I just made the most horrible mistake of my fish-keeping career

Santaclaws

Yea those test strips suck. Hey we all live and learn we all make mistakes its just part of life. We just carry on and learn from it

brownmane

How are your fish doing? My water in my tank (using tap water) started around 7.6 as per the API test kit. I have had it for almost a year. It is planted and has a piece of driftwood in it. The pH now is 7.2, so tank pH can change a little ( but slowly) depending on what is in it as well as how long it has been established for. Fish do become acclimatized to their tank water. I have Lemon Tetra and panda cories and c. aeneus and all have been doing well for about 8 months.

The other thing to remember is when you add fish, it increases the bioload on your tank, so you need to let it adjust to the extra additions. And add a few fish at a time. I am not sure how long between additions that it takes for the tank to adjust, someone else may know better.

OddballFishCoveter

Right now my remaining glass cat is doing well in the 40 gallon, though I'm heavily leaning towards just giving him to Petsmart. I don't have the heart to get anymore glass cats. The only problem with giving him away is my mom, as she has said 'Oh, he'll be just fine by himself'... She has a mind set that fish aren't equal to dogs or cats as pets and that they don't need the best care possible. Even after telling her what I learned from this wonderful fish-owning community, she argues that 'my only source is just a bunch of other people's opinions', though I must add that much of what I've learned here is mostly on par with aquarium keeping books I've recently purchased.

Anyways, because of how basic my water is, I'll be much more careful now with acclimating new fish. My nitrates are still high in my empty tank, though I've only been able to do one water change because my week has been so busy. After everything is back to normal though, I'm considering making this tank into a betta sorority... bettas have really become an interest to me.