Hardness Too Low

[GloFishie]

I recently got a 10g tank. Put it together, conditioned the water, let it filter and cycle. I got three "GloFish" (dyed Danios?), floated the bag for a good while before introducing them to the tank. They did perfectly fine for the first night, but just fifteen minutes ago two of the three died. I checked the water in my tank and everything looked perfectly fine except the hardness of the water (both types) were too low by about 20-30.

I'm hoping I can fix my problem before I find myself flushing my third fish. What are some ways I can go about raising the hardness of my water? I'm not new to having aquariums by any means, but I've never experienced this particular problem.

I also kind of live in the middle of nowhere, so the only place I can go to get anything for my tank is either a very small pet store or Walmart (which is literally the only place within 30 miles where I can actually buy fish).

 

[Katch]

I'm going to take a wild guess at 'let it cycle' means you filled the tank turned on the filter - left it a few days and then added the fish...?

If this is the case your tank wasn't cycled and they most probably died of ammonia poisoning.

Did you test your water for ammonia and nitrites?

Have a read through the fishless cycling guides and fishin cycle guides to get a better idea about how a biofilter works and then decide how you want to proceed - if the last fish survives then it's fishin cycle for you. If it dies or you can take it back I recommend fishless cycling.

It is very unlikely that hardness has anything to do with the demise of your fish.

 

[OldMan47]

Emergency treatment for your remaining fish is easy. Do an enormous water change of at least 75% using proper dechlorination.

 

[GloFishie]

@Katch: At the risk of sounding rude, I'm not stupid when it comes to aquariums and I do know what I'm doing. I did check the water before introducing my fish and everything was practically spot-on perfect aside from the hardness (I obviously don't have anything to improve that at the moment). My last little guy is hanging in there, but I doubt he'll last the night.

@OldMan47: I'll probably end up doing research on how to increase water hardness and then restart the tank. It's just odd to me that the only thing wrong with a new tank would be the hardness of the water.

 

[-Jo-]

My water is a right pain - I live in an area where its very very soft water. Throughtout my fishless cycling, I have had several crashes because my PH level changes dramatically. I am having to do a water change tonight as my PH dropped significantly in the space of 3 days.

Any advice on ways that I can maintain a balanced PH level would be great! I have heard about crushed coral and bicarbonate of soda - Whats the best way of using these?