A Bit Confused And In Need Of Some Advice Please!

[Nat]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and here's my story:

I "inherited" a tank when my ex left and left them as well! Didn't really know too much about how to look after them as he always did water changes etc but had picked up a bit.

I knew that he put salt in and water conditioner so carried on with this. A while later I took a water sample to the fish shop to be tested and they advised on other things I needed to do.

So each water change I use water conditioner, salt, and Sera Morena, PH Minus and Nitrivec.

Another fish shop has told me that using all these products is unneccessary as fish I buy from fish shops will be in conditioned tap water only, so I got advice from another shop who told me I should use RO water and not have salt.

So now I'm really confused, to be honest I've not had many problems with the fish, so should I carry on as I am but lose the salt? And if so, how gradually do I need to do this?

For info the fish I have are as follows:

blind cave fish
platies
guppies
upside down catfish
cardinal tetras
black neon tetras
head and tail light tetras
cories

Thanks for your help

 

[dwarfgourami]

Some fish shops and breeders use salt as a sort of preventative medicine, a bit like intensively farmed chickens get antibiotics to counteract for the awful conditions they live under- but as fishkeepers, it is better to make sure conditions are good enough not to require preventative medicine: clean water, a good and varied diet, enough space, a minimum of stress.

Of the fish you have, platies and guppies would be fine with salt, but do not actually require it. Some of your other fish, the tetras and the corydoras at least, come from species that have not evolved to cope with salt- so though they may be ok for short term medicinal use, longterm exposure to salt could actually damage their kidneys. So I would gradually lose the salt, just cut it out when you do water changes.

(Obviously if you had brackish fish, the situation would be different-- their bodies actually need the salt).

RO water is used by keepers of sensitive fish, like discus, to produce soft, clean water. Your fish should not need it, and the platies and guppies are better off if their water is not too soft. Since you keep both hardwater fish and softwater fish (the tetras), a neutral ph and neutral acidity would probably be best. What is your tap water like? It may be that you would be better off losing the ph minus too, but let's look at the tap water first.
What is Sera Morena and Nitrivec? A mature filtered tank that is not overstocked should not need anything that removes the nitrites- the filter bacteria should be dealing with that.

 

[Nat]

Thanks for your help, dwarfgourami,

I've just done a test on the tap water and it is 7.5, so adding the PH minus hasn't changed it!

Morena is to soften the water, and it has peat extracts and trace elements in it.

I live in the hardest water area in the UK and the water runs down a chalk pit. I'm a little confused about what I've read on water hardness to be honest, is it worth me getting a test kit (not that I'd know what to do with the results!! LOL)

 

[black angel]

Every aquarist should have a test kit.

So we can how bad/good the water is i suggest test strips to begin with as these have kh and gh on them and you would then need to buy an ammonia test seperately.
I find the bottle tests really fiddly though they are more accurate.
Once we see what the tap water tests are as well as the tank then we can help more.
How long has the tank been running, its size and how are you filtering it?

Welcome to the forum by the way

 

[Nat]

Thanks Black angel, and hi!

I already have liquid tests for nitrite, nitrate, ph and ammonia so I may as well get the kit for hardness I guess!

The tank is a new one - 3 weeks old. But it was changed when the old one sprung a leak. It's about 50 gallons (216 litres). All the old tank water I put into the new one (which was about a third of the new one) and I also have the old eheim filter in there as well as the new Fluval one which came with the tank.

I also transferred 2 box filters from the old tank to the new tank and have been adding the bacteria stuff to kick start the new filter.

I lost one guppy a couple of days after the transfer.

So I've tested the ph of the tap water, I tested the nitrate of the tap water too and it was 30 but I've been told that round here it fluctuates alot and sometimes it can be as high as 60 or as low as 10.

I'll probably be doing a water change tomorrow so should I just leave out the salt for now and treat as I have been doing apart from that?

I'll get a water hardness kit tomorrow too and I hope you'll be able to advise me on the results!

 

[black angel]

7.5 for your ph is pretty good so i wouldnt mess with it and you dont need any salt either.
As long as the ph from your tap doesnt fluctuate then i would just leave it well alone.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah 7.5 is ok for ph

all you need to add is water conditioner, don't add salt it could be really bad for the cories and catfish.

since you switched the tanks around have you tested for ammonia and nitrite?

cos moving stuff could have caused a mini cycle in your tank which killed the guppy, if it's been 3 weeks and you've lost no one since it's probably stopped by now. but it's worth checking those readings anyway, if your not sure what they mean then post them and we'll help you out

 

[Nat]

Thanks for the help.

I haven't tested the hardness of the water yet as no-one had a test kit but managed to get one today, will test it later.

I've been testing for ammonia and nitrite, ammonia has been 0, and nitrite 0 although yesterday it was reading a bit lower than 0.1.

Nitrates are through the roof though.

I'll come back with the results after I test everything again along with the hardness of the tap water. Thanks again!

 

[LisaLQ]

Nitrates I wouldn't worry about too much - just do some hefty water changes (I do 40% weekly, but if yours are through the roof you might need to do a couple a few days apart to lower it back down) and it'll come down. You need to be doing them weekly anyway As long as ammonia and nitrate are 0, your tank is cycled - the nitrates just mean it needs a good water change, regularly

What was the actual nitrate reading? Your "through the roof" might not be that bad?

 

[Nat]

Through the roof was 250!!!!!!!

 

[LisaLQ]

Ok....that is through the roof *lol* but not to worry - do a few water changes every couple of days and it'll bring it back down. How big is the tank, and do you have a rough guesstimate of how many fish you have in there? It might be you're overstocked?

 

[Nat]

I have 30 fish, most of which are guppies and tetras. There are only 5 fish bigger than them - 2 blind cave fish, one kissing gourami and 3 small upside down catfish.

The tank holds 216 litres (I think about 50 gallons - UK) but by the time you've taken gravel and filters into account it prob holds about 180 litres.

The problem started when I had to change tanks because my old one cracked. This tank is twice the size roughly, although I've only recently added some fish and also a guppy has had babies.