Hi everyone. Just registered and this is first post. Have a couple of ? and hoping you can help.
Background: Tank was set up several years ago, and all fish slowly died off, except for a 2 year old tetra. It has been my only fish for about the last year. Have bought a few in the 6 months before, but they too slowly died. Just added fish last night (still had my 1 tetra remaining) and don't want to lose them. I now have 5 tetras, 3 mollies, 3 platies, and 1 small pleco, not to mention several snails that have lived thru all this. This is all in a 20 gallon aquarium with an over the back filter, and there was a 50% water change done about an hour before the new fish were added.
This morning, I found 1 tetra dead and sticking to my filter intake. Thought I still had a thermometer, but couldn't find it so had to make a trip. Found my temp was running 82 so I turned temp back to about 76 and it slowly got there. I also bought a 5 in 1 test kit because I couldn't find my old water test kit. My findings were:
Nitrates about 40ppm (mg/L) Safe according to manufacturer
Nitrites 0
GH (Total Hardness) very hard about 280ppm
KH (Total Alkalinity) about 240 and also high
pH alkaline at about 8.0
Could not find my ammonia test so I wil have to get one of those too.
I am running on well water that has a limestone base. This probably explains the hard water condition. There is no chlorine in this system. I did put about 3 teaspoons of Stress Coat in their water earlier today.
After finding out about the hard water and high pH, I bought a pH Decreaser along with 3 gallons of distilled water. When I got home, I drained 3 gallons of water and added the distilled. I also added about 1 teaspoon of pH Decreaser to lower the pH level. After doing all this and waiting a couple of hours, I retested the water and found:
GH had dropped to about 200
KH had dropped to about 180
pH had dropped to about 7.6
About the time I did all this, the fish were acting a little funny so I thought I should go ahead and do it to help them out. In the last several hours, I have a pregnant platy that is pretty much hovering upright, but has her body at about a 45 degree angle facing upward. She does this even when she moves around. I have a molly that is spending most of it's time laying on the rocks, or hovering very close to them. When I feed them, they all eat as normal, but the platy stays at her 45 degree upward angle, no matter what. I have also noticed a white spot on the molly's left side just behind the end of it's gill. I can't really tell if it looks like a bite or just a spot. I have also noticed my old tetra is swimming up to a new tetra like it is ready to attack. When it does, the new tetra turns flat on it's side and swims that way until the old one leaves.
What should I do about the platy and the molly? Is it normal for a platy to do that when she is prego? How will I know when to put her in a breeder box? I am also wondering if the molly is pregnant, but can't really tell.
Thanks everyone in advance. I want to get to the bottom of my problems and be able to keep some fish for a long time like I did once before.
Edit: Almost forgot, I did add a couple of the C-100 pillows a couple of hours ago just in case of ammonia, but I don't really smell anything, and the water is clear as a bell. I remember having ammonia problems a few years ago, and found these things worked wonders at removing ammonia.
Background: Tank was set up several years ago, and all fish slowly died off, except for a 2 year old tetra. It has been my only fish for about the last year. Have bought a few in the 6 months before, but they too slowly died. Just added fish last night (still had my 1 tetra remaining) and don't want to lose them. I now have 5 tetras, 3 mollies, 3 platies, and 1 small pleco, not to mention several snails that have lived thru all this. This is all in a 20 gallon aquarium with an over the back filter, and there was a 50% water change done about an hour before the new fish were added.
This morning, I found 1 tetra dead and sticking to my filter intake. Thought I still had a thermometer, but couldn't find it so had to make a trip. Found my temp was running 82 so I turned temp back to about 76 and it slowly got there. I also bought a 5 in 1 test kit because I couldn't find my old water test kit. My findings were:
Nitrates about 40ppm (mg/L) Safe according to manufacturer
Nitrites 0
GH (Total Hardness) very hard about 280ppm
KH (Total Alkalinity) about 240 and also high
pH alkaline at about 8.0
Could not find my ammonia test so I wil have to get one of those too.
I am running on well water that has a limestone base. This probably explains the hard water condition. There is no chlorine in this system. I did put about 3 teaspoons of Stress Coat in their water earlier today.
After finding out about the hard water and high pH, I bought a pH Decreaser along with 3 gallons of distilled water. When I got home, I drained 3 gallons of water and added the distilled. I also added about 1 teaspoon of pH Decreaser to lower the pH level. After doing all this and waiting a couple of hours, I retested the water and found:
GH had dropped to about 200
KH had dropped to about 180
pH had dropped to about 7.6
About the time I did all this, the fish were acting a little funny so I thought I should go ahead and do it to help them out. In the last several hours, I have a pregnant platy that is pretty much hovering upright, but has her body at about a 45 degree angle facing upward. She does this even when she moves around. I have a molly that is spending most of it's time laying on the rocks, or hovering very close to them. When I feed them, they all eat as normal, but the platy stays at her 45 degree upward angle, no matter what. I have also noticed a white spot on the molly's left side just behind the end of it's gill. I can't really tell if it looks like a bite or just a spot. I have also noticed my old tetra is swimming up to a new tetra like it is ready to attack. When it does, the new tetra turns flat on it's side and swims that way until the old one leaves.
What should I do about the platy and the molly? Is it normal for a platy to do that when she is prego? How will I know when to put her in a breeder box? I am also wondering if the molly is pregnant, but can't really tell.
Thanks everyone in advance. I want to get to the bottom of my problems and be able to keep some fish for a long time like I did once before.
Edit: Almost forgot, I did add a couple of the C-100 pillows a couple of hours ago just in case of ammonia, but I don't really smell anything, and the water is clear as a bell. I remember having ammonia problems a few years ago, and found these things worked wonders at removing ammonia.
