Help! Imminent Fish Death (Again!)

[DavidG]

Hi,

I posted a short while ago about our newly cycled tank and the first couple of rasboras that died... http/www.fishforum...5&#entry2885825

Well we got two more and everything seems to have been going fine until this evening. Usually the pair of them are buzzing about all over the place swimming around together. Tonight they are sitting really low in the water and in the back far corner of the tank treading water sp to speak. They also seem to have lost of bit of their colour today.

I have been feeding them 6 days out of 7 and did a small water change (our tap water is quite acidic so had been advised not to do big weekly water changes). Have noticed that some of the pebbles in the bottom of the tank are discolouring along with some of the white gravel... dont know if this is causing problems. They were washed and thoroughly cleaned before they were added at the start of the fishless cycle.

Tested stats yesterday and results were

pH = 7.5-8.0
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 5ppm

I really dont want to loose these two aswell as they have been doing fine since we got them two weeks ago. Putting them in another tank is not an option as we only have this one. Urgently need ideas as to what to do for the best....

 

[KittyKat]

Do you know where those pebbles are from? Who manufactured the gravel? What is your maintenance?

What is the tap pH after standing it in a glass for 24 hours? What is buffering it up in the tank if it is so low out of the tap?

 

[DavidG]

Thanks for the reply.... and apologies i got my facts a bit muddled. Tap water is slightly alkaline and is typically 7.5-8.0...not acidic as I said in my first post.

I dont recall the make of the gravel and pebbles.... they were bought at our lfs and were washed for ever and a day when we first set up the tank. As for maintenance I first tried doing a weekly 50% water change but it has been suggested by one of our LFS that 50% is too much and so I have been reducing this to 10% with a light gravel vac.