Mysterious Tank Issue

[Noidstradamus]

Setup: 10 g, moderately planted, 1 honey gourami, one female guppy, 4 oto catfish. been running about 8 months.

hello all,

i think i am in the beginning stages of something bad happening in my tank and i just dont know what it is. i record water tests weekly before every water change and have noticed something odd. my last check was yesterday. in the last two weeks, my kH has dropped from 2 to like 0-1. and my ph has gone from 7.2 to 6.6. ammonia and nitrite are both 0. nitrate at last check was 5-10. a week before that was 30-40. i used to dose easy green twice per week and went down to once a week to lower the nitrates. i dose daily 1.25ml of excel as i am fighting bba. i have been dosing with excel for about 6 weeks. the last couple days i have noticed my fish hiding in the back/bottom part of the tank. they dont move around much but will come out if i get near the tank thinking i have food. im scared my tank is fixing to do somthin bad. just wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

 

[Sgooosh]

Setup: 10 g, moderately planted, 1 honey gourami, one female guppy, 4 oto catfish. been running about 8 months.

hello all,

i think i am in the beginning stages of something bad happening in my tank and i just dont know what it is. i record water tests weekly before every water change and have noticed something odd. my last check was yesterday. in the last two weeks, my kH has dropped from 2 to like 0-1. and my ph has gone from 7.2 to 6.6. ammonia and nitrite are both 0. nitrate at last check was 5-10. a week before that was 30-40. i used to dose easy green twice per week and went down to once a week to lower the nitrates. i dose daily 1.25ml of excel as i am fighting bba. i have been dosing with excel for about 6 weeks. the last couple days i have noticed my fish hiding in the back/bottom part of the tank. they dont move around much but will come out if i get near the tank thinking i have food. im scared my tank is fixing to do somthin bad. just wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

photo, these fish do not like low ph, so try to raise it, maybe they are unhappy because ph fluctuated, if kh is high around 80-100+ the ph is more stable and no stress

 

[Your Honor]

Setup: 10 g, moderately planted, 1 honey gourami, one female guppy, 4 oto catfish. been running about 8 months.

hello all,

i think i am in the beginning stages of something bad happening in my tank and i just dont know what it is. i record water tests weekly before every water change and have noticed something odd. my last check was yesterday. in the last two weeks, my kH has dropped from 2 to like 0-1. and my ph has gone from 7.2 to 6.6. ammonia and nitrite are both 0. nitrate at last check was 5-10. a week before that was 30-40. i used to dose easy green twice per week and went down to once a week to lower the nitrates. i dose daily 1.25ml of excel as i am fighting bba. i have been dosing with excel for about 6 weeks. the last couple days i have noticed my fish hiding in the back/bottom part of the tank. they dont move around much but will come out if i get near the tank thinking i have food. im scared my tank is fixing to do somthin bad. just wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

I'm not sure about the problems in your fish tank I am afraid, but, you can't keep only 1 guppy, they need to be at least in 4s

 

[Utar]

First, what are the water parameters of your water source?
You will have to do more water changes than weekly, maybe every other day for a while. Do a massive water change to start with, around 70%. Then the next day do about 50%, and keep doing 50% every other day until the water parameters in your aquarium settle out.
Clean your substrate and your filter's sponges, do this in tank water not tap water.

Have you had a fish die that you don't know about, if so then that created ammonia, which your beneficial bacteria converted to nitrates. Nitrates in high concentration will lower your ph.

 

[Sgooosh]

I'm not sure about the problems in your fish tank I am afraid, but, you can't keep only 1 guppy, they need to be at least in 4s

yes, they will be stressed if not in 3 or 3+ groups, but the tank has been running for 8 months, so it could be something else rather than stress, nonetheless op should get some more (1+ female and 1 male)

 

[OliveFish05]

It sounds a bit like Old Tank Syndrome, in which case doing a large water change could be harmful to all your fish! I would read the article “What Is Old Tank Syndrome” by The SprucePets (sorry i don’t know how to post a link)

 

[Slaphppy7]

STOP the Excel, it's practically poisonous to fish, and do a large WC.

What test kit do you use? What water conditioner?

 

[Essjay]

1 honey gourami, one female guppy, 4 oto catfish

these fish do not like low ph

Only the guppy does not like low pH. Honey gouramis and otos are soft water fish which cope well with low pH.



This is not part of the problem just something that needed to be corrected.

 

[Colin_T]

There is something in the water that is stressing the fish and causing them to hide. It could be one of the chemicals you are adding, or something getting into the tank from another source.

Best thing to do if the fish ever act strange is a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Then see how the fish look after that.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

You might need a KH buffer to stop the pH dropping during the week. Fluctuating pH levels can cause problems to the fish.

 

[mark4785]

If your KH is at 0-1 your tank will have a very unstable pH and is likely to have a pH crash that will wipe out all of the fish.

You should look to add a small amount of calcium carbonate to your aquarium water to boost the KH. I would not recommend doing large water changes unless you know that your tap water has the same KH, PH, and GH readings otherwise you will be orchestrating your own pH swing which will in turn kill the fish also.