I would appreciate any advice please - I have only recently started keeping fish and would like to do this properly.
I have a 44 gallon corner tank (dimensions approx 2ft x 2ft x 2.5 ft)which was set up with a 250 fluval external filter about 10 weeks ago. It has a dark gravel substrate, various plastic plants, large piece of bogwood, rocks, heater, air stone. I have always wanted a heavily planted (natural) tank but real aquarium plants are pretty difficult to get hold of (I live in Bermuda) so I initially made do with some small grassy looking plants - don't know the name. The tank has a UV and a normal light.
After adding aquarium salt to buffer the pH & a load of bacteria I let the tank cycle for 6 weeks before introducing any fish. The pH is unfortunately quite high (7.2 - 7.4) and the water is very hard - all the drinking water in Bermuda is in fact rain water collected from lime covered roofs. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are zero as are chlorine levels. The tank temperature is a constant 75F.
I sought advice from the fish shop regarding fish - I ideally want a single species tank with neons or cardinal tetras and I was advised that Cardinals could be kept well in Bermuda despite the less-than-ideal water conditions. I initially added 13 cardinal tetras - one of them looked a bit peaky and isolated himself from the others - after a couple of days he had 'disappeared' and I never found the body. The other 12 seemed happy and ate the flaked food enthusiastically - one small pinch every day/every other day. I continued to monitor all the levels and did small water changes (about 5 Litres each time) every 3 days. After 3 weeks I added 12 more Cardinal Tetras - the next morning 2 were dead. The following day another had died. All the others looked happy and didn't show any signs of disease so I put it down to difficulty acclimatising to the hard water/high pH.
The next day I was able to get hold of some more aquarium plants (Dwarf Hygrophila & elodea/anacharis) which I washed throroughly in rain water & planted trying to disrupt the fish as little as possible. I also got hold of some frozen bloodworms and fed this to the Cardinals once. Since then the fish have died or disappeared on a daily basis. From 25 I now have only 8 survivors. Even worse the survivors seem to have gone off their flaked food and developed Ich - I just noticed tiny white dots on them this evening - I'll get the medication for it tomorrow.
What am I doing wrong??? I feel terrible that all this little fish keep dying and I certainly don't want to get any more until I understand what's killing them. Any guidance or suggestions would be great. Thanks!
I have a 44 gallon corner tank (dimensions approx 2ft x 2ft x 2.5 ft)which was set up with a 250 fluval external filter about 10 weeks ago. It has a dark gravel substrate, various plastic plants, large piece of bogwood, rocks, heater, air stone. I have always wanted a heavily planted (natural) tank but real aquarium plants are pretty difficult to get hold of (I live in Bermuda) so I initially made do with some small grassy looking plants - don't know the name. The tank has a UV and a normal light.
After adding aquarium salt to buffer the pH & a load of bacteria I let the tank cycle for 6 weeks before introducing any fish. The pH is unfortunately quite high (7.2 - 7.4) and the water is very hard - all the drinking water in Bermuda is in fact rain water collected from lime covered roofs. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are zero as are chlorine levels. The tank temperature is a constant 75F.
I sought advice from the fish shop regarding fish - I ideally want a single species tank with neons or cardinal tetras and I was advised that Cardinals could be kept well in Bermuda despite the less-than-ideal water conditions. I initially added 13 cardinal tetras - one of them looked a bit peaky and isolated himself from the others - after a couple of days he had 'disappeared' and I never found the body. The other 12 seemed happy and ate the flaked food enthusiastically - one small pinch every day/every other day. I continued to monitor all the levels and did small water changes (about 5 Litres each time) every 3 days. After 3 weeks I added 12 more Cardinal Tetras - the next morning 2 were dead. The following day another had died. All the others looked happy and didn't show any signs of disease so I put it down to difficulty acclimatising to the hard water/high pH.
The next day I was able to get hold of some more aquarium plants (Dwarf Hygrophila & elodea/anacharis) which I washed throroughly in rain water & planted trying to disrupt the fish as little as possible. I also got hold of some frozen bloodworms and fed this to the Cardinals once. Since then the fish have died or disappeared on a daily basis. From 25 I now have only 8 survivors. Even worse the survivors seem to have gone off their flaked food and developed Ich - I just noticed tiny white dots on them this evening - I'll get the medication for it tomorrow.
What am I doing wrong??? I feel terrible that all this little fish keep dying and I certainly don't want to get any more until I understand what's killing them. Any guidance or suggestions would be great. Thanks!
