I Don't Understand?!

[danilykins]

yesterday evening i tested my water.

Ph 7.8
Am 0
NI 0
NA 5 (which I don't understand why?)
temp 78

for the first time in a month the water is actually clear. my sick platy hasn't had any changes he still kinda just lays there, looks better, lost some scales and has a red spot under were the scales were (that was 3 days ago). But last night I noticed that my OTHER platy seemed a little fat. I thought he was just eating more since the other one had been sick. BUT this morning he was dead!!! The one that has been swimming around normal, acting totally normal through this whole ordeal, died. huh what happened?

PS I also discovered about 3 days ago that we had some planaria in the tank (or at least that is what I think it is). Its little white specks on the tank glass. they look like little white lice on the glass.

 

[james_fish]

Your Nitrate will always be there. Luckily it does not affect fish much(only in large quantities for long times)
It is the end product. Am->Ni->Na. You need not worry about this. Sometimes mine goes as high as 20-30.

If these were any fishkeepers stats, they would be happy. Your pH is a tad high, but it may be relevent for your tank.

James.

 

[danilykins]

I had platys and I thought they liked it a bit high.

Well my 7 year old is really upset because now our tank is pretty much empty. He wants to go get some new fish today. So I will probably go to the LFS and get something. He wants to get some x ray fish, but Im not crazy about those. I really want to try something else, like dannos or something else. Im frustrated with the platys they die too easily *sigh* and we will have to get another snail. any suggestions?

 

[james_fish]

I had platys and I thought they liked it a bit high.

Well my 7 year old is really upset because now our tank is pretty much empty. He wants to go get some new fish today. So I will probably go to the LFS and get something. He wants to get some x ray fish, but Im not crazy about those. I really want to try something else, like dannos or something else. Im frustrated with the platys they die too easily *sigh* and we will have to get another snail. any suggestions?

If your pH was at say 7.0 it would open the potential fish for your tank. What size is the tank, so I can come up with a few suitable fish?

James.

 

[KittyKat]

Planaria are generally an indicator of overfeeding.. they can appear when too much food is left uneaten. Overfeeding is also a common cause of fish deaths.

 

[KittyKat]

A group of 6-8 harlequin rasboras would work well in anything over 75 liters, or espei rasboras in anything smaller.. they are both very hardy fish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Your platys sound like they died of internal & external bacterial infections, i would treat the tank with meds first before buying anymore fish even if none of the other fish look sick yet (especially since fish actually died in the tank, the background disease levels could potentially be quite high). Planeria are harmless but can be a sign of overfeeding.

 

[danilykins]

Thanks everyone!!! I have a 10gal tank. The past couple of weeks had been crazy (holidays *sigh*) so I was only doing surface water changes, so it wasn't really a surprise to find the planaria in the tank due to excess food. Ive done a good cleaning of the rocks recently and removed almost half of the rocks because I had way too many rocks for the tank (Like 1 inch) so hopefully it will help out.

 

[KittyKat]

[..] removed almost half of the rocks because I had way too many rocks for the tank (Like 1 inch) so hopefully it will help out.

That's nothing! I have 2 inches at the front and 4-6 at the back very often as I keep plants. Yes, having less should help with the maintenance.