You guys have helped me out before, and I appreciate it. I hope you can help me again.
I have an old established 30 gallon tank set up. I clean it out once every 2 weeks to 1 month, which may be my problem, though I've never had this high a mortality rate before. My tank is well-planted with Amazon swords. I HAD one dwarf gourami, one pearl gourami, four zebra danios, six neons, and 2 otocinclus. I replaced the two gouramis, after the others died, which they did, a week apart. I had my water analyzed at a fish store, and the man said the pH was too high--7.6, which baffled me, as we have neutral water. So I did a 20% water change, and checked again, and used some sodium biphosphate to bring it down to neutral, although it went a little below, to 6.8.
Oh, the temp is around 78 deg. F.
I bought a couple more neons, two new otos, as I no longer saw the old ones, and assumed they had died (they didn't--I suddenly had four!), and a new pearl gourami. Not on the same day, a week apart. A couple of days later, my fish suddely started dying en masse. I lost the dwarf gourami, and two of my new neons, one danio, and two otos--in 8 days time. I was getting frantic. I checked for ammonia, which was zero.
Then I bought a kit called a "Quick Dip 5". It has strips in it, on which are 5 little squares, that test for pH, alkalinity, total hardness, nitrite, and nitrate.
My results from my first test were
pH-6.8
KH--around 60
hardness--300 (Philadelphia USA has very hard water)
Nitrite--nearly zero
Nitrate--160
The latter said that was the danger zone. I did a 25% water change, which brought it down to around 60. I didn't lose any more fish. The man at the fist store told me to get a certain type of filter called a Chemipure, that is supposed to have bacteria in it, that "eat" nitrates and nitrites, as well as raise the pH slightly (it did--it is now neurtal).
Everthing went well for a few days, then I had two more neons die, overnight. And this was AFTER I put in the Chemipure filters. I tested the water, and everything was the same, except the Nitrates had gone up again--to around 140 or so. I lost my last neon later that day. I did another 25% water change, and the Nitrates is back down to around 60.
So now I have exactly 3 long-finned zebra danios and a young pearl gourami. I don't know if I have any otocinclus left; they are hard to find, sometimes. The fish that are left are lively, and doing well. I try not to overfeed, but I wonder if I did that inadvertantly and that is what raised up the nitrates too much.
But from what I have read, nitrates aren't nearly as bad for fish as nitrites. I have almost zero of the latter, but plenty of the nitrates--which aren't supposed to be so bad.
So, can anyone give me any advice on how to keep my fish alive? This mass die off has only happened in the past few weeks. Things were fine before then. I think maybe I didn't clean the tank out often enough, just once a month, but I've done that elsewhere, with no ill effects, though maybe, with the super hard water here, that won't do.
Any advice short of breaking down my tank, and starting from scratch? Thanks.
I have an old established 30 gallon tank set up. I clean it out once every 2 weeks to 1 month, which may be my problem, though I've never had this high a mortality rate before. My tank is well-planted with Amazon swords. I HAD one dwarf gourami, one pearl gourami, four zebra danios, six neons, and 2 otocinclus. I replaced the two gouramis, after the others died, which they did, a week apart. I had my water analyzed at a fish store, and the man said the pH was too high--7.6, which baffled me, as we have neutral water. So I did a 20% water change, and checked again, and used some sodium biphosphate to bring it down to neutral, although it went a little below, to 6.8.
Oh, the temp is around 78 deg. F.
I bought a couple more neons, two new otos, as I no longer saw the old ones, and assumed they had died (they didn't--I suddenly had four!), and a new pearl gourami. Not on the same day, a week apart. A couple of days later, my fish suddely started dying en masse. I lost the dwarf gourami, and two of my new neons, one danio, and two otos--in 8 days time. I was getting frantic. I checked for ammonia, which was zero.
Then I bought a kit called a "Quick Dip 5". It has strips in it, on which are 5 little squares, that test for pH, alkalinity, total hardness, nitrite, and nitrate.
My results from my first test were
pH-6.8
KH--around 60
hardness--300 (Philadelphia USA has very hard water)
Nitrite--nearly zero
Nitrate--160
The latter said that was the danger zone. I did a 25% water change, which brought it down to around 60. I didn't lose any more fish. The man at the fist store told me to get a certain type of filter called a Chemipure, that is supposed to have bacteria in it, that "eat" nitrates and nitrites, as well as raise the pH slightly (it did--it is now neurtal).
Everthing went well for a few days, then I had two more neons die, overnight. And this was AFTER I put in the Chemipure filters. I tested the water, and everything was the same, except the Nitrates had gone up again--to around 140 or so. I lost my last neon later that day. I did another 25% water change, and the Nitrates is back down to around 60.
So now I have exactly 3 long-finned zebra danios and a young pearl gourami. I don't know if I have any otocinclus left; they are hard to find, sometimes. The fish that are left are lively, and doing well. I try not to overfeed, but I wonder if I did that inadvertantly and that is what raised up the nitrates too much.
But from what I have read, nitrates aren't nearly as bad for fish as nitrites. I have almost zero of the latter, but plenty of the nitrates--which aren't supposed to be so bad.
So, can anyone give me any advice on how to keep my fish alive? This mass die off has only happened in the past few weeks. Things were fine before then. I think maybe I didn't clean the tank out often enough, just once a month, but I've done that elsewhere, with no ill effects, though maybe, with the super hard water here, that won't do.
Any advice short of breaking down my tank, and starting from scratch? Thanks.