Dying Fish

[FishBlast]

Snake007 what does it mean for my tank if the barbs are shoaling fish -although they are gone now

They need to be in groups of 6 minimum.

Why exactly do they have to be kept in groups of 6? Also, how can they be kept from breeding (supposing that it's hard to tell their gender if you buy Corys for example as young fish)?

 

[Louise S]

My tank is fully cycled (I did re-read the tank cycling articles posted by forum members and believe tank is properly cycled - ammonia and nitrite have been almost 0)
I change 25% water weekly using a siphon(I over clean if anything). I add de-chloronated, +/- 28.5 degree centigrade, water with the pH adjusted to 7 before being adding to tank.
I also add a Cycle tonic which is a PSB Bacteria (made by Totto) which supposedly helps remove ammonia and nitrite (I have never had high readings since initial cycling) as well as Fourish (a plant supplement).
My 3 yr old son put the metal trucks in there a year ago and they seem fine but I have removed them just in case - never thought of this...
I have a Elite Pro-Jet 75 filter which I simply rinse in tank water which is going to be discarded.

Thanks for all the input I was feeling totally despondent!

So far no new fatalities

 

[This Old Spouse]

How are you testing your water? Anything above 0 is dangerous for ammonia and nitrite. If you're testing with strips they're horribly inaccurate and you should get a master liquid test kit by API, Nutrafin or Salifert to get accurate readings.

I change 50% of my water weekly. Most folks here do who have been in the hobby quite a while.

What kind of dechlorinator do you use? Best are Seachem Prime and API StressCoat+ which also remove/neutralize trace chemicals.

After this long you shouldn't be adding anything else except the Flourish for your live plants.

How are you adjusting the pH of the water? One thing I've learned here is that it's very, very tricky to keep your pH artificially adjusted. Fish will do fine in water pH that's a bit higher or lower than their native waters, but swings in pH are deadly. What is your tap water pH? How are you testing?

 

[Louise S]

I am using Sera testers for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate (dropper bottles) http/www.sera.de/us/pages/products/in_category/einzelne-wassertest-35/product/sera-nitrit-test-1.html (what does this look like?) - you mix drops with a sample of water and compare colors on a chart - mine are always on the lowest color indicator. I have an electronc pH tester by Milwaukee and adjust with Daro pH adjusters (powders)

I use Nutrafin AquaPlus de-chlorinator.

THe LFS i go to is the best known in the whole of South Africa so I don't think they would sell rubbish.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Sounds like you've got good supplies to work with. That's great!

So, we're whittling away the possibilities by asking all these questions.

What is the pH coming from your tap?

 

[snake007]

Snake007 what does it mean for my tank if the barbs are shoaling fish -although they are gone now

They need to be in groups of 6 minimum.

Why exactly do they have to be kept in groups of 6? Also, how can they be kept from breeding (supposing that it's hard to tell their gender if you buy Corys for example as young fish)?

Because in the wild they school in 1000's so it would be cruel to keep a shoaling fish in groups of 2 or 3 as they will be unhappy.
If they breed the eggs will most likely get eaten.
Also tiger barbs get very aggressive when in small groups.

 

[FishBlast]

Snake007 what does it mean for my tank if the barbs are shoaling fish -although they are gone now

They need to be in groups of 6 minimum.

Why exactly do they have to be kept in groups of 6? Also, how can they be kept from breeding (supposing that it's hard to tell their gender if you buy Corys for example as young fish)?

Because in the wild they school in 1000's so it would be cruel to keep a shoaling fish in groups of 2 or 3 as they will be unhappy.
If they breed the eggs will most likely get eaten.
Also tiger barbs get very aggressive when in small groups.

So it would be safe to keep a shoal of bronze corys if given enough space, without waking up with a huge overstock?
What is the recommended tank size for those? Sometime in the future I might get them, but for now I have my very old catfish to look after, I'll get him a bigger tank whenever I can or make one for him if I can make the filter's media mature.

And what if the eggs don't get eaten and then I'd end up with a bunch of corys that will swim around?

 

[This Old Spouse]

A cory isn't a guppy, so you won't end up with dozens of fry unexpectedly. To get to the stage where they're even viable and hatch is a trick in itself, and then to raise them to the point where you're nearly sure they'll live to adulthood is a small miracle, if you're just leaving them in the tank during all that without taking any extra measures.

 

[snake007]

I would not put corys with tiger barbs, they would get nipped and tore apart.

