Help! Cant control water parameters - colour widows (glofish) dying

Vikasr · Jan 21, 2023

I was advised that RO water directly is not the best for fish as it does not have minerals. So instead of getting prepacked RO water, I got some water to test from the municipality. And this water can be easily used in the future for the tank. Results:

Ammonia 0.10 - 0.15 API
Nitrite 0 API
Nitrate 0-5 API
Free chlorine 0.5 strip
Bromine 0.5 strip
Ph 7-7.2

Looks like this water is best suited. Any suggestions please on how to proceed further?

TNG · Jan 21, 2023

Vikasr said:
I was advised that RO water directly is not the best for fish as it does not have minerals. So instead of getting prepacked RO water, I got some water to test from the municipality. And this water can be easily used in the future for the tank. Results:

Ammonia 0.10 - 0.15 API
Nitrite 0 API
Nitrate 0-5 API
Free chlorine 0.5 strip
Bromine 0.5 strip
Ph 7-7.2

Looks like this water is best suited. Any suggestions please on how to proceed further?

I suggest you take a sample of water and let it stand in a plastic bucket for 24 hours. Then test it again, and see if the results remain the same.

Naughts · Jan 21, 2023

Vikasr said:
I got some water to test from the municipality.

This looks much better but is it accessible for you?
You originally used RO because of hard water. What is the hardness of this new source of water?

Vikasr · Jan 22, 2023

H

Naughts said:
This looks much better but is it accessible for you?
You originally used RO because of hard water. What is the hardness of this new source of water?

Hardness of my tap water is around 200 mg/l and of this municipal water is around 50 mg/l.
Do you think 0.5 of free chlorine in this water can be a problem?

Naughts · Jan 22, 2023

Vikasr said:
H

Hardness of my tap water is around 200 mg/l and of this municipal water is around 50 mg/l.
Do you think 0.5 of free chlorine in this water can be a problem?

So the municipal water is good for very soft and soft water fish. Prime or other dechlorinator will need using at every water change to remove the chlorine.

If you switch to municipal water you will need to do small water changes from the new source, say 20%, to minimise the stress on the fish from the inevitable change in hardness.

Byron · Jan 22, 2023

Vikasr said:
H

Hardness of my tap water is around 200 mg/l and of this municipal water is around 50 mg/l.
Do you think 0.5 of free chlorine in this water can be a problem?

What is the source of your tap water, if not the municipality?

Vikasr · Jan 22, 2023

Naughts said:
So the municipal water is good for very soft and soft water fish. Prime or other dechlorinator will need using at every water change to remove the chlorine.

If you switch to municipal water you will need to do small water changes from the new source, say 20%, to minimise the stress on the fish from the inevitable change in hardness.

I did a 50% water change yesterday. Have used a dechlorinator.
The earlier water in the tank was from RO and so that was also around 50 mgl hardness. So not much difference in hardness.

Vikasr · Jan 22, 2023

Byron said:
What is the source of your tap water, if not the municipality?

Borewell

Vikasr · Jan 23, 2023

So I changed 50% water yesterday and also cleaned the algae off the substrate by siphoning. The source municipal water tested as:
Ammonia 0.10 - 0.15 API
Nitrite 0 API
Nitrate 0-5 API
Free chlorine 0.5 strip
Bromine 0.5 strip
Ph 7-7.2 strip
Hardness 50 strip

Today the tank tested as:
Ammonia 0.10 - 0.15 API (see below image)
Nitrite 0 API
Nitrate <20, maybe <10 API
Ph 6.8 strip
Hardness 50 mgl strip

For ammonia, I am not too sure of the colour matching. So I clicked a picture:

Vikasr · Jan 23, 2023

Another thing I noticed but forgot to mention here, since last few weeks the fish dont seem to be really hungry. They dont run after food.
Last 1 week I have drastically reduced the quantity, but still they dont seem to be very hungry.

Vikasr · Jan 23, 2023

Today another fish died and another is showing the symptoms.
I realized today that these two fish mentioned above have got sort of swollen eyes, more so from the top side. This had probably happened to all that died with these symptoms.
Also, the green one you can see in the pictures has been gasping since a few days and opening / closing its mouth very fast. There seems to be something stuck inside its mouth thats red in colour.

What could all this be? Water quality or something else?

Byron · Jan 23, 2023

I do not guess when it comes to disease or other problems like this, so hopefully some of our members more experienced with these can offer help.

Naughts · Jan 23, 2023

Vikasr said:
So I changed 50% water yesterday and also cleaned the algae off the substrate by siphoning. The source municipal water tested as:
Ammonia 0.10 - 0.15 API
Nitrite 0 API
Nitrate 0-5 API
Free chlorine 0.5 strip
Bromine 0.5 strip
Ph 7-7.2 strip
Hardness 50 strip

Today the tank tested as:
Ammonia 0.10 - 0.15 API (see below image)
Nitrite 0 API
Nitrate <20, maybe <10 API
Ph 6.8 strip
Hardness 50 mgl strip

For ammonia, I am not too sure of the colour matching. So I clicked a picture:

There shouldn't be any chorine as it is toxic for the fish. Did you use a dechlorinator on the new water?
The ammonia reading looks to be zero as there is no green tinge.

Vikasr · Jan 23, 2023

Naughts said:
There shouldn't be any chorine as it is toxic for the fish. Did you use a dechlorinator on the new water?
The ammonia reading looks to be zero as there is no green tinge.

Yes, used dechlorinator

ricospook · Jan 24, 2023

It seems like you’re also having trouble with algae. You’ve mentioned algae several times and having plastic plants. One major advantage plastic plants have over live plants is that you can turn the light off when not viewing the tank. Any amount of light coming from a window would be enough for the fish. In a dark room without a window, use a table lamp for their light. Some beginners start using their tank as a night light and leave it on 24/7 which creates a lot of stress for the fish because they need a dark period. If you’ve been keeping your light on for long periods of time this should help. One other thing, you should turn the room light on first for at least a few minutes before turning on the tank light. Instantly going from darkness to a bright light overhead equals more stress on the fish.

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Help! Cant control water parameters - colour widows (glofish) dying

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