Okay, so my big parrot Kong started flicking a bit earlier this afternoon. Not constant, just two or three times. So I started thinking it was another ph crash (covered in another thread). Sprinkled a little baking soda in. Kong perked up, no more flicking. But I noticed his color was still pale for him.
Got suspicious and decided to do a water test. To my shock I had nitrates at 60 or more and nitrite over 4. So I'm like "what the hell???" Kong gets a 50 percent water change twice a week and daily poop clean. Never had parameters like that! Tap water has no ammonia or nitrates here. The internal sponge filter and sponge prefilter on the hob stem is fine. So I kept thinking, what have I missed now?
The damn filter pads! The HOB filter has a strip pad at the waterfall level. Full of gunk and clogged. The custom pad I put over the ceramic media. Full of gunk and clogged. So DUH, I cleaned those and did a fin level water change. Kong is delighted with the change and so am I.
Cheez, I added the extra filters to be a bonus, not a problem...guess that happens when you miss something on the maintenance check list!
Got suspicious and decided to do a water test. To my shock I had nitrates at 60 or more and nitrite over 4. So I'm like "what the hell???" Kong gets a 50 percent water change twice a week and daily poop clean. Never had parameters like that! Tap water has no ammonia or nitrates here. The internal sponge filter and sponge prefilter on the hob stem is fine. So I kept thinking, what have I missed now?
The damn filter pads! The HOB filter has a strip pad at the waterfall level. Full of gunk and clogged. The custom pad I put over the ceramic media. Full of gunk and clogged. So DUH, I cleaned those and did a fin level water change. Kong is delighted with the change and so am I.
Cheez, I added the extra filters to be a bonus, not a problem...guess that happens when you miss something on the maintenance check list!