 

[FishBlast]

A cory isn't a guppy, so you won't end up with dozens of fry unexpectedly. To get to the stage where they're even viable and hatch is a trick in itself, and then to raise them to the point where you're nearly sure they'll live to adulthood is a small miracle, if you're just leaving them in the tank during all that without taking any extra measures.

Not that my guppies ever bred out of control though, when I was a kid, I was unable to keep most baby guppies alive, but one batch of 10 (saved by Rex the Hoplo) made it to adulthood and bred further, making some awesome males with tails that looked like flames (red+orange+yellow) or plants (green+black) but for some odd reason, I woke up with what seemed to be... two red+gray Endlers I had no such thing in my tank and all the guppies were born at home.

Hmm, that sounds good, maybe after several years I'll get 6 of those cuties. But what tank size do they need? I've heard they're not as hardy as Hoplos. Or should I just stick to Hoplos if I can manage to get a 1 meter long / 50 cm wide aquarium?

 

[OldMan47]

As others have already said, there is no need to add any pH control to your water. The tap water pH for most fish would be just fine. The problem with adjusting pH is that it will start to vary with time and as the chemicals you use get used up the pH will drift around. If you have a natural tap water pH anywhere from about 6.5 to 8.0, most fish will be just fine. One piece of bad information that you had is that pH indicates hardness. It does not. PH only indicates whether the water is acidic, basic or neutral (an excess of H+ or of OH- ions). Hardness is a measure of the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in the water and, since those chemicals are often present in water that has passed through a lot of rock, pH is a secondary way of judging hardness. Unfortunately, hard water can have almost any pH but people react to pH as if it indicated hardness. Tank water being held at 7.0 by adding chemical buffers may be very hard or very soft before you add the buffer but is undoubtedly higher in mineral content after the buffer is added. In general, fish reputed to prefer soft water really prefer water low in minerals and fish that like hard water really doing better with high mineral content water.
It sounds like you may have cured your original problem of fish being affected by metals in the water but there is no reason to change the type of fish that you keep unless you actually know what kind of water you are working with.

 

[Louise S]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!!

@ This old Spouse - the pH of our tap water is 9.4 - hence the reason with me messing with something others don't need to
Everywhere I have been recommends a 25% weekly water change but you mentioned that "most folk" do a 50% change - should I change even though my readings are coming back acceptable?

The Scissors and Plecos are still looking good so am still baffled by the string of loses but at least it seems to have stopped! poor dead fish

 

[This Old Spouse]

Since the title of this topic is "Dying Fish" there must be something wrong, yes? If there's something going on that's not being read by the tests you're performing, doing 25% water changes won't help much. Just sayin'. Glad the deaths seem to have stopped.

 

[sona98765]

Hello all, sorry to hear Louise S about your fish fatalities.
I think there is a parasite affecting your fish.

 

[betta fish]

As others have already said, there is no need to add any pH control to your water. The tap water pH for most fish would be just fine. The problem with adjusting pH is that it will start to vary with time and as the chemicals you use get used up the pH will drift around. If you have a natural tap water pH anywhere from about 6.5 to 8.0, most fish will be just fine. One piece of bad information that you had is that pH indicates hardness. It does not. PH only indicates whether the water is acidic, basic or neutral (an excess of H+ or of OH- ions). Hardness is a measure of the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in the water and, since those chemicals are often present in water that has passed through a lot of rock, pH is a secondary way of judging hardness. Unfortunately, hard water can have almost any pH but people react to pH as if it indicated hardness. Tank water being held at 7.0 by adding chemical buffers may be very hard or very soft before you add the buffer but is undoubtedly higher in mineral content after the buffer is added. In general, fish reputed to prefer soft water really prefer water low in minerals and fish that like hard water really doing better with high mineral content water.
It sounds like you may have cured your original problem of fish being affected by metals in the water but there is no reason to change the type of fish that you keep unless you actually know what kind of water you are working with.

Apologies! that was my fault I always thought that Ph was a good indicator of hardness but this does not appear to be the case I have learnt something new today I have amended my post to remove this piece of poor advice, Louise I am glad to hear there are no more deaths I would do as others have said and refrain from using chemicals to bring the Ph down, perhaps either run the water for 24 hours using an airstone and then test your Ph to see if it is lower? 9.4 is rather high, did you have issues keeping fish previous to adding the buffers or have you always added them?