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Just a thought. Anyone who sees the hospital forum would see my post on my seizuring fish. More are still dying, I thought it was chloramine poisoning, but...

A lot of my plants have died, too. My water is off the chart for acidicness. What can I do, and could this be causing the deaths?

My stock list now is: 3 silvertip tetras (used to be 8)
3 ottos (used to be 5)
1 apistogramma cacautoides
1 apistogramma borelli (her mate died)
2 angel fish (with babies)

Hi,
Ar you sure you arn't having help caring for your tanks?
A well meaning child or sibling?

Take a water sample in a clean container, set it to one
side and do a 20% water change. Then take the container
to your LFS and have them check it to be sure that your
test kit is still giving you valid numbers.
Also, check your tap water and see what the difference
is.

If your test results match those of the LFS then go home
and do another 20% change the next day. If the water has
turned that way over a period of time, making a change of
more than a whole point (6.0 to 7.0) within the space of
a few hours will stress the fish far more than existing
in the water and changing it over a couple of days.

Keep us posted with the results.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Smantzer,

What have you changed in the aquarium? You had inferred in an earlier post that your parameters were fine but you did not give values. Now, your pH is off the chart! Top or bottom?

Did you use a pail for your water changes? If you did, was that pail dedicated to your fish or could it have been contaminated with bleach or soap?

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Well, by fine parameters, I stupidly just checked ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. And yes, I say again, it was STUPID of me. We got my water tested at the LFS, that's when I saw it was overly acidic (my own tester just said it was acidic, not like, REALLY acidic...)

No one takes care of my tanks but me. And I use a python for my water changes because I'm a weakling, so no infected pails.

So I guess the overly acidic water wouldn't be causing my problems?

Last edited by smantzer at 19-Feb-2005 13:28

"Overly acidic" is what? The lower the pH, the greater the acidity, the higher the pH the lower the acidity. The pH scale is a logarhythmic scale. Water that has a pH of 6.0 is 10 times as acid as water with a pH of 7.0. Fish are able to tolerate a rise in pH (fall in acidity) better than a drop in pH (rise in acidity).

A rapid drop in acidity in your aquarium is an indication of any number of things that cannot be diagnosed without more information.
- Do you treat your water?
-- If yes, with what?
--- Why do you treat it?
- Do you use CO2?
-- If yes, is it DIY or a system?
--- If it is a system, does it have a pH controller?
--- Why do you use CO2?
- What are your water parameters? (numbers please)
-- What is the pH, GH, KH in the aquarium?
-- What is the pH, GH, KH of your tapwater once it has aged for 24 hours?
- How long has your aquarium been established?
- What is your substrate, hardscape, filter system?
- What is your maintenance schedule? Frequency and % of water changes, filter cleaning frequency and procedure.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Knowing what your tap water pH is after the water has been let to rest overnight (preferably while being aerated) will give you a clue to whether there is something in your tank that makes your water acidic and kill your fish, or whether your tap water pH is very low. It is not very likely because as far as I understand, water companies try to have a pH of over 7 because acidic water ruins their pipes.

This is one case that I would do larger water changes (50%, or more if your courageous) daily for a few days and see if it improves things. If you don't want to do 50% all at once, then do several smaller ones daily.

Also, you should note that AmQuel and NovAqua don't neutralise heavy metals. Maybe for the time being, until things are back to normal, you should switch to a conditioner that does. You can overdose with conditioners, and if there is something in the water already (maybe from your dad's hands) it will neutralise it.

I see that you've had problems with another tank of yours as well lately. Maybe this is no coincidence and perhaps you should ring your water supplier and ask them if anything has changed lately, or maybe something went wrong. It sounds to me like there's something in your water which is the source of all your problems, whether it is from the source or from your dad's hands.

Keep us posted!

Edit: Oops, just checked it and NovAqua does remove toxic metals. However, I still think that if it affects your fish and plants alike, it's something in the water.

Last edited by untitled at 19-Feb-2005 14:41

Bob:
I treat my water. I treat it with amquel and novaqua to take out chlorine and now chloramines.
I do not use co2 in this tank.
Water parameters:
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
Under 20 nitrate
25 GH
0 KH (oh my&#8230;never seen that before)
PH is lower than 6.2 (it&#8217;s too light to show on the chart)
I don&#8217;t know what the tap water is, because I don&#8217;t age it. I&#8217;ll try doing that tonight and then testing it.
My aquarium has been up since late December.
My substrate is regular aquarium grade gravel mixed with laterite. There are two pieces of soaked drift wood that have been in there since December. Filter system is Top Fin 50.
I change 20-30% of the water twice a week. I rinse/squeeze out filters in old tank water once a month until their water runs clear.

Untitled: Yeah, it seems like all my tanks are suddenly turning on me when I used to brag to my siblings about having perfect healthy tanks while they didn&#8217;t. I don&#8217;t believe I overdose conditioners-- how much would be an overdose? I know I sometimes drip more than I mean to into the aquarium, and it&#8217;s hard to measure exactly 55 gallons.

I meant that you cannot overdose with conditioners, within reason, of course. AmQuel, however, does reduce oxygen levels in water, so it's better not to go crazy with it. I was saying that maybe, if it's toxic metals, you should add some more conditioner to the tank, as it won't be detrimental for the fish. However, I think that water changes (unless the tap water is contaminated, of course) is a better option.

Smantzer,

There are two readings that seem very out of line. The first is a reading of 25 GH and the second is a 0 KH reading. If the readings are in degrees of German hardness, then you have 448 ppm of general hardness and absolutely no carbonate hardness!
Have you been reconstituting RO water?

The total lack of KH invites a catastrophic pH crash. If you have been using RO, start using tap water. If the readings are correct, I strongly recommend adding plain baking soda until you have a reading of 5KH.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Yes, I'm pretty sure the readings are correct. We use a water softener, which may explain my lack of GH and KH. I'll try the baking soda-- how much do I add per gallon?

Hi,
Try a tablespoon full, wait 24 hours for it to mix, and
then test, and add more if necessary.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Frank...

You don't mean 1 tablespoon per gallon of tank water do you?

Smantzer asked "per gallon".

Please forgive me for jumping in here but I just want to make sure that Smantzer understands how much baking soda to use total.

*Tammy goes back to the peanut gallery*

Maybe the gallonage/tank size doesnt' matter..? I'll wait til I know for sure, anyway. Don't want to kill MORE fish.

Hi,
Nope, I did not catch the "per gallon".. I meant to use
a tablespoon for the entire tank, one at a time, allowing
the water to mix inbetween additions. And, of course,
if the one tablespoon moves the KH up to a number,
say 3 and you want a four, then use something smaller,
say a teaspoon, or 1/2 teaspoon.

Then once the desired KH is reached wait a week, and do
a normal water change. Allow the new water to mix, and
test the new, diluted KH. Then add a smaller amount to
bring the KH back to where you want it. If you change the
same amount of water, each time, and test, add, and test
again, after a couple of cycles, you can skip all the
testing, and IF you change (for instance, 10% each time)
THEN you automatically add (after changing) X amount of
baking soda, and skip all the measuring.

Sorry for the omission, and Thanks for catching that
Tammy!

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 21-Feb-2005 14:42

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thank you very much! I'm doing as you told me to right now I'm sure this will end my fish problems.

EDIT: Oh, one more thing. What is a good number for me to have my KH at?

Last edited by smantzer at 21-Feb-2005 17:48