Friend in need

[RYO]

A work m8 has a 47uk gal and a 30 gal tank which have been up and running for the best part of a year.Now all of a sudden hes losing fish by the bucket load.
All his water tests came back normal
i suspected maybe a faulty test kit so give him mine(tests still fine)
none of his fish are showing any signs of distress.
hope some 1 can help him (he has no access to net , hence my input) im out of ideas
cheers all

 

[SarahBravo]

Ryo, what fish is he keeping, and what has died? Can you give us the water parameters? Has he changed his routine or added anything recently?

Sarah

 

[RYO]

water perams are
ph 6.8
ammonia - 0
nitrites -0
nitrates- 5ppm
water is very soft
as for fish hes lost hoplos, tiger barbs,rams, danios,ottos, brisle nose, cae and lumpheads.
whats left is corys, tetras(black widow i think)tigerloach, yoyo loach.
his tanks are well filterd with 2 fluval 302 in each, all hes doin now is uping his water changes to see if this helpsbut i think hes just about given up hope now
nothings been added for about 4 weeks(lumpheads where last addition i think)

 

[canarsie11]

Check the source water. What is tank temp?


Has anything been done in the house near tank, and odors, carpet powders, smoke, painting of room?

 

[RYO]

water temp is 74f .
water source seems fine acording to tests.
he cant think of anything been done near his tanks
got me puzzled to.

 

[clutterydrawer]

has the water company started doing anything different to the water? you might wanna phone them and check.

 

[RYO]

lol phoned the water company (think i got a bored cleaner)was as helpfull as a kick in the slats. But nothing has changed with the water acording to them,

 

[skimpy]

Do you know what his GH & KH are.

You say his tank PH is 6.8 what is the PH of the water from his tap??

I come from a very soft water area, the GH = 3 dH & KH = 2 dH these are very low which means the buffering (KH) of my PH is very unstable.

My tank therefore runs at about PH 7.0 but my tap water is PH 7.8 so a large water change in my case means a jump in PH levels and this has caused me problems with my fish. Just wondered if this may be an area that might be worth looking into for your friend??

Also there are some poisons that if sprayed in the room can kill fish, even if not near tank. e.g. if you get a flea spray and treat furniture or carpets, this can be extremely dangerous. The only way to treat a room with this type of thing is to cover fish tanks with quilts (something thick) turn off any air pumps. Spray room, after half hour open windows and after further hour then you can uncover tanks and turn on the air pumps again.

Don't know if these suggestions help, but I'm as puzzeled as the rest.

Good luck, hope you solve the problem.

 

[RYO]

thanks , we looked at the hardnes prob,as the water here is so soft (any softer it would be a pillow) gh is2 kh changes on 1 drop, same with my tanks.
I dont think that was the problem, he tends to do 2 x 10% water changes a week ,so his ph tends to be a bit more stable than mine (due to bigger tanks)
Ah well thanks for the help anyway guys n girls