alanmin4304

They release copper ions.

Because there are so many things working against it being effective. As I said earlier---I doubt it would sterilize anything.

Welcome and enjoy your time here.

I can't tell from the pic what it is other than it is not whitespot. Whitespot looks like it has been sprinkled with salt.

I doubt it.

UV has limited penetration of water and needs to have the water very close to the light source. It is very dependant on treating clear water or the light will not penetrate. There is also a minimum contact period so the flow rate is important. There is also an optimumum operating temperature to work effectively. I built one many years ago to reduce the creebies in salt water I was using to keep native marines and it is not easy to meet all the above requirements. The actual requirements will vary a bit depending on the make of the "sterilizer"

Bill (old) was one of the first down here to import fish and his son (young bill) had a pet shop in Clombo St for many years. Both sons were toolmakers and made the betta airpumps and elements with seperate thermostats.I still have some I think. Interesting family.

Many moons ago I used to attend fish club meetings at the old north beach aquarium/zoo. The owner, old Bill Grey (his son was young Bill Grey) was frequently limping during the otter breeding season because he went into their enclosure to check on any offspring and the parents were very defensive. They would give a severe bite through gumboots or leather boots and make a mess of his feet every year.

Coke has the CO2 added under pressure but the ammonium hydroxide (in whatever form) does not. When you smell ammonium hydroxide it is the ammonia dissolving in the moisture in your nose and forming ammonium hydroxide that you are detecting therefore it must be evapourating from the solution.

I would doubt that a UV "sterilizer" would actually sterilize anything. They would reduce the "live" load in the water column but the requirements for them to operate properly are pretty tight and I doubt those conditions are met usually.

A bottle of coke with a lid on will not degass any differently to a bottle of ammonium hydroxide with a lid on. I have never used ammolock and am not sure how it works so you may well be right about the nitrogen still being available for the bacteria. It is likely that they utilize it in the ionic state only.

Both ammonia and carbon dioxide behave in a similar way in water. CO2 dissolves to form a relatively unstable acid--carbonic acid and ammonia dissolves to form a relatively unstable alkali--ammonium hydroxide. They will both revert to the gasseous state relavely easily with a rise in temperature, agitation or allowing oxygen to take their place. This will not replace all the gas that is dissolved but will reduce it in both cases. The problem with the use of ammolock is that it locks up the ammonia and therefore destroys the equilibrium between the good bacteria and their food source, so that as the bacteria die off from a lack of food an ammonia spike is likely later when the bacteria have all died or been reduced but the fish are still producing ammonia/urea etc.

Water has a greater affinity for oxygen than CO2 or NH3 so aeration will also help to drive off the latter two.

mg/litre is also ppm w/v but not sure if that is in the air or in solution. The solubility of freon is not given and I think freon has also now been replaced as a gas used in refrigeration. So "pass" I have no idea.

Now you have got yourself another full time job pressy

Fourth and sixth pic he looks like he is wearing his father's genes.

If water temperature and chemistry is OK you may need to treat for gill flukes (dactylogyrus). Do a google search and see what treatments you have available.

Can you test the water to see if you have an ammonia or nitrite spike?

Is their respiration rated slowing up?

What is the water temperature?

Check that the temperature is not too hot and if that is OK you might need to treat for gill flukes.

Hope you all have a great new year.

If you hang a piece of slate near the surface they will probably lay on that.

Red ears can get agro when older

I bred them for a few years but have given up. I think they are becoming throw away pets. They are cheap to buy and the shops generally are not prepared to explain exactly what is required to look after them properly. There are a lot of mistreated red ears out there.