Aligator weed, Eurasian Water Milfoil and Giant Salvinia are problems in texas for many reasons. The first reason is, they have no natural predators or other preventives to stunt their growth. On top of this they are all prolific reproducers too. Many of them don't have to pollenate to reproduce they can clone themselves, often times just by breaking apart, which often happens when removal is attempted on them. Since they form such high populations, the decaying plant matter often causes decreases in oxygen levels in the water system. They also clog irrigation pipes, impede boat activity and ruin bodies of water for recreational use.

-Ahab

   An invasive aquatic plant is an aquatic plant that did not develop in a certain geographic area. While a native aquatic plant is located in the geographic region it developed in. While invasive plants can cause many issues for the environment, native plants have many benefits. For example native plants provide cover for fish and nesting material. This allows the heterotrophs of the ecosystem to have more luck with reproducing. Native aquatic plants also help oxygenate the water, and provide food for some animals

- Ahab

   When our aquarium was first set up our water was fairly turbid, our ammonia was high and the fish were fairly shy. Now our nitrogen cycle has almost finished stabilizing, we are having trouble with the nitrite as opposed to the ammonia. The water lost much of its turbidity when we installed a filter. Best of all though our fish have acclimated to the tank, our grourami now does not hide, it swims around at about mid-level in our tank, and is one of the most active fish in the tank. Our kuhli loach now preforms acrobatics after we feed it, and our cory catfish cruise around the bottom. All of this has made me want to own a fish tank, unfortunately my current situation does not allow it. I think the most interesting thing that has happened in my group's tank is when we lost our loach, we had gone a couple of days when we first got him with out seeing him, and since hiding is a normal thing for loaches to do we didn't worry. After the weekend though and we still hadn't seen him, we began to worry, after tearing up our tank looking for him, we finally found him, he had been trapped inside a rock.

-Ahab

   Water quality is an important factor in the health of your tank, but an even greater factor in a town's ponds and lakes. A city with bad water risks its inhabitants getting sick, and failure of crops and livestock in the surrounding area. It's important to know how water is assessed though, and the steps taken in doing so. The first step in assessing water quality in a lake should be just a general scan of the lake, is there any clearly visible source of pollution, does it look like there are chemical spilled in the water and how much litter is around the lake. Along with that water samples should be taken to test the ph levels and algae counts. Doing this is a relatively cheap way of doing a general test of the water with out paying money for chemical panels, which are more expensive. If the water does look like its polluted, and the ph test are coming back off, and the count of algae is showing low diversity it is time for the chemical panels. You will need to know exactly what is wrong with your water source in order to fix it, this accuracy is most easily achieved through specific chemical tests.

Signed, Ahab

Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide cycle

In the process of photosynthesis, plants need the suns energy, water to make food for themselves in the form of ATP ( adenosine triphosphate ) , which is packages of energy. Carbon coming into the plants ( or algae ) along with water make those ATP into a bigger molecule, which is know as glucose.
Formula: 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + Suns Energy -> glucose + oxygen
Photosynthesis has an affect on the carbon cycle because it reduces the amount of CO2 in the air and redirects it into sugars which feeds animals as well as humans.

-Robby

Algae in fish tanks

It is important to be aware of algae growths in your freshwater aquarium and control them. Obviously, with the growth of algae in your tank, the water will become less clear and you will begin to see algae on everything in your tank plus on the glass of your aquarium itself - including the equipment in your aquarium. This is not good, as you can imagine - for many reasons; but, the worst part is that your fish will also experience negative effects from the overgrowth of the algae. (Your plants will also suffer negative effects from too much algae.). Some examples of algae that are found in a fish tank are silica algae, blue-green algae (also known as cyanobacteria), green algae, or algae bloom.

-Robby

This is Barboach, The tanks only kuhli loach. This little guy is hard to find most of the time, but his swimming pattern is quite entertaining to watch.

 

Training goldfish has proved to be an interesting experience. While Oscar, the fish who goes through hoop, has picked up on learning quite well. His tank mate Flounder however has not.

Signed Ahab

Picture day

In this picture we dropped fish food into the tank. And the fish went to the top of the tank and ate the food.

