as I was about to write this is what I hear "No! Sneakers! (from both parents actually), Get back here (from dad). I think Sneakers decided he wanted to go into the garage again, but I believe the garage door was open.

I need to correct an error. It's Mia, not Mai As pointed out by dad... -_-

Also I wasn't sure about this part of the snake story but apparently it was an actuality. When I got up there, with my dad there was three cats all intently staring at the snake. I can hear their thoughts now "ooooo, a new toy!" and the snakes: "oh, I'll never escape again if I get out of this.".

oh I hear thunder, must be the storm that spawned the Severe Thunderstorm Warning in Franklin county. It lasts until 6 something I think. I think it's North of us though. I added water to the fish tank, I also got some of the parameters in the tank, and I wrote them down.

Ammonia - 0 PPM
Nitrite - around 2 PPM (a bit high)
Nitrate - around 2 through 5 PPM (perfectly fine)
PH - it's in the 7.4 to 7.6 range.

Nitrate is the least toxic of these, and it's the final form this is the Nitrogen cycle

Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate

it always starts off as ammonia which is very toxic to fish. Then it's turned into Nitrite by Bacteria, which is still pretty toxic, but less so then ammonia. Finally Nitrite is turned into Nitrate by different bacteria. Nitrate is much less toxic then Ammonia, or Nitrate is. The fish could easily stand up to 20 PPM of it. While 20 PPM of Nitrite or ammonia would most certainly be fatal. Heck 5 PPM of ammonia would probably be fatal. on the test kit it measures ammonia from 0 to 8 PPM, if it's at 8 you need to act, that's why it only goes that high. But the Nitrate goes from 0-160 PPM (quite a difference). The best way to quickly fix one of these would be an emergency water change. That's the easiest way. It measures Nitrite 0-5 PPM. Though this is most likely due to the fact it's the middle stage. It doesn't usually need to be measured any other time, other then when the tank is young. But ammonia, and Nitrate will, at all times. An Ammonia buildup would mean the strain on the tank is too much (AKA too many fish/plants). Plants do consume Nitrate which is nice though :P. A great reason for live plants over artificial ones. Nitrate will need to be measured since it is the last stage in the nitrogen cycle. Even though Nitrate is extremely low in toxicity it's like a weak acid, though not strong enough exposure to a lot of it will eventually dissolve anything including Teeth! As an experiment dad told me about putting a tooth in soda pop. A few days later "huh, didn't we put a tooth in here?" The same concept applies.

I also saw some brown algae. give me a sec I think I know what that means, but I want to look it up to be sure I'm right. It might be a different algae I'm thinking of..... *looking*

oh I was mistaken... That's blue-green algae that does that. Brown algae won't harm the fishies. Unlike blue-green algae, which is actually a bacteria. Blue-green algae actually releases toxicans into the water which obviously is bad for the fish. Though the above 7 PH does explain the lessened activity of the albino bronze corys (they like acidic water)