jungles in the basement

the little ironies of life

I didn't get rid of plants - I cleaned up. A lot. May (the surviving cockatiel) is happy in his jungle and has been singing constantly (or screeching depending on your point of view, or which end of the phone you are on).

The nitrate levels in my 30 gallon fish tank were high so I decided to do a 25% water change. Nitrate levels are not a 'good' thing, but not necessary a bad thing either. Nitrite, on-the-other-hand, is deadly. My nitrite levels were not registering on the test strip at all.

So I changed the water, added distilled water, and began to correct the pH.

The next morning with 2 dead fish, this is what my tank looks like now. Everytime I bring the pH back from acidic, the water gets cloudy. But this water also has nitrite levels that are registering beyond the levels of my test strip. I tested the water that I had added to the tank - nothing funny there. I think changing the pH makes the water cloudy because there is something that becomes less soluble at more neutral pH levels. That usually clears up with 'Clear Water' or a few days. But the nitrite levels are dangerous and may have already been the cause of the dimise of one Austrailian rainbow. (the survivor is in the upper right hand corner)
How on earth does nature take care of this stuff?! I can just see Mother Nature sitting out by the streams with her test kit and shaking her head at the water quality. She must have given up on Tainter Lake by now.
I get to take an Environmental Chemistry course this semester - maybe I can get my fish tank balanced by the end of it.