Nightmare Tank :(

[kylealastairlove]

recently i've been losing fish after fish, and i cant think why as i have checked my water parameters several times and it always comes out as...
(these tests were taken using a king british dip strip kit)

ammonia 0
nitrate 10
nitrite 0
GH 250
KH 180
180
Ph 7.2 (my Ph has dropped naturally over time from 7.6)
tank temperature has been up and down a bit recently due to hot weather but no serious temperature change (tank kept at 75 F)

so i know the water chemistry in my tank is stable.

i have a dirt substrate with sand capping it, a few pieces of bogwood and a few smooth round rocks i took from a water feature in the garden, and im beggining to think they are the problem some how, as i cant think of anything else

i have very little plants, some old dying off java fern that gives me plantlets and a big bunch of plantlets which dont seem to be growing and crypt balansae and pondederifolia which dont seem to grow either. i must have spent over £100 on plants and in the end i just have to throw them out because they just wont grow for me or they just die off so im left with very little.

i kept a big shoal of espei/hengel rasbora who's numbers have slowly whittled down to my last one i dont know why or how they have been dying but its making me just want to take down my tank and start all over again but i really dont want to do that. can anybody help me please, would be greatly appreciated. all my life i've wanted to get into the hobby, its been nearly a year, and its just getting worse for me, i dreamed of a lovely lush plated set up with some pretty s.e asian fish but its really not working for me at the moment anyways. thankyou for reading

 

[kylealastairlove]

can anybody advise me ?

 

[Axyadbad]

Maybe get the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, this is liquid based, which is a lot more accurate. The dip kits aren't always accurate apparently..maybe there are traces of ammonia or nitrite which aren't being picked up and are causing your fish to die. I'm new to this hobby but it always been heavily advised to get a liquid based test kit

 

[phoenixgsd]

Maybe get the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, this is liquid based, which is a lot more accurate. The dip kits aren't always accurate apparently..maybe there are traces of ammonia or nitrite which aren't being picked up and are causing your fish to die. I'm new to this hobby but it always been heavily advised to get a liquid based test kit

+1 totally agree, the dip tests are very innacurate, you might well have ammonia killing your plants and fish that a dip test wont show

 

[kylealastairlove]

thankyou for the replys, i got the dip test a while back because it was a lot cheaper to buy. but i have heard on here before that they are innacurate. i shall have to invest in an API test kit as soon as i can and then i will post results here and let you know if they're any different. thanks again

 

[Moby-Krib]

Given the question of accuracy you could up your water changes to 50% twice weekly to compensate the unknown. It cannot hurt at all. And may stave off a problem until you can properly diagnose it.
And yes, dip tests are as good as not testing at all

 

[kylealastairlove]

thanks moby-krib good idea