Good Morning Fish Keepers!

[Horcum]

I am relatively new to fish keeping - I have a Juwal 190 tank that had been set up by my son some years ago with African Cichlids - he grew up and left home but left me the tank - I re homed the cichlids and gave everything a good clean and bought 6 guppies, all seemed to be going well so visited a large fish store who sold me a dwarf gourami, rummy nose tetras - 4 neons - 6, African banded barbs - 4 penguin tetras - 4 and a couple of platy and a load of plants- shop owner explained a few basics and I went home a happy bunny - all going well - two 25lt water changes a week - then fishes started to die - one at a time - no sign of sickness - tested ph - 7.6, ammonia etc all fine (so shop owner who tested my water said) he advised removing the Tuffa rocks and continue with water changes - still loosing fish. I believe the water hardness caused by the substrate was causing the problem (more advice from fish store) so just got finished changing the substrate and hoping the ten fish remaining are still with me later today! I live in a soft water area (near Halifax) and I have an ambition to buy a bigger tank to keep Discus!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

to the forum.
 
Did you replace the media after you rehomed the cichlids? If so, this could be the reason for your problems.
 
Do you know the exact readings of ammonia and nitrite? If possible, it is best to get your own test kit, instead of relying on your LFS all the time.

 

[Horcum]

I did replace some of the medium but not all of it, none of it dried out - I may have not helped by rinsing some of it out under the tap - which I suspect was the wrong thing to do. This morning tank not quite crystal clear, but clearer than 8 hours ago and all fish seem quite happy at the moment. Question - when feeding flake - how much and how often - frozen food - I defrost one cube in a little tank water - the cube is about 1cm sq - is the too much for my fis?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Not sure, sorry.
Hopefully someone will come along with an answer

 

[Horcum]

I will post it on another section - on a high note my tank is looking great and no more deaths ! Thank you for your help