oto update 8

a picture says it all. If they continue to do well, I'm hoping to move them into the main tank next week!

I've noticed a few things about their behavior. One is that when they're sitting on rocks, or even vertically on the curve of an object, they don't hold on with the sucker mouth, but cling with the pectoral fins. I don't see them on the tank walls much lately, I wonder if they've learned that there's no algae on the walls, and so don't bother? The other day my boyfriend saw Sparky on the wall and said with surprise: "your fish is vertical! Is that normal?" which cracked me up.
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Today finally the Oto's water clear, I've been doing partial water changes daily to remove the meds. Also a few days ago replaced filter media to the main tank, and added a layer of gravel (to give more depth for the plants' roots). I wonder if that was too much change, or if I caused a mini-cycle because this morning Snaily was up at edge of water line, hasn't moved in hours. Unusual and alarming. So I tested both tanks. The results surprised me.

The QT tank has trace amounts of Ammonia and Nitrite (still below 0.25 both) and Nitrates rather high- 30-40ppm. Home tank looks fine- Ammonia below 0.25, Nitrites 0, Nitrates a benign 5. I am not sure why the QT tank has higher Nitrates. Small bacteria colony not doing their job? compromised by the medication? Dying plant material? Too much uneaten food? I clean it out every morning though. Regardless, I've removed the Watersprite from the QT, and done another partial wc on both tanks. (The Watersprite has been slowly dying off anyway- I think it simply did not get enough light. I thought it would be helpful to boost oxygen content of the water, but now think it was not a good idea. Plastic plants better in this case).