Help, worn out over this tank

[SABWARNER16]

I’m feeling a little bit worn out with my community tank. I have a 29 gallon tank that has been running for nearly two months now. It is cycled. Ammonia and nitrite 0. And nitrate is 5. Ph is around an 8 because tap water is pretty alkaline and the water is soft. Not very soft; just soft. I use prime for conditioner and do water changes about every week to remove nitrates.

So I have a Dalmatian molly (who gave birth recently and I have the only four fry I could find in their own tank to grow), 6 zebra danio, two platies, 4 snails and 15 shrimp. Over the last two weeks I lost two mollies and now my Dalmatian molly has the shimmies and I really don’t know why. I wonder if one of them had a sickness when I introduced them and it’s just now hitting? I don’t know what’s happening and I feel bad. I thought I was doing a good job considering I got it cycled after not knowing much about fish, and then I clean it every week, I feed them well but I don’t over feed.

 

[CassCats]

Mollies and platies are hard water fish, being in soft water makes them prone to all sorts of problems. Your GH matters more than pH does.

 

[SABWARNER16]

Mollies and platies are hard water fish, being in soft water makes them prone to all sorts of problems. Your GH matters more than pH does.

Okay so how should I make the water hard?

 

[CassCats]

I would test to see where your GH is right now, then go from there.

There are some shrimp supplements for the water that help, unsure exactly as i dont use them.

You could use crushed coral or cichlid sand substrate too until it raises the Gh where it needs to be (over 250ppm for mollies)

 

[SABWARNER16]

I would test to see where your GH is right now, then go from there.

There are some shrimp supplements for the water that help, unsure exactly as i dont use them.

You could use crushed coral or cichlid sand substrate too until it raises the Gh where it needs to be (over 250ppm for mollies)

Okay thank you, I will test and see. Are there any possible causes in case making it hard doesn’t work?

 

[CassCats]

Theres always potential cause but keeping them in softer water can make them weaker and more likely to be affected by things they normally would shake off just fine.

I would also increase water changes while they show the symptoms, a little bit of aquarium salt would be helpful to them too. 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

Do you have photos or videos of the affected fish?

 

[SABWARNER16]

Theres always potential cause but keeping them in softer water can make them weaker and more likely to be affected by things they normally would shake off just fine.

I would also increase water changes while they show the symptoms, a little bit of aquarium salt would be helpful to them too. 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

Do you have photos or videos of the affected fish?

So it turns out that I found someone in my area who is a fish hobbyist and just set up a 75 gallon tank for livebearers and is taking in any fish that need to be rehomed. He is happy to take my fish in this tank and give them a little TLC and an upgraded tank lol. I feel a little sad that I really tried and loved them but still have to give them away, but I know they’re going to someone who knows more about them. I’m going to just stick with bettas since I know more about them haha. Thank you for your help.

 

[mbsqw1d]

So it turns out that I found someone in my area who is a fish hobbyist and just set up a 75 gallon tank for livebearers and is taking in any fish that need to be rehomed. He is happy to take my fish in this tank and give them a little TLC and an upgraded tank lol. I feel a little sad that I really tried and loved them but still have to give them away, but I know they’re going to someone who knows more about them. I’m going to just stick with bettas since I know more about them haha. Thank you for your help.

There's probably a wider scope of fish available to people with soft water than hard tbh: Gourami, Tetra, killifish, apistogramas... There are more people softening their water than there are making it harder (I would imagine).