-Robby

The Nitrogen

Initial stage: The cycle begins when fish are introduced to the aquarium. Their feces, urine, as well as any uneaten food, are quickly broken down into either ionized or unionized ammonia. The ionized form, Ammonium (NH4), is present if the pH is below 7, and is not toxic to fish. The unionized form, Ammonia (NH3), is is present if the pH is 7 or above, and is highly toxic to fish. Any amount of unionized Ammonia (NH3) is dangerous, however once the levels reach 2 ppm, the fish are in grave danger. Ammonia usually begins rising by the third day after introducing fish.

Second stage: During this stage Nitrosomonas bacteria oxidize the ammonia, thus eliminating it. However, the by-product of ammonia oxidation is nitrite, which is also highly toxic to fish. Nitrites levels as low as low as 1 mg/l can be lethal to some fish. Nitrite usually begins rising by the end of the first week after introducing fish.

Third stage: In the last stage of the cycle, Nitrobacter bacteria convert the nitrites into nitrates. Nitrates are not highly toxic to fish in low to moderate levels. Routine partial water changes will keep the nitrate levels within the safe range. Established tanks should be tested for nitrates every few months to ensure that levels are not becoming extremely high.

-Robby

Keeping the water clean

This picture shows how clean the water is after we changed it. To make it this clean we have to check the ammonia levels everyday to make sure it's not to high for the fish. If it is to high we have to take some water out, and then we have to replace it with clean water. After we replace the water we had to add some chlorine remover and some bacteria so that the fish can stay alive. Keeping the water clean is tough but it worth it for the fish.

- Robby

Water Quality

A) Ph level tests show if your water is acidic or basic. If the water is too much of either of these then your fish cannot  live in it. it is important to test your water to make sure your fish will live.
B) Nitrite is toxic to the fish. by keeping plants in your tank you will keep this low. testing nitrite level regularly is important to keeping fish alive
C) Nitrate is not as bad for fish as nitrite or ammonia but can still harm fish in higher doses. easiest way of lowering nitrate level is to change water out regularly.
D) Ammonia is toxic to fish and will kill them if tank is not kept properly. it is produced by excess food in the bottom of the tank and fish poop.
E) Temperature needs to be kept as consistent as possible because rapid changes in temperature will kill fish. it is good to make sure the temperature of water that is being added is close to water already in the tank.
F) Conductivity testing can help tell if there are impurities in the water. It can help tell how much salt and other substances might be in your water.

Robin of Locksley 

Ahab here, recently with the tank my group has been having trouble with high ammonia levels. We have been changing the water and everything but the ammonia levels would still not go down. So today I had to siphon the gravel, which was not a very enjoyable task. You do this so left over food and fish poop that has settled into the gravel is cleaned out, since stuff like that contributes to the ammonia level in a tank. The task is not enjoyable because you have to start the siphon by sucking the water out yourself, this can often lead to you getting a taste of fish water, not very pleasant. It will all be worth it though if we can bring our ammonia level down.

Interesting things since starting the project

So far the most interesting that has happened since we started the project is how much responsibility it is to take care of a fish. You have to check the water's ammonia level everyday to make sure it isn't to high for the fish to be in. And if the water isn't right then you have to change some to try and stabilize the ammonia level. It is more responsibility than I thought it would be, but it is fun.

- Robby

black kuhli loach

   Ahab here, today I'm going to tell you about the black kuhli loach. A variant of the kuhli loach which is  a small eel like fish usually gets up to about four inches and is native to south easter asia. Kuhli loaches are bottom feeding scavengers, who's preferred habitat is shallow streams with sandy bottoms. Kuhli loaches like to hide and are mostly nocturnal, there are many instances actually were owners of the loaches had thought their fish was dead and then found it months later while cleaning the tank and finding the lost fish. There is very little distinction between male and female kuhli loaches while not in the mating season, but during the mating season male kuhli loaches begin to look more muscular while females ovaries swell and turn green and are visible through their skin. during mating female kuhli loaches lay their eggs around the roots of aquatic plants, you can spot their eggs because they're a very vibrant green color. All in all I picked the kuhli loach for my aquarium because it is a bundle of energy when it is active. I have never seen an aquarium fish swim as fast as my kuhli loach when we disturbed its hiding place, and if it was bigger I think it stood a chance of breaking the glass of its aquarium.

Setting up tank

Ahab here, we set up my fish tank today, and it was fairly uneventful. My tank has five fish in it, three green cory cat fish, a dwarf garamouri and a black kuhli loach. The only problems we encountered at first was high ammonia levels and the disappearance of the loach. The high ammonia was fixed by changing the water and it turns out loaches like to hide and are extremely good at it.