Nitraban catches my attention. "Reduces frequent water changes." http://www.tetra-fish.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=74 "Wow, they improved the AquaSafe formula, added some beneficial ingredients." I thought to myself. I half-assed read the label (I was in a hurry). I grab it, finish my shopping & head home. About 15 minutes after performing a 40% water change, I notice that my beauties aren't looking so good. Almost all start coming to the surface and then the Blue Malawi starts turning upside down & twiching. "Somethings not right!" "Oh, no! Must be the water treatment!" Without hesitation, I fly out the door & make it back to Walmart in about 2 minutes (normally no less than a 5 minute drive). After snatching up some good 'ol stress coat, I'm back home in 15 minutes total. My keys hadn't even hit the counter before I had dumped 2 capfuls into the tank. "Greycie" the Blue Malawi was belly up under a rock. "Pepe" the Peacock, "Bertha" the Albino RT Zebra, and "Larry & Lisa" the Lemon Yellows were all floating around twitching trying to cling on to life. I scooped them up & threw 'em in my 10gal community tank (I wasn't sure what else to do.) Well, after it was all "said & done," all 5 of the above died. At one point, I even tried to see if I could save the fry from Lisa's mouth but, of course, it was a lost cause.
After some sad toilet flushing it was time to asses the damage. Looking into the seemingly empty tank, the Jewel sisters and "K" the Red Zebra poke their heads out. It doesn't surprise me that K survived. He was and still is a though, mean little bastard! He has and always will be the Ruler of the Tank! After ENTIRELY reading the back label of the EasyBalance bottle, I wanted to kick myself! One of the LAST lines at the BOTTOM of the label read: "Note: EasyBalance® is not a tap water conditioner and will not neutralize harmful chlorine or chloramines. When adding tap water to the aquarium it is recommended you always use Tetra AquaSafe® according to its directions." PLEASE don't make the same DUMBASS mistake that I did!
If you look at my signature now, I have gone a different rout & added some South Americans. I must admit, I have had great success in the mixing. Two of the Jewels have since perished (probably because of the stress from my little ERROR!) K is still a bully but everything else seems great! My Convicts are such AWESOME parents! Since I am mentioning them, I do have a question that maybe someone can answer. I read somewhere that the females are smaller and have golden scales on their belly. With my pair, the larger is about 3 1/2'' with really no coloration other than the black & white stripes. The other is half that size w/ a golden belly & some beautiful turquoise coloration on the fins. The thing that confuses me is that when they mate, I notice the eggs on the cave wall & it looks like the smaller one is fertilizing them. I confused!
I was SOOO PLEASED w/ my African (mainly Malawi) tank. Back then my signature read: 40 Gallon African Planted: 3 Red Jewels, Red Zebra, Blue Malawi, Albino Red Top Zebra, Red Peacock, 2 Lemon Yellow (ready to spit out fry any day), Common Pleco. Those little buggers kept me thouroughly entertained. I had just gotten to the point where I had been able to "spend time" w/ each one & learn their unique personalities. I had gotten to watch the Electric Yellows mate which was very cool. I was very pleased w/ my first Cichlid tank!
Well, one day, towards the begining of May, it was time for a water change and I had just ran out of Stress Coat. I was at Walmart & remembered that I needed more. So I'm in the fish supply section when Tetra EasyBalance with Nitraban catches my attention. "Reduces frequent water changes." http://www.tetra-fish.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=74 "Wow, they improved the AquaSafe formula, added some beneficial ingredients." I thought to myself. I half-assed read the label (I was in a hurry). I grab it, finish my shopping & head home. About 15 minutes after performing a 40% water change, I notice that my beauties aren't looking so good. Almost all start coming to the surface and then the Blue Malawi starts turning upside down & twiching. "Somethings not right!" "Oh, no! Must be the water treatment!" Without hesitation, I fly out the door & make it back to Walmart in about 2 minutes (normally no less than a 5 minute drive). After snatching up some good 'ol stress coat, I'm back home in 15 minutes total. My keys hadn't even hit the counter before I had dumped 2 capfuls into the tank. "Greycie" the Blue Malawi was belly up under a rock. "Pepe" the Peacock, "Bertha" the Albino RT Zebra, and "Larry & Lisa" the Lemon Yellows were all floating around twitching trying to cling on to life. I scooped them up & threw 'em in my 10gal community tank (I wasn't sure what else to do.) Well, after it was all "said & done," all 5 of the above died. At one point, I even tried to see if I could save the fry from Lisa's mouth but, of course, it was a lost cause.
After some sad toilet flushing it was time to asses the damage. Looking into the seemingly empty tank, the Jewel sisters and "K" the Red Zebra poke their heads out. It doesn't surprise me that K survived. He was and still is a though, mean little bastard! He has and always will be the Ruler of the Tank! After ENTIRELY reading the back label of the EasyBalance bottle, I wanted to kick myself! One of the LAST lines at the BOTTOM of the label read: "Note: EasyBalance® is not a tap water conditioner and will not neutralize harmful chlorine or chloramines. When adding tap water to the aquarium it is recommended you always use Tetra AquaSafe® according to its directions." PLEASE don't make the same DUMBASS mistake that I did!
If you look at my signature now, I have gone a different rout & added some South Americans. I must admit, I have had great success in the mixing. Two of the Jewels have since perished (probably because of the stress from my little ERROR!) K is still a bully but everything else seems great! My Convicts are such AWESOME parents! Since I am mentioning them, I do have a question that maybe someone can answer. I read somewhere that the females are smaller and have golden scales on their belly. With my pair, the larger is about 3 1/2'' with really no coloration other than the black & white stripes. The other is half that size w/ a golden belly & some beautiful turquoise coloration on the fins. The thing that confuses me is that when they mate, I notice the eggs on the cave wall & it looks like the smaller one is fertilizing them. I confused!
