I'll admit, I've not checked this water for a long time... but I am adding straight well water, that is "rock hard" every water change, & I can just run tank change water down the drain, with no buckets needed, so I'm typically doing about a 30% water change... this tank was the last to switch over from house softened water... the platies & swords were added well after I started adding the hard water... there is a good group of the bigger sized rainbow fish, that have been in here from the start, & then the last fish added to this tank was Clown Loaches, at 2 different times... this tank is in a place in the house that it doesn't get viewed often, but at one point I had 5-6 platy / swords, & they looked well... but the other day I fished out the last platy ( dead ) since I'm not able to view as much, I don't know if they are getting bullied by the bigger rainbows, or the highly active Clowns ( The Clowns were just slightly larger than the platys, 2 - 2.5 inches ), & not been in the tank for more than a couple months... in the back of my mind, I thought the Clowns would be at most risk, as the water continues to get harder... to somewhat buffer the hardness, I have a dozen Pothos plants in hang on pots ( lined fully down the back of the tank ) pots are filled with ceramic bio media to hold the roots, with a few peat beads sprinkled in, mostly to help the plants deal with the harder water... the platys & swords were all designer strains, so likely not as durable as the closer to wild strains... thoughts??? other than check the water...
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