THose are not dust balls. Its uneated food particles that have started
ot grow fungus from becoming rotted and spoiled. This even further
demonstrates to much food too often is the cause of your high a/n/n
levels
Syphon those fugal critters out .....and like I posted before refrain
from feeding any today or even two or three days from now. Those fish
are not going to die from lack of food. May die form water parameters
being like they were or from acquiring a fungal infection but not from
lack of food. Then start to fdeed reduced amount of food 1x a day
every other day and see how it goes. Then perhaps feed 2 times every
other day. Most fish do not require to be fed 3x a day every day. I
often let all of my fish both fresh and salt go unfed over weekends
if were away and it does them good. It gives them a chance to scour
out those particles of food that remain uneaten, and then do not get
turned into fungal balls. I feed my fish 1 x every couple of days or
so. Feed only what is actually seen to be consumed in 3 to 5 minutes
time.

Good luck..



On 14 Jan 2007 12:37:17 -0800, "JB" wrote:


Tristan wrote:
Until you get your water parameters under control you would be better
off not feeding as much. Cut it back to once a day or so every other
day. Those fish are ot goping to starve, and at the same time yur not
introducing more nutrients to decay and turn into nitrites and
ammonia. This period of time will help your bacteria catch up with any
accumulating levels in addition to water changes and you shoul dbe
able to get yur levels back under control. Its better to keep fish
hungry than over fed. I maintain my fish,. I do not provide a all you
can eat buffet. I just seemtothink that yur main problem after
reading these additonal posts is from feeding practices, which is easy
to do. So cut back on amount of food fed and the amount of times you
feed and see what happens. Odds are yu will see a difference.

Good that yur kits have not expired. There is a heap of places that
sell kits without any regard to shelf life date. Usually they still
check good, but there is always that rare occurance its not right.
On 14 Jan 2007 11:15:52 -0800, "JB" wrote:


JB wrote:
Tristan wrote:
The rotten egg smell is more than likely hydrogen sulphide which is a
build up of decaying matter in the gravel. It smells like rotten eggs.
Do you give your gravel a routine vac cleaning?

Amquel Plus other than doing what Amquel does also locks up those
nitrates and nitrites, and makes them safe, but they will still show
them as present on a test. A water change wil dilute that reading, and
after 2 or three changes with proper feeding routine and vac of gravel
they all should be within limits.



I did a 100% Water change just over a week ago, and when I did, I
rinsed off my gravel thoroughly, and all my plants, and cleaned out my
filter housing & changed my filter, plus removed a ton of algae from my
tank just over a week ago...

I added Cycle to my tank to get the beneficial bacteria going, and am
due for more soon.. So should I do as the previous poster suggested
and change 75% of my water even though I just changed and cleaned
everything just over a week ago??


PS...... I just purchased my test kit about 2 weeks ago, and they do
not expire until 2008.. Also
I feed my fish 2x a day, sometimes 3x a day as suggested by PetCo..



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!



I just did a 25% Water change, and while doing so I noticed my filter
was pretty dirty but not clogged, so changed that as well.. Now I've
noticed the I guess dust balls randonly in my tank that are wrapped
around bits of food... What should I do about that??.. I appreciate
all of your advice...



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!