Low Ph/no Pg Platies & Dying Fish

[Sunam]

I have been using Mardel 5in1 test strips and they show safe nitrates, nitrites and hardness. Consistently low, however, are total alkalinity and pH. It's always in the bottom of the "add pH Plus" & " add buffer up"

We've had the tank for about 3 months and the pregnant platy we initially got had a couple of babies, seemed to still be pg and then died. I didn't think much about it but we have/had 5 females and 2 males and none of the females have given birth. Several have looked pg but then nothing ever happens.

I had missed a couple of water changes so I did the last one along with a brief siphon vacuuming and probably half water change. Since then, we lost one of our female platies and our snail. All levels, according to the strips, are normal except for the consistently 2 low levels.

What could be going on??

 

[pippoodle]

invest in a good liquid test kit - strip tests are next to useless
api master test kit is a good one and you can get them for under £20 on ebay

what are the results for the nitrites is it 0?

you need to be testing for ammonia aswell

 

[waterdrop]

Completely agree with pip. Many of us use and like the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It has tests for ammonia, nitrite(NO2), pH and Nitrate(NO3.) Post up the results for these once you get kit, for both tap and tank water.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[loachman]

What are the actual numbers?