The Saga of Sir Reginald - A Cycling Journal

[Snoeflayke]

Here we shall be chronicling the tales of the cycling of the tank of Sir Reginald Fitchface, of the Halfmoon Double-Tails.

I put his filter in his tank today, and it definitely needs to be baffled a little bit, so I'll have to pick something up when I go out to the store later.

Anyways, the details:
Fitchy, as he's known, is living in a lovely 5.5g aquarium with an adjustable 50w heater set at 78, and a new Top Fin 10 filter (it came with the tank).

The parameters before the filter:
pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

I did a 50% water change while installing the filter, and after a half hour, my ammonia reads somewhere between 0-0.25ppm. The rest of the params are the same. (Silly API kit, give me a number, not a color!)

Anyways, I intend to test the params every day, hopefully every 12 hours if I can.

Any advice/suggestions/feedback/cookies appreciated!

And of course, pictures!

[Snoeflayke]

I baffled his filter today with a Petco Algae Scrubber (for acrylic tanks). It fits perfectly in the filter, and calmed the outflow enough that he just blew me a bubble nest, and it's stayed intact for over an hour now!

I also added a new broad-leaved silk plant, and he seems happier.

Params to be tested when I get home from my belly dance class.

[Snoeflayke]

Uff dah! Ammonia was at 0.50ppm!
Did a 75% water change, Fitchy seems happier...

I noticed a few small holes in his fins today, two in the ventral fin, and one in the anal fin. I'm hoping that they're just a result of flaring too much (he could see his reflection in the heater, so I put a plant next to it).

I upped the temp in the tank to 82, hopefully these heal up soon!

[Snoeflayke]

Good news today! I can only see one of the holes! I don't know if I was just over-reacting yesterday or what, but he looks good.

Ammonia is at 0.25ppm.

[Snoeflayke]

This water is driving me crazy!

Ammonia tested at 0.25ppm, did a 50% change, and the ammonia is still coming in at more than 0!

I'm changing the water pretty much daily!
It's not hard, it's just annoying, and it seems to be stressing Fitchy out a little...

[Snoeflayke]

*headdesk*

Fitchy's got some fin rot.
Yay...

Did a 100% change yesterday, and today I'm starting him on Stress Coat+ and aquarium salt.

You can see in the pictures, he's got some bare rays on his dorsal, and some blackening and increased arching on his anal fin...

SO, my cycling journal is now a fin-healing journal!

Please, advice and support welcome. Tell me I'm not a bad fish mom...