Hello Venus,
I’m goldfish sitting again. This time, just for 12 days. Since the pump and pond sponge was added last time, it appears that good bacteria were able to grow in the tank!
This is a 5.5 gallon tank with 3 small fantails. Unfortunately, I will not be able to upgrade the tank size as it is not my tank 🙁
Current readings are:
Ammonia=0, Nitrite=0.5, Nitrate=5, pH=7, KH=0.
(No GH reading until new tester arrives).
One of the fantails’ tail frayed before and apparently the tank was salted. When the tail healed, it became black. Current salinity is 0.03ppm. One side of the black tail is longer than the other. I’m not sure if it’s completely healed but I imagine this happened as a result of cycling. The top fin of that fish is also slightly torn. Should we add any treatment to assist in the fin/tail healing? Or is fixing water parameters enough?
Do you think we are in the middle or tail end of cycling this tank? With the current nitrite and nitrate levels, how often should I be doing water changes and how much water should I be changing? Should I dose Prime for the amount of new water added or the entire 5 gallon tank?
Since the KH=0 (very low mineral quality), should I add some backing soda? Our tap water also has close to no minerals and low pH. I have already ordered some small wonder shells to arrive next week. In the meantime, should I add baking soda to raise KH and then add the shells to maintain KH? Or just wait for the shells and rely completely on the shells to raise and maintain KH/GH? If I add baking soda first, how much should I add for 5 gallons?