changing my tank water

[StngGT350]

hello

i had a big problem with my fresh water tank the other day. i took a sample of my water into pet smart to get tested because i have not bought a test kit yet. but i have one now. but they clerk there said my Nitrate is ok, nitrite is ok, hardness ok, alkalinity is little bit high, and Ph is tad big high. she said i should change out about 25% of my water then things should be ok. i have a 30 gallon tank. so i removed about 8 gallons. before i added the new water, i treated the water with a water conditioner, and a baceria starter both by Proquatics just like she said. i added exactily what the directions said. i also made sure the water was just under 80 degrees which is the same temp on my tank, which she said my tank should be. so i added the water to the tank slowily (poured into it). the next morning, all my fish were dead. i had 7 tiger barbs and only one survived. i also have alot of plants in my tank. i have about 10 of them and they are living not plastic if that means any thing. what happened, can any one point my in the right direction? did i do anything wrong?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

That makes no sense whatsoever just to do a water change to alter the pH. It makes even less sense to add a bacterial starter to an established tank...

How long has your tank been running?
How long has it been running with fish in it?
How did you cycle the tank?
What did the LFS say about your ammonia reading?

High alkalinity is generally a good thing and means your pH won't fluctuate much. Tiger Barbs are nice all around hardy fish and aren't particular on pH (as far as I know). Unless you had a high ammonia reading, there was absolutely no reason to do anything beyond a normal 10% water change -- especially since your nitrates were OK.

I would (1) go pitch a fit at the store and (2) purchase your own water testing materials. If you don't want to fiddle with chemistry, there are several brands of test strips available in the US which are just dip-wait-read. You'll want to purchase a 5-in-1 set of strips and a set for Ammonia testing.

Perform your own tests at home and tell us the results.

 

[StngGT350]

pica_nuttalli,

well i found a actual fish pet store today. i gave the owner a sample of my water and he said it was perfect. but i think i found out what happened after talking to him. to add new water, i washed out a 5 gallon bucket i had in my attic. and i thought i washed it out pretty well. but he said sometimes chemicals that were once in it sometimes stick in the pores of the plastic. if there was any soap, chemicals, or oils, that would be very harmful to the fish. so i think i will go and buy a new bucket that i only use on my fish and not an old bucket when i change out my water. i felt sort of bad, i thought it would be ok if i washed it out really good. well next time i know.

but to answer your questions.

i had my tank running for about a month and a half.

it has been running with fish in it for 4 weeks, 2 weeks with no fish in it after start up
cycling my tank. well i had a hose and i drained 25% of the water out, put the new water in my bucket, added the water treatment to it, and waited for a while (few hours to warm up) then slowily pored it in.

the guy at the pet store said i had very very low ammonia levels.

pica_nuttalli, the steps i described for cycling, is that ok to do it that way? how would you do it if it was not?

thanks again pica_nuttalli

 

[Jezah]

You shouldnt have LOW ammonia readings...you should have NO ammonia readings. Ammonia, even in the least amount is deadly to your fish. The thought that the bucket had chemicals stuck in it still makes sense. I have 2 brand new buckets I use for tank things. I labeled one with a sharpie DIRTY and one CLEAN. I use the dirty one for gravel vaccuming the tank and the clean one for holding fish while doing tank maintance, isolation tank ECT. Just remember to never put clean water in the DIRTY bucket and never put anything but clean tank water in the CLEAN bucket. Dont feel bad though, I think everyone makes mistakes sometimes!