Help quick

[Ashkay]

So I have a tank fully cycled. I check the water weekly I have 8 baby platy and the mom platy. Yesterday the mom died I noticed she was acting weird the day before. I don’t know if I should do another partial water change if so how much? My tank is 13 gallon the babies are not even a inch long. I did a water check just now and noticed the nitrate is really high. How can I lower it without harming the fish. I posted a pic of the water levels I just tested. I’m only really worried because I noticed two babies swimming weird . And I am fairly new to keeping fish. Thanks any advise will be helpful.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Remove any uneaten food and any dead/dying plants. Once these things decompose, they can cause high nitrates.

I also suggest performing a gravel change.

 

[Ashkay]

Ok well I just recently added a live plant it don’t really look like it’s dying but I will remove it anyway. Do you suggest a partial water change ?

 

[Ashkay]

Ok well I just recently added a live plant it don’t really look like it’s dying but I will remove it anyway. Do you suggest a partial water change ?

As I removed the live plant bottom of the stem and roots I couldn’t see were brown so I guess it was dying after all

 

[Essjay]

Ideally nitrate should never get higher than 20 ppm, though it is hard to tell from the photo how high it is.

How often do you do water changes and how much to you change each time?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yes, a partial 40%+ water change should help. Make sure the live plant is still in some de chlorinated water, or it will most likely die.

 

[Ashkay]

I do about 25% 3-4 weeks. And as I hold it to the light it looks exactly at 20 ppm. I will try and remove uneaten food and waste. I also read that baby platys need to eat 8 small feeding a day? I’m not sure on how often I should feed them.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Not sure about the feedings... you may want to make a separate thread for that.

But the 20ppm looks good. Still do the water change.

 

[Essjay]

You need to increase your water changes to 50% every week. Everything excreted by the fish builds up between water changes, not just nitrate. Filter media should be cleaned at least once a month as well.

What it your tap water nitrate?

 

[Stefan3289]

I definitely agree with essjay. Increasing water changes to 50% (I know for my large tank I have the submersible heater right about at the 40-50% line so I know to just take out that much water every time). Back when I was much younger and inexperienced, I would do water changes every 3 weeks and it was terrible on my fish

 

[HoldenOn]

Your water is super soft. Platys like hard water.

 

[Essjay]

The hardness hasn't been given yet. If you are referring to the pH, I wasn't sure whether it was the high range test or not.

@Ashkay Can you tell us please which of the pH testers you used, pH or high range pH.
And can you look on your water provider's website to see if they give your tap water hardness, please.

 

[HoldenOn]

The hardness hasn't been given yet. If you are referring to the pH, I wasn't sure whether it was the high range test or not.

@Ashkay Can you tell us please which of the pH testers you used, pH or high range pH.
And can you look on your water provider's website to see if they give your tap water hardness, please.

I was talking about pH, looks like its a low range, but not 100%

 

[Essjay]

That's why we need confirmation

If it is the 'ordinary' pH, it's around 6.0 and I agree that is far too low for livebearers. If it's high range, it's OK.

 

[Ashkay]

The hardness hasn't been given yet. If you are referring to the pH, I wasn't sure whether it was the high range test or not.

@Ashkay Can you tell us please which of the pH testers you used, pH or high range pH.
And can you look on your water provider's website to see if they give your tap water hardness, please.

I just did the ph test. The test kit only gives 4 test tubes. I’ll test the high range test shortly.